Hillary Clinton Slams Quran Burning

WASHINGTON: US diplomatic chief Hillary Clinton welcomed late on Tuesday condemnation in the United States of a Florida pastor’s plans to burn hundreds of Qurans on the anniversary of 9/11.

‘I am heartened by the clear, unequivocal condemnation of this disrespectful act that has come from American religious leaders from all faiths… as well as secular US leaders and opinion makers,’ Mrs. Clinton said as she hosted an iftar meal at the State Department to celebrate the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.

Mrs. Clinton’s spokesman Philip Crowley earlier denounced Florida pastor Terry Jones’s plans to mark Saturday’s ninth anniversary of the September 11 attacks by burning Qurans as ‘provocative’ and ‘un-American.’ ‘We would like to see more Americans stand up and say that this is inconsistent with our American values,’ he added.

‘The potential act of burning a Quran… is contrary to our values, contrary to how civil society has emerged in the country.’ The small Florida church’s planned open-air burning ceremony triggered a wave of concern and condemnation from military leaders that the incendiary move could spark outrage around the Islamic world and endanger the lives of US soldiers.

WikiLeaks says it will release CIA paper

STOCKHOLM: WikiLeaks is preparing to release a leaked CIA paper sometime on Wednesday, the whistleblower website said.

“WikiLeaks to release CIA paper tomorrow,” it said in a Tweet late on Tuesday also posted on its website, which is already locked in a dispute with the Pentagon over the leaking secret military documents on the Afghan war.

It published nearly 77,000 classified US military documents on the war in Afghanistan on July 23 and has said it will publish another 15,000 within the next couple of weeks.

The site, which has also previously leaked information leading to shocking revelations in places ranging from Iraq to Iceland, did not provide any further details about the CIA paper it planned to release.

WikiLeaks has been heavily criticised by US authorities and others for endangering lives with the Afghan leaks, and the site’s founder Julian

BP says "static kill" progressing well

LONDON: BP said on Wednesday its “static kill” operation to plug its blown out Gulf of Mexico well is progressing well.

“The MC252 well appears to have reached a static condition — a significant milestone,” the company said in a statement.

The company has stopped pumping drilling fluids into the well and is monitoring pressure inside, before deciding whether to pump more fluids down the well.

BP”s shares were down 0.6 percent, in line with the STOXX Europe 600 Oil and Gas index at 0819 GMT.

“This would suggest that the static kill operation is looking successful,” Peter Hitchens, oil analyst at Panmure Gordon said.

Oil falls to $82

LONDON: Oil fell on Wednesday for the first day in five as a rally that powered prices to three-month highs near $83 a day earlier lost steam, with little reaction to an attack on Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

Analysts said the market was cautious on moving on the initial reports of the attack.

“Prices haven”t moved today but we”ve just had a very strong rally,” said Paul Harris, head of natural resources risk management at Bank of Ireland. “Geopolitical risk from the Middle East is broadly priced in.” “I expect that any backlash there might be from Ahmadinejad will be far more important to the oil market than the initial attack itself,” he added.

U.S. crude for September fell by 53 cents to $82.02 a barrel by 5:32 a.m. ET, after touching $82.64 on Tuesday, the highest intraday price for a front-month contract since May 5. On Monday it topped $80 for the first time in three months.

Front-month ICE Brent dropped 74 cents to $81.4.

The dollar hovered near a three-month trough against the euro following Tuesday”s data showing U.S. consumer spending and incomes were flat in June and the index for pending sales of previously owned homes fell to a record low.

“I don”t think there is a fundamental justification for prices above $80,” said Christophe Barret, oil analyst at Credit Agricole CIB in London.

The increase in gasoline stocks and lower than expected fall in crude stocks announced by the American Petroleum Institute late on Tuesday pressured prices, he added.

U.S. Energy Information Administration government statistics on oil inventories and demand from the United States, the world”s biggest oil consumer, will be published at 10:30 a.m. ET.

“If we have a relatively slight drop in crude oil stocks it would indicate that crude stocks remain at very very high levels,” Barret said

China”s economy will cool further in the third quarter as fiscal stimulus starts to fade and the restocking cycle draws to a close, a government think tank said on Wednesday.

A militant group linked to al Qaeda claimed that a suicide bomber from its organization was responsible for an explosion on a Japanese supertanker last Wednesday near the Strait of Hormuz.

15 Nato-supply containers torched near Islamabad

ISLAMABAD: In another bid to blow a hard strike into international efforts to uproot militancy, nearly fifteen Nato containers, meant for supplying fuel and other logistic support for Nato forces resisting against Taliban in Afghanistan, have been torched as unknown assailants opened fire and set them ablaze in suburbs of federal Capital Islamabad late on Tuesday night, injuring four persons but no loss of life was reported, Geo news reported.

Bizarrely, all the drivers and containers’ cleaners had disappeared from the incident scene when the ambush was carried out near Sangjani place located in the outskirts of Islamabad, eyewitnesses told media persons.

Rescue efforts have been kicked off as law enforcement agencies have cordoned off the area while wounded men are being rushed to hospital for medical treatment.

Fire tenders have been dispatched to incident site, as all containers are on thick fire, meanwhile, police parties are in pursuit of attackers, sources said.

According to police sources, miscreants were carrying heavy armaments while riding two motorcycles and six cars when they lodged onslaught.

Govt. determined to relieve less privileged segments: PM

ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Syed Yusuf Raza Gilani on Tuesday said that the current budget had been prepared after strenuous deliberations among the economic team of the government keeping in view the prevailing socio-economic and security situation of the country.

However, primary objective of government is to put least burden on the less privileged segment of the society, he said while talking to a delegation of ministers and MNAs here at his Parliament House Chamber.

The Prime Minister emphasized that positive sides of the budget be explained to the people at large to help them understand the benefits as well as the financial constraints.
Minister for Finance Abdul Hafeez Sheikh and Secretary Finance briefed the delegation on the salient features of the budget.

The meeting was attended by Nazar Muhammad Gondal, Minister for Food and Agriculture, Qamar Zaman Kaira, Minister for Information and Broadcasing, Syed Naveed Qamar, Minister for Petroleum and Natural Resources, Raja Pervez Ashraf, Minister for Water and Power, Hina Rabbani Khar, Minister of State for Finance and EAD, Firdos Ashiq Awan, Minister for Population Welfare, Dr. Ayatullah Durrani, Minister of State for Industries and Production, Dr. Nadeem ul Haq, Deputy Chairman Planning Commission, Senator Ahmed Ali, Mrs. Shahnaz Wazir Ali, Special Assistant to the Prime Minister and MNAs, Ms. Nafisa Shah, Ms. Asma Arbab Alamgir and Fauzia Wahab.

Nato-supply containers torched; 5 killed

ISLAMABAD: At least five persons were killed while another four sustained injuries when unknown gunmen attacked Nato-supply tankers near Islamabad; setting as many as 30 oil and gas containing tankers on fire, Geo news reported.

According to reports so far reached here, in another bid to blow a hard strike into global efforts to uproot militancy, nearly thirty Nato containers, meant for supplying fuel and other logistic support for Nato forces resisting against Taliban in Afghanistan, have been torched as unknown assailants opened fire and set them ablaze in suburbs of federal Capital Islamabad late on Tuesday night, killing five persons and wounding four others.

Bizarrely, all the drivers and containers’ cleaners had disappeared from the incident scene when the ambush was carried out near Sang Jani place located in the outskirts of Islamabad, eyewitnesses told media persons.

Rescue efforts have been kicked off and law enforcement agencies’ have cordoned off the crime scene. Dead bodies and wounded men are being rushed to hospital for medical treatment.

Federal Home Minister Rehman Malik has ordered for magisterial inquiry into incident, ministry sources said.

Fire tenders have been dispatched to incident site to tame fierce blaze, as all containers are on thick fire, meanwhile, police parties are in pursuit of attackers, sources said.

According to police sources, miscreants were carrying heavy armaments while riding six motorcycles and two cars when they lodged onslaught.

Iran releases five Britons: Radio

TEHRAN: Iran has released five Britons who had been detained in the Gulf after their yacht apparently strayed into Iranian waters, state radio said on Wednesday.

British Foreign Secretary David Miliband held talks with Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki late on Tuesday and called for formal consular access to the men and their speedy release. They were detained on Nov. 25.

“After getting necessary guarantees, Iran released the five,” state radio said. It gave no further details.

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Iran releases five Britons: Radio was first posted on December 2, 2009 at 1:28 pm.

Four Yemenis With Explosive Captured Near US Embassy In Yemen

Yemen: Four Yemenis carrying explosives and guns were arrested near the U.S. embassy in San’a, the Interior Ministry said Tuesday.

The Ministry’s statement didn’t say when they were arrested. But senior security officials told media last week they were on the look out for possible attacks against foreign interests in San’a.

The ministry said the four, aged between 20 and 33, had grenades, automatic weapons and ammunition in two separate vehicles. The men were residents of the northern town of Damag, home to one of the country’s largest radical Sunni Islam teaching institutions, frequented by Yemeni, Arab and foreign clerics.

Al-Qaida’s branch in Yemen has targeted the U.S. Embassy in the past. In September 2008, gunmen backed by suicide bombers assaulted the walled compound in an attack that left 19 dead, including six attackers. Months before that, militants fired mortars at the embassy but missed, hitting a nearby school and killing one Yemeni.

Washington has been pressuring Yemen to counter a rising al-Qaida threat more aggressively and improve intelligence sharing. U.S. officials said the government here has been preoccupied with fighting a Shiite rebellion in the north, at times at the expense of countering al-Qaida threats.

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Four Yemenis With Explosive Captured Near US Embassy In Yemen was first posted on September 9, 2009 at 12:07 pm.
©2009 “News Trends“.

Finalize Coalition Seeked By Japan Democrats

TOKYO: Japan’s new ruling Democratic Party was set to press ahead on Wednesday with coalition talks that stumbled the previous day over plans for U.S. Marine bases, an issue that could cloud ties with Washington.

Without the cooperation of the tiny Social Democrats and the conservative People’s New Party the Democrats lack a majority in the less powerful upper house of parliament.

Despite a landslide victory in the Aug. 30 poll for parliament’s powerful lower house, Yukio Hatoyama’s Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) needs their support to ensure legislation can be enacted smoothly, because the upper house can delay bills.

The parties failed on Tuesday to agree on how to word a call for changes to a planned redeployment of U.S. Marines on Japan’s southern island of Okinawa, Social Democratic Party executive Yasumasa Shigeno told reporters late on Tuesday.

But Democratic Party Secretary-General Katsuya Okada, set to be foreign minister in the new administration, was optimistic about the outcome of the talks.

“Since we had so much debate among the secretaries-general, it’s hard to imagine that we won’t reach an agreement,” he told reporters on Tuesday evening.

One analyst said the delay was likely a “performance” on the part of the Social Democrats to persuade their supporters that they would have a voice in government, and was therefore unlikely to prevent the formation of a coalition.

“They don’t really want the whole thing to break down,” said politics professor Yoshiaki Kobayashi of Tokyo University.”

“Decisions will be delayed and the Social Democrats will be critical. But once they have drawn attention to themselves, they will compromise on some deal or other.”

The Democrats have vowed to re-think the redeployment plan but may want to play down the issue ahead of Hatoyama’s first meeting with U.S. President Barack Obama later this month. U.S. officials have said they will not renegotiate the deal.

The new ruling party’s pledge to forge a more independent stance from key security ally Washington has raised concern about possible friction, although Hatoyama has said the alliance remains at the core of Japan’s diplomacy.

Hatoyama is set to be voted in as prime minister by parliament on Sept. 16, ending more than half a century of almost unbroken rule by the Liberal Democratic Party and ushering in a government pledged to putting more money in the hands of consumers, cutting waste and reducing bureaucrats’ control over policy-making.

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Finalize Coalition Seeked By Japan Democrats was first posted on September 9, 2009 at 12:14 pm.
©2009 “News Trends“.

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