Franco and Hathaway picked as co-hosts for Oscars

James Franco and Anne Hathaway have immediately what Academy Awards producers want as hosts of Hollywood's main night. They'll put on a show, somewhat than just another awards ceremony, organizer says.

Hollywood news updates Bruce Cohen and Don Mischer, producers of the Feb. 27 telecast, said Monday they had selected Franco and Hathaway as hosts as the two are raising stars with broad talent that will help turn the night into a carnival of film.

"What we have here are two really up-and-coming talents who are much respected and are going to have, I think, superb careers," Mischer said. "They deserve to be there, they've got the chops to be there, they want to be present, and I think that's going to make the addressees really relate to them."

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Pentagon study dismisses risk of gay troops

A Pentagon learn on gays in the military has determined that overturn the law known as "don't ask, don't tell" might cause some disturbance at first but would not make any widespread or long-lasting harms.

The answer was confirmed by two people familiar with the findings. They spoke on form of anonymity since the results hadn't been publicly on the loose.

The study found that 70 percent of troops supposed that repealing the law would have mixed, positive or no effect, while 30 percent predict negative cost. Opposition was strongest among fight troops, with 40 percent saying it was a bad idea. That numeral climbs to 46 percent among Marines.

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Iran agrees to discuss its nuclear program

Iran – harden its place ahead of next week's nuclear talks with the world powers, Iran's president vow Tuesday his country would not make "one iota" of concession over its nuclear rights.

President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said that a get through could only be likely only if the new talks are held under "equal" circumstances and if Iran's rights are appreciated.

"If you want consequences from the talks, you must put aside the devil's temper and sit collectively under equal conditions on the basis of justice and esteem ... and talk about various economic and nuclear fields, arrive at a deal and do joint work," Ahmadinejad said in a speech show live on state TV.

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Obama, Hill leaders meet: taxes, treaty on tap

House and Senate leaders from both party sat down Tuesday for their first postelection assembly with President Barack Obama in an ambiance charged with worry over taxes and a new nuclear arms treaty with Russia.

Republicans set the tone for the session early, declare steadfast opposition to any tax increase when the current Bush era tax cuts conclude at the end of the year. Obama has said he would combat a permanent additional room of the tax cuts for taxpayers earning more than $200,000 as persons and $250,000 as couples.

At the same time a couple of Republican senators signal possible pressure group on the START treaty which would reduce nuclear arms arsenals in the U.S. and Russia. Obama has made support of the treaty this year a top nationwide security goal.

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RNPS IMAGES OF THE YEAR 2010

RNPS IMAGES OF THE YEAR 2010 - Manchester United's Dimitar Berbatov (R) shoots and scores his goal against West Ham United during their English Premier League soccer match at Old Trafford in Manchester August 28, 2010. REUTERS/ Eddie Keogh (BRITAIN - Tags: SPORT SOCCER IMAGES OF THE DAY) NO ONLINE/INTERNET USAGE WITHOUT A LICENCE FROM THE FOOTBALL DATA CO LTD.

Afghan 'police officer' kills six Nato troops

Six Nato troops in Afghanistan were shot dead during a training work out today by a man wearing a border police uniform, the alliance said.

The happening took place in eastern Afghanistan where the majority of distant forces are from the US. There are no British troops in the region. It is the worst happening involving foreign troops in more than a month.

"An individual in an Afghan edge police uniform turned his weapon against International Security Assistance Forces throughout a training mission today, killing six service members in eastern Afghanistan," the Nato-led force said in a declaration. It said the gunman was then killed in an exchange of shots with other troops.

The gunfire occurred in Pachir Wagam district of eastern Nangarhar province, an Afghan administrator told the linked Press.

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US loses leverage in climate talks

A year gone President Barack Obama worked in my opinion to salvage the Copenhagen climate summit, a political shift vegetation the United States with far less power while China moves ahead.

US negotiators in the UN-led talks in Cancun, Mexico, face the tough task of persuade China and other emerging economy to agree to a binding treaty with no offering any concession that could face a backlash in Washington.

Obama's Democratic Party suffered a callous election defeat on November 2 to the Republican Party, which has vowed to go up against a nationwide plan to limit carbon emissions blamed for global warming.

"The United States has the power of any major country but its ability to promise much more is somewhat limited by the marital situation," said Alden Meyer, manager of strategy and policy at the Union of Concerned Scientists.

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South Korea cancels Yeonpyeong island drills

South Korea has cancelled plans to carry out a live-fire weaponry drill on the island North Korea bombard last week.

Seoul had deployed multiple rocket launchers and long-range howitzers on Yeonpyeong after last week's guns exchange, and population on the tiny island were warned earlier today to take sanctuary tomorrow morning.

Excluding South Korean military officials said later that plans to fire weaponry rounds into waters south-west of Yeonpyeong had been cancelled.

The military gave no reason for the annulment.

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Iranian nuclear scientist killed, another injured in Tehran bombings

A well-known Iranian nuclear scientist was killed Monday and a second was gravely wounded in nearly concurrent car bomb attacks in the Iranian capital, the semiofficial Fars news agency report.

The explosion, which took place near Shahid Beheshti University, are the latest in a string of recent murder attempts in which five doctors and professor have been killed in Tehran.

Iranian establishment blamed agents of Israel and the United States for the killings, saying they want to cause chaos in the country. But leading figures in Iran's resistance movement accused the government of intrigues the attacks in order to increase fear in the capital, where many oppose the regime of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

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China's heart

 

Asian Games closing ceremony

The Asian Games couldron burns a few hours before the beginning of the closing ceremony, at the area that will be holding the closing ceremony, during the 16th Asian Games in Guangzhou on November 27, 2010. An "extraordinary" Asian Games prepared to close after 15 days of thrills and spills that saw China reinforce its sporting credentials and Japan slip further behind. AFP PHOTO / FRANCOIS XAVIER MARIT

Britain Keeps Silent on Afghan Impostor Claim

Authorities in London suspended a formal response on Friday to a reported accusation by a senior Afghan bureaucrat that the British introduce an impostor posing as a high Taliban chief into the presidential palace in Kabul to meet President Hamid Karzai.

News of the awkward ruse emerged earlier this week in an article in The New York Times saying that a man identify himself as Mullah Akhtar Muhammad Mansour, one of the most senior commanders in the Taliban movement, had held three meetings with NATO and Afghan officials, heartening hopes of a negotiated resolution to the nine-year-old war.

The fake Taliban leader smooth met with President Karzai, after being flown to Kabul on a NATO plane and usher into the presidential palace, officials said told The New York Times.

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North Korea Issues Warning as Artillery Fire Rattles Island

South Korea — Tension mount on Friday near a South Korean island bombarded this week by North Korea as Pyongyang’s military once more fired artillery, this time in what appeared to be a drill on its own territory. The North’s state-run media warn that a intended United States-South Korean military work out could push the Korean Peninsula closer to “the brink of war.”

In the meantime, South Korea struggled with the home political fallout from Tuesday’s deadly attack, which exposed the weakness of South Korean military protection and brought public censure of President Lee Myung-bak for failing to hit back more forcefully. On Friday, he appointed a new resistance minister, whose predecessor resigned on Thursday for failing to keep forces at ready in an area that has seen recurring military clashes with North Korea.

North Korea’s state-run news outfit lashed out at South Korean and American plans to hold a joint training do exercises on Sunday in Yellow Sea waters near the island.

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Afghan, Pakistan agree on coordinated anti-drug raids

The accord was clinching at an annual meeting of the Triangular proposal facilitated by the U.N. Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) in Islamabad. Iran was also a part of the conference.

"Now Pakistan and Afghanistan through this gathering have also agreed that our law enforcement forces' synchronized operations will begin soon," Pakistan's Secretary of Narcotics Control, Tariq Khosa, told journalists.

Relations flanked by Kabul and Islamabad have been frosty since the removal of the Taliban in 2001, but have just been thawing, with an agreement on a transfer trade last summer.

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Iraqi PM Maliki asked to form new government

Iraq's president officially asked Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki on Thursday to form a new management, giving him 30 days to choose a cabinet from in the middle of Iraq's fractious Shi'ite, Kurdish and Sunni political faction.

The ask for from President Jalal Talabani came two weeks after political leaders reached an accord to divide up the top government jobs, a deal that put Maliki, a Shi'ite, on track for a second term as leader.

The power-sharing pact, more than eight months after an uncertain March 7 parliamentary election, offered several hope that Iraq could avoid a return to the sectarian warfare that killed tens of thousands of people at its crest in 2006-07.

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Obama asks country to help make tomorrow better

Saying America has a the past of doing what it takes to make a improved tomorrow, President Barack Obama is calling on a country mountaineering out of its worst financial slump in decades to summon that spirit again this holiday period.

"This is not the hardest blessing America has ever faced. But as long as many members of our American family are ache, we've got to look out for one another," Obama said in his weekly radio and Internet address, at large for Thanksgiving.

"As long as many of our sons and daughters and husbands and wives are at war, we've got to carry their mission and honor their examine," Obama added. "And as long as many of our friends and neighbors are looking for work, we've got to do all we can to go faster this revival and keep our economy moving onward."

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SKorea's defense chief resigns over NKorea attack

South Korea – South Korea's protection minister submissive Thursday amid intense disapproval two days after a North Korean weaponry attack killed four people on a small island near the Koreas' disputed border.

The move came as President Lee Myung-bak vowed to send more troops to the front-line South Korean island and as inhabitants tried to salvage possessions from the blackened ruins of their homes. Pyongyang warned of extra attacks if provoked.

Hours sooner than Defense Minister Kim Tae-young's acceptance, lawmakers had lashed out at the government, claiming officials were unqualified for Tuesday's attack and that the military retort to the North's bombardment was too slow. Still those in Lee's ruling party demanded Kim's dismissal as well as persons of military leaders and some presidential aides.

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Japan beat UAE to finally claim gold

Japan won their first Asian Games football gold today with a 1-0 win over the United Arab Emirates, who squandered the best opportunities of the final before being hit with a sucker-punch winner. Defender Yuki Saneto scored the only goal of the game in the 73rd minute to keepJapan's 100 per cent record intact, with their seventh win in seven matches.

In a tight opening half, the UAE shook off the defensive cloak which had frustrated Korea Republicin the semi-final before delivering a winning  in extra-time.

They had four shots on target in the opening period of the final with Omar Al Omoudi having his team's best chance of the first 45 minutes, but he headed wide after earlier seeing a spectacular overhead kick saved by Japan goalkeeper Shunsuke Ando.

Japan had reached the final with an impressive run of six successive wins and boasted the blossoming striking talent of Kensuke Nagai, the 25-year-old having hit five goals in five games. But it was the UAE who continued to press after the interval with Ahmed Al Abry, who scored their semi-final winner, seeing Ando save a close-range header. Abdulla Bloushi then forced Ando into a smart save at the foot of his post.

I'm delighted to have scored the winning goal, because in the semi-final I made some mistakes. I wanted to do something special in this match.

Yuki Saneto, Japan defender

The UAE paid for the price for their wastefulness when Japan broke the deadlock in the 73rd minute. From a flowing move down the left hand side, a cross was swung in which floated over the heads of the UAE defenders and into the path of right-back Saneto. He took just one touch and fired a right-foot drive into the corner, past the despairing dive of goalkeeper and UAE captain Ali Housani. Substitute Saeed Al Kathiri then saw a diving header saved by Ando asJapan held on for gold.

"I'm delighted to have scored the winning goal, because in the semi-final I made some mistakes," said Saneto. "I wanted to do something special in this match."

UAE's assistant coach Hassan Al Abdooli said his team had been unfortunate to lose. "Our performance was beautiful and we have played in a way which people like to watch," he said. "We were unlucky, but that's football."

Earlier, Korea Republic stunned Iran with three goals in the last 12 minutes to win the bronze medal match 4-3. The Koreans looked down and out when Iran went 3-1 in front early in the second half but Monaco's Park Chu-Young gave them a glimmer of hope when he buried the ball in the net to make it 3-2 on 78 minutes.

In a dramatic finale, Ji Dong-Won made it 3-3 with two minutes of regulation time left before firing in the winner barely a minute later to jubilant scenes on the Korean bench.

Chelsea vs MSK Zilina 2-1

Chelsea's Ivorian Didier Drogba (C) jumps to control the ball against MSK Zilina during their UEFA Champions League group F match at Stamford Bridge in London, on November 23, 2010. Chelsea won the game 2-1 and qualified top of their group for the next stage. AFP PHOTO / Adrian Dennis

Afghanistan releases majority of election results

Afghanistan – Afghanistan's top prosecutor announced a new inquiry Wednesday into accusations of ballot handling, potentially dealing another setback to a fraud-marred parliamentary election just as many had hoped a announcement of final results would allow the country to move on.

The Afghan election commission, in the meantime, certified tallies from 33 of 34 provinces but failed to transport on a promise to provide complete fallout more than two months after the Sept. 18 poll.

The panel said it had not determined what to do about the eastern province of Ghazni, where a host of problems clouded the ballot even after considerable investigations. Other than the delay in the Ghazni results, the winners were unaffected since fraud investigators announced a number of banned candidates earlier this week.

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Obama says he doesn't think about race vs. Palin

President Barack Obama says he compliments Sarah Palin's political skills but hasn't consideration about the likelihood of facing her in the 2012 presidential election.

Obama acknowledges that Palin "has a burly base of hold up in the Republican Party," but says he spends most of his time listening carefully on being "the best possible president."

In a talk taped Wednesday with ABC's Barbara Walters, the president says that if he does a good job "the government will take care of itself."

Palin, the 2008 Republican vice presidential candidate, told Walters last week that she's allowing for a presidential run. When asked if she thought she could defeat Obama, the former Alaska governor replied, "I suppose so."

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Iran rejects media claims on uranium programme halt

Iran has discarded western media claims that it for the time being halted uranium enhancement due to technical problems and asserted that it had productively fight out a serious cyber attack on its manufacturing and personal computers.

Head of the Iran’s Atomic Energy Organization Ali Akbar Salehi described as “lies” media reports that appeared on Monday, that Iran had knowledgeable technical difficulties that had temporarily paralysed thousands of its centrifuges used for the enhancement of uranium.

Reuters quoting a civil servant close to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said in its report that U.N. inspectors had found on November 16 that centrifuges occupied in low level uranium enhancement at the Natanz facility were not life form fed uranium hexafluoride gas.

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Belgian police charge nine after anti-terror raids

Nine people have been stimulating in Belgium with belonging to terrorist groups after a sequence of raids in three countries.

Seven were under arrest in Antwerp on Tuesday in association with a year-long inquiry into an alleged plot to attack Belgium.

Arrests were also made in Amsterdam and the German city of Aachen.

One more 15 suspects were detained in Brussels as part of a divide inquiry and all but two have been on the loose.

All nine believes are due to appear in court on 26 November either in Brussels or the close to town of Mechelen, Belgian radio intelligence.

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خليجي 20: بيسيرو "مباراة الكويت صعبة للغاية"

عدن 24-11-2010 (ا ف ب) - اعتبر مدرب منتخب السعودية لكرة القدم البرتغالي جوزيه
بيسيرو ان المواجهة مع الكويت غدا في "خليجي 20" ستكون صعبة.
وقال بيسيرو "مواجهة الكويت ستكون صعبة للغاية للمنتخبين، فالفوز يؤهل أحدهما
للدور الثاني من البطولة بعد فوزهما في الجولة الأولى على اليمن وقطر، والخسارة
تدخل صاحبها في حسابات الجولة الثالثة من منافسات المجموعة".
وتابع "ما قدمه المنتخب السعودي أمام اليمن في مباراة الافتتاح لا يمثل سوى 50
بالمئة من مستواه"، مضيفا "حالة الفرح التي عاشها لاعبو المنتخب السعودي عقب
مواجهة اليمن طبيعية جدا وغير مبالغ فيها خصوصا ان المباراة كانت افتتاحية أمام
صاحب الأرض والجمهور والنتيجة فيها كانت كبيرة".
ورفض بيسيرو الحديث عن المنتخب السعودي بانه منتخب رديف أو من الصف الثان
بقوله "المنتخب الذي يلعب في خليجي 20 هو المنتخب السعودي الذي جاء لليمن للفوز
باللقب وليس هناك لاعبا في الفريق الأول او آخر في الفريق الثاني، فهناك مسمى
واحد هو المنتخب وهذا المنتخب نعده أيضا لنهائيات كأس آسيا في الدوحة العام
المقبل".
واشار بيسيرو الى ان "المنتخبات الخليجية متقاربة المستوى ولذلك يصعب التكهن
بنتيجة أي مباراة قبل انتهائها وهذا ما يميز هذه الدورة من وجهة نظري".
ويغيب عن المنتخب السعودي المشارك في دورة الخليج العديد من الاسماء الكبيرة.
ـــــــــــــــــــــ
ع ج/ميش/م م ديسك
افب

U.N. sees global AIDS epidemic starting to turn

A probable 33.3 million people global have the HIV virus that causes AIDS, but the global health community is starting to slow down and still turn the plague around, a United Nations report said on Tuesday.

The total number of HIV-infected people in 2009 was down slightly from the preceding year's 33.4 million and at least 56 countries have either stabilize or achieved noteworthy declines in rates of new HIV infection.

Yet while more than 5 million of those who need life-saving AIDS drugs are getting them, just about two-thirds of the 15 million people in not as good as country who need them cannot get them. Marginalized groups like drug users and sex workers are far less likely to get help than others, according to the 2010 global keep posted by the Joint U.N. Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS).

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Lawmaker blasts asylum offers for Iraqi Christians

A politician called on Iraq's government Tuesday to better keep its dwindling Christian the public and lambasted other nations that have accessible asylum to fleeing Christians as interfering in Iraq's problems.

The comments by Christian politician Younadem Kana, from the northern Iraqi city of Mosul, approach after a spate of brutal attacks on Iraqi Christians — including a Catholic Church bombing last month that killed 68 people.

Previous this week, two Christian brothers in Kana's place of origin were terminally shot by indefinite gunmen who raid their auto mechanic shop.

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Auto industry success a hard sell for White House

The auto industry is provided that President Barack Obama a good intelligence story — automakers are making money, plants are hiring and the taxpayers' stake in General Motors is diminishing. Things are look up for the president in assembly line country — just not the voting.

Obama, fresh from claiming justification after last week's GM public stock gift, is joining Vice President Joe Biden on Tuesday at a Chrysler auto plant in Kokomo, Ind. This month in Indiana, Democrats lost a Senate seat and two House seating and were ambitious into the minority in the state government.

While Obama is embarking on a mission to change the public's mood, the story is much the same somewhere else in auto developed states: The commerce might be on the mend, but neither Obama nor the Democrats are reaping the payback.

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North, South Korea exchange fire; 2 marines killed

South Korea – North and South Korea exchange artillery fire Tuesday after the North shelled an island near their undecided sea boundary, killing at least two South Korean marines, setting dozens of building ablaze and distribution civilians fleeing for protection.

The skirmish began when Pyongyang warned the South to halt martial drills in the area, according to South Korean officials. When Seoul refuses, the North bombarded the small South Korean-held island of Yeonpyeong, which houses armed installation and small civilian inhabitants.

South Korea returns fire and dispatch combatant jets in answer, and said there could be large North Korean casualties as troop’s unleashed intense retaliatory fire. The supreme military control in Pyongyang in danger more strike if the South crosses their maritime border by "even 0.001 millimeter," according to the North's official Korean Central News group.

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Israeli archaeologists find ancient pool

Israeli archaeologists investigative the site for new civic rite bath in Jerusalem's Old City found a almost 2,000-year-old Roman swimming pool.

The detection sheds a rare light on the traditional era city the Romans built after destroy the second Jewish Temple in 70 A.D. and expelling the Jews from Jerusalem.

Ofer Sion, who is directing the excavations, said Monday the site helps confirm that the Roman city was larger than beforehand thought.

The archaeologists, who regularly inspect sites ahead of planned building projects, found steps leading to the pool's white mosaic floor and roof tiles embossed with legion's name.

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Israeli bill could threaten future peace deals

Israel's hard-line assembly was expected to endorse a bill on Monday that could sink future calm deals with the Palestinians and Syria.

With Mideast appeasing already at a standstill, the proposed legislation would make it much harder for the government to cede doubtful east Jerusalem and the Golan Heights — capture territories that would be central to any prospect accord.

If it is passed, the new law would necessitate 80 of 120 lawmakers to approve any withdrawal from those two areas. Without that super preponderance, the administration would need to win support in a binding countrywide referendum.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's cupboard supports the bill.

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North Korea has built sophisticated uranium enrichment facility, US scientist says

The news raise fears that the secretive regime is capable of increasing its atomic programmed despite years of international stress.

Siegfried Hecker, an ex- director of the Los Alamos Nuclear Laboratory, returned last week from a visit to the Yongbyon complex, where he was shown a small-scale manufacturing uranium enrichment facility that was "astonishingly modern" and would "would fit into any modern American dispensation facility".

North Korean officials told him the plant contained 2,000 centrifuges calculated to manufacture uranium for civilian nuclear power, though he completed the centrifuges "could be readily converted to manufacture highly enrich uranium bomb fuel".

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Harry Potter makes box-office magic with record weekend

The World News: The goblins at Gringotts bank are set for a busy week: the newest Harry Potter film has shattered the British box office record for an opening weekend, taking £18.3m in its first three days.

The figure eclipses the £15.3m raked in by the most current James Bond movie, Quantum of Solace, in 2008. Figures at large this mealtime verify that Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1 has broken minutes for the best Friday, the greatest Saturday and the best for a single day.

The latter two records are at here held by the fourth film in the series, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, which took £5.7m on a Saturday in 2005. Deathly Hallows also top the US box office at the weekend, debuting with an anticipated $125m.

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الاسماعيلي يُسقط الأهلي والزمالك يستفيد

الاسماعيلي يُسقط الأهلي والزمالك يستفيد المقاولون العرب يستغني عن مدربه الجمل زكي يغيب عن مواجهة الإسماعيلي الجونة يوافق على استقالة إسماعيل يوسف الشرطة يتصدر الدوري المصري الزمالك يستعيد نغمة الانتصارات استفاد الزمالك من تعثر غريمه التقليدي الأهلي في الاسماعيلية ليعزز تصدره للدوري المصري الممتاز لكرة القدم بعد فوزه 1-صفر على المصري البورسعيدي. وانتظر الزمالك الباحث عن لقبه الأول في الدوري منذ 2004 حتى الدقيقة الخامسة من الوقت المحتسب بدل الضائع ليسجل هدفه الوحيد عن طريق لاعب الوسط الشاب محمد إبراهيم. ورفع الفوز رصيد الزمالك إلى 24 نقطة متفوقاً بفارق ست نقاط على الأهلي الذي تلقى خسارته الأولى هذا الموسم بهزيمته 3-1 أمام الاسماعيلي وتوقف رصيد المصري عند 16 نقطة ليتراجع للمركز السادس. وافتتح شادي محمد قائد الأهلي السابق التسجيل للاسماعيلي بهدف في الدقيقة العاشرة مستفيداً من خطأ للحارس محمود أبو السعود. وأضاف عبد الله الشحات الهدف الثاني للاسماعيلي في الدقيقة 34 بعد عمل رائع لأحمد سمير فرج الذي مرر كرة عرضية إلى الشحات الذي راوغ أبو السعود وسدد الكرة في المرمى. ورفع المهاجم النيجيري ايزي غودوين الفارق إلى ثلاثة أهداف في الدقيقة 38 لينهي الاسماعيلي الشوط الأول بنتيجة كبيرة أمام غريمه حامل اللقب، قبل أن يسجل الأهلي هدفه الوحيد عن طريق أحمد فتحي لاعب الاسماعيلي السابق في الدقيقة 70 لكنه لم يكن كافياً لإنقاذ الأهلي من أول هزيمة في الدوري هذا الموسم.

المصدر: د ب أ

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Sepak takraw

Thailand's Anuwat Chaichana, top, is airborne as he kicks the ball past Malaysia's Mohd Futra Abd Ghani during their men's team sepak takraw final match at the 16th Asian Games in Guangzhou, China, Saturday, Nov. 20, 2010. Thailand won the match 2-0 to clinch the gold medal. (AP Photo/Dita Alangkara)

Terror Verdict Tests Obama’s Strategy on Trials

The mixed decision in the case of the first Guantanamo prisoner to be tried in a civilian court on Wednesday quickly re-ignited a ferocious debate over the Obama administration’s effort to bring back the role of the usual criminal evenhandedness system in handling terrorism suit.

Ahmed Ghailani will face between 20 years and life in penal complex as a result of his conviction on one charge related to the 1998 task force bombings in Africa. But because a jury acquitted him on more than 280 other charges — as well as every count of murder — critics of the Obama administration’s strategy on detainees said the verdict prove that civilian courts could not be trusted to handle the action of Al Qaeda terrorists.

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'Bomb' found on Germany-bound plane in Namibia, police say

A supposed bomb, total with detonator and stopwatch, was exposed during a custom security check on luggage intended for a Germany-bound aeroplane in Namibia on Wednesday.

The package was naked in the terminal building of Windhoek International Airport before long before it was due to be encumbered onto an Air Berlin plane bound for Munich.

A spokesman for Germany’s Federal Crime Office (BKA) said it was still uncertain if the pack up could have been detonating.

On Wednesday, Germany upped its security threat level after being warned by an intellect ally about a likely terrorist attack towards the end of the month.

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PM Julia Gillard stands tough on Afghan war

The Prime Minister has warned against a rigid devotion to handing over blame for security in Afghanistan to its government by 2014, insisting the change must be tailored to the conditions on the ground. Writing a view piece for The Australian today, Ms Gillard seeks to recast outlook about the length and intensity of Australia's pledge to the war, ahead of a NATO summit on Afghanistan she will be there in Lisbon this weekend that will consider conditions for the evolution.

"It's important this (transition) procedure is not started until we are positive it will be irreversible," she writes. "We must not transition out only to transition back in.

"Australia will remain unavailable in Afghanistan for the next decade at least. So, too, must the international community."

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