Palestinian leader vows peace, urges settlement end
September 25, 2010 by Trend PK
Filed under World News
UNITED NATIONS: Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas vowed on Saturday to do everything possible to make peace negotiations with Israel succeed and avoided any direct threats to break off the talks over settlements.
In a speech to the United Nations General Assembly in New York, Abbas said the Palestinians would expend “every sincere effort” to reach a peace agreement with Israel within a year.
He did not refer to Sunday’s expiry of an Israeli freeze on new settlement construction in the West Bank. However, he made clear that Israel would have to cease all settlement activities if the direct negotiations with Israel are to succeed.
“Israel must choose between peace and the continuation of settlements,” he said.
Abbas has repeatedly threatened to break off the fragile negotiations with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu over the settlements. The
US doubles helicopters for Pakistan flood relief
August 28, 2010 by Trend PK
Filed under World News
WASHINGTON: The Pentagon said on Friday it would double the number of US helicopters to help with relief efforts in Pakistan after epic floods that have overwhelmed the fragile government there.
An additional 18 helicopters would arrive in mid-September as part of an expanded US contribution to deal with the floods, the Pentagon said. These would be in addition to 15 helicopters and three C-130 aircraft already there.
Rajiv Shah, administrator for the US Agency for International Development, said it was clear after he personally surveyed flood damage this week that significant resources would be needed when the waters receded.
“The scale and scope of this natural disaster is astronomical,” he told a news conference in Washington on his return from Pakistan.
The floods have affected more than 20 million people and Shah said about 23 percent of the
Obama, Abbas discuss path to Mideast direct talks
July 10, 2010 by Trend PK
Filed under Breaking News
WASHINGTON: US President Barack Obama kept up his push to revive direct Middle East talks as he spoke to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas about ways to advance the fragile peace process with Israel.
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Obama, Abbas discuss path to Mideast direct talks
Poverty-hit mother poisons 4 kids in Lahore
LAHORE: A mother has killed her four children by feeding them poison including three daughters and later ate herself in Liaquata colony here on Friday morning, Geo news reported.
Munazza, wife of a constable police, had reportedly been fed up of their fragile financial conditions, which prompted her to feed four minor kids poison and eat herself too.
The kids have been declared dead by doctors while Munazza has been shifted to hospital in critical condition, hospital sources told Geo news.
The children were aged in between 3 to 9 years, witnesses told media.
McChrystal may face ousting over irresponsible remarks
June 23, 2010 by Trend PK
Filed under World News
WASHINGTON: The top US general in Afghanistan faced possible removal on Tuesday after he and his aides were quoted in a magazine article mocking President Barack Obama and his top advisers.
General Stanley McChrystal, the US and Nato commander in Afghanistan and the architect of Obama’s war strategy, was summoned to Washington to explain his “enormous mistake in judgment” directly to the president, Obama’s spokesman said.
Asked whether Obama was considering ousting the general, White House spokesman Robert Gibbs told reporters, “I would say all options are on the table.”
McChrystal has apologised for the article, due to be published in Rolling Stone magazine on Friday. It quotes McChrystal’s aides calling one top Obama official a “clown” and another a “wounded animal.” The general himself made belittling remarks about Vice President Joe Biden and the US special envoy to Afghanistan and Pakistan, Richard Holbrooke.
The Pentagon blasted McChrystal over his comments and stopped short of expressing confidence in his ability to continue leading the nearly nine-year-old war, seen by many analysts as in a stalemate with the Taliban.
Defence Secretary Robert Gates said McChrystal had “made a significant mistake and exercised poor judgment.” Admiral Mike Mullen, who as chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, is the top US military officer, expressed his “deep disappointment.”
“Gen McChrystal has apologised to me and is similarly reaching out to others named in this article to apologise to them as well,” Gates said in a statement. But Gates offered no clue as to whether McChrystal would stay in his job.
McChrystal himself offered his “sincerest apology for this profile” before flying to Washington, where he will also meet with Gates on Wednesday. “It was a mistake reflecting poor judgment and should never have happened,” McChrystal said in a statement.
Senior US officials did not rule out that McChrystal could offer his resignation, but said it was still unclear whether Obama would accept it.
Still, other officials expressed guarded optimism that McChrystal would survive in his job because his comments — while embarrassing — did not challenge Obama’s policies. “There’s only one person who can answer that question —the commander-in-chief,” a defence official said.
An Obama administration official said McChrystal had been directed to appear in person at Wednesday’s Afghanistan meeting at the White House “to explain to the Pentagon and the commander-in-chief his quotes in the piece about his colleagues.”
US Senator John Kerry pleaded on Tuesday for a “cool and calm” reaction to scathing comments from the US commander in Afghanistan, General Stanley McChrystal, citing the urgency of the war effort.
“The top priority is our mission in Afghanistan and our ability to proceed forward competently,” Kerry said, adding that it would be up to President Barack Obama to decide whether to replace the commander.
Kerry, the Democratic chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said he had spoken to the general by telephone and “emphasised to him that I think, obviously, those are comments that he’s going to have to deal with.”
“My impression is that all of us would be best served by backing off, staying cool and calm,” in response to the general’s sharp, personal criticisms of national security officials in Washington from Obama on down, he said.
The US ambassador to Afghanistan, Karl Eikenberry, is “fully committed” to working with General Stanley McChrystal despite scathing criticism in a magazine article, a spokeswoman said on Tuesday.
In Brussels, Nato chief Anders Fogh Rasmussen indicated support for the US commander, expressing full confidence in McChystal and his strategy, according to a spokesman.
Further turmoil emerged as Britain announced its special envoy to Afghanistan was taking “extended leave”, amid reports he clashed with military officials over strategy just a month ahead of a crucial international conference in Kabul. Britain’s Foreign Office confirmed that Sherard Cowper-Coles was on leave from his post, which also covers Pakistan.
Afghan President Hamid Karzai fully backed the US general and “believes he is the best commander the United States has sent to Afghanistan over the last nine years,” a spokesman said.
Just six months ago, Obama backed McChrystal’s request for more troops, escalating an unpopular conflict in which costs and casualties are soaring. The Rolling Stone article portrays a split between the US military and Obama’s advisers at an extremely sensitive moment for the Pentagon, which is fending off criticism of its strategy to turn around the Afghanistan war.
Oil extends losses in Asian trade
June 23, 2010 by Trend PK
Filed under World News
SINGAPORE: Oil extended losses in Asian trade Wednesday as disappointing economic data tempered optimism that China”s move to a more flexible yuan would lift energy demand, analysts said.
New York”s main futures contract, light sweet crude for delivery in August, shed 28 cents to 77.57 dollars a barrel while London”s Brent North Sea crude for August delivery was 18 cents off at 77.86 dollars.
Sentiment was dampened by a report Tuesday that showed US existing home sales slumped unexpectedly in May, renewing concerns over the fragile global economic recovery.
Sales of previously-owned homes in the United States fell 2.2 percent in May after two consecutive rises, the National Association of Realtors said, despite support from a government tax-incentive program.
“On the economic front, there has been a bit of negative news. The US existing home sales was quite disappointing,” said Singapore-based Serene Lim, an oil analyst with the ANZ bank.
thad allen
May 27, 2010 by Trend PK
Filed under World News
Coast Guard Commander Thad Allen talks about Gulf oil spill
There are signs that the “top kill” operations may be effective, Coast Guard Admiral Thad Allen told NPR. He is in Houma, Louisiana, meeting with local officials and residents.
“Since yesterday afternoon, British Petroleum and their subcontractors have been pumping a heavy mud down into the well bore below the blowout preventer, and over the course of the last 12 to 18 hours, they’ve been able to force mud down, and not allow any hydrocarbons to come up,” Allen said, in an interview on Morning Edition. He is in charge of clean-up efforts in the Gulf of Mexico.
The “top kill” effort, launched Wednesday afternoon by industry and government engineers, had pumped enough drilling fluid to block oil and gas spewing from the well, Allen said. The pressure from the well was very low, he said, but persisting.
BP has made enough claims during this process that they need to be careful making any others. Even Fox News anchors recognize they cannot be trusted. Enough mud has apparently been pumped into the well to stop oil from being pumped out, but that could change; it’s basically a pressure battle. And importantly, capping the well this very second would still mean untold millions of gallons of oil on and below the surface of the Gulf. But capping the underwater gusher is clearly a top priority, and right now they’re claiming some success on the top kill.
The communities most directly harmed by oil’s abuse are organised, networked and ready. The public is roused, angered and ready to act. The oil corporations are on notice: the true cost of their operations is simply too great to bear. For as long as we continue to use oil, the operations of its providers will be restricted, reined in, regulated and, ultimately, retired.
| Admiral Thad Allen talks about the oil spill |
50 cent
May 27, 2010 by Trend PK
Filed under World News
50 Cent is pin thin! Find out why the rapper has dropped a whopping 50 pounds and possibly put his health in danger.
Rapper 50 Cent is known for his Grammy-winning, cocky, straight-from-the-streets style. But no one has ever seen him look this fragile.
50 Cent reportedly went on a 9-week liquid diet and spent three hours EVERYDAY on a treadmill to lose over 50 pounds of muscle. The rap genius went from 214 pounds to 160 pounds. Warning: Readers do not try this at home. This is not a healthy way to lose weight.
What is so important that 50 Cent would put his life in jeopardy?
50 Cent is preparing for his role as a football player diagnosed with cancer in ‘Things Fall Apart’. You have to praise him for his dedication to his role and the reality of many cancer cases, but this is beyond crazy.
Celebs do some crazy things to be as authentic as possible. Many go through physical, painstaking transformations to achieve their goals.
3 Somali Cabinet Ministers Die in Bomb Blast
December 3, 2009 by Trend PK
Filed under World News
MOGADISHU: A police spokesman says three Somali Cabinet ministers are among nine people killed in a bombing that ripped through a university graduation ceremony.
The ministers for education, higher education and health were among those killed in the blast.
The officials were attending a graduation ceremony for medical, computer science and engineering students at a hotel in Mogadishu.
African troops protecting the fragile Somali government wage near daily battles with Islamic militants who control much of central and southern Somalia. The Horn of African nation hasn’t had a stable government for almost two decades.
3 Somali Cabinet Ministers Die in Bomb Blast was first posted on December 3, 2009 at 4:43 pm.
Sommer Thompson is Missing
October 22, 2009 by Trend PK
Filed under World News
Sommer Thompson is Missing, Another child is missing in Florida and his name is Sommer Thompson. She is a child of 7 years who disappeared while walking home on October 19 in Orange Park, FL. According to his brothers, she went home ahead of them, because he had an argument with some children.
Sommer Thompson’s parents are concerned that sex offenders are reported to be children of abduction in the area. Investigators suspect foul play because it is impossible for a child of seven years will not come home because of misunderstandings. He was last seen at Grove Park Elementary School at 3 pm on Oct. 19. We hope that she will soon.
Sommer Thompson is Missing was first posted on October 22, 2009 at 1:45 pm.
