Month: January 2010

United Nations, January 01: A U.N. inquiry into the 2007 assassination of former Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto will be prolonged by three months because of the scale of the task, the United Nations said on Thursday.

A three-member U.N. commission had been due to report by Dec. 31 following a six-month investigation.

“Because of the substantial amount of information collected by the commission in Pakistan and further follow-up work that remains, the commissioners requested additional time to complete their report,” a U.N. statement said.

London, January 01: Britain said on Friday it was reviewing airport security and passenger screening procedures after a Nigerian who had studied in Britain was charged over last week’s failed plot to bomb a U.S. passenger jet.

Prime Minister Gordon Brown said Britain was working closely with the United States and other countries to improve information sharing on potential terrorism suspects.

United Nations, January 01: The United Nations said it would relocate about a quarter of the U.N.’s international staff in Pakistan, a response to the increasingly volatile security situation in the country.

At least 11 U.N. workers have been killed in Pakistan this year, and fears of attacks have increased over the past two and a half months. More than 500 people have died in bombings after the army’s offensive against militants in South Waziristan, the Pakistani Taliban’s main stronghold near the Afghan border.

Brussels, January 01: A total of 137 journalists were killed in 2009, one of the most lethal years for media workers on record, the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) said Thursday.

The Brussels-based organization said that 113 of the journalists had fallen victim to targeted killings, overshadowing the decrease to 109 killed in 2008.

IFJ President Jim Boumelha said that the Philippines, Mexico, and Somalia led the list of most deadly countries for journalists in 2009.

Washington, January 01: President Barack Obama was due to receive initial findings into the botched bombing of a US plane on Thursday, amid reports that US agencies failed to share key information about the would-be bomber.

However, a first probe into lapses that almost led to an explosion on a transatlantic airliner reportedly found on Thursday.

According to The Washington Post, the report for Obama will detail how agencies failed to share or highlight intelligence gathered about the young Nigerian who tried to detonate explosive chemicals sewn into his underpants.

Islamabad, January 01: The UN said Thursday it was planning to temporarily relocate some of its international staff out of Pakistan to “safer places” due to security reasons.

Ishrat Rizvi, the UN information officer here, said “some percentage” of the organization’s foreign workers will be relocated to other countries in accordance with the “re-alignment of some of our projects in Pakistan”.

Washington, Januar 01: US President Barack Obama offered his condolences Thursday after seven employees of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) were killed and six injured in a suicide attack Wednesday on a military base in eastern Afghanistan.

In a letter to CIA employees, Obama called those killed “brave Americans (who) were part of a long line of patriots who have made great sacrifices for their fellow citizens, and for our way of life”.

Washington, January 01: The US government is sending high level officials on a worldwide mission to make personal contact with airport officials about their security methods.

Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano, in the political crosshairs over lapses that led to the near-bombing of a US-bound airliner on Christmas Day, said Thursday she was sending the officials to Europe, Africa, Asia, the Middle East and South America.

They were to review security procedures and technology that screens US-bound passenger flights.

Washington, Jan 1 (DPA) A federal judge has dismissed all charges against five guards of the Blackwater Worldwide security firm in connection with a deadly 2007 shooting in Baghdad.

Judge Ricardo Urbina of the US district court in Washington said Thursday government attorneys misused evidence against the five defendants, forcing him to dismiss the entire case.

The charges arose from a September 2007 incident in which Blackwater guards escorting a diplomatic convoy opened fire in Nisoor Square in Baghdad, leaving at least 34 people dead or injured, including women and children.

Los Angeles, January 01: An Ohio police chief was sentenced to nearly three years in prison for stealing items from the surrogate mother who carried twin daughters for actress Sarah Jessica Parker and her husband Matthew Broderick, media reports said.

Martin’s Ferry Police Chief Barry Carpenter, 40, was accused of stealing poems, photos, legal documents about the surrogacy agreement, and pictures of ultrasounds from the mother and attempting to sell them to paparazzi.

Pyongyang, January 01: North Korea Friday called for an end to the hostile relationship between Pyongyang and Washington while reiterating it will pursue for a nuclear-free Korean Peninsula.

“The fundamental task for ensuring peace and stability on the Korean Peninsula and in the rest of Asia is to put an end to the hostile relationship between DPRK (North Korea) and the USA,” Pyongyang said in a joint New Year editorial with Korean Central News Agency (KCNA), Xinhua reported.