WORLD CUP 2010.....WIN EGYPY

Egypt secured a record seventh Africa Cup of Nations title, after beating Ghana 1-0 in a tense final in Angola.

AFRICA. BBC:  Substitute Mohamed Gedo scored the only goal of the game, curling a beautiful shot past Richard Kingson in the Ghana goal six minutes from time.

Gedo's winner came against the run of play, after a sustained period of pressure from Milovan Rajevac's young Ghana side.

The striker finished as top scorer and earned Egypt a third title in a row.

Sri Lanka president wins re-election

COLOMBO:  Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa has won a second term in office, a local news channel reported on Wednesday.

"The president has recorded a remarkable victory, with amore than 1.8 million vote majority," Rupavahini said. Official final results were not due for another three hours, but polling showed the incumbent with a powerful lead over his chief opponent, former army commander General Sarath Fonseka.

The two war victors turned to foes in a bloody campaign that culminated in a largely peaceful election on Tuesday, with turnout that independent observers placed at between 70 and 80 percent of the Indian Ocean island's 14 million registered voters.

Fonseka, a political neophyte, delivered an election day shock by admitting he was not registered to vote, after saying he may have done so but did not want to say where for security reasons.

The winner will take the reins of a $40 billion economy which has enjoyed a partial peace dividend, and is on the path to recovery with big Chinese and Indian investments into infrastructure and plans to put $4 billion into development.

London meeting to bolster Yemen in Qaeda fight

LONDON:  A high-level international meeting in London on Wednesday aims to bolster Yemen's fight against al-Qaeda by helping it tackle the poverty that can create a breeding ground for militants.

British Prime Minister Gordon Brown hurriedly called the meeting after a Yemen-based al-Qaeda affiliate said it was behind a failed Dec. 25 attempt to blow up a U.S.-bound plane with 300 people on board.

The attack drove home how al-Qaeda could threaten Western interests from Yemen and highlighted the risk that the country could become a failed state, compounding security challenges already posed by lawless Somalia just across the Gulf of Aden. more

"Avatar" becomes highest-grossing movie

LOS ANGELES:  "Avatar" has surpassed "Titanic" as the highest-grossing movie worldwide, giving director James Cameron a remarkable double a week before his sci-fi spectacular is expected to rack up a slew of Oscar nominations.

Gregg Brilliant, a spokesman for the News Corp (NWSA.O)-owned studio 20th Century Fox, said on Tuesday the worldwide box office total for "Avatar" stands at $1.859 billion, beating the $1.843 billion racked up by Cameron's romantic drama "Titanic" in 1997-1998.

"Avatar" broke the record in a little over six weeks.

The film has enjoyed an unbroken reign in most countries, including the United States, Canada, France, Germany, Russia, Britain and Australia.

The data are not adjusted for inflation.

Ticket sales got an additional boost from premium prices for 3-D screenings. Fox said 72 percent of worldwide sales come from 3-D engagements.

The action-adventure movie, starring Sigourney Weaver, is set in 2154 and tells the tale of a disabled ex-Marine sent to Earth to infiltrate a race of 10-foot (3-metre) blue aliens and persuade them to let his employer mine their homeland for natural resources.

More than five years in the making, it was reportedly one of the most expensive films with a budget of at least $300 million, due partly to its high-tech special effects and the creation of a new language used by the extra-terrestrial Na'vi race.

Despite some industry skepticism last year, the movie was released in December to glowing reviews and went on to win a the Golden Globe for best drama earlier this month.

Tom O'Neil, an awards pundit at www.TheEnvelope.com, said "Avatar" was not just a sure bet for a best picture Academy Award nomination on Feb. 2, but a leading contender to win the top Oscar on March 7. It is also expected to dominate the technical categories.

"It is the Oscar front-runner," O'Neil told Reuters. "It won the Golden Globe, it has conquered the global box office and it has won universal praise."

"The only cliffhanger is, will the notorious snobs in the Academy finally appreciate sci-fi?," he said, noting that a science fiction movie has never won a best picture Oscar.

French parliament report calls for burka ban

PARIS:  France was set to move one step closer to barring Muslim women from wearing the full Islamic veil with the release Tuesday of a report calling for a ban on the burka, also known as niqab, in public institutions.

A French parliament report called for a ban on the full Islamic veil in all schools, hospitals, public transport and government offices, saying it was an affront to French values.

"The wearing of the full veil is a challenge to our republic. This is unacceptable," the report released by a parliament commission said. "We must condemn this excess."

After six months of hearings, the panel of 32 lawmakers recommended a ban on the face-covering veil in all state-run institutions and offices, the broadest move yet to restrict Muslim dress in France.

The commission called on parliament to adopt a formal resolution stating that the burka was "contrary to the values of the republic" and proclaiming that "all of France is saying 'no' to the full veil."

Women who turn up at government offices wearing the full veil should be denied services such as a work visa, residency papers or French citizenship, the report recommended.

The panel however stopped short of proposing broad legislation to outlaw the niqab on the streets or in shopping centers after cautioning that such a move would have to be reviewed by the courts to establish its legality.

"The wearing of the full veil is the tip of the iceberg," said communist lawmaker Andre Gerin, the chair of the commission.

"There are scandalous practices hidden behind this veil," said Gerin who vowed to fight the "gurus" seeking to export a racial brand of fundamentalism and sectarianism to France.

"Not welcome" in France

President Nicolas Sarkozy set the tone for the debate when he declared the burka "not welcome" in France and described it as a symbol of women's "subservience" which cannot be tolerated in a country that considers itself a human rights leader.

Hopes for reaching any sort of political consensus have evaporated, with the opposition Socialists, divided by those calling for a total prohibition and those opposed to stigmatizing wearers of the full veil, planning to abstain from the vote on the report.

The leader of Sarkozy's right-wing party in parliament, Jean-Francois Cope, has already presented draft legislation that would make it illegal for anyone to cover their faces in public for reasons of security.

Home to Europe's biggest Muslim minority, estimated at about six million, France is being closely watched at a time of particular unease over Islam, three months after Swiss voters approved a ban on minarets.

No European country has adopted sweeping national legislation on restricting the full veil.

Despite a large Muslim presence, the sight of fully-veiled women is not an everyday occurrence in France. Only 1,900 women wear the niqab, according to the interior ministry.

Half of them live in the Paris region and 90 percent are under 40.

French support for a law banning the full veil is strong: a poll last week showed that 57 percent are in favor.

While lawmakers are divided on the scope of the restrictions, with many fearing that a draconian law would stigmatize Muslims who are already bristling at the anti-Islam rants heard during the government's national identity debate, they agree that some time will be needed to craft a solid text that would stand up to a court challenge.

Chinese city renames mountain after 'Avatar'

BEIJING:  A city in central China has renamed a mountain after the US blockbuster movie "Avatar," which set a Chinese box office record until its run in the country was cut short.

The majestic peak in Hunan province previously known as "Heaven and Earth Pillar" or "South Sky Pillar" has been officially renamed "Avatar Hallelujah Mountain," the Zhangjiajie city government said in a statement.

The statement, posted Monday on the government's website, said the peak was believed to have inspired a floating mountain, one of the most dramatic images in the movie, set on fictional Pandora.

Juxtaposing photos of the mountain with stills from the film, a report in the local Xiaoxiang Morning News said a Hollywood photographer came to the area on a four-day trip in December 2008 and shot a number of photos that were used by the film's artists.

The futuristic adventure was released in both 2-D and 3-D versions January 4 and has become China's all-time box-office champion, topping 80 million dollars in sales, state media said last week.

However, its 2-D run in China ended on Friday amid reports it was pulled ahead of schedule by the government to make way for the patriotic biopic "Confucius," about the ancient Chinese philosopher. It is still running in 3-D.

The Xiaoxiang Morning News said officials expect the mountain's similarity to the film version to trigger a tourism boom during the week-long Spring Festival holiday starting on February 14.

The mountain is in the Wulingyuan Scenic Area, which is famed for its soaring sandstone pillars and was designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1992.

Kashmiris observing Indian Republic Day as Black Day

NEW DELHI:  Indian Paramilitary soldiers and police set up roadblocks and snipers took positions atop government buildings as India celebrated its national day Tuesday against the backdrop of a terror alert.

Kashmiris on both sides of the Line of Control and across the world are observing Indian Republic Day as Black Day.

India celebrates its Republic Day on Jan. 26 every year, but this year the security measures have been notched up following intelligence reports of a possible terror attack by militants.

Security has also been tightened at all major government telecommunications and power installations, with additional personnel deployed, police said. At least 15,000 paramilitary soldiers were deployed in and around the capital of New Delhi to ensure safety along the route of an annual parade _ the highlight of India's Republic Day festivities, said police spokesman Rajan Bhagat.

In downtown New Delhi, hundreds of thousands of people gathered to witness the parade a showcase of Indian military and cultural pomp under the watchful eyes of armed police.

South Korean President Lee Myung-bak, who is on a four-day official visit to India, was the chief guest at the parade, which included marching bands and contingents of soldiers and schoolchildren and an aeronautic display by air force planes.

Qaeda trains female bombers to attack West: US officials

WASHINGTON: The women, who may have a "non Arab" appearance and be travelling on Western passports, have been prepared for their missions by the Yemeni group responsible for the operation to blow up an airliner over the United States on Christmas Day.

Details of the bombers emerged just hours after British spy chiefs raised the UK threat state to "severe" amid fears that al-Qaeda was planning a wave of attacks against western targets.

Terror experts within the Joint Terrorism Analysis Centre, a unit of MI5, now believe that an attack against the UK is "highly likely".

US law enforcement agents have been told to be on the lookout for female suicide bombers who may attempt to enter the country.

At least two are believed to be connected to al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula which dispatched underwear bomber Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab who tried unsuccessfully to bring down a transatlantic airliner over Detroit.

Richard Clarke, a former chief White House counter terrorism adviser, said: "They have trained women.

"There are others who are still out there who have been trained and who are clean skins – that means people who we do not have a record of, people who may not look like al-Qaeda terrorists, who may not be Arabs, and may not be men."

Security sources said that it was "inevitable" that al-Qaeda would eventually turn to using women with a western appearance to carry out suicide attacks.

Officials said that airliners and all forms of transport could be targeted as well as sports stadiums, ports and power stations.

Haiti quake death toll reaches more than 111,000

Haiti.CNN: More than 111,000 people died in last week's massive earthquake in Haiti, the government announced, as search-and-rescue teams wind down their effort to find survivors.

The government's figure, released by the United Nations late Friday, is the first precise death toll for the 7.0-magnitude quake that struck on January 12. It said 111,481 people were confirmed dead.

It is the worst death toll from an earthquake since the 2004 Asian tsunami, and the second-highest death toll from an earthquake in more than three decades, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.

Some 609,000 people have also been left homeless in and around the capital of Port-au-Prince, the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said.

Before the search-and-rescue effort ended Friday afternoon, OCHA said, rescuers had managed to pull 132 people alive from the rubble.

Google Sees Mobile as Key to Extend Search Might in 2010

Google's logged 87.8 billion searches in December 2009, or 66.8 percent of the more than 131 billion searches conducted worldwide. Google hopes to grow its search and ad dominance by focusing on a convergence of mobile search, advertising and applications, including location-based technologies with a heavy dose of social networking. Smartphones as Google's Nexus One, paired with mobile search, applications and advertising seem like a fine way for Google to extend its search dominance from the desktop to the PC. Google will pit its mobile technologies those of Microsoft, Yahoo and Apple in 2010.

Google's strategy to "double down" on its core search business helped the company clean up as the top search property with 87.8 billion searches in December 2009, or 66.8 percent of the more than 131 billion searches conducted worldwide.

That's good for a 58 percent increase in search query volume over the past year, according to figures released Jan. 22 by researcher comScore. These world-leading totals helped Google rake in a fourth-quarter 2009 profit of $1.97 billion and sales of $4.95 billion.

Google hopes to improve on these numbers through focusing on a convergence of mobile search, advertising and applications, including location-based technologies with a heavy dose of social networking.

Jonathan Rosenberg, senior vice president of product management at Google, attributed Google's successful Q4 to the company's doubling down on its efforts in search, AdWords search advertising and display advertising.

"Search did particularly well in 2009 and I think that may be the best example of what we feel we can do when we double down and focus," Rosenberg said on the company's Q4 earnings call Jan. 21. He cited Google's 550 search quality enhancements; a bigger and faster index; universal search expansion; and Google's new music search service.

However, Google's crowning search achievement arrived Dec. 7 in the form of real-time. Google indexes tweets from Twitter and public status updates from Facebook, as well as info from MySpace, news publications and blogs only seconds after the content is published online.

Rosenberg noted that two minutes after a force 4.1 earthquake struck California two weeks ago, Google's real-time search algorithms surfaced local Twitter tweets and news reports. The idea is that retrieving this type of content will keep users coming to Google.

It's difficult to gauge the financial impact of these real-time results, but Google CEO Eric Schmidt said on the call real-time search was "very successful."  Next

China economy shows strong growth

China says its economy expanded by 8.7% in 2009, exceeding even the government's own initial expectations.

The pace of change increased as the year went on, with growth in the final quarter of 2009 increasing by 10.7% from the same period a year earlier.

China is now on course to overtake Japan and become the world's second-biggest economy.

Japan announces its latest GDP figures next month. Its economy is likely to have contracted by about 6% in 2009.

'Right direction'

China's GDP announcement was made by Ma Jiantang, head of the National Bureau of Statistics.

He said China had faced "severe difficulties" in 2009, but its economy has now recovered and is moving in the right direction.

Annual growth was only slightly down on 2008.

But Mr Ma played down speculation that China's economy had now overtaken Japan's.

"According to the UN standard - that is $1 a day - there are still 150 million poor people in China. That is China's reality," he said.

"So despite the increase in our GDP and economic strength, we still have to recognise that China is still a developing country."

These latest GDP figures have exceeded the target set by the Chinese government, the BBC's Chris Hogg in Shanghai says.

This is a turnaround because China, like other countries across the world, was hit by the economic crisis during late 2008 and early 2009. Factories closed and workers were laid off.

China's economy recovered with the help of a massive government stimulus package and now there are signs it is expanding too quickly.

Inflation is picking up, with Mr Ma saying consumer prices increased by 1.9% in December from a year earlier.

"It reminds us to be fully aware of following the trend of price changes," he said at a press conference to announce the economic data.

Mr Ma said price rises were "mild and under control", but over recent days the government has tried to limit the amount of loans made by the country's banks.

However, some economists have questioned the reliability of China's economic data, with some accusing the government of overstating economic growth for political reasons.

Predictions

Meanwhile, the World Bank has said that the global economic recovery will slow later this year as the impact of government stimulus policies wanes.

The Bank has forecast growth of 2.7% this year after a contraction in 2009.

However, its predictions for Japan are slightly less pessimistic than other forecasters. It estimates that Japan's economy shrunk by 5.4% last year.

It added that the poorest countries - those that rely on grants or subsidised lending - may require an additional $35bn to $50bn in funding just to sustain pre-crisis social programmes.

China is expected to become the world's biggest economy in 2030.

OIC head calls on Islamic Ummah to assist Haiti affetees

JEDDAH:  The Secretary General of the Organisation of the Islamic Conference (OIC) Prof. Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu urged all OIC member states and civil society organisations to extend a helping hand to the Haitian population following the devastating earthquake on Jan 12.

The 7.3 magnitude earthquake killed about 75,000 people while 250,000 injured and a million left homeless.

According to Qatar media, Ihsanoglu expressed his shock and sadness following the disaster, which hit the Republic of Haiti and the large scale destruction inflicted on the people of this Island Nation.

He also praised the international community for its swift reaction in responding to the appeal made by Haiti government, Qatar News Agency said.

Ihsanoglu also expressed his gratitude to the OIC member states, which have already provided assistance and displayed solidarity by coming to the rescue of the Haiti people in the wake of this unprecedented catastrophe.

One week after the earthquake that hit the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere, a massive international aid effort is underway as 43 search and rescue teams continue their work.

Suicide attackers, gunmen hit central Kabul

KABUL:  About two dozen gunmen, some wearing suicide vests, attacked locations across Kabul on Monday in a coordinated commando-style operation against several targets, including banks and Afghan government ministries.

Gunfire from street battles and loud explosions could be heard across the capital in the worst attack on the city in almost a year.

While the gunbattle there was underway, a suicide car bomber exploded his vehicle outside another shopping center nearby killing several police and security officials, a security source said. Another blast was later reported near a cinema several hundred meters (yards) away.

The Taliban claimed responsibility for the attacks, which came as some cabinet members of President Hamid Karzai were being sworn in.

"At least ten people who are suicide bombers are in several buildings, including in banks and shopping centers," security officer Amir Mohammad said at the scene where Afghan forces had cordoned off parts of central Kabul.

He had no information about casualties.

Initial reports of casualties were only partial. NATO forces said at least two armed insurgents were killed. A security source said two guards were shot dead by the bombers as they stormed the Grand Shopping Center. Another said three people had died.

Another security source said as many as 30 attackers could be involved in clashes and three people had been killed.

"Gunmen are besieged in the store," he told Reuters, referring to a large store opposite the justice ministry and close to the presidential palace.

"They are firing on security forces and we believe suicide bombers are among them."

Spanish lawmaker’s hair used in bin Laden photo

MADRID:  A Spanish politician on Saturday said he was surprised and shocked to find out the FBI used some of his features in a new computer-generated photo of al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden.Gaspar Llamazares, member of the United Left party in Spain and known for his anti-American positions, said he would no longer feel safe travelling to the United States after his hair and facial wrinkles were used in an updated photo of Osama bin Laden recently released by the FBI.

"I was surprised and angered because it's the most shameless use of a real person to make up the image of a terrorist," Llamazares said at a news conference Saturday. "It's almost like out of a comedy if it didn't deal with matters as serious as bin Laden and citizens' security."

The FBI's contemporary representation of Bin Laden, with graying hair and a stubble, was visible for several hours on the most wanted "Rewards for Justice" website, before it was removed.

An FBI technician, acting on his own initiative, searched the Internet for images and used the hair and forehead of Gaspar Llamazares, a left-leaning Spanish deputy, according to FBI spokesman Ken Hoffman.

He was not satisfied with the solutions offered for hair by the program the FBI uses and instead sourced features from a photograph he found on the Internet, Hoffman explained.

Hoffman said the action went against FBI procedure.

Llamazares said Saturday he would formally request an explanation from the American authorities and reserved the right to file a lawsuit against the United States.

Lady Gaga Pledges Haiti Earthquake-Relief Donation On 'Oprah'

Singer also talks about exhaustion, performs medley in spike-themed outfit.

In an appearance as varied as one of her song medleys, on Friday's"Oprah Winfrey Show," Lady Gaga performed, announced that she'll be donating the proceeds from one of her forthcoming concerts to relief for Haiti, and indirectly addressed her show cancellations in the wake of her collapse from exhaustion after a show on Thursday.

Regarding Haiti, Gaga said that all proceeds from her January 24 concert in New York will go to relief organizations for the earthquake in the embattled country.

"Haiti's still suffering," she said. "And I was thinking earlier, because I was in New York during 9/11 and I always felt, the level of disaster isn't in the neighborhood of what is happening in Haiti, but I just remember feeling nobody really understood. And I worry that young people don't know enough about what's going on there.

"And I will say today that on the 24th, the Monster Ball [show] in New York City, all of the money that I make in ticket sales and merchandise will go to Haiti. And on the 24th you can also go onto LadyGaga.com and any merchandise that you buy, the money will go to Haiti." Reached for comment, Gaga's label rep told MTV News the specifics of the contribution would be announced in the coming days. (Learn more about what you can do to help with earthquake-relief efforts in Haiti.) more

U.S. plans to issue official protest to China over attack on Google

WASHINGTON:  The United States will issue an official protest to the Chinese government over a major espionage attack targeting Google's computer systems and rights activists' e-mail accounts that the search-engine giant said originated in China.

"We will be issuing a formal demarche to the Chinese government in Beijing on this issue in the coming days, probably early next week," State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley said Friday.

The diplomatic message will "express our concern for this incident" and seek an explanation, he said. The move may signal a shift for an administration that has been reluctant, according to China experts, to press sensitive issues such as human rights, lest it offend a country whose cooperation it seeks in other areas.

On Tuesday, in a rare disclosure by a major firm, Google announced that its "corporate infrastructure" had been hacked and its intellectual property stolen. It said that the Gmail accounts of dozens of human rights activists in China, Europe and the United States were also penetrated and noted that other large companies were targeted, as well. Industry sources said 34 firms, including Google, were affected.

Google also said it will no longer filter Internet searches on its Chinese search engine, Google.cn. Although it did not directly accuse China, the Silicon Valley technology titan threatened to pull out of the country if the government does not allow it to operate uncensored. Chinese officials said that their laws ban hacking and that China's Internet is open, although they also defended a policy of keeping certain types of information off the Web in China.

The State Department's planned action coincides with a speech on Internet freedom that Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton is to deliver Thursday. She is expected to allude to the incident. "When she talks about this issue, China will be one of the countries she points to," an administration official said.

"You couldn't have picked a worse company to hack if you wanted to not irritate the Americans," said James A. Lewis, a cyber and national security expert at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. "They're their favorite child," he said of Google. The firm's chief executive advises President Obama on technology, and its Web applications are seen as the sort of innovation that will drive the new economy.

Officials said the administration has raised concerns about cybersecurity and Internet freedom with China before. But by formally protesting to the Chinese, the United States is elevating the issues to a new level, policy experts said. Richard N. Rosecrance, director of the Project on U.S.-China Relations at Harvard University, said, "I think this is the bottoming out of an extremely favorable policy toward China that might now begin to shift in another direction."

One analyst said Friday that he is not sure the attacks point to the Chinese government. Rob Knake, a cybersecurity expert with the Council on Foreign Relations, said his analysis of results from a technology firm investigating the attacks suggests that they "were not state-sponsored or the work of an elite, sophisticated group such as the Chinese military."

Nonetheless, said Sophie Richardson, Asia advocacy director for Human Rights Watch, "Google has not only forced China's hand, they have forced the U.S.'s hand" on human rights.

"What Google has done," she said, "is make it easier for the administration to come out swinging on this issue."

Damaged airport, dock hamper Haiti aid efforts

HAITI : Impassable roads, a damaged airport, an unreachable dock and not enough equipment to unload relief supplies continued to keep most of the world's help Friday from devastated Haitians.

International businesses and relief agencies struggled to get aid into the battered country via the bottlenecked airport in Port-au-Prince three days after Tuesday's 7.0-magnitude quake.

British Airways offered aid agencies a relief aircraft to fly more emergency supplies and equipment. The plane that can hold 50 tons of supplies will be ready to fly to Haiti on Saturday, the airline said. A volunteer British Airways crew will man the plane, and the company also pledged close to $900,000 in fuel and money for supplies.

The British firm joins agencies from all over the globe that are heading to Haiti or who are already there.

The U.S. aircraft carrier USS Carl Vinson is expected to arrive Friday, carrying 19 helicopters and 30 pallets of relief goods.

Belize, Brazil, China, Chile, Spain, Canada, Israel, Iceland, Ireland, the United States and Morocco were among the many countries offering aid.

But Friday morning, aid agencies were still struggling to get relief items from the airport, said Dave Toycen, a relief worker with the aid agency World Vision.

"The issue is obviously logistics. It is problematic to get the streets clear," Toycen said. "There was a milelong line to get gasoline. We are short the basics."

FBI releases age-enhanced picture of Osama

The US Government has released a new age-enhanced photograph of al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden as he may look now without his trademark long beard.

Digitally enhanced images show the world's most wanted terrorist with different grooming and clothing, which he may have adopted in a bid to evade capture.

It also shows him with more lined features and lacking the long beard which many people associate him with.

The images were released by the US State Department and the FBI as they renew their efforts to bring Bin Laden to justice.

His is one of 18 wanted terrorist suspects listed on the State Department's Rewards for Justice website.

The programme offers huge rewards for information leading to the capture and conviction of some of the masterminds behind international terror attacks.

Using sophisticated digital enhancement techniques, forensic artists at the FBI’s laboratory in Quantico, Virginia have age progressed old photos of the 18 most wanted terrorist suspects.

"It is our hope that these digitally enhanced images will help someone recognise these terrorist suspects and then contact the Rewards for Justice program with information that leads to their apprehension," said Robert Eckert, assistant director for Diplomatic Security’s Threat Information and Analysis Directorate, which oversees the Rewards for Justice program.

"These new images are powerful examples of how advances in technology and science can be used to help find and bring to justice wanted persons,” said Louis E. Grever, Executive Assistant Director for the FBI's Science and Technology Branch.

“The FBI has and will continue to apply cutting-edge forensic, biometric, and technical capabilities to our most challenging cases. Together with our many partners, both here and abroad, we now call on the public to help us locate and take into custody those who threaten us," he added.

Since its inception in 1984, the Rewards for Justice Program has paid more than £50 million people who have provided credible information that has resulted in the capture, prosecution, or death of terrorists or has prevented acts of international terror.

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Doomsday Clock moves a minute back

WASHINGTON : The Doomsday Clock, a barometer of nuclear danger for the past 55 years has been moved one minute further away from the "midnight hour".

The concept timepiece devised by the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists (BAS) now stands at six minutes to the hour.

The group said it made the decision to move the clock back because of a more "hopeful state of world affairs".

The clock was first featured by the magazine in 1947, shortly after the US dropped its Atom bombs on Japan.

The clock had been adjusted 18 times before today since its initial start at seven minutes to midnight.

Most recently, in January 2007, the clock moved to five minutes to midnight, when climate change was added to the prospect of nuclear annihilation as the greatest threats to humankind.

Longest Solar Eclipse of the century enthrals world

PAKISTAN : The first and longest solar eclipse of this century is underway in different parts of the world including Pakistan.

The eclipse will last for an average of about twelve hours. In Pakistan, it will begin at 1230 and ends at 1:00 approximately.

According to meteorologists, the eclipse can be partially observed in Pakistan and will also be visible in African countries, India, Sri Lanka, China and Myanmar.

Annular solar eclipses occur when the Moon is too far to cover the Sun entirely. Therefore, when the eclipse reaches totality, you would see a ring (Annulus) around the moon and hence the name annular.

Please do exercise caution while watching this eclipse. Do not look directly at the Sun during the eclipse for it might put your eyes at risk even with your cool sunglasses. Also, do not try to use binoculars or telescopes and point at the eclipse directly without sufficient protection as you run the risk of being blinded.

Japan ends refuelling mission for Afghanistan war

TOKYO:   Japan on Friday ended a naval refuelling mission that has supported the US-led military effort in Afghanistan since 2001 as the centre-left government flexes its muscle in its ties with Washington.

Defence Minister Toshimi Kitazawa ordered the two naval ships and their 340 personnel to return home after eight years of helping supply oil and water to vessels used by international forces that are engaged in Afghanistan.

"The defence minister issued an order today to the fleet commander to end refuelling activity in the Indian Ocean at 12:00 p.m. (1500 GMT) on January 15 and to send the troops home," a ministry statement said.

With the end of the refuelling mission, Hatoyama has pledged that Japan would instead step up humanitarian aid to Afghanistan. Tokyo has offered five billion dollars over the next five years to help rebuild the war-torn nation.

Haiti quake death toll may top 100,000: PM

WASHINGTON:   The death toll in the Haiti quake could top 100,000, Prime Minister Jean-Max Bellerive told a US news channel Wednesday.

The final death toll could be "well over 100,000," the prime minister told the US television channel after his Caribbean nation was struck Tuesday by a 7.0 quake.

"I hope that is not true, because I hope the people had the time to get out. Because we have so much people on the streets right now, we don't know exactly where they were living.

"But so many, so many buildings, so many neighborhoods totally destroyed, and some neighborhoods we don't even see people, so I don't know where those people are."

Yahoo! expands Web-connected TV push

LAS VEGAS:  Yahoo! announced partnerships with television and other device manufacturers as the Internet company joins others seeking to jump from the computer to the TV screen.

"Consumers are in love with their televisions, watching more TV, and demanding Internet connectivity to further enhance their viewing experience," said Arlo Rose, senior director of Yahoo! Connected TV.

Yahoo! said the online programs known as "widgets" for the increasing number of Web-capable televisions would be embedded in more models and include video on demand, social networks, games and online shopping.

One year after announcing partnerships with Samsung, LG Electronics, Sony and Vizio, Yahoo! used the annual Consumer Electronics Show here to announce tie-ups with China's Hisense, ViewSonic, MIPS Technologies and Sigma Designs.

Yahoo! also announced it was releasing a widget development kit to allow developers to create their own TV widgets.

Vizio's upcoming HDTVs will incorporate Yahoo! widgets as will Web-connected TVs from Hisense and ViewSonic's VMP80 media player.

Yahoo! said the VMP80 media player will allow HDTV owners to view movies, TV shows, Web videos, and photos and go shopping and play games with TV widgets.

"Consumers can enjoy the greatest Internet content while simultaneously viewing their favorite programming," said ViewSonic Americas vice president Jeff Volpe.

MIPS will include the Yahoo! widget platform on digital TV and set-top box applications while Sigma Designs said it will offer Yahoo! widgets on Blu-ray players and other devices.

Pakistan’s inflation will be 11 percent: IMF

NEW YORK : International Monetary Fund (IMF) hinted that Pakistan’s inflation rate will be increase from 9 to 11 percent for current fiscal year.

In an analytical report, IMF has increased the inflation rate for Pakistan from 9 percent to 11 percent for current fiscal year. The increased in the target has been made keeping in view increment in the crude oil prices and rise in power tariff. The economic growth rate will be 3 percent whereas threats to economic progress will also remain same.

The report added that there is increment in flow of remittances in Pakistan therefore, it is expected that current accounts deficit will be decline from 4.7 percent to 4.2 percent.

Alleged US airline bomber pleads not guilty

NEW YORK :  Lawyers for the young Nigerian accused of trying to blow up the U.S. plane on Christmas Day pleaded not guilty Friday, as he faced life imprisonment on six charges.

Wearing a white T-shirt and beige trousers, 23-year-old Omar Farouk Abdulmutallab spoke to confirm his name, age and that he had read a copy of the indictment against him, as a lawyer entered a not guilty plea on his behalf.

Abdulmutallab, son of a prominent Nigerian banker, was arrested following the botched al-Qaeda plot, in which a device allegedly stitched into his underwear failed to detonate on board a Northwest flight from Amsterdam.

The thwarted bombing has triggered U.S. and global alarm, leading the United States to adopt stringent new screening and security measures at airports around the world. Dozens of names have also been added to no-fly lists.

CIA Blast Blamed On Double Agent

WASHINGTON:   The suicide bomber who killed seven Central Intelligence Agency employees and contractors and a Jordanian intelligence officer was a double agent the CIA had recruited to provide intelligence on senior al Qaeda leadership, according to current and former U.S. officials and an Afghan security official.

The officials said the bomber was a Jordanian doctor likely affiliated and working with al Qaeda.

The Afghan security official identified the bomber as Hammam Khalil Abu Mallal al-Balawi, who is also known as Abu Dujana al-Khurasani. The Pakistani Taliban also claimed that Mr. al-Balawi was the bomber, Arabic-language Web sites reported Monday.

Mr. al-Balawi was brought to the CIA's base in Khost Province by the Jordanian intelligence official, Sharif Ali bin Zeid, who was working with the CIA, according to the Afghan security official.

The bomber appears to have been invited to an operational planning meeting on al Qaeda, a former senior U.S. intelligence official said. "It looks like an al Qaeda double agent," the former official said. "It's very sophisticated for a terrorist group that's supposedly on the run."

The blast on Dec. 30 killed four CIA officers, including the Khost base chief; three CIA contractors; and Mr. bin Zeid, officials said. Six CIA employees were wounded in the attack.

The Al Jazeera television network reported that the bomber had initially been recruited to provide intelligence on the whereabouts of Osama bin Laden's top deputy, Ayman al Zawahiri. That couldn't be independently confirmed Monday.

The CIA's deputy chief of station from Kabul traveled to the meeting at the CIA Khost base, Forward Operating Base Chapman, according to former intelligence officials, pointing to the meeting's importance. The officer was wounded in the attack, according to people familiar with the matter.

Both the Pakistani Taliban and the Afghan Taliban have claimed responsibility for the attack. The Afghan Taliban fights alongside an array of allied militants including the Haqqani network, an Islamic extremist group that operates in Afghanistan and Pakistan and maintains close ties to al Qaeda.

The U.S. and Jordanian intelligence services have worked closely together for years, said a former senior intelligence official. "There's a confidence level with them," the former official said. Mr. al-Balawi likely was seen as trustworthy because he'd previously provided the U.S. with valuable intelligence, said the former intelligence official. "This is someone they obviously trusted very, very much," the former official said.

Since Mr. al-Balawi was perceived by U.S. authorities as a cooperative intelligence informant, that could explain why he was not more thoroughly searched upon entering Chapman. It also would explain how he gained access to top intelligence officials.

Mr. al-Balawi was an active recruiter and an "elite writer" on al Qaeda's password-protected al-Hisba Web site, where he went by the name Abu Dujana al-Khurasani, according to the monthly journal of the U.S. Military Academy at West Point's Combating Terrorism Center.

In a posting on the site in May of 2007, Mr. al-Balawi sought to persuade people from a variety of backgrounds, including African-Americans, Native Americans, Vietnamese and poor immigrants to join the fight against their "oppressor," the U.S., the West Point analysts found.

Mr. al-Balawi had studied medicine in Turkey with government funding, according to a translation of the Jordanian Web site Jerasa News by the Middle East Media Research Institute. He left Jordan about a year ago after being detained for a few months by Jordanian intelligence officers.

The Jordanian news outlet cited eyewitness reports that Jordanian security forces had arrested Mr. al-Balawi's youngest brother and summoned his father after the blast. They warned his father not to put up a mourning tent, fearing it could attract jihadis, the news outlet said.

Senior U.S. military officials believe that the Khost attack was carried out with the active assistance of the Haqqani network, which has mounted dozens of bloody attacks inside Khost that have turned the province into one of the most violent regions of Afghanistan.

U.S. policy makers worry that any territory that falls under Haqqani control in either Afghanistan or Pakistan could quickly become a new safe haven for al Qaeda, whose senior leaders have known and fought alongside the Haqqani family for decades. The CIA and elite U.S. Special Operations troops have responded to the Haqqani group's offensive in Khost with a stepped-up campaign targeting the militants, and senior officials say more than two dozen Haqqani officials have been killed in recent weeks.

While coordination between the Haqqani network and the Pakistani Taliban is rare, members of both groups have said that they cooperated in the past. "At times they send suicide attackers to our area, and we give them shelter and find targets for them," said a former Haqqani commander in an interview this summer. The commander has since left the group and made peace with the Afghan government.

A U.S. intelligence official declined to speak about the specifics of the attack but said the agency "is looking closely at every aspect of the Khost attack." The official added, "The agency is determined to continue pursuing aggressive counterterrorism operations. Last week's attack will be avenged."

A former senior intelligence official said that al Qaeda had attempted to run double agents against the CIA prior to 9/11, but such efforts appeared to trail off after the 2001 offensive in Afghanistan that drove them into the tribal regions of Pakistan.

The bodies of the seven CIA employees arrived in the U.S. Monday, and CIA Director Leon Panetta, along with other agency officials and family members, attended a private ceremony at Dover Air Force Base to honor them, said CIA spokesman George Little.