World

Washington, January 23: The White House has expressed satisfaction with the latest round of ‘productive’ talks with Russia on a new nuclear weapons disarmament treaty.

The US National Security Council Spokesman, Michael Hammer, said Friday that the negotiations to replace the 1991 Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START) that expired December, 2009 are in the final phase.

“What you will see in the coming weeks is our negotiating teams coming together to finalize the details. But we are certainly optimistic that the START agreement is within reach,” Reuters quoted him as saying.

Beijing, January 23: China responded with a fierce broadside yesterday after Hillary Clinton, the US Secretary of State, attacked its record on internet freedom. The country labelled Washington an “information imperialist” and said accusations that China was manipulating the internet for its own ends were false.

Web giant Google’s threat to leave China over cyber attacks on rights activists and internet censorship, combined with Ms Clinton’s strong denunciation of censorship, have caused the Google affair to escalate into a major row between Washington and Beijing.

Melbourne, January 23: Australia’s state and federal governments were warned about the possibility of foreign students, including Indians, facing attacks, but they ‘weren’t interested in listening’, a group representing the nation’s universities said Saturday, a day on which two people were charged with attacking an Indian in Brisbane.

Washington, January 23: The Obama Administration on Saturday said international cooperation is critical to defeat al-Qaeda, be it in the Af—Pak region, the Arabian Peninsula or any other part of the world.

“As you have seen in this first year in office, that the President (Barack) Obama understands fully his solemn responsibility to the American people to defend the homeland, to defend American interests,” Mike Hammer, spokesman, National Security Council, White House said.

Washington, January 23: Spelling out the agenda of the administration in its second year, the White House has said US President Barack Obama and his team would work towards promoting stronger bilateral cooperation with countries like India, Brazil, China and South Africa.

“We will continue to build on the President’s efforts with regards to promoting a stronger bilateral cooperation with countries like India, Brazil, China, South Africa,” White House spokesman Mike Hammer told foreign journalists on Friday.

Washington, January 23: Concerned about the emergence of terrorists in new areas as they come under pressure in the Afghan-Pakistan border region that is “potentially their headquarters”, the US is seeking international cooperation.

“These terrorist elements are always looking to adapt, given that they’re under pressure in the area that is theirs potentially – you would refer to as their headquarters in the Afghan-Pakistan border region,” National Security Council spokesman Mike Hammer told reporters Friday.

Washington, January 23: Olbermann warns of the consequences of Thursday’s Supreme Court ruling, including as he describes it, American politicians becoming ‘prostitutes.’

Yesterday evening’s Countdown with Keith Olbermann began with his traditional ‘heads up’ diary entry at Daily Kos.

Titled ‘Pandora’s Box,’ Olbermann explains before the segment, “Pandora’s box meets the bottomless pit and becomes a wholly owned subsidiary of Halliburton. What the Supreme Court did today. My special comment, could be the last of them, next.”

Melbourne, January 23: The spate of attacks on Indians living here has saddened Australian pacer Brett Lee, who says people from India would always be welcome Down Under despite the recent happenings.

“I just want to make it very clear to the Indian public that we as Australians love India the country but also love the Indian students and Indian people in general coming out to Australia and to let them know that they are so welcome,” Lee said.

“I”m very saddened by what happened. (But) We welcome Indians from any age group whether it is connected to studying or as a tourist.

Geneva, January 23: A Swiss court issued a ruling Friday halting the transfer of UBS AG client data to the United States, putting in doubt a landmark agreement reached over the summer between the US and Swiss governments.

The Swiss Federal Administrative Court said failure to fill out a tax form for the US authorities was not ‘tax fraud’ and therefore under Swiss laws the client’s information should not be disclosed.

Miami, January 23: A group of 80 Haitian orphans waiting to be adopted landed Friday at Miami International Airport, where they where handed over by the authorities to their American adoptive parents.

The plane carrying the youngsters from earthquake-stricken Haiti came in just before 1 a.m. Friday.

Customs officers and airport personnel, as well as US Border Patrol agents, carried the little ones in their arms to the place their adoptive families were waiting for them.

London, January 23: The British Museum will stage a pioneering exhibition on the history of the Hajj – the Muslim pilgrimage – bringing many never-before-seen treasures to the Western world from the holiest sites in Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Malaysia and Timbuktu.

Organising the show, which is due to run from 26 January to 15 April 2012, has entailed a year of discussions between the museum’s director, Neil MacGregor, and Saudi diplomats, to ensure it is conducted with due sensitivity.

Washington, January 23: US President Barack Obama’s Mideast envoy failed to bring back the acting Palestinian Authority chief to the negotiating table with Israel due to Tel Aviv’s refusal to halt settlement activities.

During a three-hour meeting with George Mitchell in Ramallah, Mahmoud Abbas reiterated calls for a complete halt to Israel’s settlement construction as a precondition for the resumption of peace talks, Ynet reported.

Melbourne, January 23: A top body that represents Australia’s universities has accused both state and federal governments of ignoring warnings issued by it on problems faced by overseas students, including Indians, in the country.

Universities Australia, which represents 39 universities, said it had alerted governments to problems relating to student safety, poor-quality colleges, lack of concessions on public transport and immigration matters for two years ago.

Washington, January 23: The ethnic majority in US territory of Guam fear the US planned influx of military personnel will swamp the original inhabitants of the island.

Washington is planning to relocate some 19,000 personnel and their families to Guam from southern Japan.

“This proposed military build-up, with our current political status, will result in the cultural and racial genocide of the Chamorro people,” said Frank J. Schacher, the chairman of the Chamorro Tribe Inc, referring to the indigenous people who make a third of the present population of the island.

Haiti, January 23: The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) said Friday children have gone missing from hospitals in Haiti following the devastating earthquake in the country, raising fears they are being trafficked for adoption abroad.

“We have documented around 15 cases of children disappearing from hospitals and not with their own family at the time,” said UNICEF adviser Jean Luc Legrand.

Geneva, January 23: Some 15 children have ‘disappeared’ from hospitals in Haiti since a devastating earthquake struck the country last week, a United Nations spokesman said.

According to Jean Luc Legrand, with Unicef, the UN’s Children Fund, approximately 15 children had been taken out of hospitals ‘and not with their families.’

Speaking with reporters in Geneva, he said the information was based on ‘anecdotal evidence.’

Contacted for further information, UNICEF’s office in Geneva was unable to comment.

Berlin, January 23: A passenger plane travelling from Germany to Turkey made a safe emergency landing in the Greek city of Thessaloniki on Friday after a crew member found a piece of paper with a bomb warning in the toilet, the airliner said.

The plane, with 62 passengers and six crew on board, landed at 1558 GMT and Greek security officials were searching the aircraft before allowing it to resume its journey to Izmir from Stuttgart, Germany.

Paris, January 23: A French imam active in Muslim dialogue with Jews has backed a law against full face veils, parting ways with most Muslim leaders in France urging parliamentarians not to vote for a planned “burqa ban”.

Hassen Chalghoumi, whose mosque stands in a northern Paris suburb where many Muslims live, said women who wanted to cover their faces should move to Saudi Arabia or other Muslim countries where that was a tradition.

Washington, January 23: The United States says it continues to have a ‘significant dialogue’ with India, Pakistan and Afghanistan on how to stabilise the region and defeat and deter extremists threatening all three countries.

‘This is a common challenge, and it is part of our ongoing dialogue with all three of these countries,’ State Department spokesman P. J. Crowley told reporters Friday when asked to comment on Defence Secretary Robert Gates visit to the three South Asian nations.

London, January 23: The British government raised its threat level Friday evening from substantial to severe, meaning an attack is ‘highly likely’, Home Secretary Alan Johnson said.

He said that despite the raised threat level, there was no intelligence to suggest an attack was imminent.

‘The Joint Terrorism Analysis Centre has today raised the threat to the UK from international terrorism from substantial to severe,’ he said. ‘This means that a terrorist attack is highly likely, but I should stress that there is no intelligence to suggest than an attack is imminent.’

Melbourne, January 23: A top body that represents Australia’s universities has accused both state and federal governments of ignoring warnings issued by it on problems faced by overseas students, including Indians, in the country.

Universities Australia, which represents 39 universities, said it had alerted governments to problems relating to student safety, poor-quality colleges, lack of concessions on public transport and immigration matters for two years ago.

Washington, January 23: Americans still largely have a negative perception of Muslims and Islam despite growth in positive Muslim-American political and social activism and interfaith organizations in the past decade, according to a new report from the Gallup Center for Muslim Studies.

“More than 50 percent of Americans said they had unfavorable opinions of Islam, while 29 percent of those reported a strong degree of prejudice towards Muslims,” concluded the report, “Religious Perceptions in America: With an In-Depth Analysis of US Attitudes Toward Muslims and Islam.

Port-au-Price, January 23: A 69-year-old Haitian woman has been pulled from the rubble 10 days after Haiti’s killer earthquake, but a doctor treating her says she is in bad condition and may not survive.

Dr. Ernest Benjamin told that “There is very little hope, but we are trying to save her life.” Doctors are treating her at Haiti’s General Hospital after she was freed from the rubble on Friday morning, giving her oxygen and intravenous fluids.

It was not clear exactly where she was freed, but doctors say the site is near the capital’s soccer stadium.

—Agencies

London, January 23: They may not immediately strike observers as man and wife.

But as the former wife of Boris Johnson is pictured publicly for the first time with her ‘secret’ toyboy husband, friends say she is ‘as happy as Larry’.

Socialite Allegra Mostyn-Owen, 45, stunned her family at Christmas with news of her second marriage, to Abdul Majid, 23.

Apparently they did not react with joy to the fact that she was tying the knot with a Muslim.

Kabul, January 23: A British soldier died as a result of an improvised explosive device (IED) explosion in southern Afghanistan on Friday, officials said.

The soldier from A Company 4 RIFLES, serving as part of 3 RIFLES Battle Group, died in an explosion that happened near Sangin, in central Helmand Province. The incident happened on Friday afternoon local time.