Obama seeks new partnership with Pakistan

WASHINGTON:  The Washington Post reports that the White House is seeking to bring Pakistan into a new strategic partnership that would increase trade and military cooperation between the two nations.

The newspapers said Monday that President Barack Obama's offer was in a two-page letter this month to Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari. The letter, delivered by national security adviser James Jones, included a blunt warning that the U.S. would not tolerate support within Pakistan's military and intelligence operations of insurgents fighting in Afghanistan.

The letter, the Post said, also assured the Pakistanis that the U.S. would increase its efforts in Afghanistan and plans no early pullout.

The Post says Pakistan has been the subject of a long strategy review that concluded that a failure in Pakistan, which has nuclear weapons, would be far worse than in Afghanistan.

Saddam ordered attack on Radio Free Europe: TV

PRAGUE:  Saddam Hussein ordered his secret agents to attack the Prague headquarters of U.S. run Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty to end broadcasting to Iraq, a Czech intelligence service spokesman said on Sunday.

The attack was ordered by the then Iraqi leader in 2000 and Iraqi intelligence agents planned to use weapons including rocket propelled grenades, Kalashnikov rifles and submachine guns, spokesman Jan Subert told Czech TV Nova.

"Saddam Hussein ordered his intelligence to violently disrupt Iraqi broadcasting of the Radio Free Europe and for this operation he provided significant financial means," Subert told the station.

He said the weapons had been stockpiled for the attack after they were brought into the country in an Iraqi diplomatic car.

It was not known when the attack was due to take place but Subert told the television station that Czech intelligence discovered the plot and the Iraqis submitted the weapons to Czech authorities in 2003.

The plan was for the attack to take place from the window of a nearby flat that the Iraqis planned to rent as an office for a fake company, he said.

There were fears the broadcaster, financed by the U.S. Congress, might be target of an attack after the Sept. 11 attacks in the United States.

In 2003, the police and the army temporarily boosted security in and around the radio station's offices, located at the top of Wenceslas square in the historic centre of Prague at an old communist parliament premises.

The headquarters have since been moved to a new closely guarded building in a neighborhood on the outskirts of Prague.

Nepal govt heads to Everest for landmark meet

NEPAL:  Nepal's cabinet will meet in the shadow of Mount Everest next week to highlight the impact of global warming on the Himalayas ahead of United Nations climate talks in Copenhagen, officials said Saturday.

Twenty-six ministers, together with staff, will travel to the town of Gorakshep, high up in the foothills of Everest, for the special climate-themed meeting, said Bishnu Rijal, press advisor to Prime Minister Madhav Kumar Nepal.

"We're going to host a ministerial level cabinet meeting on Friday, December 4 at Gorakshep to draw the attention of the whole world" to the effects of global warming on the Himalayas, he told AFP.

"Our glaciers are melting and glacial lakes are growing and are on the verge of overflowing. That will create a Himalayan tsunami. Even though we do not contribute to global warming, our country is highly vulnerable."

The U.N. talks, aimed at setting targets to curb greenhouse gases blamed for global warming, take place Dec. 7-18.

Gorakshep, a sandy plateau 5,165 meters (17,000 feet) above sea level, is the last village before the Everest base camp and the place from where mountaineers seeking to climb the celebrated peak set out.

Originally the cabinet planned to meet at the base camp itself, a little higher at 5,360 meters (17,585 feet).

But the venue was changed as it was too difficult to get all the ministers and officials there by helicopter, Rijal said.

Russia train disaster was terrorist attack: official

RUSSIA:  A train disaster that killed more than 39 people and injured 100 was caused by a bomb, indicating it was a terrorist attack, the head of Russia's FSB domestic intelligence service said on Saturday.

The alleged attack on an upscale passenger train speeding through the forest from Moscow to Saint Petersburg mangled and overturned carriages across the tracks and down the railway embankment as scores of orange-vested rescue workers searched urgently for further victims that could be trapped under the wreckage.

The incident occurred late Friday and targeted the same train hit by a bomb attack in August 2007 that injured dozens of passengers, and officials said they believed the latest incident was also caused by a bomb.

"Operational-investigative teams are treating as their main theory the detonation of an unidentified device by unidentified persons," Vladimir Yakunin, head of the state firm Russian Railways, said earlier on television.

"To put it simply, a terrorist attack," Yakunin said.

Witnesses including passengers on the train and inhabitants living near the site said they heard a loud bang just before the train went off the rails and police told AFP at the site there was a large crater under the track.

An unnamed security official quoted by the Interfax news agency said the crater was around one meter (three feet) in diameter.

A blast along the track in the 2007 attack ripped out a long segment of rail, causing the train to careen off the tracks.

The crater could have been caused by an "explosion from a device placed underneath one of the wagons," the RIA-Novosti news agency quoted another security official as saying.

There were conflicting reports on the death toll, but Alexander Basulin, an official at the emergency situations ministry, was quoted by the ITAR-TASS news agency as saying "in all, there are 39" dead.

Basulin said this number comprised 25 victims found immediately and another 14 people discovered later, outside the train carriages.
Health Minister Tatyana Golikova said 95 people were injured and hospitalized.

Saudi flashfloods kill 77 as Muslims perform Hajj

Floods gridlocked major roads by traffic in Saudi

JEDDAH: A day-long downpour fouled the start of the annual Hajj (pilgrimage) on Wednesday, soaking thousands of people as they walked from Mecca to Mina and killing up to 77 people with the number expected to rise. Flashfloods also caused snarling traffic that trapped buses for hours.

Millions of Muslims from around the world continued their pilgrimage on Thursday in the holy city of Mecca as Hajj reached its climax with pilgrims ascending to the top of Mount Arafat, which is the integral part of the annual event.

Pilgrims then made their mass move (nafra) from Mount Arafat to Muzdalifah after sunset to continue the remaining rituals of the annual Hajj within the coming few days.

Obama sends Hajj, Eid greetings to Muslims

WASHINGTON:  President Barack Obama sent greetings early Thursday on behalf of the United States to pilgrims performing the annual Hajj in Saudi Arabia and to Muslims worldwide celebrating the Eid al-Adha holiday.

"The rituals of Hajj and Eid al-Adha both serve as reminders of the shared Abrahamic roots of three of the world's major religions," read a White House statement.

"On behalf of the American people, we would like to extend our greetings during this Hajj season -- Eid Mubarak," Obama said, using a traditional Muslim greeting.

A sea of pilgrims from around the world, dressed in white robes and towels, began the five-day Hajj late on Tuesday and early on Wednesday, circling the Kaaba shrine inside Mecca's Grand Mosque.

Few people appeared concerned over the main threat to the hajj, swine flu, despite the news that four pilgrims had died from the disease before the rites officially began.

Obama said in the statement that the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services partnered this year with the Saudi Health Ministry "to prevent and limit the spread of H1N1" during the Hajj.

"Cooperating on combating H1N1 is one of the ways we are implementing my administration's commitment to partnership in areas of mutual interest," the president said.

Swine flu has killed some 6,750 people around the world this year, the World Health Organization said on Friday, and Saudi authorities have deployed as many as 20,000 health workers.

Eid al-Adha is the holiday that marks the end of the Hajj.

IMF boosts lending scheme to 600 billion dollars

WASHINGTON: The International Monetary Fund (IMF) announced that a lending scheme to aid countries hit hard by the financial crisis had grown to 600 billion dollars.

The Washington-based Fund said that an additional 13 potential countries had agreed to join 26 nations in committing money to the so-called New Arrangements to Borrow (NAB), which was originally targeted at 500 billion dollars.

They also vowed to bring more flexibility to the NAB, a standing set of credit arrangements under which participants commit supplementary resources for IMF lending when needed.

The IMF executive board is expected to make a formal decision on the expanded NAB in the coming weeks.

To ensure that the IMF continues to have sufficient resources to meet demand, the Group of 20 emerging and developed economies committed in September to triple its available resources, up from a pre-crisis level of about 250 billion dollars.

G20 leaders agreed in April that immediate financing of 250 billion dollars from members would subsequently be folded into an expanded and more flexible NAB, increased by up to 500 billion dollars.

Among the countries that contributed to the scheme are developed nations such as the United States, Britain, France, Japan and Italy and developing states like China, Brazil and India.

Women worry about their looks 252 times/ week

LONDON: A survey has shown that women are constantly concerned by their appearance and worry about ageing.

One hundred women were asked to carry a clicker in an experiment to measure how many times they felt anxiety about their bodies ageing.

Over a seven day period, the women aged 35 to 69 had to use the clicker every time they worried about their face, body, or appearance in general.

On average, the women surveyed had negative thoughts 36 times a day.

One of the participants, Loose Women presenter Sherrie Hewson, 59, said: "It brought to the fore how many women have issues.

"Listening to others, they are saying what I'm saying when you think it's only you.

"There are so many of us there's got to be a common denominator, so we've got to get together and change it, change us."

Sherrie, who had a facelift ten years ago, clicked 1,400 times over seven days but admitted she thought it would be more.

In her waking hours, she experienced a negative thought about herself approximately every three minutes.

She told the Daily Mail: "When I look in the mirror, my overriding thought is: "I don't know this person." I wake up to this face, and I feel as though it's someone else's. All I see in the mirror is age creeping up on me.

"The worst time for me in terms of clicking was the morning.

"Just getting up, I'd look in the mirror at my face and hair and think: "Oh dear, now that's a worry." I'd click as I put my make-up on, but the more make-up I applied the less I clicked, and by the time my "face" was complete I'd have stopped clicking.

"I'd also click whenever I saw images of myself as a young actress, which happens from time to time. Just seeing how I used to look would remind me I was getting older."

The study was devised by keep-fit instructor Irene Estry and psychologist Emma Kenny to see if a looks-obsessed society creates ageism and pressure to stay youthful.

Millions of Muslims flock to Mecca for Hajj

SAUDI ARABIA:  An estimated 2.5 million Muslims have converged on Mecca for the annual Hajj pilgrimage, as workers toil round the clock to complete construction projects designed to avoid deadly stampedes.

All of this year's pilgrims were due in the holy city by the end of Tuesday to begin the Hajj rites on Wednesday, day one of the six-day pilgrimage.

The rites begin with the "tawaf," the circling seven times of the cubic Kaaba building in the center of the Grand Mosque, in whose direction all Muslims around the world pray.

Pilgrims then proceed to Mina to spend the night before climbing Mount Arafat on Thursday.

No place for gypsies in ultra-conservative Iraq

Iraq's gypsies seen as outcasts in new community

Al-Zuhoor,IRAQ: Squeezed between a rubbish dump and a dry riverbed, al-Zuhoor has no clean water or electricity and the gypsies who live here are at the margins of the new, ultra-conservative Iraq.

In smelly alleys bordered by brick hovels, without glass windows or doors, men wander without work, a young girl plays on a squeaky swing and women return from a day's begging in Diwaniyah, 180 kilometers (110 miles) south of Baghdad.

In the distance, smoke from burning rubbish blackens the sky and, when the wind turns, the nauseous odor is overwhelming.

Before 2003, under the Baathist regime of toppled president Saddam Hussein, the situation was much better. The dictator's iron fist did not weigh on the gypsies or Roma.

The men were professional singers or musicians and the women were invited to dance at feasts, weddings and parties in Iraq, having migrated to the Middle East from India centuries ago.

US, Israel lack courage to attack: Ahmadinejad

BRASILIA: Visiting Iranian President Mahmud Ahmadinejad said that US and Israeli military threats against Iran were a thing of the past, and that, in any case, "they don't have the courage" to attack Iran.

"The age of military attacks is over, now we've reached the time for dialogue and understanding. Weapons and threats are a thing of the past," the Iranian told a joint press conference with President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, closing his one-day visit.

Fielding a question on whether he feared an attack from Israel or the United States, Ahmadinejad said armed confrontation was no longer a possibility.

That's clear "even for mentally challenged people," he said with a smile.

Besides, he added, "those you mention (Israel and United States) don't have the courage to attack Iran. They're not even thinking about it."

Ahmadinejad met for three hours with Lula to discuss Iran's controversial nuclear program, over which Lula urged Teheran to find a "just solution" with Western powers.

Indonesian passenger ferry sinks with 228:Report

JAKARTA, Indonesia – Indonesian television says a passenger ferry with more than 200 people onboard sank in rough waters near Sumatra island.

Yasin Kosasih, a police chief in Riau province, says the Dumai Express 10 left on an inter-island voyage Sunday morning and reportedly sank in poor weather 90 minutes into the trip.

The passenger manifest says it was carrying 228 passengers including 15 children from the port of Batam to Dumai in Riau, Sumatra.

Local police spokesman Anggaria Lopes says dozens have been rescued and a search operation is ongoing.

Indonesian ferry accidents have killed hundreds of people in recent years. Boats are often overcrowded and safety regulations are poorly enforced.

List of 8041 NRO beneficiaries issues

ISLAMABAD: Government of Pakistan Saturday released the list of the beneficiaries of the National Reconciliation Ordinance on the directives of Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani.

State Minister for Law Afzal Sindhu in a news conference here said that a total of 8041 people including 34 politicians, bureaucrats and three ambassadors took benefit from the ordinance.

On top of the list is the name of President Asif Ali Zardari while his several close associates, both political and bureaucratic, including Rehman Malik, Salman Farooqi and his brother Usman Farooqi and Hussain Haqqani are also included, he said.

The list, which also reflects a brief introduction of the cases dropped against each name under the NRO, also includes the name of serving and former ministers, federal and provincial secretaries, ex-chief secretaries, existing or former members of the national and provincial assemblies and others, he added.

The politicians that benefited from the ordinance include Nawaz Yousaf Talpur, Ex-MNA and former minister, Nusrat Bhutto, Ex-MNA and the PPP Secretary General Jehangir Badar, Ex-minister for commerce and Presently Defense Minister Ahmad Mukhtar, Ex-MNA Malik Mushtaq Ahmed Awan, Ex-MNA Rana Nazir Ahmed, Ex-MPA Mian M Rashid, Ex-MPA Tariq Anees, Ex-MPA Mian Tariq Mehmood Dina, Ex-Minister of education Sindh Agha Sirajuddin, Former Interior Minister Aftab Ahmed Sherpao and Ex-Provincial minister Ghani-ur-Rehman, he said.

Ex-senator Haji Gulsher, Ex-Provincial Minister Habibullah Khan Kundi, Ex-MNA Mir Baz Muhammad Khan Khethran, Ex-Federal Minister Anwar Saifullah Khan, Ex-Provincial Minister Sardar Mansoor Laghari, Ex-Mayor Sargodha Ch Abdul Hameed, Ex-chairman Zila Council Lahore Ch Shaukat Ali, Ex-MNA Haji Kabir are also included in the list.

Haji Nawaz Khokhar late, Altaf Hussain, Babar Ghouri, Farooq Sattar, Saleem Shahzad, Dr. Ishrat-ul-Ebad, Ch, Haji Qadeer, Malik Mushtaq Awan, Mian Muhammad Rasheed, Mian Tariq Mehmood, Shoaib Bukhari are also included in the list of Politicians who took benefit from NRO.

Amongst Government servants and others, who had benefited from NRO and got themselves cleared from NAB cases include Ex-Additional Director General FIA and Presently Interior Minister Rehman Malik, Pakistan’s Ambassador in the US Husain Haqqani, Principal Secretary to the President Suleman Farooqi, Ex-Advisor to Prime Minister A R Siddiqi, Pakistan’s High Commissioner to UK Wajid Shams-ul-Hassan, Ex DG Intelligence Bureau Brig Imtiaz, Ex-MD Printing Corporation of Pakistan Pir Mukarram.

The minister said that the number of politicians who benefited from the NRO is very few. Out of total 8041 persons who benefited from the law 7793 belong to Sindh province, he said.

“The spouse of the prime minister was not among the beneficiaries of NRO,” the state minister said. The minister said that three diplomats, including Hussain Haqqani, Wajid Shams-ul-Hasan and AR Siddiqui also benefited from the law.

Sindhu said that total 71 cases including 31 murders and 11 attempts to murder against MQM chief Altaf Hussain were withdrawn under the Ordinance. Among other MQM members, one case of Dr Ishratul Ibad was withdrawn, 23 of Farooq Sattar, 5 of Babar Ghauri, one of MNA Noman Sehgal, 18 of Dr Imran Farooq, 21 of Shoaib Bukhari, 7 of Wasim Akhtar, 6 of Salim Shehzad, 12 of Kanwar Khalid Younis and 16 cases of Safdar Baqiri were taken back.

Answering to a question, he said, Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani was honorably acquitted by the court.

The cases against politicians were constructed for political victimization, he said, adding that, Cases against PPP leadership were made during the period of Chief Pakistan Muslim League (PML-N) Nawaz Sharif for that he has regretted the act.

It was also mentioned in the charter of democracy that most of the cases were constructed to victimize political opponents, he said. Cases made during the period of former President Farooq Leghari were also based on malafide intentions, he said.

Till 28 November, 2009, NRO is protected under constitution and it will lapse after 28 November, he said. Situation will get cleared after November 28. We will accept the verdict of Supreme Court on the issue, he said.

If any beneficiary of NRO found guilty will be dealt in accordance with the law, State Minister for Sindh said this while answering to a question. “We will accept the verdict of Supreme Court with open heart. We will accept the court decision even against President. We must live in the Present,” Sindhu added.

“The article 48 of the Constitution provides amenity to the President. President is symbol of federation. We must honor the office of President,” he said.

Beneficiaries of NRO may be politicians, may be bureaucrats will be dealt according to law, he said.

“We had pressure of NRO even before elections. It was misinterpreted and people were misguided on the subject during election campaign. We contested election under NRO. I do not have any moral pressure. Pressure should be on those who constructed baseless cases,” he said.

Readers may read the whole list of NRO beneficiaries at this website.

Coal mine blast kills 42 in China, 66 trapped

HARBIN, China:  Rescuers working in frigid cold and darkness tried to reach 66 people believed trapped a third of a mile (half a kilometer) underground after a huge gas explosion Saturday ripped through a coal mine in northern China, killing at least 42 people.

The pre-dawn blast at the state-run Xinxing mine in Heilongjiang province near the border with Russia is latest to hit China's deadly mining industry. Authorities say parlous safety is improving, but hundreds still die in major accidents each year.

Television footage showed smoke billowing out of the mine after the explosion went off, caused by a gas build- up. It caused a building to collapse nearby.

Some 528 miners were underground at the time. The State Administration of Work Safety said 389 of them managed to escape.

Of the rest, 31 miners were rescued, including six now in serious condition in hospital, China Central Television reported. Some 42 bodies have been recovered and rescuers were searching for 66 others still believed trapped in the mine.

CCTV displayed a diagram showing the miners trapped about a third of a mile (half a kilometer) underground. Footage showed that one entrance to the mine was blocked. Rescuers in orange suits and with breathing equipment were attempting to enter the mine through another entrance.

The massive blast cut power in the mine, as well as ventilation and communication links, hampering the efforts of the more than 300 rescue workers.

On land, where snow dusted the ground, overnight temperatures were expected to drop as low as minus 10 Celsius (14 Fahrenheit), according to the Central Meteorological Station.

Vice Premier Zhang Dejiang visited some of miners recovering in hospital Saturday afternoon.

The official Xinhua News Agency quoted Wang Xingang, one of those rescued, recounting how the blast inside the mine had briefly knocked him out.

The official Xinhua News Agency quoted Wang Xingang, one of those rescued, recounting how the blast inside the mine had briefly knocked him out.

"When I regained consciousness, I groped my way out in the dark and called for help," said the 27-year-old electrician.

China's mines are the world's deadliest, and the blast only underscores the difficulties the government faces in trying to boost safety in an industry which is vital to its vast population and booming economy. The country depends on coal to generate about three-quarters of its electricity.

Large state-owned coal mines, such as Xinxing, are considered safer than smaller, private ones.

Xinxing is located near the border with Russia, about 250 miles (400 kilometers) northeast of the provincial capital, Harbin. It is run by a major state-owned enterprise, according to the Web site of its owner, the Hegang city branch of the Heilongjiang Longmei Holding Mining Group. It says the Hegang branch has more than 88,000 employees.

In numerous telephone calls to the mine, officials refused to give any information about Saturday's accident.

The government has been cracking down on unregulated mining operations, which account for almost 80 percent of the country's 16,000 mines. It says the closure of about 1,000 dangerous small mines last year has helped it cut fatalities.

The average number of miners killed has halved, to about six a day, in the first six months of this year, the government has said. It blames failure to follow safety rules, including a lack of required ventilation or fire control equipment, for most of the deaths.

Major accidents persist. In the first nine months of this year, China's coal mines had 11 such incidents with 303 deaths. Gas explosions were the leading cause, the government said.

A blast at the Tunlan coal mine in northern China's Shanxi province in February killed 77 people in China's worst industrial accident in a year.

Egypt vows to be firm after World Cup defeat

CAIRO:  President Hosni Mubarak vowed on Saturday that Egypt will be firm in dealing with attacks on its nationals, amid hot tempers and a diplomatic spat with Algeria over a World Cup football showdown.

"Egypt will not be lax with those who harm the dignity of its sons," he told cheering MPs in parliament.

"The welfare of our citizens abroad is the responsibility of the country. We look after their rights and reject violations and transgressions against them," he said in his first apparent reference to the diplomatic row with Algiers.

The row has erupted between Algeria and Egypt since a bus carrying the Algerian football team was stoned in Cairo last week and Egyptians were attacked by Algerian fans in Khartoum and Algiers.

Egypt twice summoned the Algerian ambassador in Cairo and on Thursday recalled its envoy in Algiers.

The dispute broke out ahead of a crunch match staged in Cairo on November 14, after Egyptian fans had stoned a bus carrying the Algerian players on its way from the airport.

Egypt beat Algeria 2-0, leading to a play-off in Khartoum for a place at next year's World Cup finals in South Africa.

Busses carrying Algerian fans were stoned after the Cairo match and fans clashed outside hotels housing the Algerians, leaving at least 20 Algerian fans and 12 Egyptians wounded.

The attack led to reprisals in Algeria against Egyptian homes and businesses.

Protesters in Algiers attacked 15 offices of a local subsidiary of Egypt's Orascom Telecom, prompting the firm to evacuate its 25 Egyptian employees and their families, and twice ransacked the Algiers offices of EgyptAir.

After the play-off in Khartoum on Wednesday, won by Algeria, Algerian fans attacked busses carrying Egyptians who were heading to Khartoum airport for the return home.

The media of both countries have traded invective and circulated rumours of Egyptian and Algerian deaths despite denials by both governments.

In a rare public statement, Mubarak's elder son Alaa who was at the Khartoum game slammed the Algerian fans as "mercenaries" and said the Egyptian team had faced "terror" in Khartoum.

"There appears to be something strange in the composition of Algeria -- it has spite and malice towards Egypt," he was quoted by state news agency MENA as telling a television sports programme.

Reports of the attacks in Khartoum, which Egyptian Health Minister Hatem el-Gabali said lightly wounded 21 fans, enraged Egyptians.

An angry protest early on Friday outside the Algerian embassy resulted in clashes between demonstrators and riot police protecting the mission, leaving 35 policemen injured.

Algiers on Friday summoned Egypt's ambassador to protest at attacks on Algeria by the Egyptian media, APS news agency reported.

It said Algerian Foreign Minister Mourad Medelci had expressed "incomprehension and major concern" at what he called "the escalating media campaign" in Egypt.

"Big Bang" experiment advancing fast

GENEVA (Reuters) - After a year's delay, scientists at the world's biggest accelerator have restarted an experiment to recreate "Big Bang" conditions that had sparked suggestions the earth would be sucked in by millions of black holes.

Scientists at the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN) have established circulating particle beams in both directions in the underground Large Hadron Collider, a step that is already beyond where the experiment stalled during a first attempt in September 2008, CERN spokesman James Gillies said.

The high-profile experiment, through which tiny particles are smashed in a bid to learn more about the birth of the universe, failed just nine days after it was launched due to a technical problem that took longer than expected to fix.

"We are further advanced now than where we were after five days of experiment last year," said CERN's Director for Accelerators Steve Myers, saying the extra year had allowed researchers to upgrade instrumentations and computer software.

Myers added that researchers had increased the sensitivity of the protections at the 10 billion Swiss franc ($9.82 billion) collider under the French-Swiss border.

"If anything happens, we would not have the same amount of damage we had last year," he said.

CERN, a 55-year-old organization that counts 10,000 scientists and technicians worldwide working on its research projects, has vigorously rebuffed any suggestion the ground-breaking experiment would cause the world to end.

CERN's Director General Rolf Heuer said getting the experiment re-started had been an "herculean effort."

"We've still got some way to go before physics can begin, but with this milestone we're well on the way," he said.

If things continue to progress at this speed, scientists may be able to accelerate particles at the highest energy level ever tested before Christmas, although high-energy collisions that may shed light on the secrets of the universe would only happen in the new year, Myers said.

The experiment will be fully under way when the particle beams will be smashed at high energy levels. This will most likely happen in January.

The next important step in the experiment will be low-energy collisions, expected in about a week from now, CERN said.

Manmohan Singh to watch Kurbaan's premier

NEW DELHI: Amidst all the controversy surrounding the Saif Ali Khan-Kareena Kapoor starer movie Kurbaan, the movie might just have a special person watching its premier.

The person is no less than Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh. There is unconfirmed buzz in the tinsel town that Rensil D’Silva will hold an exclusive premier for the Prime Minister.

If Dr. Singh watches the movie it will be a huge political statement against parties like the Shiv Sena which have raised objection to the posters of the movie.

Kurbaan is a film which comes with the backdrop of terrorism coupled with the element of love. The Kurbaan team claims that the movie will portray terrorism in a completely different light.

Cairo recalls ambassador from Algiers

CAIRO: Egypt recalled its ambassador in Algeria on Thursday after attacks against Egyptian football fans in Sudan and businesses in Algiers, amid a brewing diplomatic crisis over a World Cup showdown.

An Egyptian foreign ministry official confirmed to a French news agency that the ambassador in Algiers was recalled for "consultations," after Egypt earlier the same day summoned the Algerian ambassador in Cairo to protest against the disturbances.

The foreign ministry said that it informed the ambassador of "Egypt's extreme displeasure with the assaults on Egyptian citizens who went to Khartoum to support the Egyptian team."

It was the second summons in a week for ambassador Abdelkader Hadjar, who was called to the Cairo foreign ministry last week after Algerian fans attacked Egyptian businesses and homes in Algiers.

"Egypt also expressed its outrage and it denunciation after continuing reports and many appeals from Egyptian citizens residing in Algeria over the assaults and intimidation they face," the statement said.

In another twist to the diplomatic crisis, the Sudanese foreign ministry summoned Egypt's ambassador to protest at Egyptian media coverage of an alleged lapse in Sudanese security, the ministry in Khartoum said.

Khartoum police spokesman Abdel Majid al-Tayeb earlier played down the level of violence after the game in which Egypt was defeated 1-0 and lost the chance to advance to the World Cup finals in South Africa next year.

"There were minor incidents, four people were lightly wounded," Tayeb, whose forces mounted a security operation for Wednesday's crunch decisive match, told a press conference.

But Egyptian fans said that stones were thrown at their bus as they made their way back to Khartoum airport after the loss, which followed a 2-0 victory for Egypt in Cairo on Saturday.

In an interview with state television, Egyptian Health Minister Hatem al-Gabali said 21 Egyptians were injured in attacks in Sudan. "All of them are considered minor injuries," he said.

Before the match in Cairo, several Algerian footballers were hurt after the team bus was stoned on the way from the airport to the team hotel.

A similar fate befell some visiting supporters after Egypt won the game, leaving the teams neck and neck in their qualifying group and triggering the replay in Khartoum.

People then took to the streets in Algiers, attacking 15 offices belonging to a local subsidiary of Egypt's Orascom Telecom and twice ransacking the Algiers offices of Egypt Air.

The attacks prompted Orascom to pull out 25 Egyptian employees and their families.

In its statement, the foreign ministry in Cairo said that the Egyptian companies had begun seeking compensation for the losses sustained in the attacks.

Orascom executive chief Naguib Sawaris said earlier this week that Orascom suffered at least five million dollars in damage.

Google previews Chrome open source operating system

Internet search giant Google has lifted the lid on its operating system, known as Chrome OS.

The free and open source system is initially aimed at low-cost netbooks and does away with many of the features of a traditional program.

All applications are designed to run in a web browser and all the user's data is stored on Google's servers.

Engineers from the firm said the first computers running the system would be available before the end of 2010.

"We are trying to offer a choice for users," said Sundar Pichai, vice-president of product management, during an event at the firm's headquarters in California.

"This model of computing is fundamentally different."

The event follows the recent launch of Microsoft's Windows 7 and Apple's operating system upgrade, Snow Leopard.

Speed test

Google first announced its intention to build an operating system in July this year.

The firm has designed the system around its Chrome browser. The program was released 14 months ago and already has 40m regular users, the firm said.

"It's very familiar and intuitive to users - most people know how to use the browser," said Mr Pichai.

All programs or applications - such as word processing and e-mail - run in different tabs in the browser.

"There are no conventional desktop applications," said Mr Pichai. "That means you don't have to install or update software.

"It's just a browser; a browser with a few modifications."

Mr Pichai said the system was based around speed, simplicity and security.

He showed it booting up in seven seconds.

"We're working very, very, very hard to make that time shorter," he said. "We want Google Chrome OS to be blazingly fast."

He said they wanted it to be like a television, where a computer could be switched on and instantly running and connected to the web.

Google has been able to boost the speed of the system by designing it for specific hardware. The firm said that it would only run on computers using "solid state drives" instead of traditional hard drives.

In addition, the firm has been talking to hardware manufacturers to specify which components to include on finished machines.

This means that the company could "optimise" the code to run as quickly as possible, said Mr Pichai.

Memory games

He used the demonstration to show the machine doing many common tasks such as playing games and music, as well as reading books and writing text.

Any documents and files created on the computer were automatically synced and saved on Google's servers, said Matthew Papakipos, an engineer working on the system.

As a result, he added, anybody who lost their computer would be able to buy a new machine and easily recover all their data.

"In a matter of seconds, all the data syncs back to the machine."

Although the firm envisages most tasks will be done online, it will also offer the capability to use some programs when there is no connection.

It already offers a similar feature for programs such as Gmail and Google Docs using its Gears program.

Initially, the firm envisages people will use the operating system on a second, portable machine.

Memory intensive tasks, such as video editing, would require a more powerful machine.

Open offer

The demonstration could dramatically change the market for operating systems, especially for Microsoft, the biggest player with about 90% share of the market.

When it was first announced, Rob Enderle, industry watcher and president of the Enderle Group, described it as "the first real attempt by anyone to go after Microsoft".

The fact that it is free could encourage many users to try the system.

Currently, Mr Pichai said the company did not have a business plan but admitted that encouraging people to use the web and Google services "benefits us as a company".

Google derives most of its revenue from selling advertising around search and its other online products.

Most consumers will have to wait until 2010 to get their hands on a device running the system.

However, the firm used the event to release an early version of the code for developers.

"You can get Chrome OS up and running today," said Mr Pichai.

They said they had chosen to release the code and the designs for the system because it was based on other open source projects including the Linux operating system and the Ubuntu distribution of it.

Open source systems allow people to tinker and use the underlying code to build and customize applications. It is normal to publish any modifications to allow other people to take advantage of the changes.

"We're looking forward to feedback from the open source community," said Mr Pinchai.

Mixed response as top EU figures named

The appointment of two little-known figures to the new top jobs in the EU has drawn a mixed response.

Belgian PM Herman van Rompuy was named President of the European Council, while Briton Baroness Catherine Ashton was made EU foreign affairs supremo.

The US welcomed the choice, saying it would make Europe a stronger partner.

However, the BBC's Jonny Dymond in Brussels says there has been some dismay at the choice of two candidates with a low international profile.

The post of president has become a much less important one than originally envisaged, he adds.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel said Mr Van Rompuy would bring consensus and political competence to the presidency.

However, Turkish member of parliament Onur Oymen said he was concerned about what Mr Van Rompuy's presidency could mean for Turkey's aspirations to join the EU.

He told the BBC's World Today that Mr Van Rompuy had "said a few years ago he was totally against Turkish membership because of religious and cultural reasons".

"We are not very optimistic about the future of our relations during his presidency," Mr Oymen said.

British newspapers said the choices would not help the EU to achieve a greater global impact and questioned whether Baroness Ashton would carry much weight in her role.

Mr Van Rompuy said he would be "discreet" in his new job, adding that he sees climate change and Europe's high unemployment as key concerns in the years ahead.

Baroness Ashton and Mr Van Rompuy were chosen unanimously by the 27 EU leaders at a summit in Brussels.

Both have been seen as consensual politicians with limited foreign policy experience.

US President Barack Obama said the appointments would "strengthen the EU and enable it to be an even stronger partner to the United States".

He said the US had "no stronger partner than Europe in advancing security and prosperity around the world".

'Milestone for Europe'

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said the appointments were a "milestone for Europe and for its role in the world".

She said she was looking forward to working closely with Mr Van Rompuy and Baroness Ashton on issues of mutual concern, including the Iranian nuclear debate, achieving stability in Afghanistan and promoting a peace agreement in the Middle East.

The President of the EU Commission, Jose Manuel Barroso, also praised the appointments, saying it would be "impossible to find a better choice than those personalities for the European Union leadership".

Mrs Merkel said of Mr Van Rompuy: "We got a candidate who brings consensus and whose political competence have long been tested and tried throughout his political career."

French President Nicolas Sarkozy said it had been "a very wise decision" to choose a candidate from "an important country but not one of the most important countries, so that no-one will feel excluded" from EU debate.

Addressing the summit after his appointment, Mr Van Rompuy said the EU was "living through exceptionally difficult times".

He said the financial and climate crises "threaten our very survival" but that the problems "can be overcome by a joint effort between our countries".

Baroness Ashton said she would pursue a policy of "quiet diplomacy" in her role as High Representative for Foreign Affairs.

She said she had the relevant skills for the job and that she had developed strong relationships during her time as EU Trade Commissioner.

British Prime Minister Gordon Brown denied accusations that Baroness Ashton lacked sufficient clout, and said her appointment was "a sign of the regard that people have for Britain".

The two new posts were created by the Lisbon Treaty, which will come into force on 1 December.

The EU president will chair regular meetings of the European Council at which decisions are taken about the political position of the bloc.

However, correspondents say the High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, as the post is officially known, could have an even more powerful role.

Lockdown for Algeria-Egypt clash

Sudanese security forces have thrown a tight cordon around the capital Khartoum for Wednesday's Egypt-Algeria World Cup play-off.

Gates to Al-Merreikh stadium opened five hours before the 1730 GMT kick-off, with fans carefully segregated inside and outside the ground.

The winner of the game gets the last African place at the World Cup finals.

Sudan has deployed 15,000 police after a series of violent incidents involving fans of the two countries.

The play-off was arranged by Fifa at a neutral venue after Algeria controversially lost 2-0 in Cairo on Saturday, hours after their team bus was attacked by Egyptian fans.

Egypt's win left the top of Group C deadlocked, with both sides having identical records, but Algeria's coach blamed the defeat on injuries suffered by three of his players in the bus attack.

Violence between fans also flared after the game. At least 32 people were hurt, and the next day Egyptian businesses in Algiers were ransacked.

On Tuesday, the head of the Algerian football federation, Mohammed Raouraoua, said his Egyptian counterpart, Samir Zaher, was to blame for the trouble.

"He is the origin of all the events that occurred, including the barbaric aggression that injured... our players," Mr Raouraoua said.

But Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Abul Gheit in turn told Algeria it must confront what he called the "saboteurs" who have attacked Egyptian businesses in Algiers.

Tickets for the match were reported on Wednesday morning to be selling on the black market for five times their original price.

Egypt and Algeria have been allocated just 9,000 tickets each, with capacity at the Al-Merreikh stadium reduced by 6,000 to 35,000 for security reasons.

Egyptian fan Nedal Nabil, who flew in from Dubai, told Reuters news agency: "There's going to be trouble because there aren't enough seats."

Hotels in Khartoum were booked out well ahead of the game, and the authorities have set up two camp sites for rival fans several miles apart.

The stakes for each country are high. The last time Egypt reached the World Cup finals was 1990, while Algeria's last appearance in the finals was in 1986.

There is a history of trouble between supporters of the two teams and riots broke out in Egypt in 1989 after an Egyptian win in Cairo.

EXCLUSIVE: CIA Secret 'Torture' Prison Found at Fancy Horseback Riding Academy

ABC NEWS:  The CIA built one of its secret European prisons inside an exclusive riding academy outside Vilnius, Lithuania, a current Lithuanian government official and a former U.S. intelligence official told ABC News this week.

Where affluent Lithuanians once rode show horses and sipped coffee at a café, the CIA installed a concrete structure where it could use harsh tactics to interrogate up to eight suspected al-Qaeda terrorists at a time. A full report on the can be seen on ABC's World News with Charles Gibson tonight.

"The activities in that prison were illegal," said human rights researcher John Sifton. "They included various forms of torture, including sleep deprivation, forced standing, painful stress positions." more

World Cup teams are locked, with loaded questions for some

The final day of qualifying for soccer's 2010 World Cup in South Africa brought a gamut of emotions Wednesday as the 32-team field for next year's tournament finally was set into stone.

Algeria, Greece, Slovenia, Portugal, France and Uruguay are in.

As a result, Egypt, Ukraine, Russia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Ireland and Costa Rica are out.

So there will be no Guus Hiddink coaching in South Africa, and no Andrei Arshavin playing there either.

But if he recovers from his ankle injury, FIFA world player of the year Cristiano Ronaldo will be there with the Portuguese team, and Michel Platini, UEFA's president, will be able to cheer Les Bleus, thanks to some curious officiating in Paris.

France qualified when it came from behind to tie Ireland, 1-1, in overtime and thus advance, 2-1 on aggregate goals.

France's William Gallas scored the decisive goal after teammate Thierry Henry handled the ball but was not called for the foul. "I will be honest, it was a handball," Henry said. "But I am not the referee."

Robbie Keane, who scored Ireland's goal that forced the overtime, was incensed, hinting at conspiracy by FIFA first in the seeding process and then in the match itself.

"They're probably all clapping their hands, Platini sitting there on the phone to Sepp Blatter [FIFA's president], texting each other, delighted with the result," Keane said.

Hiddink, Russia's coach and the man who led both the Netherlands and South Korea to the semifinals in previous World Cups, might be sending or receiving a few texts himself.

He is unlikely to remain in his job after Russia was beaten, 1-0, by Slovenia in Maribor, Slovenia, and he skipped the postgame news conference.

Slovenia advanced on the away goals rule, having scored in a 2-1 loss in Moscow on Saturday.

"My guys became immortal," Slovenia Coach Matjaz Kek said after Zlatko Dedic supplied Wednesday's all-important goal.

Ukraine was another favored team that fell by the wayside. It tied Greece, 0-0, in Athens and was expected to win at home. Instead, the Greeks again packed their defense, got a goal from Dimitris Salpigidis, and made it stand up.

"We will play exciting football when we have [Lionel] Messi, Kaka, [Andres] Iniesta and Xavi on the team," joked Greece's 71-year-old German coach, Otto Rehhagel, who led Greece to its Euro 2004 title.

Portugal made no mistake in its series with Bosnia-Herzegovina, winning, 1-0, in Lisbon and by the same score in Zenica, Bosnia, on Wednesday, this time on a goal by Raul Meireles.

Earlier in the day, in a fiery encounter in neutral Khartoum, Sudan, Algeria qualified for its first World Cup since 1986 when it overcame Egypt, 1-0, on a goal by Antar Yahia.

The game was a winner-take-all playoff after the teams had ended up tied on points in their African qualifying group and on all the other tiebreakers.

Two-time World Cup winner Uruguay became the 32nd and final team to qualify for South Africa when it played Costa Rica to a nervous 1-1 tie in Montevideo.

Sebastian Abreu put Uruguay ahead, 1-0 on the night and 2-0 on aggregate, before Walter Centeno scored for Costa Rica to ensure a tense finale.

Next up is the Dec. 4 World Cup draw in Cape Town, South Africa, to determine the first-round groups and games.

US, partners working on ‘consequences’ for Iran

SEOUL, MANILA:  President Barack Obama on Thursday said the United States and its partners were now discussing "consequences" in the form of toughened sanctions on Iran after its apparent rejection of a nuclear deal.

Obama said he left the door open for Iran to accept international efforts to defuse the nuclear crisis, but bemoaned that the leadership had been "unable to get to yes," so Washington and partners were now discussing "consequences."

Western powers are gearing up for talks on a fourth round of U.N. sanctions against Tehran over its nuclear program but will not target Iran's energy sector to ensure Russia's and China's support, a European diplomat said Wednesday.

The decision to begin exploring the possibilities for new punitive measures against Tehran reflects the growing impatience in the United States, Britain, France and Germany, the four Western powers that have joined forces with Russia and China to persuade Iran to freeze parts of its nuclear program.

"We have waited long enough for Iran," a European diplomat said on condition of anonymity. "We and our friends in the (six powers) agree it is time to consider next steps at the U.N."

But the scaling back of the West's expectations for new U.N. steps against Iran for defying Security Council demands to stop enriching uranium shows that the Europeans and Americans have accepted that Moscow and Beijing, with their close trade ties to Tehran, will not let Iran's economy be crippled.

Literature of the 60s

Meanwhile, Iran dismissed on Thursday the possibility of sanctions over Tehran's rejection of a deal to send enriched uranium abroad for further processing.

"Sanction was the literature of the 60s and 70s," Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki said at a news conference during a visit to the Philippines.

"I think they are wise enough not to repeat failed experiences," he said, speaking through an interpreter. "Of course it's totally up to them."

Iran's ISNA news agency quoted Mottaki on Wednesday as rejecting the draft deal brokered by the U.N. nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).

The IAEA had said Iran should send some 75 percent of its low-enriched uranium to Russia and France, where it would be turned into fuel for a Tehran medical research reactor.

The decision is expected to anger the United States and its allies, which had called on Iran to accept a deal which aimed to delay Tehran's potential ability to make bombs by at least a year by divesting Iran of most of its enriched uranium.

Mottaki reiterated that Tehran was willing to discuss the deal but only if the swap of enriched uranium for nuclear fuel took place within Iran.

Karzai sworn in for 2nd term, vows to combat corruption

KABUL:  President Hamid Karzai was sworn in for a second term on Thursday morning in a ceremony in which he made peace and reconciliation his top priority and said he wanted Afghans to assume control of their own security by the end of his five-year term.

In a 30-minute acceptance speech in the presidential palace, Karzai hit many of the same notes that he had during the election. He invited insurgent fighters to lay down their arms and said he would convene a grand council to promote reconciliation.

"Securing peace and an end to fighting are the most significant demands of our people," Karzai said, according to an English translation of his prepared remarks. "It is a recognized fact that security and peace cannot be achieved through fighting and violence. ... Afghanistan has placed national reconciliation at the top of its peace-building policy."

Speaking from a podium in front of a row of Afghan flags, Karzai also highlighted the need to reform his government and combat corruption--two issues of urgency for American officials as Karzai forms a new cabinet. He said he will push for a new law that would require all senior officials, especially ministers, governors and deputy ministers, to declare their property and assets. He said he would convene a conference in Kabul to generate new ideas for fighting corruption.

"The government of Afghanistan is committed to end the culture of impunity and violation of law and bring to justice those involved in spreading corruption and abuse of public property," Karzai said. "Corruption and bribery constitute a very dangerous problem. We want to follow this issue seriously."

Karzai spoke in front of hundreds of people including a host of foreign dignitaries, including Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton and Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari. Clinton, on her first visit to Afghanistan as secretary of state, held a breakfast meeting at the embassy Thursday morning with senior diplomats from coalition countries fighting in Afghanistan. After the inauguration she planned to have lunch with Karzai at the foreign ministry, her second meeting with the president in two days. She has delivered a message about the need to battle corruption and improve governance.

Residents of Kabul woke on Thursday to extreme security precautions. Afghan security forces were posted throughout the city to guard against Taliban violence. Many roads were blocked and traffic was kept off the streets, particularly around the presidential palace and American diplomatic and military and headquarters.

On a cold sunny morning, after listening to the national anthem outside in front of Afghan soldiers, Karzai walked along a red carpet under a white archway and into a palace ceremonial hall. He was greeted by a standing ovation before taking a seat in the front row, across the aisle from Zardari and Clinton. Karzai was sworn in by the chief justice of Afghanistan's supreme court, and then his two vice presidents, Mohammad Qasim Fahim and Kareem Khalili, took the oath.

Karzai's new term begins amid growing doubts within the Obama administration of Karzai's ability to control the bribery and cronyism that have sapped the Afghan public's confidence in the government. The growing Taliban violence has also become an urgent concern, and Obama said he is very close to making a decision about whether to send thousands more American soldiers into the war.

Algeria book World Cup spot

Cairo:  A stunning first-half strike by defender Antar Yahya crushed Egyptian dreams as Algeria booked their ticket to the 2010 World Cup in South Africa.

Les Fennecs beat Egypt 1-0 at the neutral playoff venue of Sudan's Khartoum Stadium.

A playoff was required as a result of Saturday's dramatic 2-0 win for Egypt in Cairo when Emad Meteab scored the second goal in the dying moments of injury time.

The result delayed Algeria's passage to the World Cup finals as both sides finished level on points and goal difference at the top of African qualifying Group C.

Algeria become the fifth African nation to reach the finals, alongside Cameroon, Nigeria, Ivory Coast and Ghana.

South Africa qualified as the host nation.

Concentration lapse

Egypt dominated possession without creating many goal scoring opportunities, while Algeria always looked dangerous on the break.

Yahya's 39th minute winner came against the run of play when he took advantage of a lapse in concentration by Egypt's defenders to hit a perfect volley in off the underside of the crossbar with his right foot from an acute angle.

The win means Algeria will make their first appearance at a World Cup since 1986 and once again highlighted Egypt's inability to carry their impressive form in Africa - they have won the African Cup a record six times - into World Cup qualification tournaments.

Security at the game had been carefully managed due to violence at the previous qualifier. At least 32 people were injured following Saturday's game.

Off the pitch, the rivalry had turned even more bitter with fans battling each other in both Cairo and Algiers.

Security

Sudan announced a security plan to deal with the influx of fans pouring into the country with organisers bracing for a closely fought grudge match between two long-time rivals.

Al Jazeera's Amr el-Kahky, who watched the match with fans in the Egyptian capital, Cairo said:

"The fans are sad, everyone is sad. Some people are really disappointed with the Egyptian performance, but some others are very proud of this generation of Egyptian players who have achieved a lot but failed to qualify."

"Everyone, more or less, was congratulating Algeria saying that what happened in Cairo, the stoning of the Algerian bus, was not characteristic and nothing has so far been reported on Egyptian streets."

"It is really saddening for the Egyptians, but what is more saddening for them is that they are accused of being hooligans and they insist they are not."

Egypt last appeared at a World Cup in 1990.

Failing once again to reach the game's biggest stage is likely to be hard to take for the passionate football-supporting Egyptian fans.

China joins supercomputer elite

China has become one of a handful of nations to own one of the top five supercomputers in the world.

China:  Its Tianhe-1 computer, housed at the National Super Computer Center in Tianjin was ranked fifth on the biannual Top 500 supercomputer list.

The machine packs more than 70,000 chips and can compute 563 trillion calculations per second (teraflops).

It is used for petroleum exploration and engineering tasks such as simulating aircraft designs.

However, the fastest machine is the US-owned Jaguar supercomputer, which now boasts a speed of 1.759 petaflops.

One petaflop is the equivalent of 1,000 trillion calculations per second.

The Cray computer has more than 220,000 chips and is owned by the Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Tennessee. It is used to conduct research in climate science, materials science and nuclear energy amongst other areas.
It has taken the top slot from another US machine, nicknamed Roadrunner.

The IBM computer is owned by the Department of Energy's Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico and was the first machine to push through the petaflop barrier.

It is currently able to run at 1.042 petaflops and uses the powerful "cell" chip designed for the PlayStation 3.

It is used to monitor the US nuclear stockpile, as well as conduct research into astronomy, genomics and climate change.

The Top 500 list is dominated by machines in the US, which is home to 277 of ranked systems. It has eight of the top 10 machines.

Europe has 153 systems on the list, including the world's fourth most powerful machine. The IBM BlueGene/P supercomputer at the Forschungszentrum Juelich (FZJ) in Germany is the fastest machine outside the US and is able to run at more than 800 teraflops.

The UK has the largest number of European machines on the list, with 44 systems.

Algerians attack Egyptian firms after football loss

Twenty Algerians injured in Cairo clashes before playoffs

ALGIERS:  Thousands of Algerians held a spontaneous rally Sunday in the capital Algiers in support of their national football team, which degenerated into attacks on Egyptian businesses.

The rally in central Algiers began with fans chanting "One, two, three, Go Algeria!" as they thronged Air Algeria's city-center offices trying to get tickets to travel to Sudan for the second leg World Cup football qualifying match against Egypt in Khartoum on Wednesday.

But it later descended into violence when fans broke through the metal shutters to smash the window and ransack the offices of EgyptAir, an AFP journalist said.

The offices of mobile telephone company Djeezy, part of the Egyptian telecommunications group Orascom, was also ransacked, the website of al-Watan daily reported.

The company also said one of its employees was assaulted at Algiers airport.

Egyptian Prime Minister Ahmed Nazif called his Algerian counterpart Ahmed Owehi on Sunday to appeal for the Algerian government to protect Egyptians in the country, Egypt's official news agency MENA reported.

Egyptian Foreign Ministry spokesman Hussam Zaki said that the Egyptian-Algerian ties are quite strong and would never be affected by any kind of riots launched by fans in both countries.

Zaki denied all the rumors that circulated about the death of Algerian football fans in clashes in Cairo after Saturday's match. "We are now contacting the Algerian security authorities to guarantee the security and safety of all the Egyptians in Algeria," he said.

The Algerian Ambassador to Egypt Abdul Qader Haggar, meanwhile, said that the Algerian security authorities are trying their best to provide all the needed security to the Egyptian businesses operating in Algeria. He denied all the allegations about the death of Algerian fans in Cairo clashes.

Twenty Algerians were injured in clashes in and around Cairo after Saturday's first round match, according to Egyptian police, which Egypt won 2-0 to keep alive its hopes to travel to South Africa next year.

Arabic Web domain opens

Egypt:  Egyptian communications minister Tarek Kamet yesterday announced the introduction of the first Arabic domain, meant to ease Internet access to millions of Arabic speakers around the world.

Registration was to begin for the .misr country code top-level domain, Kamey told the fourth meeting of the Internet Governance Forum.

The announcement follows a decision by the United States-based Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers to end the exclusive use of Latin characters for website addresses, allowing Internet users to write an entire website address in Chinese, Arabic, Russian and several other scripts.