Moments-Of-My-Life

D-DAY (ALLIED INVASION OF NORMANDY,GERMAN OCCUPIED FRANCE)

2009-06-05T12:17:00.003+08:00

D-DAY IS THE SUCESS OF GAINING A STRONG FOOTHOLD IN NAZI OCCUPIED FRANCE,THIS IS CRUCIAL PART OF THE TURNING POINT FOR THE ALLIED AND NAZIS GERMANY! THE INVASION MAKE A HUGE TURNING POINT IN THE WAR IN EUROPE DURING WORLD WAR 2 AND THIS INVASION LEAD THE ALLIED TO MARCH INTO GERMANY MUCH LATER IN THE WAR.ITS ALL ABOUT FREEDOM,BROTHERHOOD,SACRIFICE AND LASTLY AND MAINLY VICTORY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! THEREFORE I HONOUR THOSE VETERANS OF THE WAR AND HONOUR THE FALLEN FOR BRINGING PEACE TO THE WORLD AND FOR AMERICA!!!!!!!!!

Limited print depicts famous D-Day jump

2009-06-05T12:10:00.002+08:00

A picture can say a thousand words, or bring back a thousand memories if you are Jake "McNasty" McNiece, Jack "Hawkeye" Womer, Jack Agnew or Robert "Ragsman" Cone.

This elite unit was given the name "The Filthy Thirteen," and they are being honored with a new painting by renowned artist Joel Iskowitz. The painting is being unveiled at the Mid-Atlantic Museum's 19th Annual World War II weekend, June 5 - 7, at the Reading Regional Airport in Pennsylvania.

All four surviving members will be present at the WWII weekend.

"The painting is all about 'The Filthy Thirteen.' We're honoring the four living members," said Bob Willis, co-owner of the Victory Art Gallery.

The painting depicts the Soldiers preparing for their jump by assembling gear and applying war paint next to their C-47 aircraft. The men were tasked with demolishing enemy targets behind the lines.

"There is a famous film clip of these guys getting ready on D-Day," Willis said. "We recreated this scene in a painting. This is a historical event that we have brought to color and life through a painting."

The painting will be on display at the WWII Weekend along with a C-47 aircraft and re-enactors.

"It's a way to honor the surviving members of 'The Filthy Thirteen' and the ones that didn't make it," Willis said. "There's a story behind the scenes of these guys."

Not many people can recall June 6, 1944, as a living memory, but some of these men can. The former Soldiers of the 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 101st Airborne Division, were jumping out of a damaged C-47 early D-Day morning.

As the group prepared for their mission, they were standing outside of their plane with their Mohawk haircuts and their Indian-style war paint, a moment this painting has frozen in time.

A similar photograph taken by a photographer from "Stars and Stripes" became famous and generated the myths about the squad that inspired the fictional story, "The Dirty Dozen."

"[The painting] looks really good. Most of the men you can recognize," said McNiece, who celebrated his 90th birthday on recently. "It's a beautiful painting. You almost want to speak to them. It gives me chills every time I look at it. We lost some of those men that night."

McNiece's D-Day jump is his most vivid memory. He was the acting platoon sergeant for the jump.

"I took 20 men into Normandy," he said. "By the time we had blown up two of the bridges and wired another, we were down to two men."

The Soldiers were tasked with destroying bridges over the Douve River during the Normandy Invasion of Europe.

"It's a wonderful piece of work," said Agnew. "It was so realistic that when I went to bed that night I thought I was there again."

Cone, an original member, was captured the morning of the D-Day jump, but three years ago he was reunited with his comrades.

"We lost track of him," said Agnew. "Jake called me a few years ago and told me to sit down because he got a call from 'Ragsman's' - that's what we called Bob - son saying he wanted to talk to us. We thought he was dead."

Not one of his fellow Soldiers thought Ragsman survived that day.

"I spent 11 months as a prisoner in Germany. When I got released no one knew I was alive," Cone said. "When I was liberated, I had to travel through five countries, some on my own getting rides from people, before I made it back to the United States."

"I think [the painting] is very good, and very true," said Cone. "I've had those memories for 65 years."

Although the four living Soldiers live in different cities throughout the country, they all travel to speak about their experiences and promote veterans.

"I spoke to three high school groups last Monday in Springfield, Illinois," said McNiece, "anything we can do to promote the welfare of the veterans, I don't mind doing it."

McNiece also wanted citizens to know that "they didn't die in vain over there. America will remain free. People don't realize the enormity of what we're doing. We continue to stand for what is right for the world and the United States."

The Victory Art Gallery will sell prints of the painting starting at the end of the month. The four surviving members signed 950 prints. These prints are 22.5 inches by 32 inches, with the image at 16.5 inches by 28 inches, and sells for $295.

There is a gallery edition of the print that will have one signature and is $195.

A package is available with a print and all four signatures, as well as other rare items. There are 250 packages available.

Chance meeting brings cavalry sergeant face-to-face with D-Day veteran

2009-06-05T12:06:00.000+08:00

SAINTE MERE EGLISE, France (Army News Service, June 4, 2009) – Although sun and waves come together to create a serene picture of Sainte Mere Eglise today, sixty-five years ago Saturday it was the site of one of the bloodiest battles in history.

On June 6, 1944, French, U. S. and other allied forces stood together on D-Day to fight the German occupiers of France. During the battle for the beaches of Normandy, paratroopers from American, British and Canadian forces landed along a 50-mile stretch of the Normandy coast.

It was largest single-day amphibious invasion in history, with 160,000 troops landing. Each year since the liberation of Normandy, allied forces have come here to honor those who fought here that day.

Sgt. 1st Class Steve Selvage, said he has waited 22 years to see the Normandy beaches and participate in commemoration ceremonies here.

"I have wanted to get here since my first year here in Germany. I just never had the chance," said the 3rd Squadron, 2nd Stryker Cavalry Regiment Soldier stationed in Vilseck, Germany. "It is a great honor."

Although Selvage's role here escorting distinguished visitors to the ceremony is a busy one, he has some time to take in the local sights. And when Selvage packed his gear for the week, he added a book by Stephen Ambrose he's had more than 10 years.

"I brought the book, 'D-Day,' which I have read at least three times," said the 23-year veteran. "I brought it strictly for reference when seeing some of the sights."

On one trip into Sainte Mere Eglise, Selvage, a father of three – including one son serving in Iraq - spotted an older gentleman in a leather bomber jacket passing by and overheard a couple British soldiers say, "There goes Ralph Manley." He immediately set out to meet the 91-year-old D-Day veteran.

Without knowing what to say, he approached Manley, book in hand, hoping to hear the first-hand tale of a surviving D-Day veteran.

"These guys are legends. They accomplished something I could never imagine," said Selvage. "I think it was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity."

It was also his last chance. Selvage is retiring from in the Army in a couple of months and many of the survivors are now in their 80s or older. Of the more than 154,000 allied forces that landed on Normandy, an estimated 10,000 were killed, wounded, missing or captured, and as the years have passed, more and more of the survivors have passed away or are now too elderly for a trip here.

While listening to Manley's story, Selvage said, the veteran noticed the D-Day book in the sergeant's hand. He reached for the book, opened its cover and signed a small memo inside.

"It was really enough that he would just sit and share his experiences with us," said Selvage. "He really didn't have to sign it for the experience to mean any more to me."

Although Manley is not mentioned in the book, that didn't lessen the experience for those who listened to his story. "Some people may say that just because he wasn't mentioned by name in a book that he was just an average GI," said Selvage’s buddy, Sgt. 1st Class Patrick Martin. "But to me, these guys are legends."

Later at his tent before lights-out, as Selvage took time to rest and reflect, he looked back through the book and pointed out the autograph to other Soldier friends, sharing his experience.

"You really just could not imagine what it was like until you stand on that beach or talk to one of the original veterans of that day in person," he said. "These guys always will be heroes in my book."

65th Anniversary of ALLIED INVASION OF NAZIS OCCUPIED EUROPE (D-DAY NORMANDY BEACH 1944)(FRANCE)

2009-06-05T11:43:00.004+08:00

The "Filthy Thirteen"
On June 6, 1944, nearly 160,000 allied troops landed along a 50-mile stretch of heavily-fortified French coastline to fight Nazi Germany on the beaches of Normandy, France. More than 5,000 ships and 13,000 aircraft supported the D-Day invasion, and by day’s end, the allies had gained a foot-hold in Normandy.

NIKE FOOTBALL

2009-03-25T20:22:00.001+08:00

Obama's whirlwind first day: economy, war and more

2009-01-22T19:22:00.000+08:00

WASHINGTON - In a first-day whirlwind, President Barack Obama showcased efforts to revive the economy on Wednesday, summoned top military officials to the White House to chart a new course in Iraq and eased into the daunting thicket of Middle East diplomacy. "What an opportunity we have to change this country," said the 47-year-old chief executive, who also issued new ethics rules for his administration, hosted a reception at the presidential mansion for 200 inauguration volunteers and guests selected by an Internet lottery and even took the oath of office again after it was flubbed Tuesday.

After dancing at inaugural balls with first lady Michelle Obama past midnight, Obama entered the Oval Office for the first time as president in early morning. He read a good luck note left behind by President George W. Bush, then began breaking cleanly with his predecessor's policies.

Aides circulated a draft of an executive order that would close the detention facility at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, within a year and halt all war crimes trials in the meantime.

Closing the site "would further the national security and foreign policy interests of the United States and the interests of justice," read the draft prepared for the new president's signature. A copy was obtained by The Associated Press, and an aide said privately that Obama would sign a formal order on Thursday.

Some of the 245 detainees currently held at Guantanamo would be released, while others would be transferred elsewhere and later put on trial under terms to be determined.

Obama's Cabinet was moving closer to completion.

At the Capitol, the Senate confirmed Hillary Rodham Clinton as secretary of state after a one-day delay forced by Republicans. The vote was 94-2, and spectators seated in the galleries erupted in applause when it was announced.

Treasury-designate Timothy Geithner emerged unscathed from his confirmation hearing, apologizing for having failed to pay $34,000 in taxes earlier in the decade.

To the evident anger of Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, Republicans on the panel invoked longstanding rules to postpone a vote on Eric Holder's appointment as attorney general.

Counting Clinton, seven Cabinet members have been confirmed so far, as have the two top officials at the Office of Management and Budget.

Obama's schedule for the day included separate sessions on the economy and the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The new president has pledged to take bold steps to revive the economy, which is struggling through the worst recession since the Great Depression. Last week, he won approval to use $350 billion in leftover financial industry bailout funds.

He presided over the White House meeting on the economy as the House Appropriations Committee moved toward approval of $358 billion in new spending, part of the economic stimulus package making its way to his desk.

The new commander in chief held his first meeting in the Situation Room, where he, Vice President Joe Biden and senior military and foreign policy officials discussed war in Iraq and Afghanistan. Obama campaigned on a pledge to withdraw U.S. combat forces from Iraq within 16 months, and to beef up the commitment in Afghanistan. Obama asked the Pentagon to do whatever additional planning necessary to "execute a responsible military drawdown from Iraq."

The new White House press secretary, Robert Gibbs, said Obama's phone calls to leaders in the Middle East were meant to convey his "commitment to active engagement in pursuit of Arab-Israeli peace from the beginning of his term."

Gibbs also that in conversations with Israeli, Palestinian, Egyptian and Jordanian leaders, the president emphasized he would work to consolidate the cease-fire between Israel and Hamas in Gaza.

Obama intends to name former Senate Majority leader George Mitchell as a special envoy to the region.

Not everything was new at the White House.

In the Oval Office, Obama worked at a desk built from the timbers of a British naval vessel, the HMS Resolute, and used off-and-on by presidents since the 1870s, including Bush. It also appeared that the carpet that Bush used in his second term, a yellow sunbeam design, was still in place.

If some of the furnishings remained in place, there was no doubt that the new president meant to fulfill his campaign promise of change.

"As of today, lobbyists will be subject to stricter limits than under any ... other administration in history," Obama told reporters as he signed the new rules. The restrictions included a ban on gifts by lobbyists to anyone serving in the administration.

He also imposed a pay freeze for about 100 White House aides who earn $100,000 or more. Its implementation was unclear, since none of them was on the payroll before Tuesday's noontime inauguration.

On Tuesday, within hours of Obama's inauguration, his administration froze last-minute Bush administration regulations before they could take effect.

Among them was an Interior Department proposal to remove gray wolves from Endangered Species protections in much of the northern Rocky Mountains, and a Labor Department recommendation that would allow companies that manage employee retirement plans to market investment products to plan participants.

On Wednesday night, Chief Justice John Roberts administered the oath to Obama at the White House _ a rare do-over. The surprise moment came in response to Tuesday's stumble, when Roberts got the words of the oath a little off, which prompted Obama to do so, too.

The White House reassured that Obama has still been president since noon on Inauguration Day. But Obama and Roberts went through the drill again out of what White House counsel Greg Craig called "an abundance of caution."

Obama and his wife began their day at a prayer service that is traditional for the first business day of a new administration. They were joined in front-pew seats by Biden and his wife, Jill, as well as former President Bill Clinton and his wife, hours away from confirmation as the nation's top diplomat.

"Grant to Barack Obama, president of the United States, and to all in authority your grace and good will. Bless them with your heavenly gifts, give them wisdom and strength to know and to do your will," prayed the Rev. Andy Stanley, one of numerous clerics from several religions to speak.

Obama and his wife also played host and hostess for a select 200 at an open house.

"Enjoy yourself, roam around," a smiling Obama told one guest.

"Don't break anything."

so long nvr post liao

2008-12-12T17:43:00.001+08:00

helo everyone tis blog look like dead liao cos nvr post for quite some time liao sry for tat ar

Bush promises smooth transition to Obama

2008-11-06T11:01:00.000+08:00

WASHINGTON (AFP) - - US President George W. Bush on Wednesday publicly congratulated Barack Obama on his historic victory and vowed "complete cooperation" as the first black US president moves into the White House.

"Last night, I had a warm conversation with president-elect Barack Obama. I congratulated him and Senator (Joe) Biden on their impressive victory," Bush said in his first public remarks on the election.

"I told the president-elect he can count on complete cooperation from my administration as he makes the transition to the White House," said the outgoing president, whose second four-year term ends January 20.

Bush also said he and First Lady Laura Bush had invited Obama and wife Michelle Obama to come to the presidential mansion, "and Laura and I are looking forward to welcoming them as soon as possible."

Bush, whose vast unpopularity weighed down fellow Republican and chosen successor John McCain's campaign, said he had also spoken to the defeated Arizona senator.

"I congratulated him on a determined campaign that he and Governor Palin ran," he said, referring to Alaska Governor Sarah Palin, who would have been the first woman vice president.

"The American people will always be grateful for the lifetime of service John McCain has devoted to this nation. And I know he'll continue to make tremendous contributions to our country," said Bush.

He also left little doubt about the president-elect's say in charting the nation's course over the next 76 days, saying he would keep Obama "fully informed on important decisions."

But "there's important work to do in the months ahead, and I will continue to conduct the people's business as long as this office remains in my trust," said Bush.

Eight years after campaigning on a pledge to be "a uniter not a divider," Bush was to leave a politically polarized country in which nine out of ten citizens worry the nation is on the wrong course but disagree what to do.

"No matter how they cast their ballots, all Americans can be proud of the history that was made yesterday," said the president, who underlined the historic nature of the choice made at the polls a day earlier.

"Many of our citizens thought they would never live to see that day. This moment is especially uplifting for a generation of Americans who witnessed the struggle for civil rights with their own eyes -- and four decades later see dream fulfilled," he said.

"A long campaign has now ended, and we move forward as one nation. We're embarking on a period of change in Washington, yet there are some things that will not change," he said.

"The United States government will stay vigilant in meeting its most important responsibility -- protecting the American people. And the world can be certain this commitment will remain steadfast under our next Commander-in-Chief," Bush said in his three-minute statement.

"And when the time comes on January the 20th, Laura and I will return home to Texas with treasured memories of our time here -- and with profound gratitude for the honor of serving this amazing country."

Singapore PM Lee congratulates Obama, Biden on election victory

2008-11-06T10:55:00.000+08:00

SINGAPORE : Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong has congratulated US president—elect Barack Obama and his running mate Joseph Biden on their decisive victory, after a long, hard battle.

Mr Lee said the world needed strong US leadership to overcome the deepening economic crisis and conclude the Doha Round of trade negotiations.

He noted other challenges ahead for the US president, including achieving an international agreement on climate change and defeating terrorism.

Mr Lee also encouraged Mr Obama to forge strong ties with ASEAN, as it could help the US keep the peace in the Asia Pacific.

Mr Lee said he looks forward to welcoming Mr Obama when Singapore hosts the APEC Leaders Meeting next year.

In a separate letter to Senator Biden, Mr Lee said he admired Mr Biden’s spirited campaign and was moved by his personal story of overcoming adversity.

Mr Lee said Mr Biden’s experience as chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee put him in a unique position to exercise leadership and help chart the way forward.

He noted that that both Singapore and the US enjoyed excellent relations and shared common perspectives on many international issues.

Mr Lee said he looks forward to working with Mr Biden and Mr Obama.

Obama becomes first black president in landslide

2008-11-05T12:42:00.000+08:00

WASHINGTON – Barack Obama was elected the nation's first black president Tuesday night in a historic triumph that overcame racial barriers as old as America itself.

The son of a black father from Kenya and a white mother from Kansas, the Democratic senator from Illinois sealed his victory by defeating Republican Sen. John McCain in a string of wins in hard-fought battleground states — Ohio, Florida, Virginia and Iowa.

A huge crowd in Grant Park in Chicago erupted in jubilation at the news of Obama's victory. Some wept.

McCain called his former rival to concede defeat — and the end of his own 10-year quest for the White House. "The American people have spoken, and spoken clearly," McCain told disappointed supporters in Arizona.

Obama and his running mate, Sen. Joseph Biden of Delaware, will take their oaths of office as president and vice president on Jan. 20, 2009.

As the 44th president, Obama will move into the Oval Office as leader of a country that is almost certainly in recession, and fighting two long wars, one in Iraq, the other in Afghanistan.

The popular vote was close, but not the count in the Electoral College, where it mattered most.

There, Obama's audacious decision to contest McCain in states that hadn't gone Democratic in years paid rich dividends.

Obama has said his first order of presidential business will be to tackle the economy. He has also pledged to withdraw most U.S. combat troops from Iraq within 16 months.

Fellow Democrats rode his coattails to larger majorities in both houses of Congress. They defeated incumbent Republicans and won open seats by turn.

The 47-year-old Illinois senator was little known just four years ago. A widely praised speech at the Democratic National Convention, delivered when he was merely a candidate for the Senate, changed that.

Overnight he became a sought-after surrogate campaigner, and he had scarcely settled into his Senate seat when he began preparing for his run for the White House.

A survey of voters leaving polling places on Tuesday showed the economy was by far the top Election Day issue. Six in 10 voters said so, and none of the other top issues — energy, Iraq, terrorism and health care — was picked by more than one in 10.

"May God bless whoever wins tonight," President Bush told dinner guests at the White House, where his tenure runs out on Jan. 20.

The Democratic leaders of Congress celebrated in Washington.

"It is not a mandate for a party or ideology but a mandate for change," said Senate Majority leader Harry Reid of Nevada.

Said Speaker Nancy Pelosi of California: "Tonight the American people have called for a new direction. They have called for change in America."

Shortly after 11 p.m. in the East, The Associated Press count showed Obama with 338 electoral vote, well over the 270 needed for victory. McCain had 127 after winning states that comprised the normal Republican base.

The nationwide popular vote was remarkably close. Totals from 58 percent of the nation's precincts showed Obama with 51 percent and McCain with 47.9.

Interviews with voters suggested that almost six in 10 women were backing Obama nationwide, while men leaned his way by a narrow margin. Just over half of whites supported McCain, giving him a slim advantage in a group that Bush carried overwhelmingly in 2004.

The results of the AP survey were based on a preliminary partial sample of nearly 10,000 voters in Election Day polls and in telephone interviews over the past week for early voters.

Democrats also acclaimed Senate successes by former Gov. Mark Warner in Virginia, Rep. Tom Udall in New Mexico and Rep. Mark Udall in Colorado. All won seats left open by Republican retirements.

In New Hampshire, former Gov. Jeanne Shaheen defeated Republican Sen. John Sununu in a rematch of their 2002 race, and Sen. Elizabeth Dole fell to Democrat Kay Hagan in North Carolina.

Democrats also looked for gains in the House. They found their first in Florida, defeating Rep. Tom Feeney, and another in Connecticut, where 22-year veteran Chris Shays was swept away by the Democratic tide.

The resurgent Democrats also elected a governor in one of the nation's traditional bellwether states when Missouri Attorney General Jay Nixon won his race.

Obama wins US election, to become first black president

2008-11-05T12:41:00.000+08:00

WASHINGTON, (AFP) - - Americans elected Democrat Barack Obama as their first black president, handing him an historic victory over Republican John McCain, television networks projected.

Obama, 47, will be inaugurated the 44th US president on January 20, 2009, and inherit an economy mired in the worst financial crisis since the 1930s, two wars in Afghanistan and Iraq and a nuclear showdown with Iran.

Television networks projected his victory over Republican John McCain after Senator Obama solidified traditional Democratic states and cut deep into the Republican territory which his rival needed to control to win the White House.

Obama's historic inauguration will complete a stunning ascent to the pinnacle of US and global politics from national obscurity just four years ago and close an eight year era of turbulence under President George W. Bush.

Bintan trip

2008-10-24T11:50:00.001+08:00

Yeah!!!!going to Bintan wif my school friends ,it be a 3 days 2night trip nt sure on when but then go thr for adventure is a nice thing to do ...looking forward to the trip ....haiz wish to go to other places this year end...

Boeing says strike risks delaying 787 test flight

2008-10-01T12:01:00.000+08:00

NEW YORK (AFP) - - US plane maker Boeing raised doubts Tuesday that the first flight of its next-generation jet, the 787 Dreamliner, would take place as scheduled later this year because of a strike by machinists.

"If the strike is going on, we can't try the 787 at the end of the year like we planned. We need the full team on board," Boeing spokesman Tim Healy told AFP on Tuesday.

He refused to discuss the possibility of more delays to deliveries of the state-of-the-art aircraft, saying only that the company would assess the impact of the strike when it ended.

"Alas I can't tell you when this strike is going to end," he said.

Boeing's 27,000 machinists, who represent 16 percent of the company's workforce, went on strike on September 6 after the collapse of three-year contract talks.

The strike has forced Boeing to halt aircraft production and could be costing the US aerospace giant more than 100 million dollars per day, analysts say.

Boeing has staked its future on the Dreamliner, which is the US firm's rival to the new Airbus A380 superjumbo.

The first deliveries of the 787, initially planned for the first half of 2008, have been pushed back to the third quarter of 2009. Any further delays in the schedule would damage Boeing's reputation and risk antagonizing clients.

In Japan, for example, All Nippon Airways, the launch customer for the Dreamliner, said last week it expects to receive its first delivery of the airplane in August 2009, 15 months behind schedule.

ANA, the country's second-largest carrier, said there had been no change to its order placed in 2004 for 50 Boeing 787s for about six billion dollars. It expects to receive about six of the planes every year until 2017, with an average delivery delay of two years.

The Asia-Pacific region is expected to become the biggest aviation market in the world within about a decade, a senior Boeing official said earlier Tuesday in Japan, where Japanese carriers buy almost exclusively from Boeing.

Earlier this month Asia's largest carrier Japan Airlines said it planned to receive its first Dreamliner in October 2009 -- not last month as planned -- and that it plans to have all of the 35 units by March 2017 instead of the initial agreement of March 2014.

A spokesman for the union leading the strike action, the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers (IAM), said the organization was in daily contact with a federal mediator but had no direct contact with Boeing management.

He underlined that one of the assembly sites for the 787 in Everett in Washington state had been affected by the strike -- although the company announced that the Everett plant on Saturday completed a high-pressure test known as "high blow," a key test prior to first flight.

The Dreamliner, Boeing's first new model in over a decade, takes advantage of the huge advances made in aviation technology in the past decade, and was designed using high-tech plastic composites instead of aluminum.

Motor racing-Ferrari head says F1 humiliated by Singapore race

2008-10-01T11:59:00.000+08:00

MILAN, Sept 30 - Ferrari president Luca di Montezemolo has poured scorn on Sunday's Singapore Grand Prix, saying the "circus" track and the use of the safety car had been humiliating for Formula One.

Formula One's first night race drew rave reviews from participants and onlookers, including the sport's delighted supremo Bernie Ecclestone, but was one to forget for the Italian team.

Brazilian title contender Felipe Massa had his race ruined by a bungled pit stop while faltering world champion Kimi Raikkonen crashed near the end.

"When we race on tracks which should be used for the circus, anything can happen including the spectacle of the Safety Car," Montezemolo was quoted as saying in Tuesday's Gazzetta dello Sport newspaper.

"All this is humiliating for F1 and it is an aspect I want to talk about with the other teams in the next few weeks."

Singapore saw two safety car interventions, the first of which turned the race upside down and contributed to Spaniard Fernando Alonso's unexpected victory for Renault.

Montezemolo, appointed this month as the first chairman of the Formula One Teams Association, said before the race that street circuits and the lack of overtaking opportunities were not the right way forward for the sport.

Ferrari's failure to score any points in Singapore meant McLaren's Lewis Hamilton, third behind winner Fernando Alonso, extended his championship lead over Massa to seven points with three races left.

Finn Raikkonen is out of contention but Montezemolo still sounded confident.

"We have the best Ferrari, Massa is the best. I expect... Raikkonen to show he is world champion in the remaining races, to help Massa, to race for the good of the team and to finish in front of the McLarens," he said.

The team president also backed the mechanics who gave Massa the green light during a pit stop despite the fuel hose still being attached to the car as he sped away.

"We have extraordinary mechanics who in other occasions have swung results our way. We must stay close to each other because Ferrari are always world champions and are still in the running to win," Montezemolo added.

Formula One: Alonso's future at Renault remains undecided

2008-09-29T15:46:00.000+08:00

SINGAPORE, Sept 29, 2008 (AFP) - Fernando Alonso remains non-committal on his future with Renault despite posting his first victory in a year at the Singapore Grand Prix.

The two-time world champion Spaniard has yet to finalise his plans for 2009, but he is known to be biding his time before deciding what to do.

With no seats remaining available at Ferrari or McLaren Mercedes, he has been linked with a possible move to BMW Sauber, but may yet stay with Renault after breaking his win drought.

Team boss Flavio Briatore insisted the future was still unclear.

"Well, it's not a victory that changes a situation," the Italian said.

"We have a good relationship with Fernando, we are talking together, and we will be happy with his decision.

"That is all that I can say for the moment."

Alonso also declined to shed any light on what he might do, denying that he was now beginning to prepare for Renault's 2009 campaign.

"No, I didn't say that," he said when asked.

"It's not changing the decision for next year. As I've always said, Renault will be my first priority because I feel I'm at home in this team."

Prior to his win here after starting from 15th on the grid, the 27-year-old had struggled to make an impact this year, with a fourth place his previous best result.

His unexpected victory in an incident-packed night race came as a relief.

"I think I need a couple of days to realise we won a race this year," he said.

"It seems impossible all through the season to be close to the top guys and here suddenly we have been competitive from Friday. It's fantastic."

Formula One: Alonso's future at Renault remains undecided

2008-09-29T15:45:00.000+08:00

Formula One: Raikkonen concedes title hopes over

2008-09-29T15:41:00.000+08:00

SINGAPORE, Sept 29, 2008 (AFP) - Kimi Raikkonen has conceded that any hope he had of defending his world title has evaporated after his disastrous Singapore Grand Prix.

The Ferrari star finished outside the points for his fourth consecutive race after ramming his car into the barriers with just four laps left when he was in fifth.

It leaves the Finn 27 points adrift of leader Lewis Hamilton with three races to go.

"It was a pretty small chance anyhow," he said of his title chances.

"I'm not sad for my fifth place but I'm sorry for the team to lose those points. But for sure we'll try to do better next race."

Raikkonen has not won a race since the Spanish Grand Prix in April and the last time he scored any championship points was at Germany in July, when he finished sixth.

But his position at Ferrari is guaranteed after signing a new contract and he vowed to do all he could to help the team win the constructors' title.

"I am not used to giving up and I will do my very best to try and help the team reach its targets," he told reporters.

With teammate Felipe Massa also finishing outside the points, there is every chance that Raikkonen will be under orders to help the Brazilian in his bid to win the drivers' title.

Massa is seven points behind McLaren's Hamilton.

"I know what the team wants -- they want to win the world championship," he said.

"We will see what happens. I'm trying to win races too and we will see what happens. I'm out of the championship anyhow."

He added that he crashed as he tried to pass Timo Glock to lift himself into fourth position.

"I was trying to attack Glock in case he might make a mistake but I went slightly wide at the chicane, jumping over the kerb, and when the car landed I lost control and ended up in the barriers," he said.

"Clearly, morale is not high today."

Motor racing-Gamble pays off for runner-up Rosberg

2008-09-29T14:44:00.000+08:00

SINGAPORE, Sept 28 - Nico Rosberg was a relieved man on Sunday after the Williams driver risked all to secure a career-best second place at Formula One's first night race in Singapore.

The German had made a poor start and dropped two places to 10th, stuck in a caravan of cars behind Toyota's Jarno Trulli and in danger of losing contact with the first eight drivers around the tight Marina Bay Street Circuit.

"My start wasn't great on the dirty side of the track," the 23-year-old told reporters. "I was stuck behind Jarno and my team told me if I didn't get past him my race was over.

"So I just had to get by him and I risked it.

"I went for it a couple of times and was pretty close. In the end, I locked up all four wheels and got past despite flat-spotting my tyres afterwards.

"I then had to do one qualifying lap after another to get clear again."

Rosberg then inherited the lead after the safety car was deployed following Nelson Piquet's crash on the 15th lap.

With leader and pole sitter Felipe Massa making a disastrous pitstop when all the leading contenders came in for a change of tyres, Rosberg was well-placed despite collecting a stop-go penalty for refuelling when the pitlane was closed.

The German had built a large enough advantage at the head of the pack to re-emerge in second place behind eventual winner Fernando Alonso.

"The safety car came out just when I was coming in and I couldn't believe it," added Rosberg, who's previous best finish was third place in this season's opening Australian Grand Prix in Melbourne.

"But it turned out well in the end and its very nice to be up here celebrating my second podium. It gives the team a big boost... not only now but for the off season.

"I think we deserve the success too. We have had a lot of bad luck, so it's nice that the luck was on our side for a change.

"Fernando was just a little bit too quick for me to go for the win, so I just made sure I could stay ahead of (third place finisher) Lewis until the end of the race."

Formula One: Massa refuses to blame crew for pit disaster

2008-09-29T14:42:00.000+08:00

SINGAPORE, Sept 29, 2008 (AFP) - Ferrari world title contender Felipe Massa had a disastrous Singapore Grand Prix Sunday but refused to blame the mechanic who ruined his race.

The Brazilian, ahead of rival Lewis Hamilton at the time after 15 laps, was given the green light to leave the pits but the fuel hose was still attached as he accelerated away, spraying petrol and knocking over one of the pit crew.

Massa ended up sitting in his Ferrari at the end of the pit lane as the crew frantically ran after him and managed to pull the hose free.

But he was given a drive-through penalty for almost hitting another car as he drove away and rejoined in 18th place, ending any hope he had of making the points.

Despite the disaster, he was philosophical.

"We could have finished first and second and it could have been different," he said as he slipped seven points behind Hamilton in the drivers' standings with three races left after the Briton finished third.

"It is hard to deal with losing in this fashion a race that was within our grasp with a car that was just the way I wanted it.

"But things can change in a moment and that's what happened today.

"We are all human beings, everyone makes mistakes. I am not the sort of person who goes to a guy and fights with him.

"So I went to the guy and gave him even more motivation because we need him and we need everybody together for the last three races of the season."

It was a race to forget for Ferrari with defending world champion Kimi Raikkonen failing to finish after ramming his car into the barriers with just four laps left when he was fifth.

"A black day, there's little else to day. We are very disappointed but that doesn't mean we are downtrodden," Ferrari team principal Stefano Domenicali told reporters, brushing aside suggestions the mechanic would be reprimanded.

"You try to be quick, try to find the right slot for the car to be released," he said.

"It is a difficult moment. We have to have a lot of respect for these guys, who are not top drivers but are part of us."

David Coulthard in a Red Bull had a similar pit-stop blunder with his fuel hose also left on and a mechanic hurt, although his crew resolved the issue quickly.

Motor racing-Singapore the big winner in first night grand prix

2008-09-29T14:39:00.000+08:00

SINGAPORE, Sept 29 - Fernando Alonso was crowned Formula One's prince of darkness on Sunday, after streaking to the chequered flag at the sport's first night-time grand prix in Singapore.

The Spaniard's triumph at Formula One's 800th race was heralded by customary champagne-fuelled celebrations, the podium jubilation adhering to time-honoured motor racing etiquette.

But while Renault's twice former world champion will be forever noted as the Singapore GP's first winner, the F1 honour roll will not so easily record the biggest winner of the weekend -- the South-East Asian city-state whose staging of a spectacular and innovative race has left the motor racing world agog with admiration.

A jewel in the Formula One crown is how the sport's supremo Bernie Ecclestone described the Singapore race, adding that floodlit events were the future for the sport.

It helped that Sunday night's race was an action-packed roller-coaster of thrills, drama and daredevil driving.

"In this part of the world, for sure, night races will take off," the billionaire who owns the sport's commercial rights said on Sunday. Ecclestone plans to turn the Japanese GP into a night race next.

SINGAPOREAN EXTRAVAGANZA

McLaren boss Ron Dennis raved about the Singaporean extravaganza.

"It is not just a new experience," he said, "It is a real big step in the history of grand prix racing because it has been done so well.

"Everything has been proven now and we can take this model and apply it to anywhere in the world - either to bring to Europe the race at a time when people watch it, or even within Europe to make it more spectacular."

Williams team boss, the eponymous Frank Williams, echoed Ecclestone's thoughts.

"It has a good chance of challenging Monaco for being the jewel in the crown of Formula One," he told Autosport magazine's website.

From the floodlit 5.067 kilometre track, strewn across Singapore's downtown like a luminous ribbon, to the state-of-the-art facilities and clockwork organisation, the entire staging of the grand prix has been an exercise in how to get it right.

Organisers had faced a headache of eye-watering proportions in their ambitions to step into the unknown and host the extravaganza under the stars.

For the lighting alone, 1,600 lantern-like projectors were rigged up, requiring more than 100,000 metres of cabling and 240 steel pylons to illuminate the track.

FESTIVAL ATMOSPHERE

The result was some of the most spectacular images of any sporting event. Pictures of gleaming Ferraris speeding through a hi-tech cityscape vied with images of cars streaking past the world's largest observation wheel, the Singapore Flyer -- pictures which filled the media and fuelled the appetite for motor sport.

More than 300,000 people poured through the gates over three days, a sell-out, and created a festival atmosphere.

Organisers set up "hawker stalls" offering visitors a taste of authentic Singaporean food while magicians, singers and jugglers entertained the masses.

"It costs a lot of money, the lights, the circuit and the organisation. But it is a great investment for the city. And, of course, it is fantastic for F1. It is, in the best sense of the word, a highlight," Mercedes motorsport vice-president Norbert Haug said.

Even the drivers, a breed of detail-obsessed, nit-picking perfectionists, gave it the thumbs up.

"The track and the facilities here have been phenomenal," championship leader Lewis Hamilton said after finishing third.

"The organisers should be very proud of the job they have done."

Singapore on track to complete Changi race circuit

2008-09-28T11:34:00.001+08:00

SINGAPORE: Singapore is on track to complete its first permanent race circuit in Changi by 2011.

Teo Ser Luck, Senior Parliamentary Secretary for Community Development, Youth and Sports, said this on Thursday.

While Mr Teo did not reveal the number of interested tenderers, he said the government is in talks with several parties and is exploring the different possibilities of developing the facility which will be fully funded by the private sector.

He said: "We are committed to wanting to develop a race track. We are open to different ideas which are coming forward because for the government side, we want to make it successful, and it must be a win—win partnership between the consortium that ultimately wins it and operates it, and the government as well."

"We are also assessing what needs to be done in that race track. It is a seafront race track, so we must maximise that piece of land there, not just as a race track but possibly an area where tourists will come, locals will go there and everybody would look at it as more than just for car races, but it is a family outing area as well," added Mr Teo.

The race track, which will be built on a 20—hectare plot, is likely to stretch between 2.8km and 3.5km, short compared to the Singapore Grand Prix circuit of 5.067km.

"That piece of land there is quite vast, but there are other needs for that piece of land, so I would say there is no confirmation or final (decision) on size and all that, we will talk to the different parties and decide later," said Mr Teo.

The Changi race track will be capable of hosting major motorsports events, except for F1 races, which need Grade 1 circuits, and include facilities such as a racing and driver training school, and a pit building and grandstand.

Hafiz Koh, a Singapore pro race driver, said: "It’s definitely a good training ground for drivers to move forward if you have a track and you could start earlier but for GP drivers like myself, who drive GP cars, we still need to travel a lot and test different tracks. The only way you can learn is to drive different cars on different tracks."

Motor racing-Hamilton and Massa set for first corner showdown

2008-09-28T11:32:00.002+08:00

SINGAPORE, Sept 27 - Championship leader Lewis Hamilton warned on Saturday that his hopes of winning the Singapore Grand Prix could all come down to a first corner clash with title rival Felipe Massa.

The McLaren driver qualified second for Sunday's race with Ferrari's Massa capturing his fifth pole position of the season with what he called a "perfect lap" under the city-state's floodlights.

Hamilton was a massive 0.664 seconds slower than the Brazilian around the 5.067km circuit and said the city-state's tight, bumpy streets would make it virtually impossible to win Formula One's first night race if Massa made no mistakes.

The Ferrari driver won the last street circuit race, in Valencia, after the pair had again qualified first and second on the grid.

"Depends who gets to the first corner first," Hamilton told reporters on Saturday.

"You will not be able to overtake out there. It is going to be tough. just have to play it by ear."

The 23-year-old said his car had the potential to go quicker in Sunday's race, which starts at 2000 local , while Massa had already shown his hand. The Briton leads Massa by a single point in the standings with four races remaining.

"My lap was by no means perfect. Felipe said he did a perfect lap," he added.

"We are not worried, we are in a very strong position tomorrow. I am happy where I am, we're looking quite good with our strategy."

Singapore F1 track too bumpy, drivers complain

2008-09-28T11:32:00.001+08:00

SINGAPORE (AFP) - - The Singapore street circuit is too bumpy and a cause for concern, some of Formula One's top drivers say, but they are thriving on the challenge.

The island is hosting its inaugural Grand Prix and has been widely praised for putting on a spectacular show, but the city streets are proving problematic.

World championship leader Lewis Hamilton said it was twice as hard to negotiate as the more famous Monaco street circuit.

"Through certain corners there was lots of bottoming, and when you hit a bump it would throw the car around quite a bit - but it's an amazing venue," said the McLaren driver.

"It's a very physical circuit - more than I expected, actually," he added.

"You need to put a lot of work into the car to get a good lap. I'd say it requires double the energy of Monaco over a single lap. One lap around here is like two laps of Monaco."

His teammate Heikki Kovalainen is also wary about the bumps

"The track was quite bumpy. Perhaps we should also look at the pit entry - it could be quite difficult if a driver decides to pull into the pits at the last minute," he said.

"However, everything else about the track is fine. This place has got some difficult corners but I quite like all the sectors."

Ferrari's title challenger Felipe Massa agreed with Kovalainen about the pit entry.

"The entry and exit to the pit lane could turn out to be a bit critical in the race," he said.

"In general, the track surface has a lot of grip but in some points there are some bumps that are a bit of a pain.

"It is a street circuit which means you have to concentrate all the time as there is no margin for error."

Williams driver Kazuki Nakajima said the track was hugely challenging.

"It's a very tough track, hot and bumpy, probably the bumpiest track surface we encounter all season," he said.

"As a consequence, I think it will be a pretty demanding race."

His thoughts were echoed by Sebastian Vettel, who won his first ever Grand Prix in Italy earlier this month.

"Visibility is not a problem. Some places are darker than others and it's good fun," said the Toro Rosso driver of hurtling round the circuit under lights.

"The track is very difficult, but unfortunately the surface is very bumpy which does not make life easy. It is tough and demanding for both car and driver."

'Clock ticking' on global warming: UN climate chief

2008-09-04T22:41:00.001+08:00

ACCRA (AFP) - - Time is running out in the fight against global warming, the UN's top climate change official warned as a new round of UN talks got started here Thursday.

"There is little time left to get a solid negotiating text on the table. Clearly the clock is ticking," said Yvo de Boer, executive secretary of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change.

"People in a burning house cannot afford to lose time in an argument," he said, citing an Ashanti proverb.

The Accra gathering must strive to "reach agreement on the rules and tools" that developed countries will use to cut greenhouse gas emissions, he told more than 1,600 delegates from 160 nations.

Ghana's President John Kufuor echoed the sense of urgency in his opening remarks, noting that his country was already suffering the consequences of global warming.

Rainfall in Ghana has decreased by 20 percent in three decades, and 1,000 square kilometres (400 square miles) of fertile agricultural land in the upper Volta Delta will be lost to rising sea levels and flooding if temperatures rise at their current pace, he said.

The expert-level meeting, which runs through August 27, is the third UN climate change conference since nations committed to adopting a binding climate accord no later than December 2009.

It is the last meeting ahead of a ministerial summit in Poznan, Poland in December where rich countries will be under intense pressure to nail down near-term commitments for reducing greenhouse gases.

The Group of Eight industrialised powers pledged to halve emissions by 2050, but critics say intermediate goals are needed.

"The real political commitment is short- and medium-term," Connie Hedegaard, the Danish Minister for Climate and Energy, told delegates.

"We have to speed up the pace. The negotiations here in Accra must deliver concrete results" about what technologies will be used to cut emissions, she said.

Africa is arguably the continent most vulnerable to the potential ravages of climate change, which range from extreme drought to violent storms to rising sea levels.

De Boer challenged delegates to be "ambitious," and said if they failed Africa would continue, in terms of climate change, to be the "forgotten continent".

He insisted that rich countries step up financial assistance to help Africa with global warming.

African produces the fewest emissions, he pointed out, but will likely well pay the heaviest price.

De Boer and Kufuor underlined the threat of deforestation, which is destroying one of nature's most powerful natural buffers against global warming.

The world's forests -- which are disappearing at a rate of about 30 million hectares (74 million acres) per year -- soak up more than 20 percent of the carbon dioxide in the atmosphere.

"Governments need to focus on reducing emissions caused by deforestation and forest degradation," and on how to reward countries that protect forests, said de Boer.

The problem is particularly acute in Amazonia, central Africa and Indonesia, experts note.

The World Wildlife Fund (WWF), an environmental group, called on the Accra meeting to adopt the Olympic motto of "faster, higher, stronger."

"Progress on substance ... must be swifter, the level of ambition by both developed and developing countries higher, and the measures to reduce CO2 (carbon dioxide) emissions stronger," said Kim Carstensen, director of the WWF's Global Climate Change Initiative.

Worrying Issue:19-square-mile ice sheet breaks loose in Canada

2008-09-04T22:40:00.001+08:00

TORONTO - A chunk of ice shelf nearly the size of Manhattan has broken away from Ellesmere Island in Canada's northern Arctic, another dramatic indication of how warmer temperatures are changing the polar frontier, scientists said Wednesday.

Derek Mueller, an Arctic ice shelf specialist at Trent University in Ontario, told The Associated Press that the 4,500-year-old Markham Ice Shelf separated in early August and the 19-square-mile shelf is now adrift in the Arctic Ocean.

"The Markham Ice Shelf was a big surprise because it suddenly disappeared. We went under cloud for a bit during our research and when the weather cleared up, all of a sudden there was no more ice shelf. It was a shocking event that underscores the rapidity of changes taking place in the Arctic," said Mueller.

Mueller also said that two large sections of ice detached from the Serson Ice Shelf, shrinking that ice feature by 47 square miles _ or 60 percent _ and that the Ward Hunt Ice Shelf has also continued to break up, losing an additional eight square miles.

Mueller reported last month that seven square miles of the 170-square-mile and 130-feet-thick Ward Hunt shelf had broken off.

This comes on the heels of unusual cracks in a northern Greenland glacier, rapid melting of a southern Greenland glacier, and a near record loss for Arctic sea ice this summer. And earlier this year a 160-square mile chunk of an Antarctic ice shelf disintegrated.

"Reduced sea ice conditions and unusually high air temperatures have facilitated the ice shelf losses this summer," said Luke Copland, director of the Laboratory for Cryospheric Research at the University of Ottawa. "And extensive new cracks across remaining parts of the largest remaining ice shelf, the Ward Hunt, mean that it will continue to disintegrate in the coming years."

Formed by accumulating snow and freezing meltwater, ice shelves are large platforms of thick, ancient sea ice that float on the ocean's surface but are connected to land.

Ellesmere Island was once entirely ringed by a single enormous ice shelf that broke up in the early 1900s. All that is left today are the four much smaller shelves that together cover little more than 299 square miles.

Martin Jeffries of the U.S. National Science Foundation and University of Alaska Fairbanks said in a statement Tuesday that the summer's ice shelf loss is equivalent to over three times the area of Manhattan, totaling 82 square miles _ losses that have reduced Arctic Ocean ice cover to its second-biggest retreat since satellite measurements began 30 years ago.

"These changes are irreversible under the present climate and indicate that the environmental conditions that have kept these ice shelves in balance for thousands of years are no longer present," said Mueller.

During the last century, when ice shelves would break off, thick sea ice would eventually reform in their place.

"But today, warmer temperatures and a changing climate means there's no hope for regrowth. A scary scenario," said Mueller.

The loss of these ice shelves means that rare ecosystems that depend on them are on the brink of extinction, said Warwick Vincent, director of Laval University's Centre for Northern Studies and a researcher in the program ArcticNet.

"The Markham Ice Shelf had half the biomass for the entire Canadian Arctic Ice Shelf ecosystem as a habitat for cold, tolerant microbial life; algae that sit on top of the ice shelf and photosynthesis like plants would. Now that it's disappeared, we're looking at ecosystems on the verge of extinction,' said Mueller.

Along with decimating ecosystems, drifting ice shelves and warmer temperatures that will cause further melting ice pose a hazard to populated shipping routes in the Arctic region _ a phenomenon that Canada's Prime Minister Stephen Harper seems to welcome.

Harper announced last week that he plans to expand exploration of the region's known oil and mineral deposits, a possibility that has become more evident as a result of melting sea ice. It is the burning of oil and other fossil fuels that scientists say is the chief cause of manmade warming and melting ice.

Harper also said Canada would toughen reporting requirements for ships entering its waters in the Far North, where some of those territorial claims are disputed by the United States and other countries.

Suspected remains of WWII airman found dangling from trees in PNG

2008-08-31T20:35:00.001+08:00

SYDNEY (AFP) - - Australia's military was Friday making plans to examine the suspected remains of a World War II airman found dangling from trees in a dense Papua New Guinea jungle, a spokesman told AFP.

Hikers on the Kokoda Trail, where a bitter World War II battle was fought between allied and Japanese forces, discovered the moss-covered body last week tangled in parachute lines and hanging from trees in thick jungle.

"I couldn't make it out at first. It wasn't until the wind blew that you could really see it is in a harness," said guide David Collins, who was leading a group of Australian hikers.

"There are goggles and it appears to be caught up in cables, so presumably it is an airman," he said.

An Australian Defence Force spokesman told AFP on Friday that the military was planning an inspection of the remains to determine whether they are those of a World War II flyer and, if so, to establish his nationality.

"We are aware of the reports and we are looking at what can be done to identify the remains and establish whether they are of an Australian and if they date back to the Second World War," a spokesman said.

"It's too early to speculate on the nationality of the airman or the circumstances of his death. There were allied -- Australian and American -- and Japanese airmen who would have been flying over the area in the war," he said.

A Defence Department spokeswoman told AFP that the remains were found close to sites used by US aircraft during World War II.

"A number of allied aircraft had been reported as missing in the area, in particular B25 Mitchells and a number of Kitty Hawk aircraft," she said.

The jungle in the area where the airman was found is extremely dense and hikers are warned not to stray off the Kokoda Trail as unexploded ordinance remains strewn in the area more than half a century after fighting ceased.

"Defence is still determining arrangements to mount an expedition to the site," the spokeswoman added.

Some 600 Australian soldiers died in battle near the extremely rugged Kokoda Trail, which was seen by the allies as a crucial point at which to halt the Japanese military's southern advance through the Pacific towards Australia.

Around 6,000 Japanese troops tried to cross the trail, which sits atop the Owen Stanley Range, in a bid to capture the Papua New Guinea capital Port Moresby, which was seen as a possible launchpad for an invasion of Australia.

Japanese officials in Port Moresby who have viewed a videotape of the remains were unable to determine the flyer's nationality.

2008-08-31T20:25:00.002+08:00

sry 10days since i last posted on blog and 1 week since olympic closing ceremony...lolz...today went to see the rsaf open hse 2008 ,very nice to see the performance seh.still wish to see it but disapointed that nvr see F-15 fighter jet in the oepn hse ,wish the next oepn hse in 2010 can see again.i'm particular very interested in the air force and every air force open hse i sure gt go one lolzz...cos i interested in aviation...hahaha...lolz

Bolt sets 200m world record to claim sprint double

2008-08-21T15:15:00.002+08:00

BEIJING (AFP) - - Jamaican Usain Bolt streaked to the 200m gold in world record time Wednesday to complete the sprint double for the first time in 24 years at the Olympic Games and then loudly declared himself "Number One".

Bolt's scintillating run in front of 91,000 people in the packed Bird's Nest stadium came four days after his epic record-breaking victory in the 100m final.

It also put the competition back in focus after the Games were stung earlier in the day when it was revealed Ukraine's heptathlon silver medallist Liudmyla Blonska had become the first high-profile doping failure.

On the eve of his 22nd birthday, Bolt bagged the 100m-200m double last achieved by Carl Lewis in 1984, stopping the clock at 19.30sec to shatter Michael Johnson's 12-year old record.

After an impromptu dance on the track, an ecstatic Bolt repeatedly chanted "I am number one" as the crowd responded with a chorus of "Happy Birthday".

"I feel good. I have just proved to the world I am a true champion and with hard work anything is possible," Bolt told BBC television.

Churandy Martina of the Dutch Antilles claimed silver and defending champion Shawn Crawford was promoted to third after team-mate Wallace Spearmon was disqualified for running out of his lane.

Meanwhile the International Olympic Committee confirmed the 30-year-old Blonska had failed her A sample and the result of the B sample would be known Thursday.

Blonska faced a lifetime ban if both samples prove positive after serving a previous suspension for taking stanozolol, the anabolic steriod used by disgraced sprinter Ben Johnson.

International Athletics Federation president Lamine Diack confirmed an investigation was underway.

"The procedure is running. The B-sample will no doubt be opened today and a decision taken tomorrow."

If confirmed, Blonska would be the fifth athlete to test positive, although the previous four only involved one podium finisher - North Korean shooter Kim Jong-Su, a minor medallist.

China continues to hold a commanding lead on the medal table with 45 compared to 26 for the the United States and 16 for Great Britain.

Jamaica also scored a psychological edge over the United States in the women's 200m with Veronica Campbell and Kerron Stewart the fastest qualifiers in the semi-finals ahead of Allyson Felix of the United States.

Cuba's world record holder Dayron Robles continued to look unbeatable as he breezed through the semi-finals of the 110m hurdles, with his path eased by the injury withdrawals of Chinese icon Liu Xiang and American Terrence Trammell.

Ethiopian Kenenisa Bekele, who already has the 10,000m gold, cruised into the final of the 5000m to keep his bid afloat for the double last achieved by compatriot Miruts Yifter in the 1980 Moscow Games.

On another successful day for the Games hosts, sailor Yin Jian won the women's windsurfing and Wu Jingyu beat Thailand's unfancied Buttree Puedpong in the women's -48kg taekwondo.

They also entered their first ever women's hockey final with a thrilling 3-2 win over reigning champions Germany.

At the opposite end of the scale to China's runaway medal success, taekwondo produced emerging Afghanistan's first ever Olympic medal when Rohullah Nikpai took the men's -58kg bronze medal. Guillermo Perez of Mexico won the gold.

Russian open water superstar Larisa Ilchenko entered the record books as the first women's 10km swimming marathon champion when the sport made its debut on Wednesday.

South Africa's Natalie du Toit, created a record as the first amputee to qualify for the Olympic Games, finished 16th in the 25-strong field women's swimming marathon and pledged to be back in 2012 to do better.

"I don't even think about not having a leg and if I want to keep competing I will have to continue to qualify with the able-bodied. For me it's not about the disability at all," said du Toit who lost her left leg in a motorcycle accident seven years ago.

153 killed in Madrid airline crash

2008-08-21T15:15:00.001+08:00

MADRID (AFP) - - A Spanish tourist jet carrying 172 people careened off a Madrid airport runway and broke up in flames on Wednesday, killing 153 people in the country's worst air crash in more than 20 years, the government said.

One engine of the Spanair MD-82 caught fire during the attempted take-off from Madrid-Barajas airport on a flight to Las Palmas in the Canary Islands at 2:45pm (1245 GMT), Spanish media said, quoting witnesses.

Smoke billowed from the wreckage of Flight JK 5022. Helicopters dropped water to douse the flames of the jet and grassfires caused by the crash.

The airport cancelled departures after the crash and restricted the number of flights arriving. About 30 incoming flights were delayed by up to seven hours.

Transport Minister Magdalena Alvarez said 153 people were killed among the 172 people on board, 10 of them crew members.

She told a news conference that 19 people were injured, 17 of whom had been identified.

The head of the emergency and rescue services in Madrid, Ervigio Corral, earlier said the bodies were scattered over a wide area, and some of the survivors were able to "walk away" from the accident.

At least 50 emergency service vehicles were at the scene.

Spanair, Spain's second largest airline after Iberia, said the names of the passengers and crew would only be released after families have been notified.

"Information on the number of people involved is not yet available, but Spanair is doing everything possible to help the Spanish authorities at this difficult time," the company added.

The flight was a codeshare with Lufthansa and the German carrier said four passengers from a Lufthansa flight were registered on the ill-fated Spanair jet and had arrived in Madrid.

The Swedish foreign ministry said two Swedes were among those on board, at least one of whom survived.

At the airport, friends and family members of those on board were escorted into a special room, where priests were present. Dozens more distraught friends and family waited at Las Palmas airport.

Spanair's managing director Marcus Hedblom described it as "the worst thing that could happen" and expressed his condolences to the families of those killed.

SAS, the Scandinavian airline which owns Spanair, said a special team had been set up in Madrid. "SAS is doing everything possible to help passengers and next of kin and to assist Spanish authorities."

Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero interrupted his holiday to go to the scene, his office said.

The Boeing Co., which owns McDonnell Douglas, offered assistance to Spanish authorities investigating the disaster.

It was the deadliest air accident in Spain since February 1985, when 148 people were killed in a crash in the northern city of Bilbao.

The most deadly accident in Europe's aviation history remains the collision between two Boeing 747s at Tenerife airport in Spain's Canary Islands on March 27, 1977 with 583 victims.

Spanair has had a good safety record until now.

However, five passengers on a Spanair flight from Spain's Basque region to Barcelona were injured in an emergency evacuation on January 9, 2006.

The airline was founded in 1986 and says it has carried more than 104 million passengers from about 100 European destinations to Spain since then. It has a fleet of 65 jets.

The carrier, a member of the Star Alliance network, recently proposed shedding almost a quarter of its 4,000 staff because of the fuel price rise crisis and reduced demand.

It posted net losses of 41 million euros (62 million dollars) in the first quarter.

SAS shares plunged 6.41 percent on the Stockholm stock exchange after the crash.

SAS had put Spanair on the block earlier this year but announced in June that it was abandoning the sale plans due to the slowdown in the aviation sector.

Bolt, Powell, Gay coast through 100 heat

2008-08-15T22:41:00.000+08:00

BEIJING - Tyson Gay burst out of the blocks, accelerated to the lead then coasted to the finish.

If there was any twinge of pain in his hamstring, it didn't show.

If he is anything other than healthy, he didn't say.

Racing for the first time since crumpling to the track six weeks ago, America's fastest sprinter enjoyed an uneventful debut at the Beijing Games, coasting to the finish Friday to win his preliminary heat in 10.22 seconds.

"It feels good," Gay said, referring to the left leg that has had the track world wondering. "I felt a little sluggish the first round, but my body is woke up now."

World record-holder Usain Bolt and fellow Jamaican Asafa Powell also advanced comfortably, winning their heats.

And with that, track and field was finally under way at these Olympics.

The quarterfinals were set for later Friday. All three are expected to make Saturday's final _ perhaps the most highly anticipated event of the 10-day track and field meet at the Bird's Nest.

Bolt, Powell and Gay are owners of the eight fastest times ever.

Blue skies and wispy white clouds welcomed the runners as they started the day in the 91,000-seat stadium, with the temperature around 80 degrees. Air quality has been a major issue for months, but an overnight rainstorm cleared the air. It was the first nonhazy day in Beijing since the games began.

Entering the day there was concern about Gay's status, though he has been assuring everyone in Beijing he's fine. Rounding the first corner of the 200 at the Olympic trials, the 100 and 200 world champion pulled up, then sprawled out. He needed to be carted off the track _ hardly perfect preparation for his first Olympics.

Gay pulled out of a race in London last month, then skipped the American training camp in Dalian, China, choosing to come directly to Beijing to march in last week's opening ceremony and work out at the U.S. training facility.

Lining up in Lane 2 for his first race since the injury, he got off to a decent start, then pulled ahead about halfway through.

Bolt also turned the first race of his first Olympics into a nonevent. He got off to a bad start and was in last place about 10 strides in, but passed everybody and was jogging when he crossed first, in 10.20.

It was just the kind of energy-saving start everyone expected from the 21-year-old sprinter, who set the world record of 9.72 in a blowout win over Gay on May 31 in New York.

Bolt needs to go easy because he'll be trying for two individual medals. Even though he holds the 100 record, the 200 has been his better race, and it starts Monday. After some hemming and hawing he committed to running the 100, a race he started taking seriously only this year.

"Tonight, tonight, tonight," Bolt said as he hustled through the interview area to get ready for the later heats.

Powell simply gave a thumbs up after winning his heat in 10.16. He held the world record for three years until Bolt broke it.

Powell has overcome a chest injury that sidelined him for much of the season, but insists that's healed and what fans are most interested in is how he responds to pressure. Never known as a big-race performer, he finished fifth at the Athens Olympics and third at last year's world championships, pulling up at the end.

Americans Darvis Patton and Walter Dix also advanced. Dix qualified for the U.S. team in the 200 and it is he, not Gay, who has a chance at two individual medals.

"I felt controlled, good start, did exactly what I wanted to do in that race," Dix said after finishing third, in 10.35.

Dix was set to run in the second-round heat with Powell, while Patton was placed in the same race with Gay. On Saturday, the final 16 go in the semifinals, with the final set later the same day.

The fastest time of the morning was 10.13, run by Tyrone Edgar of Britain.

The first track and field medals were to be handed out later Friday in the shot put, and Americans Reese Hoffa, Christian Cantwell and Adam Nelson all made it through to preserve the possibility of a sweep.

The 315-pound Hoffa has put out the tantalizing prospect of a gymnastics celebration _ a roundoff back tuck _ if he wins gold in the evening session.

His plans for the midday break?

"Probably play a few video games," he said. "Something like with the Wii, where you don't have to push buttons."

Nelson, meanwhile, was heading straight to physical therapy. He has sore ribs after hurting himself in training Monday. The two-time Olympic silver medalist said he'll tough it out.

"It's a case of mind over matter," Nelson said. "If I breathe or turn the wrong way, it bothers me."

UN still unable to agree call for South Ossetia ceasefire

2008-08-09T11:16:00.000+08:00

UNITED NATIONS (AFP) - - The UN Security Council failed yet again to agree on a call for an immediate truce in the worsening fighting in Georgia's breakaway South Ossetia enclave but agreed to make another attempt Saturday.

At Georgia's request, the 15-member council held a second emergency meeting to try to defuse mounting tension after Russian tanks and troops surged into South Ossetia to repel a Georgian offensive to reclaim the breakaway region amid fighting said to have left hundreds dead.

"Some members of the council need more time ...This negotiation has not come to a halt tonight and will be resumed tomorrow (Saturday)," Belgium's UN envoy Jan Grauls, the council chair this month, said as he emerged from hours of closed-door consultations.

"The expectation around the world is for a ceasefire, for an end to use of (Russian) aerial bombing, missile attacks, use of combat forces,� US Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad told reporters. "The time has come to cease these attacks."

But he said that his Russian counterpart Vitaly Churkin also insisted on "the restoration of the status quo ante" that prevailed before Thursday's Georgian offensive .

Diplomats said a Belgian-drafted compromise statement also urges the warring sides to "show restraint and to refrain from any further acts of violence or force," calls for respect by the parties of past accords and for the provision of humanitarian aid to the victims.

As he did during an overnight debate that also proved inconclusive, Churkin again insisted on the need for Tbilisi to agree to a formal renunciation of the use of force by either side.

Tbilisi was entirely to blame for the escalation and was continuing "its treacherous attacks" on South Ossetia "with the connivance of a number of Security Council members," the Russian envoy said.

"A humanitarian catastrophe is in the offing," he added as he accused Georgia of "gross violations of humanitarian law," including reports of ethnic cleansing and attacks on civilians.

Earlier Friday, Russia's defense ministry said more than 10 of its troops deployed in South Ossetia had been killed amid the Georgian offensive in the breakaway region, according to Russian news agencies.

"We will not allow to go unpunished the deaths of our compatriots," Churkin warned as he said Moscow was rushing relief to thousands of South Ossetians fleeing the fighting.

"Historically Russia was and will remain the guarantor of the security of the people of the Caucasus," he added.

Britain's deputy ambassador Karen Pierce made clear that "humanitarian assistance cannot be used as a pretext for the presence of non-Georgian troops."

Georgian Ambassador Irakli Alasania said his country was acting in "self-defense" and charged that Russia "started a full-scale military invasion" of his country and had even sent strategic bombers to strike targets across Georgia.

He also accused Moscow of "openly challenging the international community" and demanded an immediate end to its "criminal acts."

French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner, whose country currently holds the rotating EU presidency, is "in contact with all the protagonists in the crisis" to try to obtain a ceasefire, his ministry said Friday.

Khalilzad urged "the parties to show the utmost restraint and refrain from actions that would further inflame the situation."

The Security Council had met for several hours overnight at Moscow's request but failed to agree on a Russian statement that would have called on Georgian troops and their separatist foes to renounce the use of force.

Meanwhile the European Union, France, the United States, Britain and NATO pressed for an immediate end to the violence in South Ossetia.

South Ossetia broke from Georgia in the early 1990s and has since been a constant source of friction between Tbilisi and Moscow.

The Tbilisi government accuses Russia of wanting to take over the province, and launched its new assault in an apparent bid to stamp its authority on South Ossetia.

In recent months, Moscow and Tbilisi have sparred repeatedly over South Ossetia and another breakaway Georgian region, Abkhazia.

History is made: The Olympics come to China

2008-08-09T11:15:00.000+08:00

BEIJING - Bubbling with pent-up anticipation, the huge crowd counted down the last five seconds to China's biggest moment on the world stage: "Wu! Si! San! Er! Yi!"

Then, crack! Fireworks kicked off the stun-and-awe globally televised extravaganza, opening the Beijing Olympics and giving China's Communist Party the type of feel-good publicity only the Summer Games _ and $40 billion in Olympics-related investments _ can bring.

Wow, the world's most populous nation gave us quite a show, stunning at times, if also a little frightening and overdone in its size, grandeur and naked ambition. With no public dissent allowed of the mounds of money that have been poured into these games, the government stamped an indelible and very expensive mark on Olympic history.

The amassed VIPs _ never have so many foreign leaders gathered here or at any single Olympics _ were a pat on the back for China in response. They dared not rain on China's party by staying away. But nor did leaders like President George W. Bush want to look like vassals coming to pay tribute at the Chinese court. He conditioned his attendance with swipes at China's human rights record. China, he said earlier in the day, should "let people say what they think."

But for four hours, those differences were set aside, as China realized a century-old ambition of holding the games.

After such a long wait, it made the most of the spotlight and the television audience of a few billion.

Behind the dancers and the 2,008 pounding drums that tore the air, the opening ceremonies sent this message: We Chinese are an ancient, proud civilization, and our time has come to be fully accepted again into the family of nations.

As the show's theme song said, "You and me, from one world."

In China's case, that has never been truer. As it has moved from revolution to capitalism, the links between this century's new power and the world have become as interwoven and dense _ although not as sturdy _ as the steel girders that form the 91,000-seat "Bird's Nest" National Stadium, which hosted the ceremonies.

Forty years ago, under Chairman Mao Zedong, China still largely shunned the world. But on Friday, some of the biggest cheers erupted when NBA stars Kobe Bryant and Dirk Nowitzki _ who will compete here and marched with their countries' squads _ were shown on the stadium's giant screens.

But for all the good will that radiated from the Bird's Nest on this hot and sticky night, old and new rivalries still showed through the careful choreography. The largely Chinese crowd gave a frosty reception to the Japanese team as it marched in. Downtown, on Beijing's biggest shopping mall, there were boos from spectators watching on a giant screen.

Otherwise, there were no apparent glitches. The highlight was the lighting of the stadium's giant Olympic torch by former gymnast Li Ning. The winner of six medals, three gold, at the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics, he is now the mogul of a sportswear company that bears his name. As such, he is a symbol of China's rise as an economic power.

But the show also had authoritarian tinges, and lacked spontaneity at times. Cheerleaders frequently bounded up and down the aisles, telling spectators when to wave their flags and electric sparklers. Security men in dark suits, ear pieces and buzz cuts sat among the crowd, keeping watch.

If it hadn't been for the cheers, it might almost have been possible to hear the Chinese organizers' sighs of relief. The seven years since the hotly contested decision to award the games to Beijing have focused attention on China as never before. The communist government has faced the heat of criticism over its human rights record, its repression of Tibet, its support of the Sudanese regime tied to murder in Dafur.

Now, the focus should shift, although perhaps not fully, to the sports that begin Saturday.

The creative mind behind Friday's show, film director Zhang Yimou, crafted a tapestry that spanned from China's ancient past to its modernizing present. There were astronauts lowered from the skies, seas of performers in suits covered with glittering electric lights.

This was all about portraying a nation growing stronger, with proud roots in history and a shining future, joined in peace with the world.

Wang Yaxiong, 18, who came dressed with a Chinese flag draped over his back and another painted on his forehead, bought into the show's message. Like the Communist Party, he wants the rest of the world to buy into it, too.

"These Olympics are a window on our country," he said. "I hope people will take a fresh look at China."

NDP 2008 43rd Birthday of Singapore

2008-08-09T11:12:00.002+08:00

yesterday was the opening ceremony of the Beijing Olympic,Today is Singapore 43rd Birthday,i wish Singapore a 43rd National day and happi birthday singapore!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!111

Hiroshima marks bomb anniversary with hope for US change on nukes

2008-08-06T16:01:00.000+08:00

HIROSHIMA, Japan (AFP) - - The Japanese city of Hiroshima on Wednesday marked the 63rd anniversary of the world's first nuclear attack amid hope the next US president will work for the abolition of atomic weapons.

Some 45,000 people, including Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda, gathered at a memorial to the dead within sight of the A-bomb dome, a former exhibition hall burned to a skeleton by the bomb's incinerating heat.

They stood up and offered silent prayers at 8:15 am, the exact moment in 1945 when a single US bomb instantly killed more than 140,000 people and fatally injured tens of thousands of others with radiation or horrific burns.

Delivering a speech at the memorial, Hiroshima mayor Tadatoshi Akiba noted the United States was one of only three countries which oppose a UN resolution submitted by Japan calling for the abolition of nuclear arms.

"We can only hope that the president of the United States elected this November will listen conscientiously to the majority, for whom the top priority is human survival," he said.

Akiba said the effects of the atomic bombing on the minds of survivors had been underestimated for decades, adding that "the voices, faces and forms that vanished in the hell" never left the hearts of survivors.

With the average age of survivors now over 75, he said the city would launch a two-year scientific study of the psychological impact of the experience.

"This study should teach us the grave import of the truth, born of tragedy and suffering, that the only role for nuclear weapons is to be abolished," the mayor told the service, which was also addressed by local school children.

"Children who evacuated buildings or went to work at factories on that day have not returned 63 years on... the atomic bomb deprived them of normal life," said 11-year-old Honoka Imai.

A Chinese representative, a diplomat, attended the annual ceremony for the first time in a move welcomed by the city, which each year invites representatives of the world's eight declared nuclear powers to the event.

Previously India, Pakistan and Russia were the only nuclear powers that had sent representatives to the ceremony. The other declared nuclear states -- Britain, France, North Korea and the United States -- have never come.

Three days after the Hiroshima bombing, the United States dropped a second nuclear bomb on Nagasaki, which killed another 70,000 people in the southern port city.

Japan surrendered in World War II on August 15. The nation has since been officially pacifist and turned into one of the closest US allies, hosting more than 40,000 US troops.

Dozens of atomic bomb survivors and activists gathered in Nagasaki this week to protest against the arrival of a US nuclear-powered submarine, just days after it emerged another vessel may have leaked a small amount of radiation earlier this year.

Beijing celebrates as Olympic flame begins final journey

2008-08-06T16:00:00.000+08:00

BEIJING (AFP) - - The Olympic torch began its final leg in the heart of Beijing on Wednesday, with genuine excitement among the city's millions replacing the controversy that often surrounded its global journey.

Thousands of people waving Chinese flags gathered in historic Tiananmen Square in an event that was broadcast on national television and showcased national fervour for the Games, now just two days away.

Astronaut hero Yang Liwei was the first to carry the flame, followed minutes later by basketball icon Yao Ming, who was mobbed by enthusiastic fans under the portrait of Mao Zedong, founder of Communist China.

By the end of the day's four-hour relay, 433 people were to have taken the torch through the streets of the capital, including 29 foreigners, the Beijing Times said.

The final stages in Beijing mark an end to the most ambitious and controversial torch relay in Olympic history, after protests dogged its global journey and the domestic leg was overshadowed by the Sichuan earthquake.

But for many Chinese the torch relay, and in particular its final moments in Beijing, were a time for celebration.

"I feel very excited and very proud because the Olympic Games is a 100-year dream of China's. I'm very happy to see the torch relay," said Jiang Rong, a 60-year-old Beijinger at Tiananmen with 30 colleagues to watch the torch.

"We've had 30 years of reform and opening up. I hope foreigners will understand China," he said.

Even as the majority of the city's 17 million carried on their daily lives, they found it hard to conceal their pride.

"I feel excited and proud because it's the first time China will hold the Olympics, and China has been looking forward to it for a long time," said Ge Yanzeng, a 24-year-old on his way to work at a downtown company.

"Amid the aspirations and well-wishes of the people of the entire city, it will complete its harmonious journey welcoming the grand opening of the Games," Beijing mayor Guo Jinlong said at a ceremony in Tiananmen to start the leg.

The choice of Yang Liwei and Yao Ming in the first group of torch-bearers was highly symbolic of China's newfound place in the world.

Yang was China's first man in space in 2003, while Yao, a bona fide NBA star, has made it to the global sports elite like few other Chinese athletes.

But the more than 400 other torch-bearers seemed picked to reflect the breadth of China's recent achievements in fields as far apart as culture, sports and science.

Acclaimed film director Zhang Yimou, who is orchestrating the much anticipated Olympic opening ceremony, was number 86, jogging down the street sporting a relaxed smile and his trademark crew cut.

Torch-bearers also included senior International Olypic Committee executive board member Kevan Gosper from Australia, and Lang Lang, a Chinese piano virtuoso famous far beyond the borders of China.

The youngest on the list, 14-year-old high school student Ren Yi, was the fourth person to carry the torch through the streets of Beijing.

"I will only run a few metres, but the experience will remain with me throughout my life," she told the China Daily newspaper.

The 130-day relay crossed 19 countries before returning to China for a three-month tour that included a historic ascent of Mount Everest, in what Chinese authorities had hoped would be a celebration of the nation's global rise.

However overseas activists seeking to pressure China over human rights and other sensitive issues staged protests in Paris, London, San Francisco and Asian cities, deeply angering the Chinese government.

In China, the torch relay was briefly suspended and the route was altered after the May 12 earthquake in Sichuan province, which left nearly 88,000 people dead or missing.

Ronaldinho and Messi lift profile of Olympic football

2008-08-06T15:59:00.000+08:00

BEIJING - Football is set to break from its traditionally low Olympic profile in Beijing thanks to the presence of Argentina's Lionel Messi and Brazil's Ronaldinho, two of the game's top players.

The tournament, which kicks off on Thursday with all 16 teams in action, boasts one of the most impressive line-ups in its 100-year history with Argentine forward Sergio Aguero, Brazilian teenager Alexandre Pato and U.S. prodigy Freddy Adu among the other players set to take part.

But far from calming the controversy over whether football should be part of the Games, the presence of so many top players has stirred it up.

Three clubs have appealed to the Court of Arbitration for Sport against a FIFA rule which obliges them to release under-23 players including Barcelona, who want Messi to return to Spain.

CAS is due to decide before Thursday's games.

FIFA president Sepp Blatter said on Monday that directors from football's governing body would meet with their counterparts from the International Olympic Committee after Beijing to discuss football's Olympic future.

"To avoid any misunderstandings for 2012, it has been decided that each item relating to the presence of football at the Olympic Games shall be discussed immediately after the 2008 tournament," he said.

Blatter did not enlarge on what alternative suggestions would be put forward to the current format which restricts the tournament to under-23 teams with three overage players allowed per side.

IOC president Jacques Rogge has already said he wants a new deal for the sport.

"My dream is for all the stars of football to be at the Olympics, because in all the other sports the best are there," he told the German Bild am Sonntag newspaper in March.

EASTERN EUROPE

Despite being an Olympic sport since 1908, football has often sat uneasily at the Olympics and many feel its presence is an anomaly.

Until 1980, the Olympic tournament was officially amateur but, in the period after the Second World War, Eastern Europe countries fielded their strongest national teams, saying that their top players were not professionals.

When professionalism came to the Olympics, FIFA were faced with the possibility of a rival to their own World Cup and responded by imposing an under-23 age limit.

Argentina, who play Ivory Coast in Group A in Shanghai, are strong candidates to retain their title while their arch-rivals Brazil stand out as their main challengers.

Brazil have never won an Olympic gold and are so determined to put that right that senior coach Dunga has taken charge of their team.

They face Belgium in Group C in Shenyang in the first half of a double bill which will be completed with hosts China facing New Zealand.

Thursday's games also see 1996 champions Nigeria face European under-21 champions Netherlands in a Group B match in Tianjin while 2000 winners Cameroon take on South Korea in Qinhuangdao in Group D.

Climber saved after K2 mountaineering disaster

2008-08-04T19:06:00.000+08:00

GILGIT, Pakistan (AFP) - - Pakistani rescuers Monday saved one climber stranded on K2 and tried to help another after a catastrophic ice avalanche on the world's second highest peak killed 11 mountaineers.

Three South Koreans, two Nepalis, two Pakistanis, a Serbian, an Irishman, a Norwegian and a Frenchman were killed when a chunk of ice swept away ropes near the summit of the 28,251-foot (8,611-metre) peak on Friday, officials said.

A Dutch climber was rescued by helicopter and a missing Italian had been located but was still stuck on the mountain, widely-acknowledged by climbers to be more difficult to scale than Everest, said officials.

"At least 11 climbers have died. This is one of the worst incidents in the history of K2 climbing," Sultan Alam, a Pakistani mountaineering guide, told AFP from the peak's base camp located at an altitude of 5,200 metres.

The exact number of climbers affected remains unclear but Alam said he was aware of 17 whose ropes were swept away, with 11 dead, two stuck on the mountain and three back at Base Camp.

"One Dutch was rescued by helicopter from K2 this morning while an Italian is still at an altitude of 7,200 metres," Alam said as the roar of a helicopter could be heard in the background.

Another chopper went up to help the stranded Italian but could not touch down and returned after a brief contact with the climber, said Alam.

"Our four high altitude porters left a while ago and it is expected that they will bring the Italian climber down this evening," he said.

The avalanche happened when a pillar of ice broke away in a steep gully known as the Bottleneck about 1,300 feet below the summit and swept away fixed lines used by the mountaineers as they made their descent.

"The three mountaineers who survived are suffering from severe frostbite," said Alam, who works for Adventure Tours Pakistan, which operated one of the expeditions caught up in the disaster.

"They are badly affected and it appears that at least one of them would have his hand and leg chopped off. This is what our high altitude doctors believe," the guide said.

He said that the place where the accident happens was "dangerous" and needed great technical skill to cross.

Citing the climbers, he said that a Spanish climber had just got past the Bottleneck when the avalanche happened.

"The rope collapsed and the climbers started falling in various directions, some fell in (neighbouring) China, some in Pakistan," he said.

The incident was the worst since 1986 when 12 climbers died, said Nazir Sabir, a celebrated Pakistani mountaineer who scaled K2 in 1981.

The pyramid-shaped K2, which sits on the border between Pakistan and China in the towering Karakoram range, is considered by mountaineers to be by far the hardest of the 14 summits over 8,000 metres to scale.

"I have carried down both living and dead people from the mountain," the climber, Fredrik Straeng, told the Swedish news agency TT, explaining how he feared for his life when a Pakistani fell on top of him.

He also put the death toll at 11.

"I was terrified that he would pull us all off the cliff and screamed to him to use his ice axe, but he lost his grip and plummeted off a 300-metre cliff," Straeng said.

He said a large number of climbers decided to leave their camp at just over 7,000 metres to try to reach the summit after the skies cleared following a long period of poor weather.

"We had a feeling this would not turn out well and decided to turn around. The accident could have been prevented. These mountains lure out way too inexperienced and naive people," he said.

Missing Irishman Gerard McDonnell, 37, an Alaska-based oil worker who has climbed Everest, was given up for dead by experienced mountaineering friend, Pat Falvey.

Norwegian media reported that Rolf Bae, 33, died in the disaster, while his wife was reportedly trying to make her way down with two other Norwegians.

Italian climbers Achille Compagnoni and Lino Lacedelli first scaled the mountain on July 31, 1954. Between that first ascent and 2007, there were 284 successful ascents and 66 fatalities.

In the same period, Everest was summited 3,681 times, with 210 deaths

China border attack kills 16 police

2008-08-04T19:05:00.000+08:00

BEIJING (AFP) - - China's Olympic run-up stuttered again Monday as it reported that terrorists killed 16 policemen in the nation's far northwest, while pollution returned to fill athletes' lungs in Beijing.

The attack in the Muslim-populated Xinjiang region raised the security temperature ahead of the Games, which begin on Friday, as authorities had repeatedly warned that militants there were planning to sabotage the Games.

It also follows deadly bomb blasts in the southwestern city of Kunming last month and in Shanghai in May, killing a total of five people, which a Muslim militant group with ties to Xinjiang claimed responsibility for.

The Chinese organisers of the Games said they were checking for any link between Monday's attack and the Olympics, but immediately sought to reassure the world about security arrangements for the event.

"We have strengthened security work in all Olympic venues and in the Olympic village. We are well-prepared in security for the upcoming Games," Beijing Olympic organising committee spokesman Sun Weide said.

According to the official version of the attack published in the state-run media, two assailants in Xinjiang's famed Silk Road city of Kashgar killed 16 policemen and injured another 16.

The pair drove a truck at the police officers who were jogging near their barracks, the Xinhua news agency said.

After the truck hit a roadside pole, the two got off and threw home-made explosives at the barracks, then moved in to hack at police officers with knives, Xinhua reported, adding that both attackers were arrested.

Kashgar is 4,000 kilometres (2,500 miles) from Beijing, close to the Tajikistan border.

Xinhua did not identify who the terrorists may be affiliated to, but China has said previously that Muslim groups seeking independence for Xinjiang and the creation of "East Turkestan" were a major security threat.

Xinjiang, a vast area that borders Central Asia, has about 8.3 million ethnic Muslim Uighurs , and many are unhappy with what they say has been decades of repressive Communist Chinese rule.

The East Turkestan Islamic Movement (ETIM), which reportedly operates inside Xinjiang and in neighbouring Afghanistan, is listed by China, the United States and the United Nations as a terrorist organisation.

However exiled Uighur dissidents and some human rights groups say China's claims that the ETIM is a major threat are exaggerated.

Last month, a group calling itself the Turkestan Islamic Party (TIP) claimed credit for the deadly bus blasts in Shanghai and Kunming. Some experts believe TIP is part of ETIM.

After raising the alarm about Olympic terrorist attacks, China denied the TIP carried out those attacks, but said nothing more as to who may be responsible.

One of the other problems for China in the Olympics run-up has been Beijing's notorious pollution, which International Olympic Committee president Jacques Rogge said last year could lead to some endurance events being postponed.

After relatively clear skies over the weekend that led Chinese officials to trumpet the success of drastic anti-pollution measures, a familiar heavy smog permeated the city on Monday.

One million of the city's 3.3 million cars were taken off the roads from July 20, and more than 100 heavily polluting factories and building sites were closed down.

Chinese authorities have said they could take further measures if air quality remained poor, and officials were quoted in the state press on Monday as saying those emergency plans may kick in soon.

"Should environmental departments foresee serious air pollution during the Olympics, Beijing and neighbouring areas will temporarily close more factories and pull more cars off the road," Fan Yuansheng, director of pollution control at the Ministry of Environmental Protection, was quoted as saying.

16 police killed in attack in China Muslim region: state media

2008-08-04T19:04:00.000+08:00

BEIJING (AFP) - - Sixteen policemen in China's Muslim-majority northwest were killed on Monday in a suspected terrorist attack, state media said, raising security fears four days before the Beijing Olympics.

In one of the deadliest reported attacks in China in years, two men aimed a lorry at police officers jogging near their barracks in Kashgar, a city in the Xinjiang region, the Xinhua news agency said.

After the lorry hit a roadside pole, the two got off and threw home-made explosives at the barracks, moving in to hack at police officers with knives, the agency reported.

It said 14 police were killed on the spot and two died from their wounds on the way to hospital, while 16 others were injured.

Both attackers were arrested, one of them with a leg injury sustained during the raid, according to the news agency. Xinhua said debris from five explosives was found near the barracks.

"The raid... was suspected as a terrorist attack," the agency said, citing local police in the city, which is close to the Tajikistan border and around 4,000 kilometres (2,500 miles) from Beijing.

The incident threw a shadow over the Olympic countdown, after government warnings that members of Xinjiang's Uighurs, a Turkic-speaking people, were planning to stage attacks to wreck the Games.

Dilxat Raxit, a Sweden-based spokesman for the World Uighur Congress, said he had been in touch with several people in Kashgar who confirmed an attack had taken place.

Anger was rising among the Uighurs about a pre-Olympic crackdown by Chinese authorities, involving numerous arrests, he said, but he could not confirm if the attack was carried out by Uighurs.

"The police and soldiers just arrest them without any rules," he told AFP by telephone.

Beijing Olympic organisers said it did not know yet if there was a direct connection to the showpiece sporting event, which begins on Friday.

"We have to check," spokesman Sun Weide said.

In line with the flow of information in China surrounding security issues, reports were released only through official channels, while local authorities denied any knowledge of the event.

"Everything has returned to normal," an official with the Kashgar People's Armed Police said by telephone. He declined any other comment.

China has said repeatedly that a major terrorist threat emanates from Xinjiang.

"The Beijing Olympics is facing a terrorist threat unsurpassed in Olympic history," the People's Daily, the mouthpiece of the ruling Communist Party, said in an editorial last month.

China has deployed more than 100,000 security personnel to provide security for the Games, which run from August 8 to 24.

A senior official said last week the main Olympic threats were from the East Turkestan Islamic Movement in Xinjiang, forces seeking Tibetan independence, the banned Falungong spiritual group and overseas pro-democracy forces.

China's state media carries only sporadic reports about violence in Xinjiang, making it difficult to determine the extent of the terrorist threat in the region.

Rights groups and members of the ethnic Muslim Uighur population in Xinjiang have accused the government of exaggerating the terrorist threat as a cover to crack down on all forms of dissent.

It was thought to be one of the deadliest such attacks ever reported in Xinjiang.

"If 16 people died, I would think that this is the highest casualty ever reported for an incident," said Nicholas Bequelin, a researcher with Human Rights Watch and an expert on Xinjiang.

Xinjiang, a vast area that borders Central Asia, has about 8.3 million Uighurs, and many are unhappy with what they say has been decades of repressive Communist Chinese rule.

Two short-lived East Turkestan republics emerged in Xinjiang in the 1930s and 1940s, at a time when central government control in China was weakened by civil war and Japanese invasion.

Scores of Australians duped by Olympic ticket scam: reports

2008-08-04T19:03:00.000+08:00

SYDNEY (AFP) - - Scores of Australians have been caught in an alleged global scam believed to have conned people worldwide into buying non-existent tickets to the Beijing Olympics, reports said Monday.

The Sydney Morning Herald said one Brisbane man had spent 46,000 dollars (42,876 US) for tickets which never arrived while a Sydney man had lost 10,000 dollars the same way.

Just days ahead of the opening ceremony for the Beijing Games, officials conceded that it appeared many Australians were victims of an elaborate global swindle.

"This appears to be a worldwide scam," Consumer Affairs Minister for the southern state of Victoria, Tony Robinson, said.

"We're very concerned that a lot of people, it would appear, have been taken in by a very professional scam and there's a lot of money that appears to have gone under."

A hotline was established by the New South Wales government Monday to deal with complaints about tickets purchased via websites including the US-based beijingticketing.com, which was still operating Monday.

Within hours of opening, the hotline had received 22 complaints from people who had spent a combined 60,000 dollars (55,927 US) buying tickets which had not been delivered, a state government spokeswoman told AFP.

New South Wales Fair Trading Minister Linda Burney said information taken from the hotline would be provided to Australian and international authorities.

"We'll collect as much information as possible for the ACCC (the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission) as well as international law enforcement agencies," she said.

Australian Olympic Committee boss John Coates said the families of Olympic athletes and even Olympic officials were caught up in the scam.

"Our sympathy goes out to them," he told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation.

"We certainly aren't in a position to step in, compensate, find substitute tickets or whatever."

The Sydney Morning Herald reported that Olympic officials would ask a judge in San Francisco to shut down www.beijingticketing.com later Monday after the International Olympic Committee had been flooded with complaints about it from around the world.

Skies clear over Beijing, but rights concerns linger

2008-07-29T18:49:00.002+08:00

BEIJING (AFP) - - Strong winds helped clear Beijing's skies on Tuesday of the pollution that is threatening the Olympics, but authorities hoping to breathe easy faced pressure over China's human rights record.

After a dismal few days when athletes arriving for the Games were greeted by heavy smog, visibility across the Chinese capital dramatically improved thanks to the winds and Beijing claimed success in its anti-pollution battle.

"We have seen comprehensive measures implemented already and we have seen that they have had comprehensive results," Beijing Environmental Protection Bureau deputy director Du Shaozhong said 10 days out from the Games.

He cited the raft of short-term fixes taken since the start of the month, such as taking one million cars off the road and closing down more than 100 polluting factories, for an improvement of over 20 percent in the air quality.

However it appeared the winds, powered partly by a tropical storm to the southeast, were the key factor in the turnaround from Monday, and Australian Olympic Committee president John Coates said pollution concerns remained.

"There doesn't appear to be a great improvement," Coates said, comparing the situation with when he was last in the Chinese capital in March.

"Let's hope that there are more solutions and that they will kick in and there will be an improvement, that's what we're all hoping for," added Coates, who arrived in Beijing on Monday along with some Australian athletes.

One other controversy swirling around the Games has been the human rights record of China's communist leaders, and Amnesty International and other critics stepped up the pressure over the issue.

"Unless the authorities make a swift change of direction, the legacy of the Beijing Olympics will not be positive for human rights in China," Amnesty said in a report.

"In fact, the crackdown on human rights defenders, journalists and lawyers has intensified because Beijing is hosting the Olympics."

New Zealand Prime Minister Helen Clark also put her name to an Amnesty campaign aimed at pressuring China to improve its rights record ahead of the Games, the rights group said in Wellington.

Clark signed an Amnesty "Olympic legacy banner" and added the message: "My wish is that all nations stop executions."

Adding to rights groups' concerns, a Chinese lawyer said a Beijing-based activist who had campaigned for the rights of people evicted from their homes for the Olympics would go on trial Monday, four days before the Games start.

Ni Yulan , a 47-year-old former rights lawyer who was disbarred in 2002, has already been detained for three months, according to her lawyer, Hu Xiao.

Ni had spent most of this decade assisting victims of forced eviction in the Chinese capital, many of whom lost their homes to make way for Olympic facilities.

Nicholas Bequelin, a Hong Kong-based researcher with Human Rights Watch, said Ni's situation was part of a much bigger problem.

"There's no doubt that the Olympics have had a very negative impact on the human rights situation in China," Bequelin told AFP.

Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Liu Jianchao hit back at Amnesty and other critics, defending the government's human rights record.

"Anybody who knows about China will not agree on this report on the deterioration of the Chinese human rights situation," Liu said in response to the Amnesty report.

"We hope it can take off the coloured glasses it has worn for many years to see China in an objective way."

Brazil beat Singapore 3—0 in pre—Olympic friendly match

2008-07-29T18:49:00.001+08:00

SINGAPORE: A good tune—up for the Brazilians — that’s Coach Carlos Dunga’s take on the exhibition match between the Brazilian Olympic Team and Singapore.

Brazil won 3—0 in the game played at the National Stadium on Monday night.

Some 33,000 fans turn up to support the Lions and Brazil, expecting some fancy samba football.

Ronaldinho finally displayed that magic, his back heel seeing Diego powering a low drive to give Brazil the lead.

Having most of the possesion, it was a matter of time before the Brazilians scored the second.

Ronaldinho obliged with an easy effort from close range in the 25th minute.

From then on, it was a dull affair as both sides took it easy.

In the second half, Singapore threatened a little, but not enough for Brazil substitute Jo headed home a third in the 84th minute.

Singapore’s Coach Raddy Avromovic felt that his team did not take their chances well.

Still the game helped his players.

"We help them in their preparation and we help ourselves in some part of the game as the players can see that they can compete for some moments with the top teams," he said.

The Brazilian Coach Dunga felt that his team had performed well under the challenging weather conditions, and their lack of full match fitness.

Captain Ronaldinho, who was mobbed by the media, also gave his and the teams performance the thumbs up.

"I am happy I scored a goal, but more importantly, I created the opportunity for others to score and do well in the Olympics."

The Brazilians leave for Vietnam on Tuesday, the second of their tune—up matches ahead of the Beijing Olympics.

But against Vietnam, the Brazilians can expect a more physically demanding and challenging game as the Vietnamese are known to take their football more seriously.

China using Olympics as 'pretext' for crackdown: Amnesty

2008-07-29T18:47:00.002+08:00

HONG KONG (AFP) - - China is using the Beijing Olympics as a pretext to pursue -- and in some cases tighten -- a crackdown on human rights, notably ridding the capital of "undesirables," Amnesty International charged Monday.

Reporting 11 days ahead of the August 8 opening ceremony, the rights group said that despite some minor reforms, authorities had stepped up repression of activists and lawyers to present a picture of stability and harmony.

Amnesty urged the International Olympic Committee and political leaders to do far more to challenge China, warning of even more repressive measures once the spotlight on the Games has faded away.

"Unless the authorities make a swift change of direction, the legacy of the Beijing Olympics will not be positive for human rights in China," it warned.

"In fact, the crackdown on human rights defenders, journalists and lawyers has intensified because Beijing is hosting the Olympics."

Amnesty's report, citing specific cases, said activists who had tied their cause to the Games had been singled out for the pre-Olympics "clean-up," while many others were being detained, imprisoned or placed under house arrest.

"Authorities have used the Olympic Games as a pretext to continue and in some respects, intensify existing policies and practices that have led to serious and widespread violations of human rights," the report added.

It listed a series of recommendations urging China to:

- release all prisoners of conscience;

- stop police arbitrarily detaining activists and dissenters;

- impose a moratorium on the death penalty;

- allow complete media freedom; and

- account for those killed or detained in Tibet.

"It is very disturbing that Chinese authorities have indulged in such a big crackdown on the activists," Mark Allison, China researcher for Amnesty, told AFP.

"These are people who represent many many more people in China."

Officials were also extending the use of punitive administrative detention, notably of activists and petitioners as well as beggars and peddlers, Amnesty said.

In January, Beijing police launched a campaign against "illegal activities that tarnish the city's image and affect the social order," it noted.

In May, authorities adopted a "re-education through labour" law to control various types of "offending behaviour."

In June, authorities in Shanghai sent notices to activists and petitioners ordering them to report to the police every week and barring them from leaving without permission or visiting Beijing until after the Games.

A clampdown on journalists has also intensified in recent months, Amnesty said, citing figures from the Foreign Correspondents Club of China showing as many as 230 cases of reporters being obstructed from interviews this year so far, compared to 180 cases in the whole of last year.

Internet controls have also been tightened up and many websites closed down for providing information deemed sensitive, the group noted.

Amnesty said that journalists working from Beijing's Olympic press centre were unable to access the group's website, as well as those of the BBC, Germany's Deutsche Welle, Hong Kong newspaper Apple Daily, and Taiwan newspaper Liberty Times.

"This flies in the face of official Chinese promises to ensure 'complete media freedom' for the Games," said Allison.

Such tactics raised concerns that officials would seek to block broadcasts of anything deemed sensitive or inappropriate, despite public commitments by organisers not to cut coverage.

Amnesty said China's crackdown in Tibet earlier this year, and restrictions on reporting there, highlighted the authorities' ongoing censorship.

It urged the IOC and the international community to express concerns publicly and press China to fulfil its obligations on human rights and dissent.

"The danger now becomes that after the Olympic Games, these patterns of serious human rights violations may continue or intensify with even less attention paid by the international community than has been the case so far," it said.

Emirates A380 passengers to shower at 43,000 feet

2008-07-29T18:47:00.001+08:00

HAMBURG, Germany (Reuters) - First-class passengers will be able to take a shower at 43,000 feet and enjoy a drink at the upstairs bar on Dubai-based airline Emirates's double-decker Airbus A380s, the airline said on Monday.

Emirates boasted at a ceremony to take delivery of the first of 58 A380s at Airbus's Hamburg plant that the plane would have two bathrooms with showers in its first-class cabins as well as a lounge for premium travellers.

But luxury has its limits, as Emirates President Tim Clark warned passengers could not spend too long relaxing under the jets of water.

"The showers are regulated through a software programme that gives people a five-minute shower, which is ample in most cases," Clark told a news conference, adding that a traffic light system would let passengers know how long they had left.

"If you're on amber and your hair's full of shampoo, you want to get moving."

The shower also complicates attempts by Emirates and Airbus to slim down the superjumbo by some 5 tonnes by 2011/2012 to cut fuel use amid soaring oil prices and increasing calls for the industry to reduce its impact on the environment.

The plane will have to take on board an additional 500 kg of water, an increase of some 25 percent.

But Clark told journalists he was looking for ways to trim weight off the aircraft, such as by reducing the amount of paper.

"At the moment we have 1.8 kg in each seat pocket. We can't be completely paperless," he said, but information associated with sales, such as Duty Free products, currently in paper form was being put onto a retail TV channel, for example.

Emirates was also looking at curtains, carpets and seat-back entertainment hardware for ways to contribute a total of 2 tonnes in weight reduction.

Airbus meanwhile aimed to slim the A380 by a further 3 tonnes, including the airframe and by re-machining components.

"With today's fuel prices, then there's a huge pressure," Airbus programmes chief Tom Williams told Reuters on the sidelines of the event.

"It's shaving. It's not like we're going to go to one section and remove all the weight. It's more a question of trying to get the thing refined and squeezing a few kilos here and there."

Progress was also being made smoothing the A380 production process but the "question is 'does the rate of improvement match the rate of ramp-up in production?' Because of course every week that goes by we see improvement but at the same time of course the production rate's going up," Williams added.

Airbus hopes to reach a maximum production rate of four A380s a month in around three years.

Standard Chartered Marathon

2008-07-27T13:05:00.002+08:00

Walao this stupid Standard chartered bank dun give a damn,they dun let 13 yrs old ppl to join the damn 10km marathon,kns la i wan join lehhh still must wait for the next year end ,u noe wad anot still nid to wait for more than 365 days seh,i dun feel like waiting and i want to join it now!!!!!!!!!!!!10km oso dun let mi join,go die la !!!! still ask me to join the wad...kid run 750m,they think 13 yrs old is kid seh,lolz then dun let us join.some of them want to join oso cannot ar...no more race to take part liao...T_T Let me JOIN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Oxygen bottles 'key focus' of Qantas jet probe: official

2008-07-27T13:04:00.001+08:00

SYDNEY (AFP) - - Investigators probing what punched a gaping hole mid-air in an Australian jumbo jet are focusing on whether it was caused by exploding emergency oxygen bottles, a civil aviation official said Sunday.

If proven, the finding would have implications for other 747 planes around the world, Civil Aviation Safety Authority spokesman Peter Gibson told AFP in Sydney.

The Qantas Boeing 747 was flying to Melbourne on Friday when an explosive bang led to a sudden loss of air pressure in the cabin.

The plane plunged 6,000 metres (20,000 feet) before stabilising and then making an emergency landing in the Philippines capital Manila, where stunned passengers saw a three-metre rip in the fuselage next to the right wing.

"There are two cylinders located pretty much exactly where that hole appeared," Gibson said. "Clearly that is one key focus of the investigation.

"We cannot just say that is the cause, but clearly the fact that two oxygen bottles are in that location, and clearly this was damage caused by some sort of outward pressure, obviously that means that is a key aspect of the investigation.

"It is emergency oxygen for the flight deck."

If confirmed, Gibson said, it would have implications for all of Qantas's 747s and probably for many others around the world.

"Not every 747 is going to have these exact oxygen bottles on them," Gibson added.

Asked if there would be major implications, he added: "It could have. It will affect probably all of Australia's (747s) and there would be others out there."

As the incident was in international air space, the Australian Transport Safety Bureau is leading the probe. The US Federal Aviation Administration is also involved, along with the plane's manufacturer Boeing.

Gibson discounted a report that corrosion was to blame for the incident, saying that although minor rust had been found in the plane during a routine check a few months ago, it was in a totally different part of the aircraft.

Investigators, however, would examine the issue of corrosion in general, he added.

A preliminary report is expected in about 30 days.

Upcoming olympic

2008-07-27T12:43:00.002+08:00

This year upcoming olympic (Beijing 2008) created much surprise as itsa starting in 12 days time ,the olympic opening ceremony is on August 8 and the next days is our nation 43rd birthday,it really does bring much joy as it is rare to see the olympic coming the day before the NDP.Channel 5 bringing a live HD TV screen on the Beijing Olympic and i definetley going to watch it,watching the news that the olympic ticket are fast solding out and i think now already sold out ,seeing chinese riot police standing outside the Beijing natonal stadium guarding as chinese rush to buy the ticket.They all look very .........u noe zzzzz... cos they dun even wait for the ticket to be given to them and when the last tickets comes to hand ,all the ppl rush forward to grab it and even the police have diificulty stopping them,dun they have the patients to wait for their turn ,lolzzs
Sianzzz

Large animal trap discovered on mainland Singapore

2008-07-27T12:31:00.000+08:00

SINGAPORE : While Singapore is increasingly urbanised, some areas are still being used by poachers to set traps for wild animals.

A volunteer from a non—profit nature organisation recently discovered a trap on mainland Singapore.

The large wild animal trap is able to hold between six and eight wild boars.

The trap was not found on Pulau Ubin — where five illegal animal traps were discovered last year — but on mainland Singapore, in the Lim Chu Kang area.

Ben Lee, a volunteer with Nature Trekker — a non—profit organisation — was surprised to find the trap on the evening of July 24.

He also saw three men loitering in the area with a pickup truck. He believed the truck could be used to carry trapped animals out of the heavily forested area.

Mr Lee said, "They are not really professional. They are trapping it for many purposes — maybe for personal consumption, for food..." He added that wild boar meat could fetch up to S$12 per kilogramme.

In February this year, a man was fined S$50 for setting up an illegal net in the Choa Chu Kang area.

Under the Wild Animals and Birds Act, anyone found guilty of killing, taking or keeping unlicensed wild animals or birds can be fined up to S$1,000.

Athletics: Powell in London cruise control

2008-07-26T14:11:00.000+08:00

LONDON (AFP) - - Former world record holder Asafa Powell grabbed a second pre-Olympics 100m win in three days on Friday when he cruised to victory at the London Grand Prix at Crystal Palace.

The Jamaican clocked 9.94sec to win ahead of Trinidad's Marc Burns (9.97sec) in a race which had been originally billed as a clash with world champion Tyson Gay.

However, the American pulled out after failing to recover from the hamstring injury he suffered during the Olympic trials last month.

Powell had defeated compatriot and world record holder Usain Bolt in Stockholm on Tuesday in a time of 9.88sec, but a tough headwind compromised the Jamaican's attempts to press faster on Friday.

Bolt will run in the 200m on Saturday.

"It wasn't as quick as it could have been, but I'm ready," said Powell. "There is some more work to do but everything is looking fine for Beijing."

America's double world champion Allyson Felix left the stadium refusing to discuss her limp 200m performance which so enraged her that she didn't take her place in the 4x100m relay.

Felix was fourth in the 200m in a time of 23.00sec, a time which wouldn't guarantee her a place in the Beijing final in three weeks' time.

The event was won by Jamaica's Sherone Simpson in 22.70sec.

Two weeks after setting her 23rd polevault world record in Rome, Russia's Yelena Isinbaeva narrowly failed in her bid to make it 24 when she attempted to clear 5.04m.

America's Jenny Stuczynski, Isinbayeva's closest rival, only cleared 4.81m and looks powerless to prevent the Russian from successfully defending her Olympic title.

World 400m champion Christine Ohuruogu of Britain won her race, her only outing before Beijing.

Britain's Phillips Idowu, the world indoor champion, won the triple jump with a distance of 17.42m.

"I had to wait until rounds four and five to get going but I've been saying all year that I feel regardless of whatever anyone else does, I'm not going to lose," said Idowu.

In the absence of world 110m hurdles record holder Dayron Robles, David Oliver of America took victory in 13.20sec.

Russia's Andrey Silnov, who missed out on selection for the Olympics, won the men's high jump with a season best leap of 2.38m.

Australian expert says abuse of legal drugs could mar Beijing

2008-07-26T00:42:00.000+08:00

CANBERRA, Australia - An Australian sports scientist who helped develop a test to detect EPO thinks the abuse by athletes of legal performance-enhancing substances could become a major issue of the Beijing Olympics.

"Beijing will probably be remembered for the abuse of legal drugs like Viagra," Robin Parisotto told Australian Broadcasting Corp. radio on Friday. "Any physical activity that goes for longer than two minutes would be a beneficiary of something like Viagra, just like the normal blood doping drugs."

The World Anti-Doping Agency is investigating whether or not to include Viagra on its list of banned substances, but no decision will be taking until after the Aug. 8-24 Beijing Olympics.

EPO, a synthetic hormone which enhances endurance by stimulating the production of oxygen-rich red blood cells, is among the main drugs of choice among cheaters.

Parisotto, who helped design the first recognized EPO test before the Sydney 2000 Olympics, said Viagra had the same benefits as blood doping because of its circulatory effects "and not only in the private parts."

Other substances, like psychological medication, can also enhance performance, Parisotto said.

"To take a drug which will keep your mind clear and focused certainly is another area of drug-taking that would be of benefit to athletes."

Experts are divided over whether Viagra actually offers athletes an edge.

Some sports authorities say the drug is now finding a following among athletes. It isn't clear how many might be taking it in hopes of improving athletic performance.

Viagra, also known as sildenafil, is manufactured by Pfizer Inc. It originally was developed as a heart drug. Its use as a treatment for erectile dysfunction was accidentally discovered.

The drug works by increasing the effects of nitric oxide, which makes blood vessels expand. That should theoretically allow blood cells to get more oxygen from the lungs. It also might improve heart function.

Viagra also is approved to treat pulmonary hypertension, a condition in which the lungs' blood vessels tighten. Doctors have used the drug experimentally to treat pregnant women with high blood pressure and to ward off jet lag.

But whether Viagra makes athletes faster, higher or stronger is uncertain.

"Just because you have more nitric oxide doesn't mean that you are going to be a better athlete," said Anthony Butch, director of the Olympic Analytical laboratory at UCLA. "If you have all the nitric oxide you need, and if you generate more from Viagra, it's not clear what effect that would have."

Some preliminary studies have shown that cyclists taking Viagra improved their performances by up to 40 percent.

"If you have more oxygen going to your muscles, that's more energy and that makes you a better athlete," said Dr. Andrew McCullough, a sexual health expert at the New York University School of Medicine. "Even if it only gives you a 10 percent increase, in peak athletes that is enough to win."

McCullough said Viagra is only likely to help athletes such as runners, cyclists or skiers _ sports where endurance and speed are key. Viagra does not work directly on muscles, so will not make athletes stronger.

Beijing Athletes Village prepares for grand opening

2008-07-26T00:41:00.000+08:00

BEIJING - The Olympics are two weeks away, but athletes are already arriving in Beijing.

The Athletes Village, a sprawling complex of high-rise apartments that will lodge 16,000 athletes and officials, formally opens Sunday.

"We want the village to be a cozy place that makes athletes feel like they are coming home," said Deng Yaping, an Olympic table-tennis gold medalist and deputy director of the Olympic Village Department of the Beijing Organizing Committee.

Deng said 35 of the 205 delegations already had some representation in the village.

The village will contain a restaurant that can feed 5,000 people, teahouses, a barbershop, post office, its own fire station, shopping areas, library, a clinic, and coffee shops. Western and Asian cuisine will be available 24 hours a day.

Village restaurants will serve traditional Beijing dishes such as Peking Duck, Chinese-style porridge and hand-shaved noodles.

"Athletes can also request their favorite dishes they're craving from home and we will try our best to accommodate them," Deng said.

Located about a 25-minute walk northwest of the two centerpiece venues for the games _ the Bird's Nest stadium and swimming's Water Cube _ high-rise apartments in the 66-hectare (163-acre) complex will be sold after the games for US$500,000-US$1 million each.

In November, China denied allegations of religious intolerance when media reports surfaced that Bibles would be banned during the games. Since then, organizers have announced that 10,000 copies of the Bible will be distributed in places of worship throughout the Athletes Village.

Football: Ronaldinho in good form for Beijing Olympics

2008-07-26T00:40:00.000+08:00

SINGAPORE: Football star Ronaldinho said he is on top of his game to help Brazil win their first Olympic gold at the Beijing Games in August.

The two—time World Player of the Year is a midfielder in the Brazilian Olympic Team, which will play an exhibition match against a Singapore Selection on Monday.

He said: "I am very happy to be back on the national team as part of an important competition and as part of such a talented group. I’m very confident and willing to do my best to help the team achieve the gold medal."

Ronaldinho, who has just joined AC Milan, said he is much fitter and happier after a lean spell at Barcelona last season.

And as the oldest player on the Olympic squad, the 28—year—old will also provide the much—needed experience.

Another midfielder on the Brazilian team, Lucas Leiva, said: "He is one of the best players in the world... Hopefully, he will help us and that is the important thing now."

Organisers said ticket sales for the match against Singapore have been slow, but they are confident that come Monday, the National Stadium will be packed.

Olympic ticket sale in Beijing starts stampede

2008-07-26T00:32:00.000+08:00

BEIJING - Thousands of eager fans who had waited for up to two days swarmed sales windows Friday for the final batch of tickets to next month's Olympic Games, knocking people to the ground and bending metal barricades in the chaotic crush.

Witnesses said scuffles broke out at one ticket site as officials opened additional sales windows at the last minute, causing some fans to stampede ahead of others in a bid to buy some of the 250,000 tickets that went on sale in different parts of the host city.

"It was so unfair," said Ji Liqiang, who waited for 28 hours with Wang Zhenqiang, a fellow businessman from eastern Shandong province, for a chance to buy tickets to the diving competition.

"Those who came late but were able to push forward got the tickets," he said.

The two lost their place in line in the scramble and ended up with tickets to the synchronized swimming instead of diving _ where China is a gold-medal favorite.

"It was very dangerous. I was afraid," Wang said. "People got hurt around me. They fell and injured their knees and elbows. A barricade was bent out of shape by the crowd."

Zhang Xiaojing, 17, who came from Hebei province with her cousin and three friends, said the line was fairly orderly when she arrived Thursday afternoon. But during Friday's rush, only three of her friends were able to elbow their way close enough to be in a position to buy tickets.

"If I'm going to be disappointed, I'm going to be disappointed. But I'm so tired. I didn't sleep last night," she said.

The official Xinhua News Agency said 30,000 people lined up for tickets, but muggy weather with temperatures above 93 degrees Fahrenheit coupled with the long wait made people impatient. Police immediately took actions to maintain order, including limiting access to some areas, it said.

Some journalists were escorted away after going into the off-limit areas, Xinhua said. Hong Kong television showed several journalists pushing back and forth with police.

Footage from Hong Kong Cable TV showed a policeman putting his arm around the neck of a Hong Kong Cable TV reporter and pulling him to the ground. The reporter said he was assaulted after his crew refused to leave a media zone, Cable TV reported. They were seen surrounded by dozens of police.

A spokeswoman for Hong Kong Cable TV said it was "unacceptable" for Chinese authorities to treat the media that way.

"We hope the authorities will live up to their earlier promise to allow full freedom of the press during the Olympic Games," said Shum Siu-wah.

Despite the problems, an Olympic official said the start of the sale went well.

"There were so many people who wanted tickets so we decided to open more ticket windows. ... In general, so far the ticket sale has gone smoothly," said Sun Weide, spokesman for Beijing's Olympic organizing committee.

At Wukesong in the western part of Beijing, tens of thousands of people were lined up to buy tickets for the popular basketball competition. About 20,000 basketball tickets were expected to go on sale.

In addition to the tickets for Olympic events in Beijing, another 570,000 tickets are on sale for soccer matches in co-host cities: Tianjin, Shanghai, Shenyang and Qinhuangdao.

All told, 6.8 million Olympic tickets have been available for domestic and foreign sales. The Olympics start Aug. 8.

Though previous Olympic Games have had problems filling seats for less popular events, venues in Beijing are expected to be filled with enthusiastic fans. Some tickets were given away to school groups and government work units in an effort to present packed stadiums to television viewers around the world.

In November, organizers were embarrassed when the computer system crashed, forcing organizers to sack the Olympic ticketing chief and revert to a lottery system to sell tickets.

Organizers have said they are taking precautions against fake tickets and black market scalping, both of which are common in China. Buyers on Friday were limited to two tickets per person to discourage scalpers.

Xinhua said Thursday that Beijing police have detained 60 suspects for scalping Olympic tickets in the past two months, citing a police spokesman. Those found selling tickets on the black market can face 10 to 15 days in detention, Xinhua said.

Still, Olympic tickets can easily be found online, though few sellers openly advertise the resale price. In sports that are unpopular in China, like baseball, 50 yuan ($7.30) tickets were offered at 1000 yuan ($150). Other tickets were being resold for 100 times the face value, Xinhua said.

QANTAS BOEING-747 LAND WITH A HOLD IN THE FUSELAGE

2008-07-26T00:25:00.001+08:00

Police struggle to control Beijing Olympic ticket chaos

2008-07-25T21:48:00.000+08:00

BEIJING (AFP) - - Police struggled on Friday to control surging crowds of more than 50,000 people desperate to grab the last Olympic tickets in Beijing, as a Hong Kong journalist trying to cover the chaos was detained.

Frustration boiled over as the fans -- many of whom had been queueing for two days -- jostled to maintain their spot in the long line as latecomers tried to force their way into prime positions.

At one point the surging crowd broke through a control barrier and lurched towards the ticket counters, sparking a sharp reaction from police.

In hot and dusty conditions, some groups in the crowd chanted insults at the officers, who were seen dragging people out of the line and kicking and punching them before leading them away.

"The police didn't have a clue how many people would come here and there was no organisation at all, it was chaos," said Wang Zhongliang, a delivery worker for UPS.

It was the last chance for Chinese to buy tickets for the Games, with 250,000 on sale at several locations in Beijing from 9:00am (0100 GMT) for events including athletics, diving, and gymnastics.

Demand was so high that more than 10,000 people were in a line by Thursday at one of the main ticket selling centres near the Olympic Stadium, district police chief Xiong Xingguo said.

By early Friday huge reinforcements of police were moved in to maintain order as numbers ballooned to between 40,000 and 50,000 at that one line alone, Xiong said.

Xiong conceded that police had been taken by surprise by the demand.

"The situation was chaotic and difficult," he said. "Once the newspapers released the news about the ticket sale, too many people came at once so we had a security problem."

Amid the confrontations, an AFP reporter saw police manhandle and lead away Felix Wong, a photographer with Hong Kong's South China Morning Post. Staff at the newspaper's headquarters told AFP he was detained for several hours.

A Beijing Olympic spokeswoman confirmed to AFP that Wong was detained, but said it was because he was disobeying police orders to leave a restricted zone and had injured a police officer.

Despite the chaos, the sales did offer a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to some fans, such as 23-year-old Lei Peng, who had slept on the footpath for two nights.

The engineering graduate from eastern China's Anhui province managed to score two seats to one of the hottest events of the Games -- the final of the men's 110m hurdles.

Chinese hopes for an athletics gold medal rest on defending Olympic and world champion 110m hurdler Liu Xiang.

"It was hard but worth it," said Lei, who had been queuing since midday on Wednesday.

Han Ruxiang, 76, had spent two nights sleeping on a bamboo mat so that he and his 67-year-old wife could see the finals of the diving competition.

"How can you be Chinese and not go to the Olympics when it is in China?" he said. "I am tired but so happy."

The demand has fuelled a flourishing black market in selling tickets at a massive profit, even though ticket touting has been outlawed. Police have arrested 60 touts over the past two months, according to state media reports.

Outside Beijing, 570,000 tickets for football matches went on sale in football competition host cities Tianjin, Shanghai, Qinhuangdao and Shenyang.

Altogether around seven million tickets were up for sale for the Games, with around 75 percent going to China's vast domestic audience, with the rest made available overseas through each country's National Olympic Committee.

Friday's release of tickets was the fourth and final round of sales for the August 8-24 Games.

BLOGSKINS

2008-07-25T21:46:00.002+08:00

2dae i chnge my blogskins on my oringinal blog liao,the blogskins i change in my opinion , i find it nicer to see than my last blogskins which is the singapore airlines blogskins. Hope you all will like it,and thanks for viewing my blog,Beijing 2008 Olympic (One World One Dream) 14 days to opening ceremony.Wheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Iraq banned from Beijing Olympics amid feud

2008-07-25T21:45:00.002+08:00

BAGHDAD - Just two weeks before the start of the Olympics, Iraq was told Thursday it's not welcome in Beijing because of a political feud in Baghdad that angered the games' guardians and exiled a country that arrived to a roaring ovation at the opening ceremony four years ago.

The International Olympic Committee told Iraqi sports officials in a letter that it would uphold its ban imposed in June after the government in Baghdad replaced its national Olympic panel with members not recognized by the IOC.

The IOC had called the move unacceptable government interference.

In Iraq, it also smacked of the lingering sectarian bitterness between the new Shiite power brokers and the Sunnis who were once favored under Saddam Hussein _ whose son, Odai, ran the nation's Olympic committee as a personal fiefdom and was accused of torturing athletes who came up short.

"Clearly we'd very much like to have seen Iraq's athletes in Beijing," said IOC spokeswoman Giselle Davies. "We are very disappointed that the athletes have been so ill-served by their own government's actions."

But Davies suggested there was still a possibility for last-ditch talks to salvage Iraq's place before the games open Aug. 8.

"If there can be some movement and if a resolution can be found, that's still an open door," she told CNN. When asked if there's a window of about a week, she said "Correct."

At the 2004 Summer Games in Athens, the crowd at the opening ceremony rose to its feet as the small Iraqi team entered the stadium for the first Olympics since the fall of Saddam. The team was led by Najah Ali, a 106-pound boxer who carried the red-white-and-green flag. Later, the pint-sized underdog pumped his fists after winning a bout in an early round and shouted from the ring that his victory was "a symbol of freedom."

Iraq's soccer team also became one of the feel-good stories of Athens when it made a surprising run to the semifinals _ only to be defeated by Italy 1-0 in the bronze-medal game.

This year, at least seven Iraqi athletes were expected to compete in Beijing in sports including weightlifting, rowing and archery. Their spots were given to other nations by the IOC.

Iraqi sports officials reacted with disbelief and outrage as they watched the efforts for Beijing vanish. Iraq has only one medal _ a bronze in weightlifting in 1960 _ since its first appearance at the Summer Olympics in 1948.

"Unjust," said Fawzi Akram, a member of the sports committee in parliament. "Iraq is passing through an exception period and should be given special consideration."

The official who received the IOC's letter _ Jassim Mohammed Jaafar, the minister of sport and youth _ grumbled: "We reject this unfair decision."

But it's been coming to a head for months.

In May, Iraq's government dissolved the 11-member National Olympic Committee. Among the claims was that it was illegitimate because it lacked enough members for a legal quorum _ even though four members of the committee, including its chief, were kidnapped two years ago and their fates remain unknown.

There's also possible echoes of Iraq's sectarian rifts. The Youth and Sports Ministry is dominated by Shiites who also control the government. Iraq's Olympic Committee had included several holdovers from the Saddam era.

The IOC banned Iraq in June, but said it was open for talks. Iraq, too, promised to meet the IOC and present "solid evidence" of corruption, unfair elections and other alleged failings by the committee.

But on Thursday, the IOC said the deadline to open negotiations had run out _ just as athletes begin their final preparations for Beijing.

"We are deeply sorry for this result," said the IOC letter.

Iraq is not the first country to miss an Olympics because of government interference.

In the most recent case, Afghanistan was prevented from sending a team to the Sydney Games in 2000 when the Taliban regime's heavy hand extended to sports.

The U.S. Olympic Committee also had a stake in the Iraq team, signing an agreement in 2006 to help with training for Beijing.

White House press secretary Dana Perino expressed disappointment.

"I'm sure that the Iraqi athletes who have trained so hard and were finally going to represent a country that is free and sovereign and working to establish its democracy, they have to be terribly disappointed, and I'm disappointed for the athletes as well," she said.

While many Iraqi officials rallied behind the government, the mood among fans was sour.

"The (IOC) decision will be a catastrophe for Iraqi sports," said Dia Hussein, coach of the Iraq Police Soccer team, which plays in the national league. "I blame the Iraqi government for bringing this on the country."

Yaroub Kadim, a 22-year-old university student, described sports as "one of the only real lifelines connecting everyone in the country."

There's a cruel irony in the suspicions that sectarian power plays may have sunk Iraq's Olympic hopes. Sports has become one of the few genuine sources of national unity since the U.S.-led invasion in 2003.

In July 2007, Iraqis erupted with joy when their national team _ the Lions of the Two Rivers _ won the Asia Cup. Sunnis, Shiites and Kurds poured into streets lined with blast walls to celebrate, shoot guns in the air and bask in a common Iraqi pride.

The soccer team was also hit by a ban by the sport's governing body, but was lifted in time for Iraq to compete in the World Cup qualifying tournament. Sports figures also have joined the long rolls of civilians killed in the war.

The Olympic cycling coach, national wrestling coach, a soccer federation member and a prominent volleyball player have been killed, most in 2006 during the height of sectarian slayings.

(This version CORRECTS SUBS 10th graf to correct number of athletes to at least seven sted five. )

Sprinter Powell ready to lay down an Olympic marker

2008-07-25T21:45:00.001+08:00

LONDON (AFP) - - Jamaican sprinter Asafa Powell has warned his Olympic rivals that he is back to his best after the shoulder injury that threatened to wreck his Beijing gold medal challenge.

Powell expects to provide further evidence that he has made a complete recovery from a shoulder problem which sidelined him for several weeks when he runs in the London Grand Prix on Friday.

The 25-year-old laid down a marker by recording a season's best of 9.88seconds on Tuesday to defeat fellow Jamaican and world record holder Usain Bolt.

Powell, who has clocked times under 10 seconds 37 times in his career, has arrived in England full of confidence ahead of a meeting that will play a key role in his preparations for next month's Games in China.

"I got very nervous with the shoulder injury and I thought to myself my Olympic Games is over," Powell said.

"Now I'm still running 9.88secs so I'm content. I forgot what it takes to run a fast race - I was trying too hard and I do better when I don't try too hard."

Powell took a cheeky swipe at Tyson Gay's withdrawal from the event with a hamstring injury when he appeared to hint that his rival was hiding from racing aganst him.

"If you know someone is better than you, hiding from them won't make it better," he said "To run together as much as possible is no problem.

"Tyson not running, makes no difference to me."

With Gay ruled out, Powell has the perfect opportunity for another morale-boosting victory.

But he admitted success in London would mean nothing unless it is followed by gold in Beijing.

"It won't mean a thing, what is important to all of us is what happens in Beijing next month," Powell said.

"Going away with two wins - I'm used to that, but it won't make a big difference to me because anything can happen at the Olympic Games."

Despite Gay's absence from Crystal Palace there are still several sub-10 second sprinters in the field, prompting the suggestion Powell could claim back his world record.

"Of course it's possible but I've never once gone onto a track thinking about a world record. So I always surprise myself when I do it," he added.

Bolt, despite being the world's fastest man, still has to decide whether to run the Olympic 100m or compete over 200m which he admits is his favourite event.

The 21-year-old former world junior champion's decision could come after his outing over the half-lap distance at the London meeting's second day on Saturday.

Bolt, who will be defending his London title, said: "My coach has still given me no clue. It's a good thing, making me prepared to do either event but the important thing, whatever I do, on my mind is the gold medal."

The 6ft 5in sprinter, after running 19.67secs over 200m for the world's fifth fastest ever time a fortnight ago, believes coach Glen Mills will definitely give his decision after watching his form at the Palace.

"If the weather's good I can run a fast time but a personal best's not a factor for me," said Bolt.

"I need to improve some features of my race before Beijing."

Football: Brazil determined to win at Beijing Olympics

2008-07-25T21:44:00.000+08:00

SINGAPORE: Five—time world champions Brazil have never won the Olympic gold medal, but they are determined to win at next month’s Beijing Games.

The Brazilians are taking their warm—up games against Singapore and Vietnam seriously before heading to the Chinese capital.

The Brazilians are not wasting any time after arriving in Singapore. They got down to training a day later as Ronaldinho and company are on a mission.

Not surprisingly, the Brazilian Olympic Team know little of their opponents — but they will be doing their homework.

Diego, Midfielder, said: "We know very little about the Singapore team, but we are going to get to know more soon. We are going to watch videos of Singapore games and get to know more about them."

Coach Carlos Dunga said there is little time for the Brazilian team to prepare for the Olympics, and the tune—up in Southeast Asia is crucial.

Despite the big task at hand, the visitors have been gracious, inviting six young Singaporeans to train with them.

The Brazilians are indeed serious about their Olympic preparations. They will be training daily until their match against a Singapore selection side on Monday.

500 fans welcome players from Brazilian Olympic football team

2008-07-24T15:08:00.001+08:00

SINGAPORE: More than 500 screaming fans turned up at Changi Airport to welcome the players of the Brazilian football team, with star player Ronaldinho clearly the favourite.

The Brazilian Olympic team will play a Singapore selection at the National Stadium on July 28.

The trip to Singapore is part of their two—stop practice camp.

After Singapore, they are off to Vietnam on July 29, before heading to Beijing for the Olympics.

Brazil has never won the Olympic gold before, yet they are hot favourites this time round.

Insurgent clashes in Pakistan kill 36: officials

2008-07-21T19:05:00.001+08:00

QUETTA, Pakistan (AFP) - - At least six Pakistani paramilitary troops and 30 separatist rebels have been killed in clashes in the troubled southwestern province of Baluchistan, security officials said Monday.

Security forces launched a major operation against rebel camps in the gas- and mineral-rich province after a convoy of Frontier Corps soldiers came under attack on Saturday, the officials said.

Troops also arrested 30 militants and destroyed two insurgent bases used for plotting attacks in the operation near Uch, a town in the restive Dera Bugti district of Baluchistan, they said.

Impoverished Baluchistan, which borders Iran and Afghanistan, has seen a recent flare-up in attacks by ethnic Baluch tribes seeking more political rights and a greater share of profits from the region's natural resources.

"Six Frontier Corps men have been killed and around 30 militants have been arrested. Militants have been killed in a big number but I don't have the exact figure," a senior Pakistani security official told AFP.

Other intelligence officials in Quetta said however that at least 30 insurgents, including three rebel commanders, had been killed. Twenty-two rebels were killed on Sunday alone in the heaviest of the clashes, they said.

"The entire operation started after these militants fired on a Frontier Corps convoy," the senior security official said.

"There were two camps there of these militants, they were destroyed last night. The militants were using these two camps to destroy (electricity) pylons, carry out bomb blasts and other terrorist activities," he said.

Dera Bugti is near Pakistan's biggest natural gas field and was formerly the base of late Baluch rebel leader Nawab Akbar Bugti, who was killed in a military operation in August 2006.

Hundreds of people have died in violence in the province since the insurgency flared in late 2004, but until recently it had quietened down after Bugti's death.

The province has also been hit by attacks blamed on Islamist Taliban militants, but officials say that the separatist insurgents do not have links to the hardliners.

Pakistani officials have previously accused rival India of sponsoring the separatist rebels from its consulates in southern and eastern Afghanistan, a charge that New Delhi denies.

Last Wednesday a bomb blast in the town of Mastung, 35 kilometres (22 miles) south of the provincial capital Quetta, wounded 14 people, including eight security personnel.

No group has claimed responsibility for the attack.

Zimbabwe introduces 100-billion-dollar note

2008-07-21T19:03:00.001+08:00

HARARE (AFP) - Zimbabwe, grappling with a record 2.2 million percent inflation, has introduced a new 100-billion-dollar bank note in a bid to tackle rampant cash shortages, the central bank said Saturday.

The new note will go into circulation on Monday, the bank said in a statement cited by state media, joining about half a dozen new high denomination notes already issued this year.

In January, a 10-million-dollar note was issued, then a 50-million-dollar note in April. In May, notes for 100 million and 250 million dollars were issued, swiftly followed by those for five billion, 25 billion and 50 billion.

The southern African nation, currently gripped by a post-election crisis, has been ravaged by hyperinflation which shot up from 165,000 percent in February to 2.2 million in June.

Independent economists however believe the official inflation figure is grossly understated, estimating it could be running between 10 million and 15 million percent.

Zimbabwe's chronic economic crisis has left at least 80 percent of the population living below the poverty threshold and mass shortages of basic goods in shops.

S$1m reward for information leading to capture of Mas Selamat

2008-07-21T19:00:00.000+08:00

SINGAPORE — A cash reward of S$1 million is being offered for information leading to the apprehension of Mas Selamat inside or outside Singapore.

Deputy Prime Minister and Home Affairs Minister Wong Kan Seng revealed this in Parliament on Monday in response to a question on fugitive JI leader Mas Selamat.

The million dollar reward has been put up by two private individuals who approached the Home Affairs Ministry.

DPM Wong said the individuals had asked the ministry to operationalise their proposal because they wished to remain anonymous to protect themselves, families or business interests in the region from becoming a target for retaliation.

The House was also reminded that the Singapore Police Force, as a policy does not offer cash rewards for information on fugitives and unsolved crimes,
or for assistance from the public.

However, the authorities do not object if private corporations and individuals wish to offer cash reward as a labour—supply company and a non—government organisation did in March, offering $50,000 and $5,000 respectively for information on Mas Selamat.

On the whereabouts of Mas Selamat, the DPM said that up till now, Singapore’s security agencies have not received any information from their Indonesian counterparts to confirm that the JI fugitive is hiding in Indonesia.

Neither has domestic intelligence shown that the Singapore JI leader has left the country.

"We obviously cannot dismiss the possibility that Mas Selamat could have managed to escape Singapore for another country. Singapore is not a fortress" added Mr Wong.

However, if Mas Selamat has escaped abroad, DPM Wong said Singapore will work with the relevant foreign counterparts to track him down and bring him back into custody in Singapore.

Parliament was told that given the time since Mas Selamat’s escape, the scenario of Mas Selamat being harboured by sympathisers inside or outside Singapore must logically be treated as increasingly plausible. However, there is no intelligence at present to substantiate it said Mr Wong.

International strikes kill nine Afghan police

2008-07-20T20:57:00.001+08:00

HERAT, Afghanistan (AFP) - - Nine policemen were killed in Afghanistan Sunday in international military air strikes called in when police and troops clashed after mistaking each other for Taliban, authorities said.

The "friendly fire" incident occurred before dawn when Afghan and international soldiers moved into a district in the southwest without informing police, who thought they were militants, the deputy governor of Farah province said.

"An engagement took place, each side thinking the other was the Taliban," said Mohammad Younus Rasouli.

The troops called for air support and military attack aircraft arrived and bombed a police post, he said. Nine police were killed and five wounded.

Rasouli said NATO's International Security Assistance Force had carried out the strikes, but ISAF said it was an operation by the separate US-led coalition. The coalition confirmed an incident and said it was investigating.

Rasouli said the police chief of Farah's Anar Dara district, on the border with Iran, was among the wounded and was in a serious condition.

The incident comes as US presidential hopeful Barack Obama is visiting Afghanistan to find out how international efforts against extremist militants trying to overthrow the Afghan government are progressing.

There have been several deadly incidents of "friendly fire" in Afghanistan, where many local and international security forces are involved in a growing fight against Taliban insurgents.

Earlier this month a British helicopter mistakenly opened fire on a group of British soldiers in Helmand province, injuring nine of them, three seriously, the defence ministry said.

In January nine Afghan policemen were killed in the central province of Ghazni by US-led soldiers hunting militants, Afghan officials said.

ISAF meanwhile said Sunday that its soldiers had killed four Afghan civilians by accident when mortar rounds landed off target in the eastern province of Paktika near the border with Pakistan.

"An ISAF unit on a fire mission accidentally killed four civilians, with an unconfirmed further three deaths," it said in a statement. "Four civilians were also wounded and are now under treatment by ISAF forces."

It is the latest incident in which the international soldiers helping the Afghan government have killed civilians by mistake.

The US-led coalition admitted last week that it had killed eight civilians in an air strike targeting militants in Farah. Afghan officials said nine women and a boy were killed.

The coalition and ISAF are also investigating official Afghan reports that 64 civilians were killed in two strikes in northeastern Afghanistan early this month.

One hit a wedding party, killing 47 people including the bride, an investigation appointed by President Hamid Karzai found.

Civilians are regularly caught in the crossfire of the insurgency launched after the hardline Islamic Taliban regime was removed from power in late 2001 in a US-led invasion for harbouring Al-Qaeda.

Most are killed in rebel attacks, but dozens have also been killed in military action this year.

On Sunday, three children were killed in the southern province of Hemland when a bomb blew up a minivan, provincial police chief Mohammad Hussien Andiwal said. Two children and two adults were wounded.

Taliban fighters attacked a police post in the same area around midnight and two of the attackers were killed in the ensuing fight, Andiwal said.

The defence ministry said in a statement meanwhile that its soldiers had killed nine "terrorists" in an operation to secure the road between Kabul and Kandahar, a dangerous route along which Taliban are active.

And 18 were killed in a week of action in Kandahar province's volatile Panjwayi district, it said.

German climbers held by Kurdish rebels freed

2008-07-20T20:56:00.000+08:00

ANKARA (AFP) - - Three German climbers kidnapped earlier this month by Kurdish rebels in eastern Turkey were freed Sunday, the Turkish foreign ministry announced.

"(Turkish) Foreign Minister Ali Babacan called his opposite number in Germany, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, to tell him that the three German citizens are now in the hands of Turkish forces and are in good health," said spokesman Burak Ozugergin.

The trio -- Helmut Johann, Martin Georpe and Lars Holper Reime -- were seized by separatist rebels from the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) on July 8 during a climbing expedition to Mount Ararat in Agri province.

Agri Governor Mehmet Cetin told the press that the rebels "were forced to release the hostages because the army operations aimed at freeing them were tightening their grip."

The men were released on a mountain in the region and were picked up 30 minutes later by police, the spokesman said.

"They are currently undergoing health checks and then will be handed over to the German authorities so they can return to their country," Cetin said at a televised news conference.

The rebels had said they would hold the hostages until Berlin ended its crackdown on PKK supporters in Germany, which is home to about 2.4 million immigrants from Turkey, including about 600,000 Kurds.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel made a personal appeal for the release of the Germans, but Steinmeier at the time rejected the demands for a change in policy in return for their freedom.

Listed as a terrorist group by Turkey and much of the international community, the PKK has waged a bloody campaign for self-rule in the Kurdish-majority east and southeast since 1984.

The conflict has claimed more than 37,000 lives, but the group's attacks in the past 10 years have usually targeted security forces rather than civilians.

Jaws of life: Australian man rescues rare shark by pulling hook from throat

2008-07-18T15:15:00.002+08:00

SYDNEY, Australia - A veterinarian in Australia plunged his arm up to his shoulder into the throat of a rare shark to save the animal after it swallowed a grappling hook.

David Blyde reached between the jaws of the 10-foot (3-meter) gray nurse shark to dislodge the hook, which was stuck in the animal's digestive tract, leaving a long metal handle sticking from its mouth.

Divers spotted the shark Monday as it swam with a group of others near Byron Bay, 500 miles (800 kilometers) north of Sydney, Trevor Long of the Sea World marine park said Friday.

Rescuers from the park lassoed it with a noose to capture it and lifted it into a holding tank. They rolled its onto its back before pushing a stiff plastic pipe into the shark's throat over the hook's handle.

Blyde then reach down through the pipe, which protected his arm from the shark's teeth as he freed the hook.

"As a veterinarian you often end up putting your hands in places that people find somewhat unattractive," Blyde told Seven Network television.

The delicate operation took about 45 minutes, and the shark was expected to fully recover, Long said.

"There was only a couple of times when the shark became feisty and David had to get his hand out _ quickly," he told Seven.

The gray nurse shark is one of Australia's most endangered marine species after being fished to near-extinction, with some estimates running as low a fewer than 300 animals left in the wild in waters off the country's east coast.

They live mostly in shallow coastal waters near reefs or rocky caves, feeding in fish and rays and growing up to 13 feet (4 meters) long. They are not considered a threat to people.

Tributes pour in as Mandela marks his 90th birthday

2008-07-18T15:14:00.001+08:00

QUNU, South Africa (AFP) - - Nelson Mandela, the icon of the anti-apartheid movement and South Africa's first black president, was marking his 90th birthday Friday as tributes poured in from around the world.

Mandela, whose stint as head of state between 1994-99 came after three decades behind bars, was to enjoy a private party with his family at his rural homestead in the Eastern Cape before a glittering bash on Saturday.

Friday also marks 10 years since Mandela's wedding to his third wife Graca Machel who has been at the head of a long queue wanting to sing his praises.

"He is simply a wonderful husband ... and we enjoy every single day as if it is the last day," Machel, the widow of the former Mozambican president Samora Machel, told CNN television.

"When we married we didn't know we'd be given 10 years together. We have been very lucky."

One of Mandela's grand-daughters, Ndileka Mandela, said the family was planning "a surprise" for him in Qunu.

"We don't want to give too much away as it would be like knowing what's in a present before opening it," she told AFP.

"For him it is a special day, but for all of us too."

Celebrations of Mandela's birthday have been ongoing for several weeks, including a massive concert last month in Hyde Park, London, to raise funds for his AIDS charity while limited edition coins and stamps bearing his image have been launched to also generate money for his charitable foundation.

The current South African President Thabo Mbeki and the new leader of Mandela's beloved African National Congress (ANC) Jacob Zuma are among a group of some 500 guests due to attend Saturday's get-together in Qunu.

But events are also taking place up and down the country, including a boxing tournament in honour of the former amateur pugilist, and a concert in Johannesburg's landmark Mandela Square.

Ahead of his birthday, hundreds of thousands of well-wishers have been paying their respects on special websites, in newspaper notices and on radio stations.

F.W. de Klerk, the last president of the apartheid era South Africa, described Mandela -- who spent 27 years in prison for tyring to overthrow the whites-only regime -- as one of the greatest figures of the 20th century.

"After his inauguration, Nelson Mandela used his personal charm to promote reconciliation and to mould our widely diverse communities into an emerging multicultural nation. This, I believe, will be seen as his greatest legacy."

Sepp Blatter, president of football's world governing body FIFA, described him as the "epitome of grace and dignity, a man with determination to overcome even the greatest odds", as he recalled the key role played by Mandela in bringing the 2010 World Cup to South Africa.

Mandela retired from public life four years ago but has continued to be involved with his charity foundation, raising millions of dollars for AIDS charities and to help underprivileged children.

Police says 2 Turks missing in western Afghanistan

2008-07-15T19:01:00.002+08:00

KABUL, Afghanistan - An Afghan police spokesman says unknown gunmen have kidnapped two Turkish nationals in western Afghanistan.

Spokesman Rauf Ahmadi says authorities found the Turks' abandoned car along with their passports west of Herat city, near the border with Iran.

He says the two men worked for a road construction company in the area. They disappeared on Monday.

There have been a number of kidnappings in Herat province in recent months, mainly targeting Afghans.

Most of the kidnap cases there are of a criminal nature and not linked to the Taliban insurgency.

Deadly attack on US base in Afghanistan raises alarms for commanders hunting Taliban

2008-07-15T19:01:00.001+08:00

KABUL, Afghanistan - An insurgent raid that penetrated an American outpost in eastern Afghanistan, killing nine soldiers, has deepened doubts about the U.S. military's effort to contain Islamic militants and keep locals on its side.

Moving in darkness before dawn Sunday, some 200 fighters surrounded the newly built base in a remote area near the Pakistan border without being spotted by the troops inside, said Gen. Mohammad Qasim Jangalbagh, the provincial police chief.

He said people in the adjacent village of Wanat aided the assault. About 20 local families left their homes in anticipation of the raid, while other tribesmen stayed behind "and helped the insurgents during the fight," Jangalbagh said.

The result was the deadliest incident for U.S. forces in Afghanistan since June 2005, when 16 American soldiers were killed as a rocket-propelled grenade shot down their helicopter.

Violence has been increasing in Afghanistan, and many people are questioning whether the Taliban-led insurgency is gaining, not losing, momentum seven years after the hard-line Islamic regime was ousted by a U.S.-led invasion.

The coordinated assault at Wanat sent a strong signal to other insurgent groups that "America cannot resist them anymore," said Tamim Nuristani, who was fired as provincial governor last week by President Hamid Karzai's administration for criticizing a U.S. airstrike that Afghan officials say killed civilians July 4 in the same area as Sunday's attack.

Nuristani said the attackers at Wanat were a mix of Afghan- and Pakistan-based militants, some with al-Qaida links _ a sign, he said, that cooperation is growing between what had been often fractious factions fighting the Western military presence in Afghanistan.

"The (attackers) were not only from Nuristan but from other districts," Nuristani said. "They are not only Taliban. They were (Pakistan-based) Lashkar-e-Tayyaba, Hezb-i-Islami, Taliban and those people who are dissatisfied with the (Karzai) government after these recent incidents. They all came together for this one."

The attack _ which U.S. and NATO officials said happened in Kunar province but which Afghan officials said was in neighboring Nuristan _ reinforced recent assessments by U.S. officials that militant attacks are becoming more complex and better coordinated.

A NATO official said the attackers used houses, shops and a mosque in Wanat for cover during the hours-long battle.

The militants showered the small base _ which had been established just three days earlier _ with machine guns, rocket-propelled grenades and mortar shells, said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he wasn't authorized to release the information.

Some of the militants breached the wall and got inside, killing nine American soldiers and wounding 15 others, he said.

Other American soldiers managed to drive out the attackers and called in air support. Attack helicopters swooped over the battlefield, and in hours of fighting dozens of insurgents were killed and about 40 were wounded, the NATO official said.

The official described the militant raid as "serious," but also said it was a rarity for insurgents to get inside a base.

In Washington, U.S. State Department spokesman Sean McCormack expressed regret that American lives were lost, but argued the attack was a sign of the pressure being put on the insurgency.

The U.S.-led coalition and NATO military mission, which together have about 60,000 soldiers, have long maintained that insurgents can now operate only in small groups and have lost every battle with the militarily superior Western forces.

Yet the insurgents' ability to assemble a large militant force to launch the attack undetected and with the apparent complicity of locals is a worrying signal for U.S. commanders.

A Western official with detailed knowledge of the area said the raid underlined questions about the military campaign against the Taliban.

There is "overwhelming evidence that anti-coalition elements are operating effectively and that our counterinsurgency strategy is not successful ... because it has not addressed the most basic need to bring security to the people and devised a means to separate the people from the enemy," said the official, who agreed to discuss the sensitive issue only if not quoted by name.

Nuristan has been a tough nut to crack for any central authority for centuries and was a hub of resistance against the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan in the 1980s.

Its rough terrain _ mountains with forests, deep ravines and countless caves and gorges _ provides a well-protected gateway from Pakistan's lawless tribal areas where al-Qaida and Taliban fighters find haven.

US, NATO on defensive in eastern Afghanistan

2008-07-15T19:00:00.000+08:00

WASHINGTON: Insurgent attacks have put US and NATO forces on the defensive in eastern Afghanistan, an area recently touted as a counter-insurgency success but now a focus of spreading insecurity, analysts say.

In the latest attack, at least nine US soldiers were killed Sunday when insurgents stormed a remote combat outpost in Kunar province near Pakistan.

It was the deadliest attack against US forces since 2005, but it followed a trend of bolder and more capable insurgent operations as Pakistan's new government has taken a hands-off approach to militant sanctuaries in its tribal areas.

"It's very serious because NATO is already under a lot of pressure," said Bruce Riedel, a former CIA officer now at the Brookings Institution.

"There used to be one deteriorating front, the front in the south. Now that we see the situation in the east is heating up too, it really stretches NATO and American resources very far," he said.

Increasingly concerned about the rising violence, the Pentagon has begun shifting the weight of its combat operations to Afghanistan but within constraints on available forces imposed by the war in Iraq.

It has repositioned an aircraft carrier from the Gulf to the Arabian Sea to support military operations in Afghanistan, extended the deployment of 2,200 Marines in the south and is weighing deeper troop cuts in Iraq to free up more soldiers.

Currently there are 36,000 US troops in Afghanistan, and 150,000 in Iraq, the Pentagon said.

Admiral Michael Mullen, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, meanwhile made an unannounced visit to Islamabad over the weekend to urge the Pakistan military to do more to stem the flow of insurgents into Afghanistan.

"Part of the effort here is not just militarily in Afghanistan, but it's working with our Pakistan colleagues, and the Pakistani government in addressing the situation on the Pakistan side of the border," said Bryan Whitman, a Pentagon spokesman.

But Pakistan has shown little willingness to get tough on insurgents.

On Monday, Afghanistan's President Hamid Karzai directly accused the Pakistani intelligence services of fomenting the violence, charges that some experts regard as credible.

"It shows that there is a real breakdown in trying to build a common front between Afghanistan, Pakistan and India against the Islamic extremists. And that is not good news," said Riedel.

Sam Brannen, an expert at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, said the ability of US and NATO forces "to impact events and to really know what is going on ends at the Pakistani border," said

"It is a 2,400 kilometre border. It is very difficult to defend in the best of times, but these are not the best of times," he said.

The sense that the war is shifting in the Taliban's favour in the east also undermines support for NATO forces in the area, he said.

"The tribes in that region are notorious for shifting allegiances. And the winning party, whoever is on top, enjoys their support," he said.

"I think you're seeing a growth in the number of recruits of young men who are joining up for the jihad. So the tables are turning just when Pakistan is taking more of a laissez-faire approach to that area again," he said.

US military officials have noted that not only is the incidence of attacks up but they have grown more sophisticated.

Hundreds of militants were reported to have taken part in Sunday's assault, an hours-long engagement that officials described as fierce and well-organised.

Last month, Taliban insurgents succeeded in blasting open a prison in the southern city of Kandahar and freeing hundreds of captured insurgents.

Analysts see further evidence of the Taliban's expanded reach in the July 7 suicide bombing at the Indian embassy in Kabul, which killed as many as 60 people, and the attempted assassination of President Hamid Karzai at a military parade in April.

"We've definitely seen the Taliban learn from its mistakes, and employ tactics which are much more similar to the tactics we've seen Iraqi insurgents using," said Riedel.

"And there is good reason to believe that is not an accident, that al-Qaeda is providing the link between insurgent tactics in Iraq and insurgent tactics in Afghanistan," he added.

US military deaths in Afghanistan region at 473

2008-07-15T18:59:00.000+08:00

As of Monday, July 14, 2008, at least 473 members of the U.S. military had died in Afghanistan, Pakistan and Uzbekistan as a result of the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan in late 2001, according to the Defense Department. The department last updated its figures July 5 at 10 a.m. EDT.

Of those, the military reports 332 were killed by hostile action.

Outside the Afghan region, the Defense Department reports 65 more members of the U.S. military died in support of Operation Enduring Freedom. Of those, two were the result of hostile action. The military lists these other locations as Guantanamo Bay Naval Base, Cuba; Djibouti; Eritrea; Ethiopia; Jordan; Kenya; Kyrgyzstan; Philippines; Seychelles; Sudan; Tajikistan; Turkey; and Yemen.

There were also four CIA officer deaths and one military civilian death.

___

The latest deaths reported by the military:

_ No deaths reported.

___

The latest identifications reported by the military:

_ Army Master Sgt. Mitchell W. Young, 39, Jonesboro, Ga.; died Sunday when his vehicle struck an explosive in Kajaki Sofla, Afghanistan; assigned to the 1st Battalion, 7th Special Forces Group (Airborne), Fort Bragg, N.C.

US Troops reinforce base in Afghanistan after militant attack kills 9 American soldiers

2008-07-15T18:58:00.000+08:00

KABUL, Afghanistan - U.S. troops on Monday reinforced a remote military outpost after well-armed militants got inside and killed nine American soldiers in the deadliest assault on U.S. forces in Afghanistan in three years.

Sunday's assault has deepened doubts about the U.S. military's ability to contain Islamic militants. Attacks in Afghanistan are becoming more complex, intense and better coordinated than a year ago, U.S. officials say.

The militants with machine guns, rocket-propelled grenades and mortars attacked the remote base in the village of Wanat in the mountainous northeastern province of Kunar at about 4:30 a.m. Sunday, with insurgents firing from homes and a mosque.

It was a "concerted attempt" to overrun the small base near the Pakistan border that was built only about three days ago, said an official with NATO's International Security Assistance Force.

The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he wasn't authorized to release the information, estimated the attacking force was several hundred.

Gen. Mohammad Qasim Jangalbagh, the police chief of Nuristan province, where Afghan officials have said the attack took place, said there were 200 militants involved in the raid.

The militants got inside the outpost, the reason the fighters were able to inflict such high casualties, said a second military official who also spoke on condition of anonymity.

After the breach, U.S. troops pushed back against the invading militants, and attack helicopters swooped in. The second official said more than 40 insurgents were killed in the fighting. Fifteen U.S. soldiers also were wounded.

"We mourn the loss of life here," U.S. State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said. "Instead of looking at it necessarily from the perspective of the Taliban or terrorists being more aggressive in coming after NATO or U.S. forces or Afghan forces, in this particular case it was an example of NATO, U.S. and Afghan forces being aggressive in combatting cross-border infiltration."

The latest assault came at a time of rising violence in Afghanistan.

Monthly death tolls of U.S. and NATO troops in Afghanistan surpassed U.S. military deaths in Iraq in May and June. And last Monday, a suicide bomber attacked the Indian Embassy in Kabul, killing 58 people in the deadliest attack in the Afghan capital since 2001.

U.S. officials are considering drawing down additional forces from Iraq in coming months, in part because of less violence in Iraq and the need for additional U.S. troops in Afghanistan. U.S. officials have said they need at least three more brigades in Afghanistan _ or more than 10,000 troops.

NATO confirmed nine of its soldiers had been killed and 15 wounded. A Western official said the nine dead were Americans, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to release the troops' nationalities. Four Afghan soldiers also were wounded, NATO said.

The attack was the deadliest for U.S. troops in Afghanistan since June 2005, when 16 American troops were killed in Kunar province when their helicopter was shot down by a rocket-propelled grenade.

Afghanistan's government on Monday accused Pakistan's army and its intelligence service of supporting the insurgency and said it is suspending a series of meetings planned for coming weeks. Pakistan, which formally supported the Taliban before joining the U.S.-led war on terror, denies the allegations.

Mark Laity, a NATO spokesman in Kabul, said it was not yet clear whether militants had crossed from Pakistan to conduct the attack.

But Tamim Nuristani, who was sacked as provincial governor last week after criticizing a U.S. air strike that killed civilians, said that attackers were a mix Afghan- and Pakistan-based militants, some with al-Qaida links _ sign of the growing cooperation between often-fractious jihadi factions in combating the Western military presence in Afghanistan.

Also on Sunday, a suicide bomber targeting a police patrol killed 24 people, including 19 civilians, while U.S. coalition and Afghan soldiers killed 40 militants elsewhere in the south.

More than 2,300 people _ mostly militants _ have died in insurgency-related violence this year, according to an Associated Press tally of official figures. Attacks in eastern Afghanistan are up 40 percent this year compared with last year.

Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, warned during a visit to Kabul last week that there are more foreign fighters, including al-Qaida members, in Pakistan's tribal areas, militants who cross the border and launch attacks against U.S. and Afghan troops.

UN prepares to pull staff from Darfur

2008-07-15T18:57:00.000+08:00

KHARTOUM (AFP) - - The United Nations prepared on Tuesday to fly non-essential staff from Darfur as supporters of Sudan President Omar al-Beshir planned protests in Khartoum to denounce the world court prosecutor's call for him to be arrested for alleged war crimes.

On Monday, the chief prosecutor for the International Criminal Court asked for an arrest warrant against Beshir , accusing him of 10 counts of genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes in Darfur .

The African Union-United Nations peacekeeping mission announced the staff "relocations" as Sudan promised it would do its utmost to protect peacekeepers and humanitarian workers, but said there could be no security guarantee.

Sudanese and Western officials have widely predicted that the ICC move -- seen by many in Sudan as an assault on national sovereignty -- could spark violent relatiation against Western embassies and UN peacekeepers.

"It's not an evacuation. We're temporarily relocating staff, some non-essential staff. This will probably begin today," said Josephine Guerrero, spokeswoman in Darfur for the UN-led peacekeeping mission.

"UNAMID is not pulling out. All the forces are going to be on the ground and humanitarian operations are continuing," she added, referring to the joint UN-African Union force.

A UN official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the move, ordered by UNAMID force commander Martin Agwai, affected only about 1,800 police and 1,000 civilians who are to leave the country temporarily in coming days.

A UNAMID statement linked the move to an ambush by heavily armed militia last Tuesday in which seven peacekeepers were killed and 22 others wounded.

The Sudanese capital was bracing for angry protests against the ICC move, after Beshir's National Congress Party announced on Monday it would organise a demonstration starting at 1:00 pm (1000 GMT).

Organisers said the protest would begin at Khartoum University, go past the UNDP office, the British embassy and the UN headquarters in Khartoum.

ICC prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo told journalists in The Hague on Monday that the Sudanese head of state had "personally instructed" his forces to annihilate three ethnic groups in the western Sudanese region.

"His motives were largely political. His alibi was a counter-insurgency.' His intent was genocide," he said.

It was the first time the ICC prosecutor has sought an arrest warrant for a sitting head of state and the first time it has levelled accusations of genocide.

Sudan does not recognise the ICC and refuses to hand over two other Sudanese -- including a current cabinet minister -- who face outstanding arrest warrants for alleged crimes in Darfur and said Monday's move damaged peace efforts.

In his first public appearance after the accusations were levelled, Beshir danced, punched the air in delight with his trademark walking stick and shouted 'God is Great' at an elaborate ceremony to ink the new Sudanese electoral law.

Sitting on a podium in the giant Chinese-built Friendship Hall in Khartoum before more than 500 supporters and Sudan's most senior leaders, Beshir was given roars of support as he stood to sign the landmark legislation.

The law paves the way for national elections due next year as part of a 2005 north-south peace deal in a move towards democratic transformation.

Vice President Ali Osman Taha said Sudan was in contact with the permanent members of the UN Security Council in a bid to block a formal arrest warrant. The council has the power to intervene to defer any prosecution for a year.

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said in an interview with French newspaper Le Figaro that he was "very worried" by the possible fallout of any indictment of Beshir.

His office called on Khartoum to "continue to cooperate fully with the United Nations in Sudan, while fulfilling its obligation to ensure the safety and security of all United Nations personnel and property".

Darfur has been wracked by conflict since 2003. The United Nations says up to 300,000 people have died and displaced some 2.5 million from their villages.

The African Union warned the indictment of Beshir would create a power vacuum that risked "military coups and widespread anarchy".

Tanzanian Foreign Minister Bernard Membe, speaking on behalf of AU chair President Jakaya Kikwete, urged the ICC to defer bringing charges "because there is a risk of anarchy in a proportion we have not seen in this continent."

The Arab League and the Organization of the Islamic Conference have also voiced concern that Ocampo's action could undermine peace efforts in Sudan, and the United States called on all parties to stay calm.

The US government said it was bolstering security for its staff in Sudan and press secretary Dana Perino said President George W. Bush is "gravely concerned" by increasing violence in Darfur.

Bangkok voted world's best city in travel poll

2008-07-10T19:10:00.001+08:00

SINGAPORE, July 10 - Bangkok was voted the world's best city for 2008 and the Galapagos were picked as the best islands in an online poll by Travel + Leisure magazine, trumping last year's winners Florence, Italy and Bali, Indonesia.

Magazine readers also voted Singita Sabi Sand, at the Kruger National Park, South Africa, as the world's top hotel while Singapore Airlines grabbed the best airline award again.

It was the first time that Bangkok, the vibrant capital of Thailand, and the Galapagos Islands in Ecuador topped their respective categories, said Nancy Novogrod, editor-in-chief of Travel + Leisure.

Last year, Bangkok was ranked number 3 and the Galapagos number 8. The 2007 winners of best city and best island -- Florence an Bali -- fell to number 5 and number 2 respectively.

"We're delighted to welcome so many new winners this year," she said in a statement. "Nature, and adventure, were clearly a draw in the selections."

Last year's number one hotel, the Oberoi Udaivilas in India, fell to number 4 this year. Singita Sabi Sands was voted the number two hotel in 2007.

The results were complied from votes by magazine subscribers in an Internet poll which went live between January and March. Travel + Leisure will honour winners on July 24 in New York City.

The complete "World's Best Awards" is available on www.travelandleisure.com. Following are some highlights:

Best city - Bangkok, Thailand

Best hotel - Singita Sabi Sand, South Africa

Best island - Galapagos, Ecuador

Best cruise line - Crystal Cruises

Best cruise line - Silversea Cruises

Best international airline - Singapore Airlines

Best domestic airline - Virgin America

Best tour operator - Micato Safaris

Best car-rental agency - Hertz

Best hotel for $250 or less - Domaine des Hauts de Loire, France

China detains 82 'terrorists' targeting Olympics: state media

2008-07-10T19:09:00.000+08:00

BEIJING (AFP) - - Chinese police have this year detained 82 suspected terrorists in the nation's Muslim-populated far northwest who were planning to attack the Beijing Olympics, state media reported on Thursday.

The 82 belonged to five groups that "allegedly plotted sabotage against the Beijing Olympics," Xinhua news agency reported, citing the head of the police in Urumqi, the capital of remote Xinjiang region that borders central Asia.

It was the first time that Chinese officials had given a total number of suspects detained in a series of raids this year.

The announcement came a day after state press said police shot dead five Muslims who allegedly wanted to launch a "holy war".

Exiled members of Xinjiang's Turkic-speaking Uighur population have denied that such a terrorist threat exists in the region.

They have accused the Chinese government of exaggerating or fabricating the threat as an excuse to crack down on all forms of dissent ahead of next month's Games.

Urumqi police chief Chen Zhuangwei however insisted that the terrorist threat was very real, reportedly saying that 41 illegal places of worship in Xinjiang had been closed because they were training grounds for "holy war".

"From now, all police officers must act urgently, get involved once more in Olympic security, to make sure huge and small incidents alike do not happen," Chen said, according to the Xinjiang Daily newspaper.

Labor bureau: Japanese man, 45, died of overwork

2008-07-10T19:08:00.000+08:00

TOKYO - A Japanese labor bureau has ruled that one of Toyota's top car engineers died from working too many hours, the latest in a string of such findings in a nation where extraordinarily long hours for some employees has long been the norm.

The man who died was aged 45 and had been under severe pressure as the lead engineer in developing a hybrid version of Toyota's blockbuster Camry line, said Mikio Mizuno, the lawyer representing his wife. The man's identity is being withheld at the request of his family, who continue to live in Toyota City where the company is based.

In the two months up to his death, the man averaged more than 80 hours of overtime per month, according to Mizuno.

He regularly worked nights and weekends, was frequently sent abroad and was grappling with shipping a model for the pivotal North American International Auto Show in Detroit when he died of ischemic heart disease in January 2006. The man's daughter found his body at their home the day before he was to leave for the United States.

The ruling was handed down June 30 and will allow his family to collect benefits from his work insurance, Mizuno said.

An officer at the Aichi Labor Bureau on Wednesday confirmed the ruling, but declined to comment on the record.

In a statement, Toyota Motor Corp. offered its condolences and said it would work to improve monitoring of the health of its workers.

There is an effort in Japan to cut down on deaths from overwork, known as "karoshi." Such deaths have steadily increased since the Health Ministry first recognized the phenomenon in 1987.

Last year, a court in central Japan ordered the government to pay compensation to Hiroko Uchino, the wife of a Toyota employee who collapsed at work and died at age 30 in 2002. She took the case to court after her application to the local labor bureau for compensation was rejected.

Six killed in attack outside US mission in Istanbul: governor

2008-07-09T19:40:00.001+08:00

ISTANBUL (AFP) - - Three unidentified gunmen and three Turkish policeman were killed in a shootout outside the US consulate in Istanbul, provincial Governor Muammer Guler said Wednesday.

The assailants were killed at the scene, the governor told reporters, adding that they had "directly" targetted the police post outside the high-walled US consulate in the district of Istinye.

One policeman died on the spot, while two others succumbed to their injuries in hospital. Another policeman and the civilian driver of a police truck were injured.

Prosecutors specialising in terrorism cases had launched an investigation into the incident, Guler said, adding that guns and rifles were seized at the scene.

Television footage showed a bloodied body, covered with newspaper, lying in the street.

No consulate personnel were injured, the spokeswoman of the US embassy in Ankara, Kathy Schallow, told AFP.

The three assailants jumped from a white car and opened fire at the police checkpoint around 11:00am (0800 GMT), a witness told NTV television.

The security forces returned fire, killing all three gunmen.

The shootout lasted about eight minutes, witnesses said.

The white car, driven by a fourth accomplice, drove off after the attack and immediately became the target of a major police hunt.

The police post was situated outside a gate for visa applicants from where steep steps lead up to the fortified consulate building.

The consulate was moved to its current high-security location in 2003 as foreign missions across the world enhanced security measures following the September 11, 2001 attacks in New York.

The most recent attack on a foreign mission in Turkey was in 2003 when Al-Qaeda militants detonated a car bomb outside the British consulate in Istanbul, and simultaneously attacked the British HSBC bank.

London remembers deadly suicide bombings

2008-07-07T18:48:00.000+08:00

LONDON (AFP) - - London marked the third anniversary Monday of the suicide bombings on the city's transport network, with ceremonies at blast sites as survivors and the victims' families remembered the deadly attacks.

A total of 56 people were killed, the four bombers included, in the July 7, 2005 blasts that tore through three London Underground trains and a bus at the height of the morning rush hour.

London Mayor Boris Johnson, the government's London minister Tessa Jowell and transport chiefs were among those who laid flowers outside King's Cross railway station at 8:50 am (0750 GMT).

Johnson's tribute on his wreath read: "We honour the memory of those who died on 7/7 2005, we salute the courage of those who were injured and our thoughts and prayers are with all victims and their families."

The event was exactly three years on from when three bombs ripped through the Tube trains at the height of the morning rush hour.

Survivors and families of the 52 victims visited the three Underground stations -- Russell Square, Aldgate and Edgware Road -- where the bombs went off, and Tavistock Square, where another home-made bomb later wrecked a double-decker bus.

Compared to the first anniversary in 2006, subsequent anniversaries of the attacks have been low-key. Twelve months after the bombings, there was a national two-minute silence and a day-long memorial programme.

Dozens of the victims' families and some of the 700 who were injured are still waiting for compensation payments.

The attacks, perpetrated by four British Muslims, threw the spotlight on the threat from homegrown extremism, and the extent of opposition to Britain's foreign policy in Iraq and Afghanistan among the country's 1.6-million-strong Muslim community.

Three years on, Britain is still facing a "severe" threat from terrorism -- the highest level -- according to the security services, with increasingly frequent arrests of suspects under anti-terrorism legislation.

Last year, Jonathan Evans, the head of the domestic intelligence service MI5, said the number of people with suspected links to extremists in Britain had risen from 1,600 in 2006 to at least 2,000.

The government is currently pushing through parliament proposals to increase the pre-charge detention limits for suspected extremists from the current 28 days to 42 days, despite widespread outrage from civil liberties groups.

Britain's multi-cultural model, once held up as an example, has also come under scrutiny, with some suggesting Islamist sentiment is increasing, due in part to segregation and alienation among younger British Muslims.

In a television documentary looking at whether fear of terrorism had fuelled violence and intolerance towards British Muslims, international development minister Shahid Malik said many felt "like the Jews of Europe".

Malik -- Britain's first Muslim minister -- said he was not comparing Muslims' experiences to what Jews experienced during the Holocaust in Nazi Germany.

But in comments due to be broadcast later Monday, Malik said: "In the way that it was legitimate almost -- and still is in some parts -- to target Jews, many Muslims would say that we feel the exact same way.

"Somehow there's a message out there that it's OK to target people as long as it's Muslims. And you don't have to worry about the facts, and people will turn a blind eye."

An ICM survey for the documentary suggested that 51 percent of Britons blame Islam to some degree for the bombings while eight out of 10 Muslims believed their faith had faced more prejudice since then.

40 dead in suicide attack on India's Afghanistan embassy

2008-07-07T18:47:00.000+08:00

KABUL (AFP) - - A suicide bomber rammed an explosives-filled car into the gates of the Indian embassy in Afghanistan on Monday, killing more than 40 people including four Indian nationals, officials said.

The blast in the heart of Kabul scattered human flesh and severed limbs outside the embassy of India, one of Afghanistan's staunchest allies as the war-torn country battles an increasingly bloody Taliban insurgency.

A spokesman for the hardliners however denied the Taliban were involved in the attack, the deadliest in Kabul since the insurgency began after the Taliban regime was removed in a US-led invasion in late 2001.

"We have not done this," spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said.

Indian ambassador Jayan Prasad, who was not hurt in the attack, confirmed to AFP reports that four Indian nationals were among the dead.

The Indian foreign ministry in New Delhi said meanwhile that two Indian paramilitary troopers guarding the embassy were killed in what the Afghan interior ministry said was a suicide car bombing.

"We are walking on rubble," a senior embassy official told AFP soon after the blast. "The embassy has been blown up badly, the outer structures," he said on condition of anonymity.

Reporters were held back from the scene but an AFP correspondent saw a mound of rubble at the gate of the facility, which is close to the interior ministry.

The powerful morning rush-hour blast sent a plume of brown smoke into the air and could be heard across the city centre. It shattered the windows of shops several hundred metres (yards) away, the correspondent said.

"Initial reports indicate that about 40 people, mostly civilians who had come here for visas, have been killed," interior ministry spokesman Najib Nikzad told reporters near the scene.

"More than 40 people, mostly civilians, have been killed," he reiterated to an AFP reporter separately. About 10 Afghan police officers in charge of embassy security were among the dead and wounded, he said.

Health ministry spokesman Abdullah Fahim said earlier hospitals had reported they had 28 bodies and had treated 141 wounded.

Afghan Foreign Minister Rangeen Dadfar Spanta visited the embassy soon after the attack to show support, his spokesman Sultan Ahmad Baheen said.

"The enemies of Afghanistan and India's relationship cannot hamper our relationship by conducting such attacks," Baheen told AFP.

India has provided significant support to Afghanistan's efforts to restore order after the ouster of the Islamic extremist Taliban movement, which seized power in 1996 until they were pushed out.

"Such acts of terror will not deter us from fulfilling our commitments to the government and people of Afghanistan," the Indian government said in a statement condemning the attack.

Since being ousted from power after refusing to hand over Osama bin Laden in the wake of the September 11 attacks, the Taliban have waged a deadly campaign to try to undermine the Afghan government.

Targets have included international and US-led coalition troops from the tens of thousands of foreign forces trying to help President Hamid Karzai restore stability, but attacks have been increasing in Kabul itself.

One of the most daring in the city was on April 27, when militants opened fire on President Karzai as he was about to address the country's largest annual military parade.

A parliamentarian and two other other Afghans were killed, but the president was unhurt.

The international community has sent about 70,000 troops to Afghanistan to help them fight the militants but the insurgency has only gained pace, notably over the past two years.

In other violence Monday, a Canadian soldier died after being badly hurt in a bomb blast in the southern province of Kandahar, a Canadian commander said.

A roadside bomb similar to those used by the Taliban killed three Afghan police in the same province and a separate one killed four more in the neighbouring province of Uruzgan, government officials said.

MILKRUN PARTICIPATION

2008-07-07T18:44:00.002+08:00

YESTERDAY I WENT TO THE MILK RUN 6KM,THERE WERE QUITE A NUMBER OF PARTICIPANTS IN THE RUN ,SOME SMALL KIDS,LOOK LIKE 4 TO 5 YRS OLD. LOLZ THEY ALL WALK LA ,OF COS LOLZ
ANYWAY TOK ABT MYSELF,I DID NOT STOP BUT JUST CONTINUE TO RUN AND TIRED THEN SLOW JOG BUT AFTER FEW MINUTES ,THEN STATED TO RUN AGAIN AND COMPLETED THE 6KM RUN N 31MIN PLUS ,LOLZ IT WAS A GOOD EXPERIENCE FOR ME AS THIS WAS MY FIRST TIME RUNNING IN THE MARATHON,THIS COMING SUNDAY IS THE OSIM TRIALATHON,KAE TIME TO POST NEWS LIAO,LOLZ

Home Affairs Ministry says S’porean caught in Sumatra is not Mas Selamat

2008-07-04T18:08:00.000+08:00

SINGAPORE : Singapore’s Ministry of Home Affairs has confirmed that the Singaporean arrested in Sumatra by the Indonesian authorities for links with Jemaah Islamiyah is not Mas Selamat Kastari.

A spokesman said the ministry has been in communication with its Indonesian counterpart, but it is unable to share more details as this is an ongoing operational matter.

Indonesian media reports have identified the Singaporean as Abu Hazam, who is also known as Omar. Abu Hazam was arrested last Saturday in the Sumatran village of Sekayu.

Meanwhile, an expert on international terrorism said the arrests of terror suspects in Sumatra have emphasised the need for greater vigilance amongst security agencies in this region.

Dr Rohan Gunaratna, who heads the International Centre for Political Violence and Terrorism Research at the S Rajaratnam School of International Studies, said the arrest of a Singaporean, who was among the suspects linked to the Jemaah Islamiyah (JI) group, demonstrated clearly the prevailing threat of terrorism in Singapore.

According to Dr Rohan, JI’s centre of activity has always been in Java, but actions against the terorist group by the Indonesian police have resulted in the group moving its operations to Sumatra.

Dr Rohan said: "The network in Sumatra not only poses a threat to Indonesia, but also to Singapore, Malaysia and countries outside Indonesia. The fact that a Singaporean with links... to the most extremist faction of Jemaah Islamiyah was arrested in Sumatra demonstrates the continuing terrorist threat to Singapore.

"The fact that Singaporeans still serve in Jemaah Islamiyah will only call for greater vigilance and greater attention... on the threat of terrorism to Singapore."

Indonesian police have also seized explosives which could have been five times as powerful as those used during the 2005 terrorist attacks in Bali which left many tourists dead.

Dr Rohan added: "(This) also demonstrates that Jemaah Islamiyah is willing to kill people in large numbers. The cell that was neutralised in Sumatra was not only planning to conduct suicide attacks against high profile targets, but also western and non—Indonesians.

"They were planning not only to use explosives, but also ammunition and firearms. So the threat from JI will not be confined only to vehicle bombs and backpack bombs. JI will use firearms in the coming months and years."

That is why Dr Rohan feels it is important for cooperation among regional countries in their battle against terrorism to be at all levels of the intelligence and security establishments.

Colombian army rescues hostages in daring operation

2008-07-03T15:16:00.000+08:00

BOGOTA (AFP) - - French-Colombian politician Ingrid Betancourt, three US nationals and 11 other hostages were rescued from Marxist FARC rebels Wednesday, freed after years in captivity by a daring Colombian military operation.

Betancourt, who was captured in 2002, and the three Americans held since 2003, were rescued along with 11 Colombian soldiers in a dramatic and bloodless operation when a Colombian military team posing as rebels removed them by helicopter.

"To all of you Colombians, for all of you French who have been with us, that accompanied us in the world, that helped us to remain alive, that helped the world to know what was going on: thank you," Betancourt said just hours after she was plucked from the jungle.

She said the hostages did not know that their new captors on Wednesday were Colombian soldiers in disguise, some wearing T-shirts bearing the portrait of legendary revolutionary Ernesto "Che" Guevara.

The disguised soldiers made the group board a white helicopter with their wrists bound, saying they were being transferred to another rebel hideout.

It was only when they were in the air that "the chief of operations said, 'We are the national army and you are all free.' And the helicopter almost fell because we started jumping. We screamed, we cried, we hugged. We couldn't believe it," Betancourt said after arriving at a Bogota military airport.

Colombian defense minister Juan Manuel Santos said the operation "will no doubt go down in history for its audacity."

"This is a miracle.... There is no historical precedent for such a perfect operation ," Betancourt said smiling, speaking in French and Spanish.

She embraced her mother, Yolanda Pulecio, as she descended from the plane, looking fresh and happy, dressed in an army camouflage vest and hat and surrounded by other ex-hostages and Colombian soldiers.

American hostages Marc Gonsalves, Thomas Howes and Keith Stansell, captured in 2003 when their plane crashed during a US defense department anti-drug mission, were also freed in the operation, some 70 kilometers (45 miles) from the city of San Jose del Guaviare.

A military plane carrying the trio, employees of US defense contractor Northrop Grumman, landed in San Antonio, Texas, early Thursday and were swiftly taken by helicopter to a US army medical center, television pictures showed.

Betancourt, a dual national who was captured as she was campaigning for the Colombian presidency, thanked everyone for keeping their plight alive.

"We were able to dream. We were able to keep hope alive because we heard our loved ones" on the radio, she said, according to a translation on CNN.

World leaders were swift to welcome the news, and celebrations broke out on the streets of Colombian cities as residents hailed the brazen jungle rescue as a bright spot for a country plagued for decades by kidnappings.

Colombian President Alvaro Uribe, who spoke with Betancourt just after her release, praised the "magnificent work" of the rescue team and compared the operation "to the greatest epics in the history of man."

There had been mounting fears for Betancourt's health following the release of a video showing her looking thin and frail, and her teenage son Lorenzo Delloye said he was overjoyed to hear his 46-year-old mother was free.

"It is an immense joy, an indescribable joy, I still cannot believe it," Delloye told AFP.

US President George W. Bush congratulated Bogota on the releases, telling Uribe he was a "strong leader," while French President Nicolas Sarkozy also thanked Uribe and called on the FARC to end their "absurd" struggle.

French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner and members of Betancourt's family left France for Colombia on a plane late Wednesday. Betancourt will likely return to France on the plane, Sarkozy's office said.

As congratulations also poured in from across Latin America and Europe, street celebrations broke out in Bogota with thousands of cars, their horns blaring, packing onto the roads causing huge traffic jams.

Hundreds of people flooded onto the streets brandishing the national flag and shouting "Free, free, free."

Betancourt was the most well-known of about 700 people believed to have been taken captive by the FARC, a four-decade-old insurgency which figures on US and European Union lists of terrorist organizations.

Soldiers removed from Mongolian capital as former communist win poll

2008-07-03T15:15:00.000+08:00

ULAN BATOR (AFP) - - Soldiers have been taken off the streets of Mongolia's capital following riots that left five people dead, the justice minister said Thursday, as the electoral committee announced victory for the former communists.

"The situation has stabilised and there is no immediate danger of violence so armed forces have been removed from strategic positions and have been replaced by police," Justice Minister Tsend Munkh-Orgil told AFP.

News of the troop removals comes as a spokesman for Mongolia's General Election Committee told AFP on Thursday that the national election won by the former communist party was "fair" after riots broke out amid claims of vote rigging.

"The election was organised well and by law. It was really fair," spokesman Purevdorjiin Naranbat told AFP.

"Some people did not accept that their candidates lost. We counted again and again but it was still the same result so there is nothing wrong."

Armed soldiers had patrolled the streets of the capital on Wednesday after a four-day state of emergency was imposed the night before to quell the protests that erupted amid anger over allegations of rigged national elections.

On Tuesday, around 8,000 people stormed through the centre of Ulan Bator, destroying buildings, torching cars and pelting police with rocks.

The violence left five people dead and 329 injured, Munkh-Orgil told reporters on Wednesday, adding that police had fired tear gas and rubber bullets to quell the unrest.

Border troops and other armed forces were called in to support outmanned police, according to Munhk-Orgil, who said on Wednesday that unnamed groups were planning further demonstrations.

The unrest began after the MPRP claimed victory in Sunday's national elections over the Democratic Party, with which it had shared an uneasy coalition since 2004.

Protesters took to the streets after Democratic Party leader Tsakhia Elbegdorj alleged the MPRP had cheated its way to a supposed win.

The reduced security presence could be clearly seen on the streets of Ulan Bator on Thursday although barricades remained in some places, according to an AFP reporter in the city.

UNESCO considering 45 new heritage sites

2008-07-03T15:14:00.000+08:00

QUEBEC CITY (AFP) - - UNESCO's World Heritage Committee began deliberations Wednesday in this oldest of Canadian cities over which of the globe's architectural and natural wonders to add to its list of protected sites.

The group of experts from 21 member countries of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization will also broach the delicate issue of whether or not to delist the eastern German city of Dresden during the July 2-10 session.

At the talks, 45 new sites could be added to the prestigious list, to be announced Sunday or Monday.

"The key moment is the addition of a new site," UNESCO spokesman Roni Amelan told AFP. "Preparing a bid is sometimes a difficult task, especially for poorer countries."

Five countries are first-time candidates for the list: Kyrgyzstan (for its Sulamain-Too Sacred Mountain); Papua New Guinea (The Kuk Early Agricultural Site); San Marino (San Marino Historic Centre and Mount Titano); Saudi Arabia (Al-Hijr Archaeological Site) and Vanuatu (Chief Roi Mata's Domain).

Each has a good chance of making the list this year as UNESCO "favors" sites in countries not already listed, said Amelan, explaining that UNESCO is looking to broaden its representation.

To be considered, a site must be of "outstanding universal value" and have a conservation plan to maintain it.

To date, 851 sites in 141 countries have previously been designated world heritage sites.

Dresden could be delisted following a decision to build a four-lane bridge in the heart of the 18th- and 19th-century cultural landscape of its Elbe Valley.

The construction of the Forest Castle Bridge began last November, after a court dismissed arguments by conservationists that it would pose a threat to rare horseshoe bats that live on the banks of the Elbe.

City residents have mostly been supportive of the project because they believe it will ease traffic congestion.

UNESCO does not like to have to delist a site. "Removing a site from the list would be a black eye," Amelan said.

Delisting "is never a satisfactory solution," Koichiro Matsuura, UNESCO director general, told delegates at the opening ceremony.

The committee will also review the state of conservation of the 30 sites inscribed on the List of World Heritage in Danger, and may decide to add new sites to that list should preservation require special attention.

Some countries ask for this "in danger" tag because it gives them access to UN funds to try to improve protection of the site.

Canada is presiding at this year's meeting as Quebec City celebrates its 400th anniversary.

Established by French explorer Samuel de Champlain in the early days of the fur trade, and once the center of New France -- a French colony that spanned much of North America -- Quebec City is now a bustling Canadian metropolis of 700,000.

Its old quarter, perched atop a cliff overlooking the Saint Lawrence river where it widens on its way to the open sea, remains the only fortified city north of Mexico and was designated a UNESCO world heritage site in 1985.

Canada is proposing that the Joggins Fossil Cliffs in Nova Scotia province be added to the list this year.

9 terror suspects arrested in Indonesia

2008-07-03T15:13:00.000+08:00

JAKARTA, Indonesia - A Singaporean who met several times with Osama bin Laden was among nine terror suspects arrested Wednesday in western Indonesia, a local television station reported.

A cache of powerful bombs packed with bullets was also seized in the raid.

The men initially planned to attack Western tourists on Sumatra Island, but changed their minds after realizing too many Indonesian lives could be lost, TVOne quoted anti-terror police as saying. They reportedly were considering a bombing in the capital, Jakarta, instead.

Indonesia, the world's most populous Muslim nation, has been hit in recent years by a string of suicide bombings that have killed more than 240 people. The regional terror group Jemaah Islamiyah has been blamed in those attacks.

The last bombing occurred on Bali in late 2005 and earlier this year the United States lifted a travel warning imposed in 2000, citing improvements in security.

A police general, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to talk to the media, told The Associated Press 22 bombs were seized Wednesday in Palembang, a coastal city on Sumatra, the largest weighing 11 pounds.

Some were packed with bullets, rather than Jemaah Islamiyah's hallmark ball-bearings, probably to maximize the impact of the blast.

Sixteen were ready to explode, Kompas newspaper reported Thursday, adding that dozens of pounds of explosive powder, grenades and several series of electric detonators also were recovered.

The arrests began Saturday in the Sumatran village of Sekayu when police captured a Singaporean terror suspect, Abu Hazam, who allegedly met with bin Laden on several occasions and received training in Afghanistan, TVOne and Kompas reported. Few other details were provided.

It was unclear if any of the suspects had attorneys.

The man, also known as Omar, tipped police off to the whereabouts of two other suspects, according to TVOne and Kompas. The two suspects, Abdul Rahman and an unidentified alleged bomb-maker, were arrested Monday. The remaining six were netted Wednesday in a series of nearby raids. Their nationalities were not immediately known.

The suspects allegedly had ties with Southeast Asia's most wanted terror suspect, Noordin Top, who is believed to head a breakaway faction of Jemaah Islamiyah that is committed to al-Qaida style attacks on Western, civilian targets.

Police documents obtained recently by The Associated Press indicate Jemaah Islamiyah has maintained the ability and desire to forge international links despite a crackdown that has resulted in the arrest and convictions of hundreds of terrorists.

All nine suspects were flown to the capital Thursday morning, where they will be charged with violating anti-terrorism laws. If found guilty, they face a maximum penalty of death. Black masks covered their faces as they were led onto the police aircraft in Palembang.

Police spokesman Abubakar Nataprawira confirmed the arrests and the recovery of explosives, but would not elaborate, saying the investigation was ongoing.

Israel to reopen crossing point to Gaza

2008-06-29T14:49:00.000+08:00

JERUSALEM (AFP) - - Israel on Sunday was due to reopen a Gaza border crossing point for commercial goods, closed after Palestinians fired rockets five days earlier in violation of a truce, a military spokesman said.

Authorities initially decided to reopen two key crossing points, but later reconsidered. "We finally decided to only reopen Sufa for the time being," said spokesman Peter Lerner.

"Around 80 trucks filled with goods and humanitarian aid should be authorised to enter the Gaza Strip on Sunday," he added.

The Nahal Oz terminal for fuel shipments was reopened on Friday.

Egypt negotiated the June 19 truce between Gaza's ruling Hamas movement and the Jewish state, aiming to halt rocket attacks in return for Israel's lifting of its blockade of Gaza.

Islamic Jihad on Tuesday fired three rockets at Israel in what it said was revenge for the death of one of its commanders in a firefight with Israeli troops in the West Bank.

Israel responded by again shutting Gaza's commercial goods border crossings. It has not however resumed the near-daily air strikes and ground incursions it carried out in the months leading up to the truce.

The Erez passenger crossing, used by diplomats, journalists, and Gazans requiring medical care in Israel or abroad, has remained open.

CAMERON HIGHLAND TRIP

2008-06-29T14:33:00.002+08:00

OH YEAH NOW GOING TO TWO WEEKS AFTER I SAID THAT I WOULD BE GOING TO MALAYSIA TWO WEEKS AGO.ANYWAY WE SAT COACH TO THE PLACE CALL CAMERON HIGHLAND AND I THINK THE DISTANCE BETWEEN SINGAPORE AND CAMERON HIGHLAND WOULD BE AROUND 500 TO 600KM,SO WE TOOK ABT 7HRS SITTING IN THE BUS TO REACH TO THE DESTINATION PLUS 1 HRS GOING UPHILL TO THE CAPITAL TOWN IN THERE CALLED BRINCHANG.THE JOURNEY WAS FINE ACEPT THE JOURNEY GOING UPHILL THAT WAS TURNING LEFT THEN RIGHT THAT MAKE ME FEEL DIZZY.LOLZ AS WE GO UP THR I FEEL COLDER THEN USUAL COS IS IN THE EARLY MORNING ABT 6AM THAT WHY IT WILL BE COLDER THAN USUAL.ANYWAY AFTER REACHING THE TOWN,HAVE A BREAKFAST THEN WENT TO OUR FIRST TOUR BEFORE CHECKING INTO MY HOTEL,SO WE WENT TO THE LESIURE TOUR THAT GO TO THE PLANTATION AND FARMS.LOLZ THEN CHECK INTO OUR HOTEL,THE NEXT DAY WE WENT TO THE NATURE TOUR AND THE PLANTATION TOUR,I MISS THE NATURE TOUR AS WE WENT INTO THE FOREST,THE CONDITION THERE IS QUITE DAM AND MUDDY THAT DIRTY MY PANTS BUT WORTH IT COS I LIKE NATURE AND ITS LIKE A JUNGLE,DIFFERENT FROM SINGAPORE FOREST,THE AIR THERE IS ALSO VERY FRESH AND COOLING COS U NOE,ON TOP THE HIGHLAND.AFTER THAT GO TO THE TOUR ON TO THE HIGHEST ACCESSABLE PLACE OF CAMERON HIGHLAND,THEN GOT ONE I THINK 7 STORY TOUR WITH A VERY STEEP LADDER OVER THERE ,WAH DAMN DIFFICULT TO CLIMB UP BUT WHEN REACH TO THE TOP,CAN SEE SPECTECULAR VIEW SO I THINK THE EFFORT IS PAID OFF.SO NEXT TIME IF WANT TO GO TO THE WWW.TITIWANGSATOUR.COM OR MAYBE SEARCH THE NET FOR IT AS THIS WEBSITE I PLACED IS NOT REALLY ACCURATE.LOLZ

Pakistan pushes ahead with anti-militant offensive

2008-06-29T14:19:00.002+08:00

PESHAWAR, Pakistan (AFP) - - Pakistani forces pressed ahead with an anti-militant offensive near the Afghan border for a second day Sunday, in a move aimed at easing US fears over Islamabad's talks with insurgents.

Soldiers were setting up checkposts in the northwestern Khyber tribal district, a day after launching the operation and demolishing the house of a leader of an Islamist group accused of threatening the main city of Peshawar.

The operation is the first by the new government since it began negotiating with Taliban militants after elections in February -- although officials said the targeted rebel warlord, Mangal Bagh, had no direct links to the Taliban.

"The situation is under control. There has been no resistance," senior local administration official Mehmood Afridi told AFP. Officials said earlier that one militant had been killed in an exchange of fire.

"Paramilitary forces have taken up positions near Bara (the main town in Khyber district), they are setting up a number of checkposts and bunkers while several key roads have been sealed," he added.

After the offensive was launched on Saturday, television footage showed tanks and camouflaged armoured personnel carriers rumbling into the area, while officials said troops had fired several mortar rounds at militant hideouts.

A senior security official said the aim of the operation was to keep control of Khyber's main town and "clear it of elements making incursions into Peshawar, threatening CD and video shops and carrying out kidnaps for ransom."

Several CD shops have been blown up in recent months by militants seeking to impose Taliban-style Islamic law in the troubled tribal belt bordering Afghanistan and in the adjoining North West Frontier Province.

Security officials said Bagh's men had also been raiding trucks on the Khyber pass, the main supply route for US and NATO troops who are fighting Taliban militants in Afghanistan.

A spokesman for Bagh's hardline Lashkar-e-Islam group said the security forces had demolished his house and the rebel group's headquarters in Bara.

"But we have decided not to fight them (security forces). We are not Taliban," the spokesman, Commander Wahid, told AFP.

The senior security official said authorities were deciding to push forward into the Tirah district, which is closer to the border with Afghanistan and where a Taliban-linked group, Ansar-ul-Islam, is active.

That group is under the sway of Pakistan's top Taliban commander Baitullah Mehsud, who on Saturday said he was halting two-month-old peace talks with the authorities because of operations against his men.

Mehsud is accused by authorities of orchestrating the assassination of former premier Benazir Bhutto in December.

However a spokesman for Mehsud also denied that Bagh was connected to the Taliban.

Pakistan has come under growing pressure to crack down on militants, with the United States and other NATO countries with troops in Afghanistan expressing concerns over the government's negotiations with the rebels.

Mehsud, who was named by Time Magazine this year in its list of the world's most influential people, has earlier vowed to continue attacking US and NATO troops in Afghanistan despite the peace talks.

US Defence Secretary Robert Gates said this week that the failure of Pakistan's new government to put pressure on Taliban forces on the Afghan border was a "concern."

More than 30,000 Myanmar refugees resettled

2008-06-29T14:19:00.001+08:00

BANGKOK, Thailand - More than 30,000 Myanmar refugees living in camps in Thailand have been sent to third countries in what the United Nations said Wednesday had become the world's largest refugee resettlement operation.

Most of the refugees are Karen ethnic minority people who had been sheltered in nine refugee camps along the Thai-Myanmar border.

The U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees said 30,144 refugees have left Thailand to start new lives abroad since the resettlement operation began in January 2005. A UNHCR statement described it as the world's largest refugee resettlement operation.

But the camps remain home to 123,500 refugees and asylum-seekers.

"Some of the refugees have been here for nearly two decades. Some were born in refugee camps, grew up there and are now raising their own families in refugee camps," UNHCR regional representative Raymond Hall said Wednesday. "For them resettlement offers a way out of the camps and the opportunity for a fresh start in life."

The United Nations and human rights groups say that over the years the Myanmar military has burned villages, killed civilians and committed other atrocities against the Karen, who have long fought for autonomy from the central government.

Some activists have charged that Myanmar's ruling junta is waging a genocidal campaign against the Karen and other rebellious ethnic groups.

Hall said prospects for the refugees to return to Myanmar or settle permanently in Thailand were dim.

Nearly 21,500 of the resettled refugees have gone to the United States, while Australia has received 3,400 and Canada 2,600.

Other resettlement countries are Britain, Finland, Ireland, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway and Sweden.

Myanmar refugees are now leaving Thailand for resettlement at an average rate of more than 300 a week, the UNHCR said.

Pakistan launches strike at Taliban hideouts

2008-06-29T14:17:00.000+08:00

KHYBER AGENCY, Pakistan - Pakistan's newly elected government launched the first major assault against militants in the country's volatile northwest on Saturday, destroying a militant leader's headquarters and shelling suspected hideouts of other fighters.

The offensive in the Khyber tribal region appeared to mark a refinement in strategy by the new government, backing its calls for peace deals in the tribal areas along the Afghan border with the threat of forceful action against militants who get out of line.

The United States said such deals were giving militants the freedom to regroup for attacks on U.S. and NATO forces in Afghanistan. With growing militant threats to the nearby Pakistani city of Peshawar — and to the key Khyber supply route for U.S. forces in Afghanistan — Pakistan took action.

Late Friday, 700 troops from the paramilitary Frontier Corps moved into Kyber in preparation for the offensive, a round-the-clock curfew was imposed in the Bara area, and heavy contingents of troops blocked the main road from Peshawar into Kyber, local officials said.

By Saturday afternoon, the Frontier Corps began shelling suspected militant hide-outs in the mountains, local official Muhammad Siddiq Khan said.

Authorities blew up the headquarters of militant leader Menghal Bagh in a scene broadcast on national television. Bagh fled to the remote Tirah Valley along the Afghan border, a military intelligence official in the frontier said, speaking on condition of anonymity because identifying himself would compromise his work.

In recent weeks, Bagh's fighters waged attacks in Peshawar in what provincial officials say was an attempt to prove they wield influence outside the tribal regions and to intimidate the population. Bagh's followers also have been accused of threatening supply convoys bound for coalition troops in Afghanistan.

Maj. Gen. Alam Khattak, head of the Frontier Corps, said his troops destroyed three militant centers in Bara and killed one attacker in the operation, which was expected to last up to a week.

"We have occupied, captured all important heights, and we have taken control of the area," he said. Hinting the offensive would not be last, he said, "Other pockets of resistance and crime will also be visited."

The operation was also expected to target Haji Namdar, whose Vice and Virtue Movement is suspected of attacks against coalition soldiers in Afghanistan. Namdar has sought to impose his own strict brand of Islamic law in the region.

"If the government thinks there is any issue to address, that should be resolved through talks, not by the use of force," said Munsif Khan, spokesman for Namdar's group. "We are ready for talks with the government."

In response to the offensive and other confrontations with security forces, Baitullah Mehsud, the Taliban leader in Pakistan, said he was suspending talks between his allies and the government. He implied his forces could cause trouble in Pakistan's main cities.

"Peace cannot be brought with force and aggression. This will be very unfortunate for the Pakistani nation if fighting starts again," he told The Associated Press by telephone.

The new government elected in February eclipsed former army strongman and U.S. ally President Pervez Musharraf. In a policy shift, the new administration supported peace talks with Taliban militants to try to curb an explosion in violence in the northwest.

But as militant activity grew, Pakistan's top political and military leaders signaled they would use force if necessary to combat militancy.

Concern has grown in recent weeks about militant threats to Peshawar. Two weeks ago, a Taliban force from Khyber entered the city and briefly kidnapped 16 Christians.

Mahmood Shah, a former security chief in the tribal regions, said the Taliban took advantage of a leadership vacuum in Islamabad, where the coalition government is paralyzed by infighting, to take control of the tribal regions along the border. Now, the Taliban "are on our doorstep" around Peshawar, he said.

"The situation is like water flowing into a field and until you have some obstruction to stop it, you will drown. We are drowning," he said.

Taliban have posted notices in some villages outside Peshawar telling residents to shun the judiciary and seek justice through their courts, he said.

Misrri Khan, who works for a tribal paramilitary force that patrols Khyber, said the militants kidnapped 16 of his fellow officers and threatened to behead them — and then to take more captives — if they did not abandon checkpoints in the area. Khan said the force refused.

Afrasiab Khattak, chief negotiator for the provincial government, said the province was considering a second operation in the Swat area, which is wracked by violence despite a peace deal between the provincial government and a radical pro-Taliban cleric.

Police in Swat found the bodies Saturday of four people apparently killed by militants and defused three bombs weighing a total of 45 pounds that had been planted along a main road, Swat police chief Waqif Khan said.

Tropical storm hits China's southeast coast after killing hundreds in Philippines

2008-06-25T16:11:00.000+08:00

SHANGHAI - Tropical storm Fengshen brought another bout of wet misery to southern China on Wednesday with heavy rains and strong winds after killing hundreds in the Philippines as a typhoon.

China's southeast was already trying to recover from flooding earlier this month that killed at least 63 people, forced the evacuation of at least 1.66 million and caused billions of dollars in damage in a region anchored by the country's manufacturing capital, the Pearl River Delta in Guangdong province.

Fengshen made landfall Wednesday morning with winds of up to 51 mph (83 kilometers per hour) in the economic boomtown of Shenzhen, whose meteorological station forecast up to almost 8 inches (200 millimeters) of rain Wednesday and Thursday, the state-run Xinhua News Agency reported.

Both Shenzhen and nearby Hong Kong stopped school classes Wednesday, and more than 13,000 ships in Guangdong Province came back to harbor before the storm made landfall, Xinhua reported.

The Hong Kong government also closed all courts and financial markets in the morning after a weather alert was issued late Tuesday. There have been at least nine reports of flooding in various parts of the city, the government said in a statement

Flood control authorities in Shenzhen told the news agency that no deaths had been reported as of Wednesday morning.

Xinhua quoted meteorologists in the region as saying the tropical storm was expected to weaken as it moved north and further inland.

The China Central Meteorological Station said Fengshen's heavy rains also will affect the provinces of Fujian, Guangxi, Jiangxi and Hunan, according to the news agency.

Fengshen left more than 800 passengers and crew members missing in the Philippines this week after a ferry capsized in the rough weather. Four dozen survivors have been found. The storm's toll on shore in the Philippines included 227 dead and 275 missing in the worst-hit area, with dozens reported killed elsewhere by floods and landslides.

China has given little attention to this month's flooding in its southern region, instead keeping the focus firmly on relief for last month's earthquake in central Sichuan Province. The death toll from that disaster is expected to pass 80,000, Vice-Premier Hui Liangyu said Tuesday.

Tropical storm Fengshen pounds Hong Kong with rain and wind; schools, markets closed

2008-06-25T16:09:00.002+08:00

HONG KONG - Tropical storm Fengshen brought more heavy rains and strong winds to Hong Kong on Wednesday, shutting down the city's financial markets, schools and courts.

Fengshen, which battered the Philippines over the weekend, passed through Hong Kong late Tuesday and was about 40 miles (65 kilometers) northwest of the city Wednesday morning, the Hong Kong Observatory said.

The average wind speed was 39 mph (63 kilometers per hour) or more across Hong Kong, the observatory said. It was not immediately clear how much rainfall was recorded.

The storm was headed north or northwest toward the southern Chinese province of Guangdong and was moving at about 8.7 mph (14 kph).

The Hong Kong government closed all schools, courts and financial markets in the morning after a weather alert was issued late Tuesday. There have been at least nine reports of flooding in various parts of the city, the government said in a statement.

Fengshen's strength weakened from a typhoon to a tropical storm Tuesday.

Typhoon Fengshen pounded the Philippines over the weekend, killing dozens in flooded communities in the central part of the country. It may also have left hundreds dead after a ferry capsized in heavy weather.

Two Gaza rockets slam into southern Israel

2008-06-25T16:09:00.001+08:00

JERUSALEM (AFP) - - Three rockets fired from the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip hit southern Israel on Tuesday, slightly wounding two people and straining an Egyptian-brokered truce between Israel and the Islamist movement.

Two of the rockets struck inside the hard-hit town of Sderot, causing some damage, and another struck a field outside town, police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said.

The rockets were the first to be fired from the Palestinian territory since a truce between Israel and the Gaza Strip's Hamas rulers went into effect on June 19.

A spokesman for Islamic Jihad told AFP it had carried out the attacks. "The rockets are a response to the crimes of the (Israeli) occupation in the West Bank," he said.

The group, which was responsible for many of the attacks launched from Gaza in the months leading up to the ceasefire, did not agree to the truce but had vowed not to violate it.

The attacks came hours after Israeli troops killed a senior Islamic Jihad fighter and another man in the northern town of Nablus in the occupied West Bank, which was not included in the truce.

Overnight Tuesday a mortar round fired from northern Gaza hit Israel but caused no damage.

"Any fire from the Gaza Strip is a gross violation of the understanding reached with Egypt," Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's spokesman Mark Regev told AFP after the attack, referring to the truce agreement.

Hamas blamed Israel for Tuesday's violence, saying it had "provoked" Palestinian armed factions with the killing of the two men in Nablus.

"It is clear that it was the Israeli occupation that provoked the feelings of the Palestinian people and the resistance groups by committing these sorts of vile crimes in Nablus," Hamas spokesman Fawzi Barhum told AFP.

"We in Hamas affirm that we are adhering to the truce and working for its success and continuation and we will work with all the Palestinian factions to guarantee this."

Olmert, meanwhile, returned from Egypt where he met with President Hosni Mubarak on the truce and a parallel track of indirect talks with Hamas aimed at securing a prisoner swap for captured Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit.

Egypt played a key role as mediator in brokering the ceasefire as Israel rejects direct contact with Hamas, which it blacklists as a terrorist group. Hamas in turn refuses to recognise the Jewish state.

The truce, which called on Israel to cease all military operations in Gaza and for Palestinian militants to halt their near-daily rocket and mortar attacks, also called for the easing of a year-long blockade of the Gaza Strip.

Egypt told Israel that it will keep its Rafah crossing with Gaza closed until the fate of Shalit is resolved, a senior Israeli official said.

But Mubarak chided Israel, saying it was unrealistic to link Shalit's release to the truce.

To link the fate of "one soldier" to so many dead on both sides is "unrealistic," he said in an interview with Israeli television of which excerpts were published by the official MENA news agency.

"Let's be realistic and live the reality of the truce (or) they will continue firing rockets and you will attack them and you will die and they will die, for one soldier," Mubarak said.

"But the soldier is another track we're working on. Why mix everything up? Let's be realistic. We should not mix all issues and ruin everything" he said.

Israel has eased its year-old blockade of Gaza as part of the truce by allowing larger amounts of basic goods to enter, but made any opening of Rafah, the only crossing that bypasses it, conditional on Shalit's release.

Israel has also said it must keep up military operations in the West Bank to protect its citizens, and many feared an escalation in violence there could jeopardise the agreement.

Meanwhile, the international quartet for Middle East peace called during a Tuesday meeting in Berlin for the truce to "be respected in full."

"The quartet expressed its continuing support for Egyptian efforts to restore calm to Gaza and southern Israel and welcomed the period of calm that began on June 19," the grouping comprising the European Union, Russia, the United Nations and the United States said in a statement.

The statement also called for an immediate freeze to Jewish settlement activity in the occupied West Bank and the dismantlement of outposts built since March 2001.

Malaysia PM denies his deputy's wife was involved in sensational killing of Mongolian woman

2008-06-25T16:08:00.000+08:00

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia - Malaysia's prime minister denied Tuesday that his deputy's wife was involved in the sensational killing of a young Mongolian woman, and said that action will be taken against the prominent blogger who made the allegation.

Blogger Raja Petra Raja Kamaruddin signed a sworn statement earlier this month, claiming he has information linking Deputy Prime Minister Najib Razak's wife, Rosmah, to the October 2006 slaying of Altantuya Shaariibuu, a 28-year-old freelance translator and interpreter.

"Raja Petra's actions are unacceptable. It is not right," Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi told reporters Tuesday. "I don't believe that Najib and Rosmah are involved."

Raja Petra's claim came on top of another article he wrote earlier this year in which he implied that Najib was involved in the slaying. He was charged with sedition in May for making that claim, but pleaded innocent to the charge. That trial is scheduled to start in October.

Najib and Rosmah have denied any role in Shaariibuu's killing.

Prominent political analyst Abdul Razak Baginda, a close associate of Najib, is charged with abetting the murder. Two policemen are accused of killing her and destroying her body with explosives in a jungle clearing outside Kuala Lumpur. The three have been on trial since June 2007.

Abdullah said the attorney general has told him that Raja Petra is being investigated and "action will be taken against him."

He also rejected Raja Petra's allegation in the sworn statement that Malaysia's military intelligence had given him a report about Rosmah's alleged role.

Abdul Razak, who has top-level government contacts in addition to being close to Najib, has confessed in court to having an eight-month affair with Shaariibuu.

The prosecution contends Abdul Razak had her killed because she pestered him for money after he ended their affair. They say he used his connections to get the policemen to carry out the killing and to obtain the military-grade explosives that were used to destroy her body.

Some of Malaysia's most popular blogs offer strongly anti-government commentaries and present themselves as a substitute for mainstream media, which are controlled by political parties or closely linked to them.

In March, a court ordered Raja Petra to pay 4 million ringgit (US$1.25 million) to the state-run Universiti Utara Malaysia and its vice chancellor for publishing an allegedly defamatory article. Raja Petra has refused to pay.

Ageing Philippines ferries need replacements: official

2008-06-25T16:05:00.002+08:00

MANILA, June 24, 2008 (AFP) - Ferry operators in the Philippines need to upgrade their ageing fleets, a top transportation official said Tuesday, after the sinking of a large passenger ship left more than 850 people feared dead.

"We really have to modernise, our average age of the ships is about 28 years old," Transportation and Communication Secretary Leandro Mendoza told a news conference.

The 24,000-tonne Princess of the Stars, a 181-metre (594-foot) vessel built in 1988, sank Saturday in the eye of Typhoon Fengshen after its engine failed and it ran aground off the central island of Sibuyan.

Rescuers continued to look for its passengers and crew, most of whom have not been found.

'Many' bodies found in Philippine ferry

2008-06-25T16:05:00.001+08:00

OFF SIBUYAN ISLAND, Philippines (AFP) - - Philippine rescue divers said they found many bodies Tuesday inside the ferry that sank with more than 850 people on board, confirming the worst fears of desperate relatives.

Anxious and angry family members had been clinging to hope their loved ones might still be found alive inside the doomed Princess of the Stars, which capsized and sank Saturday when it got caught in the path of a typhoon.

But with blame flying over how the 24,000-tonne ferry was allowed to set sail with the storm looming, shaken rescue divers said they had discovered the worst when they finally worked their way into the submerged ship Tuesday.

"We saw 15 bodies trapped in one section of the ship,"said coast guard diver Lieutenant Commander Inocencio Rosario.

"The bodies are floating inside," he said, adding that most of them were not wearing life jackets.

"Two men were on the bridge, wearing the Sulpicio Lines uniform. One was holding the radio. He must have been an officer," Rosario said.

Passage through the ship was hampered by fallen furniture, equipment and broken glass, he said, adding that they did not have enough underwater flashlights or batteries to dive for long.

The vessel is sitting upside down on a coral reef off San Fernando, Sibuyan Island, with most of the bottom of its hull protruding from the water.

At least three bodies were removed from the ship and placed in cadaver bags aboard a coast guard vessel, said an AFP reporter at the scene.

Philippine civil defence chief Anthony Golez said 57 people, some of whom made it onto lifeboats, survived the sinking -- one of the worst maritime disasters in the country's history.

But many passengers reportedly had little time to react when the vessel, trapped when Typhoon Fengshen suddenly changed path, began tilting and then quickly capsized off the central island of Sibuyan.

Sulpicio Lines, however, said it had recorded 59 survivors and 15 dead after names were checked against the ferry's manifest.

Radio dzMM reported the Coast Guard was checking reports 16 passengers had been rescued by a fishing vessel, off Sibuyan Island. But this report could not be confirmed late Tuesday.

The Coast Guard said their figures showed 43 found alive and 12 dead but admitted the figures had not been updated since Tuesday morning.

The ferry reportedly developed engine trouble while trying to make it to safety.

Vice-President Noli de Castro, who inspected the recovery operations on Tuesday, said they still hoped that survivors might be found in an air pocket inside the ship.

But he warned that rescue efforts would have to proceed slowly to avoid fuel leaking. Oil spill booms were seen being set up around the sunken vessel.

A US navy supply ship and a maritime patrol plane have joined the search, and the local military said the Americans had deployed an unmanned aerial vehicle to hunt for survivors.

The tragedy was the fourth for Sulpicio Lines since 1987, when the Dona Paz collided with a tanker and sank, killing more than 4,000 people.

The government slapped an immediate ban on Sulpicio's vessels from leaving port on Monday, though the company said it was still selling tickets because it had not been formally notified of the move.

Sulpicio is one of the largest ferry operators in the Philippines, where people are heavily dependent on ferries to get around the country's more than 7,000 islands.

"We are at a loss as to what really happened," vice president Sally Buaron said.

She said the captain, Florenio Marino, sent a distress call moments before giving the order to abandon ship.

"As long as there's small hope that there is an indication that people are still in the waters, we will continue to search," Golez said.

Another ship, the transport vessel Lake Paoay, went down in the same area during the storm on Saturday, leaving three dead and 17 missing.

Officials were trying to make sure they do not mix the survivors or casualties from the different vessels when accounting for those on the Princess of the Stars.

President Gloria Arroyo on Monday ordered the coast guard to review sailing guidelines, especially those relating to typhoons.

Fragile Gaza truce enters second day

2008-06-20T10:55:00.000+08:00

GAZA CITY (AFP) - - A fragile truce entered its second day in the Gaza Strip on Friday amid scepticism over how long the Egyptian-brokered deal between Israel and the Islamist Hamas movement would hold.

The six-month truce is the first since the Islamists seized the impoverished Palestinian territory just over a year ago , triggering a crippling Israeli blockade.

"Hamas is determined to respect the truce and guarantee its success," its spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri said after the ceasefire took hold Thursday.

Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's spokesman Mark Regev said the Jewish state "will respect all the commitments it made."

As the truce went into effect, Olmert's office announced the premier will travel to Egypt next Tuesday for talks with President Hosni Mubarak.

Israeli negotiator Ofer Dekel is due to fly to Egypt the same day to resume talks on a proposed prisoner swap with Hamas, a senior defence official said.

Israel wants Hamas to release Corporal Gilad Shalit, who was seized by Gaza militants in a deadly cross-border raid two years ago.

"Israel knows it will have to pay a heavy price for Shalit's release and free many Palestinian terrorists," a senior defence official, who asked not to be named, said.

But Shalit's father Noam lashed out at the truce in an interview with Israeli television on Thursday.

From the moment when we no longer have any means of pressure, Hamas can drag out the negotiations (on Gilad's release) for two more years, or five years, or 10 years," he said. "And we might never see Gilad again."

The deal also entails a gradual easing of Israel's blockade of the overcrowded strip of land where most of the 1.5 million population depend on outside aid.

Israeli authorities said this should start on Sunday with an increase of goods allowed into the Palestinian enclave.

The deal was concluded after months of indirect negotiations between Hamas and Israel, which had been mulling a wider military offensive in Gaza in a bid to halt rocket fire.

Israel made it clear the Rafah crossing between Gaza and Egypt , the territory's only one that bypasses the Jewish state, would be reopened only if Shalit is released, the Ynet news website said.

Olmert warned on Wednesday that the ceasefire would be "fragile" and could be "short-lived," saying the army stood ready to intervene if it is breached.

The White House cautiously welcomed the deal saying it hoped it meant that Hamas would "give up terrorism."

The United States, the European Union and Israel blacklist Hamas as a terrorist organisation despite its 2006 victory in Palestinian parliamentary elections.

EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana called the truce "a very welcome development."

"I hope it will provide momentum for the peace talks between Israelis and Palestinians," he said.

UN chief Ban Ki-moon said he hoped it "will both provide security and an easing of the humanitarian crisis in impoverished Gaza, and end rocket and mortar attacks against Israeli targets."

Middle East Quartet envoy and former British prime minister Tony Blair called the truce "a positive development."

"We should be under no illusion, however, that this calm is fragile," said Blair, who represents the diplomatic Quartet made up of the European Union, Russia, the United Nations and the United States

Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas, whose powerbase has been limited to the West Bank since Hamas seized Gaza, hailed the deal as "good news for us".

Palestinian prime minister Salam Fayyad called on Israel to halt military operations in the occupied West Bank too.

"All those Israeli military operations in areas under our control must cease," said Fayyad, whose government's writ has been limited to the West Bank since the Hamas movement's seizure of Gaza in June last year.

Syria, home to Hamas supremo Khaled Meshaal, said it supported the deal while the 22-member Arab League said it would be "an important step towards inter-Palestinian reconciliation."

Thai protesters prepare for siege

2008-06-20T10:50:00.001+08:00

BANGKOK, Thailand - Thailand's revered king urged the prime minister Thursday to keep his promises to do good for the nation in a televised meeting that could undercut plans for a massive demonstration to call for the government to step down.

The protesters, spearheaded by the People's Alliance for Democracy, claim the government of Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej is a proxy for former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, ousted by a 2006 military coup.

The alliance led mass demonstrations before the coup demanding Thaksin step down for alleged corruption and abuse of power.

They now accuse Samak's government of interfering with corruption charges against Thaksin and trying to change the constitution for its own self-interest.

Although facing criminal charges for alleged corruption, Thaksin remains a powerful figure in Thailand.

The demonstrators _ claiming their ranks will swell to 100,000 Friday as reinforcements converge from across the country _ have been in Bangkok's streets for the past three weeks.

They have pledged to ring Government House, where the prime minister's offices are located, until Samak's administration resigns.

Police said they would not be allowed to march there from their current rally site nearby.

King Bhumibol Adulyadej addressed Samak when the prime minister presented two new Cabinet ministers to take their oaths of office, and the address was broadcast on the evening television news, as is normal for such occasions.

"I expect that you will do what you have promised and when you can do that, you will be satisfied," the king said. "With that satisfaction, the country will survive. I ask you to do good in everything, both in government work and other work so that our country can carry on and people will be pleased."

The king's address to Samak and his appointees was about five minutes long and was not critical of the government.

Coming on the eve of the planned protest, it could be to Samak's advantage as it suggested his government's legitimacy. The protesters have repeatedly asserted they are defending royal interests.

Suriyasai Katasila, one protest leader, said more than 100,000 people were expected to gather Friday.

"People are coming from everywhere," he said. "They want to show their solidarity with us and they want to express their discontent with the government who has been serving no one but themselves."

Samak's People Power Party won general elections last December. His Cabinet is packed with Thaksin's allies and critics say rehabilitating the former leader is among the government's top priorities.

Chinese prostitutes trafficked to Afghanistan to cater to foreigners

2008-06-15T10:49:00.000+08:00

KABUL, Afghanistan - A string of lights spells out the name of the bar in the back of the basement in capital letters, PARADISE. A dozen Chinese women in skintight miniskirts and halter tops flit around clusters of beefy Western men and flirt in broken English.

Now and then, a man and woman climb the stairs to the upper reaches of the house, where Paradise does its real business.

Paradise is a brothel in an unmarked residential compound in an upscale Kabul neighborhood where prostitutes from China cater to Western men. Since the U.S.-led invasion in 2001, thousands of Westerners working for security firms, companies and aid groups have poured into Afghanistan. Not long after came Chinese prostitutes, in some cases trafficked into the country.

The International Organization for Migration helped 96 Chinese women who were deported in 2006. They told IOM they were deceived by a travel agency in China and promised employment in a restaurant for US$300 a month. But when they arrived, they said, the Chinese restaurant owner denied them salaries and forced them to provide sexual services by night.

An IOM staffer said one Chinese woman thought she was going to work in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, and had no idea she had instead landed in Kabul.

Afghan officials deny these claims.

"They come here of their own will. They want to do business here. Police caught them red-handed," said Gen. Ali Shah Paktiawal, head of Kabul's criminal investigations.

In recent years, Afghan authorities have carried out a campaign against moral corruption, raiding brothels fronting as restaurants and deporting the Chinese prostitutes in front of TV cameras. Last year in Kabul, 180 female prostitutes were arrested _ 154 "foreigners" and 26 Afghans, Paktiawal said. He would not give the nationalities of the foreign prostitutes, but many raids in recent years have been at Chinese restaurants.

Many Afghans blame prostitution on immoral Chinese women and Western men and say it is un-Islamic. The highly publicized crackdown on Chinese prostitutes has led to rampant harassment of women of East Asian origin. Police often single out Asian women in spot checks on Kabul's streets.

In Paradise, the women speak Chinese among themselves. One says she is from a town outside Beijing.

The brothel has two identical doors in the back of the building. One leads down to the well-stocked basement bar where the women mingle with potential clients. The other leads up to the main part of the house, where every nook and cranny that can be closed off has a spartan twin bed mattress with no sheets.

A Pussycat Dolls pop song pumps on the speakers, "Don'tcha wish your girlfriend was hot like me?" One man rubs the belly of a girl in a gauzy pink miniskirt.

A frequent customer at the bar says it costs US$70 to take a woman upstairs, and US$150 to have her company for the night.

Desperate hunt for 1,100 who fled Afghan jail in Taliban raid

2008-06-15T10:48:00.002+08:00

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan (AFP) - - A desperate hunt was under way Saturday for more than 1,100 prisoners who escaped a jail in southern Afghanistan when Taliban rebels blasted it open, killing 15 guards, officials said.

The prisoners, some of them Taliban militants, fled when the rebels attacked the facility in the city of Kandahar late Friday, blasting it open with suicide bombs before shooting the guards.

The NATO force in Afghanistan said more than 1,100 prisoners were on the loose after what deputy justice minister Mohammad Qasim Hashimzai called the rebels' most sophisticated attack yet.

"A massive operation is under way to find the escaped inmates. The Afghan security forces are searching for them within the city and along the main and secondary roads," Hashimzai told AFP in the capital, Kabul. None has yet been caught, he added.

An AFP reporter based in the southern city said large numbers of security forces including those of the US-trained Afghan national army had been deployed to search vehicles.

A Taliban spokesman, Yousuf Ahmadi, calling AFP from an unknown location, said the rebels used suicide bombs and detonated a bomb-laden water tanker in the attack.

"First we exploded two suicide attacks and then our mujahedin (holy warriors) riding motorcycles entered the prison and killed the remaining security guards.

"We successfully freed all prisoners, including our jailed Taliban and other prisoners," he told AFP.

Authorities had so far recovered the bodies of at least 15 security guards, Ahmad Wali Karzai, the head of the Kandahar Provincial Council and a brother of President Hamid Karzai told AFP.

"We've discovered the bodies of 15 security guards who were killed in the attack. The casualties might be more," Karzai added.

"Several hundred prisoners including Taliban have escaped," he said, without giving a precise figure.

The Taliban have been battling Hamid Karzai's government since they were toppled from power in a US-led operation for failing to hand over Al-Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden in 2001.

The raid is a blow to the president, coming one day after world donors pledged 20 billion dollars to rebuild Afghanistan at a conference in Paris but also called on him to strengthen the rule of law.

Despite the presence of about 70,000 international troops mainly operating under NATO, the insurgency aimed at toppling the US-backed government in Kabul has gained pace in the past two years.

Most of the Taliban attacks include suicide and roadside bomb blasts as well as small-scale gunfights targeting security forces. But the Islamic rebels have launched some of their most sophisticated raids in recent months.

In January 2008 several Taliban militants wearing suicide vests raided a five-star hotel in the capital, Kabul, and killed eight people including three foreigners.

And on April 27, Taliban gunmen opened fire on a military parade attended by President Hamid Karzai, missing the President but killed three other people including an MP.