Triple 'terrorist' blasts kill at least 21 in Mumbai

MUMBAI: Three bombs rocked crowded districts of Mumbai during rush hour on Wednesday, killing at least 21 people and injuring 113 others.

India has remained jittery about the threat of militant strikes, especially since the November 2008 attacks which killed 166 people.

At least 113 people were wounded on Wednesday and preliminary reports showed the death toll had risen to 21 in the "terror attacks" centred mainly on Mumbai's jewellery trading centres, a senior government official said.

"This is another attack on the heart of India, heart of Mumbai. We will fully meet challenge, we are much better prepared than 26/11," Prithviraj Chavan, the state's chief minister, told a TV channel, referring to the 2008 attacks.

Home Minister Palaniappan Chidambaram also said "terrorists" were to blame.

"The blast occurred at about 6.45 pm (1315 GMT) within minutes of each other. Therefore, we infer that this was a coordinated attack by terrorists," Chidambaram told reporters.

At least one car and a motorbike were used in the coordinated attacks believed to have used improvised explosive devices, officials said.

"This tactic is much more in line with those used by more amateurish groups such as the Indian Mujahideen who have targeted crowded urban areas before," Stratfor, a strategic affair think tank, said in a statement.

Television images showed blaring ambulances carrying away the bloodied people at one of the attack sites. Other images showed bodies lying among glass and metal debris in narrow streets.

At the Dadar area in central Mumbai, one of the explosions left car windows shattered and uprooted electric poles. Police used sniffer dogs to look for clues while the public helped paramedics carry away some of the injured....more

Al-Qaeda’s cyber jihad on Facebook

AL-QAEDA is plotting a devastating "cyber jihad" against Britain and the West, it was revealed yesterday.

Terrorists have even tried to "invade" Facebook in their campaign of electronic warfare.

The extremists have launched crack units to target key computer systems. And Google Earth and Street View are being used to help plan atrocities.

The warnings came as Home Secretary Theresa May unveiled the Government's new counter-terrorism strategy. Senior security officials say cyber-terrorism will become an ever growing threat. One source said: "At the moment incidents are few and far between but it's a taste of things to come." more

Iraq to buy 18 U.S. F-16 fighters

WASHINGTON: Iraq has quietly started negotiations to buy U.S. fighter jets and air-defense systems worth billions of dollars, a purchase Washington hopes will help counter Iranian influences and cement long-term ties with Baghdad after American troops pull out.

Baghdad had frozen plans to buy 18 advanced U.S. F-16 fighters earlier this year after the Arab Spring protests in the region turned its attention to internal stability. Now, senior U.S. and Iraqi officials said Iraq is considering raising its purchase to as many as 36 of the jets.

The decision by Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki to renew the F-16 talks follows an unexpected surge in government oil revenue, and comes as a Dec. 31 deadline approaches for the departure of the 46,000 remaining U.S. troops from Iraq.

The complex intersection of U.S., Iraqi and Iranian interests has led the U.S. to bet that a strong Iraq will serve regional stability and keep Tehran's ambitions at bay. Mr. al-Maliki and his Shiite-dominated government have cordial relations with the theocratic Shiite regime in Tehran, even though the two nations fought bitterly during the 1980s.

U.S. officials have grown increasingly concerned about Tehran's growing influence in Iraqi politics, and any sale would require Baghdad to maintain tight security over any F-16s to prevent the transfer of sensitive U.S. technology.

Oman has likewise re-engaged with Washington in recent weeks about buying F-16s, which are manufactured by Lockheed Martin Corp.

Younger brother of Afghan president killed: officials

KANDAHAR: Ahmed Wali Karzai, the younger brother of the Afghan president and a powerful figure in the deeply troubled southern province of Kandahar, was assassinated on Tuesday, officials said.

Initial details were sketchy, but a family friend, speaking on condition of anonymity, told that Wali Karzai had been killed by a bodyguard while entertaining guests at home.

"We can confirm he has been martyred," Kandahar provincial government spokesman Zalmay Ayubi told providing no further details.

A health official, also speaking on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the information, said Wali Karzai had been shot dead.

The assassination came as Afghan President Hamid Karzai was to hold talks with French President Nicolas Sarkozy, on a surprise visit to Afghanistan where he announced that Paris would recall 1,000 soldiers by the end of next year.

Wali Karzai, head of Kandahar's provincial council, was long a deeply controversial figure in Afghanistan, dogged by allegations of unsavoury links to Afghanistan's lucrative opium trade and private security firms.

American documents leaked by Internet whistleblower WikiLeaks late last year also painted him as a corrupt drugs baron, but Western officials always kept quiet in public on the president's younger half brother's tainted record. (AFP)

South Sudan independence officially recognized

KHARTOUM, Sudan - The Sudanese government on Friday officially announced its recognition of South Sudan as an independent state with sovereignty as of Saturday based on the borders of January 1, 1956.

"The Republic of Sudan announces its recognition of the establishment of the Republic of South Sudan as an independent state with sovereignty, as of July 9, 2011, according to the borders of January 1, 1956 and according to the two sides' borders which were standing when the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) was inked on January 9, 2005," said a statement by the Sudanese Presidency, read by Sudanese Minister of the Presidency Affairs Bakri Hassan Salih here Friday.

South Sudan is expected to be officially declared independent on Saturday according to the results of a referendum on self-determination for southern Sudan. more

Murdoch to close tabloid 'News of the World' after hacking scandal

LONDON: The mass-circulation tabloid at the centre of the British phone hacking scandal is to be closed after a final, ad-free Sunday edition this weekend, according a statement by a top official at News Corp.

The move underscored the damage to News Corp, Rubert Murdoch's vast and powerful media company, from allegations that one of its papers, News of the World, was involved in hacking cellphones belonging to not only a 13-year-old murder victim but also relatives of fallen soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan. On Wednesday, a member of Parliament also raised allegations that nine years ago, News of the World had participated in efforts to disrupt a murder investigation. The announcement that News of the World would close was so sudden that it was still advertising a subscription deal on its Web site.

The new reports of stunning intrusions came a day after Britain's Parliament collectively turned on Rupert Murdoch, the head of the News Corporation, which owns The News of the World, and the tabloid culture he represents, using a debate about the widening phone hacking scandal to denounce reporting tactics by newspapers once seen as too politically influential to challenge.more

35 killed in Bolivia cold snap

LA PAZ: Freezing temperatures in Bolivia killed at least 35 people, and forecasts expect conditions to worsen in the coming days.

Fog and snow has descended on the Bolivian capital in a cold snap that has killed at least 35 people.

The poor area of El Alto, which sits at much higher elevation than the rest of La Paz at 4,000 metres above sea level (13,100 feet), has been the worst hit.

Authorities at the Fight Against Crime Special Forces said at least 33 people have died in El Alto's impoverished suburbs alone.

Residents in El Alto blame climate change for the harsh conditions, which buildings and heating systems in the area are not prepared for.

Homeless people who can't bundle up against the cold and have only blankets to protect themselves from the freezing temperatures are those most at risk from hypothermia.

The health ministry also reported 40,000 new cases of respiratory illnesses per week since the cold snap started.

Temperatures have dived to minus five degrees Celsius (23 degrees Fahrenheit) in La Paz and the local weather services says the mercury will continue to drop in the coming days.

World's longest sea bridge draws safety concerns

Beijing: Questions have been raised over the safety of the world's longest sea bridge that connects China's eastern Qingdao city with Huangdao Island, a media report said on Tuesday.

There are fears that in the rush to complete the construction ahead of its formal opening on June 30, some work on the bridge was left incomplete.

Several gaps were found in the crash barriers on the 42.5 kilometer Jiaozhou Bay Bridge. Bolts inserted to fasten the barriers were found to be loose or uncovered, the Shanghai Daily reported.

The bridge has seen nearly 18,000 cars crossing it daily since its opening.

The $2.3 billion Bridge, built to withstand earthquakes and typhoons, was expected to cut travel time between the two destinations by about 40 minutes.

The Shandong High-speed Group Co, which funded the project, said some barriers and bolts were removed to adjust wiring, which is a normal practice.

Workers toiled for four-and-a-half-years to build the bridge, which took the world's longest title from the 38.35 kilometer-long Lake Pontchartrain Causeway in the United States.

Computer-Hacking Group Targets Apple in Latest Attack

San Francisco:A group of computer hackers on Sunday posted a document it claimed contains usernames and passwords for an Apple Inc. server, the latest in a string of brazen attacks that have compromised government and corporate websites around the world.

"AntiSec," a hacking campaign that includes hackers from both the online vigilante group Anonymous and hackers from the now-defunct Lulz Security, posted a document containing a link to a supposed Apple server along with a list of 26 administrative usernames and passwords. AntiSec is Internet shorthand for "anti-security."

The hackers said in a statement posted to Twitter that they had accessed Apple's systems due to a security flaw used in software used by the Cupertino, Calif.-based gadget maker and other companies. "But don't worry," the hackers said, "we are busy elsewhere."

A spokesman for Apple didn't immediately respond to a request for comment.

The posted information comes as part of a two-month campaign of digital heists targeting corporations including Sony Corp. and AT&T Inc., as well as government agencies such as the U.S. Senate, the Central Intelligence Agency and the Arizona Department of Public Safety.

Fox News political account on Twitter is hacked

NEW YORK : A series of alarming Twitter posts about President Barack Obama appeared on Fox News' Twitter account for political news early Monday morning, and the website for the cable television network said it was a victim of hacking.
The Twitter account, @foxnewspolitics, one of many operated by Fox News, claimed that the president was fatally shot while campaigning in Iowa, but gave no source for the news. On Monday morning, FoxNews.com first posted a brief statement saying that the reports were incorrect, and that it regretted "any distress the false tweets may have created."

The six messages were removed online around noon Monday, about 10 hours after they were first posted, but not before attracting a flurry of attention overnight and in the morning. more

Djokovic stuns Nadal to clinch Wimbledon title

LONDON: Novak Djokovic won his first Wimbledon title on Sunday, dethroning champion Rafael Nadal with a 6-4, 6-1, 1-6, 6-3 triumph to celebrate his coronation as new world number one in style.

It was the 24-year-old Serb's third Grand Slam title, to add to his 2008 and 2011 Australian Open victories, and 50th win his last 51 matches.

Djokovic, who will succeed Nadal as world number one on Monday, also denied the Spaniard, the champion here in 2008 and 2010, an 11th Grand Slam title.

Djokovic went into the final with a 11-16 losing record against Nadal over their five-year rivalry but having won all four of their clashes in 2011 and all in finals.more

Panetta vows to keep US military 'strongest' in world

WASHINGTON: Defense Secretary Leon Panetta vowed Friday to keep the US military the "strongest" in the world despite budget pressures, after being sworn in as the new Pentagon chief.

"As your leader, I will ensure that our nation continues to have the best-trained, best-equipped, and strongest military in the world -- a force prepared to confront the challenges that face us," Panetta wrote in his first message to troops after taking the oath of office at the Pentagon.

"Even as the United States addresses fiscal challenges at home, there will be no hollow force on my watch," Panetta said. "That will require us all to be disciplined in how we manage taxpayer resources," he said. more

Fire menacing Los Alamos lab nears record size

NEW YORK: Firefighters inside a nuclear weapons complex in New Mexico scrambled on Thursday to clear brush near barrels of plutonium-contaminated waste stored just a few miles from a monster blaze roaring through surrounding forests.

The so-called Las Conchas Fire has charred nearly 93,000 acres of thick pine woodlands on the slopes of the Jemez Mountains since erupting on Sunday near the Los Alamos National Laboratory, and was poised to become New Mexico's largest ever wildfire by day's end.

"We're seeing fire behavior we've never seen down here, and it's really aggressive," Los Alamos County Fire Chief Douglas Tucker told reporters, adding that earlier hopes of lifting evacuations in the area by this weekend had been dashed. more

Pakistani scientists succeed in mapping genome

Karachi:Pakistani scientists have mapped genome of the first Pakistani, while with this historical achievement, Pakistan joins the ranks of the few countries - the US, UK, China, Japan and India - which have successfully sequenced the human genome.

Dr Panjwani Centre for Molecular Medicine & Drug Research (PCMD), University of Karachi (KU) and Beijing Genomics Institute, China, have jointly mapped genome of the first Pakistani, living in Karachi.

Pakistan has become the first country in the Muslim World as well that has mapped genome of a first Muslim man.

This historical announcement was made by Prof Dr M. Iqbal Choudhary, Director International Centre for Chemical and Biological Sciences (ICCBS), KU, while talking to a group of scientists at ICCBS. He said that the first Pakistani genome had been mapped using a newly developed technology ten years after the first human genome was discovered. The PCMD, working under the umbrella ICCBS, had reported mapping of the entire genome of a Pakistani male in just 10 months.

The individual who has been genetically mapped is a resident of Karachi, he added.

“According to the researchers, the newly-sequenced Pakistani genome has uncovered a multitude of ‘Pakistan’-specific sites which can now be used in design of large-scale studies that are better suited for the Pakistani population. The research team was comprised of Dr Kamran Azim, Assistant Professor in the Dr Panjwani Centre for Molecular Medicine and Drug Research and Dr Yong Zhang, head of the genomics department at the Beijing Genomics Institute, Shenzhen, China; among world leading genomics institutions,” he said.

Acknowledging the fact that the complete Pakistani genome has been sequenced for the first time Dr Azim said, “The new thing in the study is the technique which can trace back a mutation to the specific parent. We are still studying the actual genome data itself and how the genetic differences we identified may predispose this particular individual to certain diseases”.The news.