Small plane is flown into Texas IRS offices

TEXAS:  A small plane smashed into a seven-story federal building housing U.S. tax offices in Austin, Texas on Thursday and media reports said it may have been a deliberate attack.

Two people were taken to the hospital after the crash, which left the building in flames, and one person was believed to be missing, Austin fire officials said. The fate of the pilot was not immediately clear.

The incident renewed fears of domestic terrorism and gaps in security for private aircraft, although U.S. officials said they had no reason to believe that terrorism was involved.

Interpol seeks arrests for Hamas chief's killing

DUBAI/PARIS:  Interpol should issue a warrant to help locate and arrest the head of Israel's spy agency Mossad if the organization was responsible for the killing of a Hamas chief in Dubai, the emirate's police chief said on Thursday, as the Interpol issued arrest notices for 11 suspects wanted by Dubai for the killing.

In comments to be aired later on Dubai TV, police chief Dahi Khalfan Tamim called for Interpol to issue "a red notice against the head of Mossad ... as a killer in case Mossad if proved to be behind the crime, which is likely now".

The Interpol meanwhile issued arrest notices for 11 suspects wanted by Dubai for the killing of Hamas leader Mahmud al-Mabhuh there.

2012 Olympic stadium will look like.

Olympics 2010 Pic

New 9/11 photos released

Mudslide kills 11 people in rain-hit Mexico

VALLE DE BRAVO : A mudslide in central Mexico has killed at least 11 people after days of heavy rain that had already caused flooding and fatalities elsewhere in the country.

The mudslide crushed several cars on a road near the small town of Temascaltepec on the route from the capital, Mexico City, to the popular weekend town of Valle de Bravo. Rescue workers at the scene said on Saturday they had dug out 11 bodies.

Police said it was likely several more people were still buried in their vehicles.

Torrential rain have been pounding much of Mexico for days, triggering mudslides in the western state of Michoacan that killed at least a dozen people, causing rivers to break their banks and setting off flooding in the capital and nearby states.

Valle de Bravo is a hilly cobblestone town set around a picturesque boating lake that is used by many Mexico City residents as a weekend getaway.

Snowstorm paralyses Washington DC,eastern US

WASHINGTON : The heaviest snowstorms for decades have struck the eastern US, paralyzing air and road transport, and bringing Washington DC to a standstill.

The storm knocked down power lines and left hundreds of thousands of people without electricity.

Nearly 2ft (60cm) of snow had fallen by noon on Saturday in cities across the region, the Associated Press reports.

The mayor of Washington DC, and the governors of Virginia and Maryland have declared states of emergency.

West Virginia, Delaware, Pennsylvania and New Jersey are also affected.

The National Weather Service declared a 24-hour blizzard warning for the Washington-Baltimore region until 2200 on Saturday (0300 GMT on Sunday).

Most flights from the Washington-Baltimore area's three main airports and Philadelphia International Airport have been cancelled.

Hundreds of car accidents were reported, including two fatalities – a father and son who died while helping another motorist in Virginia.

US national rail service Amtrak cancelled a number of trains between New York and Washington, and also between Washington and some southern destinations.

Local weather forecasters said the Washington area could see its heaviest snowfall in 90 years.

It comes less than two months after a December storm dumped more than 16in (41cm) of snow in Washington.

The usually traffic-heavy roads of the capital were deserted, while the city's famous sites and monuments were covered with snow.

The Washington Metro was operating only on underground lines, and bus services were cancelled.

US government offices in the Washington area closed four hours early on Friday, while the Smithsonian museums and National Zoo were closed on Saturday.

Debi Adkins, who lives just outside the city of Baltimore, told the media: "The snow started at 1130 yesterday morning and it just hasn't stopped... about 20 inches came overnight - and thunder and lightning.

"I'm not going anywhere - I couldn't if I wanted to. You just can't get your cars out. The front door of the building I live in is closed shut, so I just can't get out."

Ushaa Shyam Krishna in Chantilly, Virginia, said he - like many others - had stocked up on essential food items ahead of the storm.

"For the first few hours after the storm began, my daughter and I tried to shovel the snow, but now we have given up," he said.

"On Thursday the supermarkets were half empty - we went again yesterday and the shelves were totally empty."

UAE man pays $6.45 million for three camels

DUBAI:  An Emirati splurged a whopping 24 million dirhams ($6.47 million) for three camels, including one which cost $2.72 million, at an auction in the desert near Abu Dhabi, an AFP photographer said.

The auction was held Tuesday at the Dhafra Festival for Camels and was attended by the biggest camel owners in the Gulf, among them princes and tribal dignitaries.

The other two camels cost United Arab Emirates national Hamdan bin Ghanem around $2.4 million and $1.35 million respectively.

Citizens of Gulf countries are passionate about camel racing, which is considered a national sport and tradition.

At the festival, competitions are held for the best camel meat and camel milk dishes, and for the best poem written about camels.

Iran successfully fires satellite rocket: reports

TEHRAN:  Iran successfully fired on Wednesday a home-built satellite rocket, Kavoshgar 3, carrying an "experimental capsule," state-owned al-Alam television reported, giving no further details.

The move, a part of celebrations marking the 31st anniversary of the founding of the Islamic revolution, may worry Western powers who fear Tehran is seeking to build a nuclear bomb and missile delivery systems.

Western nations are concerned that the long-range ballistic technology used to put satellites into orbit can also be used to launch warheads, although Iran says it has no plans to do so.

TV reports showed footage of a rocket blasting off from a launch-pad.

Iranian media said earlier the Islamic Republic would on Wednesday unveil three new satellites and another satellite carrier, named Simorgh.

Exactly one year ago, Iran launched a domestically made satellite into orbit for the first time. It has said the launch of the Omid satellite was for peaceful telecommunications and research purposes.

Iran, the world's fifth-largest oil exporter, says its nuclear program is solely to generate electricity, and Ahmadinejad said on Tuesday Iran was ready to send its enriched uranium abroad in exchange for nuclear fuel.

In December, Iran said it test-fired a long-range, upgraded Sejil 2 missile. British Prime Minister Gordon Brown at the time said the launch was of serious concern to the international community and underlined the case for tougher sanctions.

3 US soldiers among 9 killed

PAKISTAN: Nine persons including 3 foreigners were killed and 65 others wounded in a bomb blast in tehsil Balambat of lower Dir.

The blast occurred in the roadside bombing in Koto village, about 10 kilometers (six miles) from Taimargara, the main town in lower Dir district. The explosion also damaged the girls’ school building.

According to US news agency, three US soldiers attached with the Frontier Corps (FC) as trainer were killed in the blast. Three girls students, a security man and two civilians were also killed in the blast. Sixty-five persons including 40 girls’ students sustained injuries in the incident. The bodies and injured were shifted to district headquarters hospital Timargara. Security forces have cordoned off the area.

Obama's budget proposal draws rapid fire from legislators

WASHINGTON: President Obama's proposed $3.8 trillion budget ran into immediate trouble in Congress on Monday among lawmakers who said it tries to do too much while cutting the deficit too little.

The quick response came as Obama sought to juggle his twin goals of creating jobs, which entails tax cuts and new spending, and cutting the deficit, which involves the opposite.

Republicans who spent the past year criticizing Obama's $862 billion economic stimulus package, said the president was being spendthrift by raising the overall budget 3%. They lambasted his plan to let President George W. Bush's tax cuts expire next year for families making more than $250,000.

Rep. Paul Ryan, R-Wis., top Republican on the House Budget Committee, called the budget "a very aggressive agenda of more government spending, more taxes, more deficits and more debt — with just a few cosmetic budget maneuvers to give the illusion of restraint."

Liberal budget experts agreed that the plan didn't go far enough to reduce the deficit, despite $1.6 trillion in savings over 10 years. The $1.56 trillion deficit would be cut in half by 2014 but grow back to $1 trillion by 2020. The cumulative deficit over 10 years: $8.5 trillion.

"It falls well short of what will be needed to get deficits under control," said Robert Greenstein of the liberal Center on Budget and Policy Priorities. "The budget probably goes as far in that area as today's toxic political environment will allow."

That's the problem facing Obama and Congress as the budget debate begins along with congressional election campaigns. For years, lawmakers have rejected presidents' budget proposals and reshaped them because they have the final power to approve spending.