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WASHINGTON: President Barack Obama's budget this week will set out big goals like rescuing the economy from freefall, expand U.S. health care coverage and move within a few years to slash huge deficits. The budget, due out on Thursday, will indicate Obama's timeline for achieving many of the domestic priorities he pushed during the campaign. Sources familiar with the administration's thinking have said the blueprint will reflect Obama's interest in moving forward on a pledge to expand health care coverage to the 46 million Americans who lack it. Health care will be an important theme all week, including in Obama's address to a joint session of Congress on Tuesday night in which he will sketch out his major domestic and foreign policy goals. Steps to tackle global climate change could also be incorporated in the budget for the 2010 fiscal year that begins on October 1. At the same time, it will show the impact on the budget deficit of the recently passed $787 billion...

COLOMBO: The Sri Lankan Government has rejected calls for a ceasefire by the Tamil Tigers, saying it will not end the fighting unless the rebels lay down their arms. The Tamil Tigers have written to the United Nations calling for a ceasefire in the war in northern Sri Lanka. They said a truce is needed to end the misery of their people, as thousands remain trapped without adequate food and medical supplies. The rebels have accused the international community of maintaining a silence on the immense human suffering of Tamil civilians. Government forces are moving in on remaining rebel troops after months of sustained fighting. Two Tamil Tiger light aircraft attacked the capital Colombo on Friday.

ASHINGTON: The module carrying a US satellite to monitor global carbon dioxide emissions failed to separate from its rocket soon after it was launched early Tuesday, NASA said. "It appears that there were problems separating" and the satellite "did not achieve orbit," said NASA TV announcer George Diller. "We are still evaluating the status of the location and the exact state" of the spacecraft, he said. "We have not had a successful launch tonight," he added. The satellite was launched from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California aboard a Taurus XL rocket at 1:55 am (0951 GMT), live images on NASA TV showed. The mission of the Orbiting Carbon Observatory (OCO) was to map the global distribution of carbon dioxide and study how that distribution changes over time, NASA said in a statement. It is NASA's first spacecraft dedicated to studying carbon dioxide. In January, Japan launched a satellite on a similar mission.

EOUL: North Korea said on Tuesday that it is preparing to launch a satellite, a move that the United States and its allies believe could actually be a long-range missile test that would deepen global tensions. Just days after new US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton warned Pyongyang to avoid any provocations, the secretive country said preparations were under way for a rocket launch to put a communications satellite into orbit. South Korea has said it regards the North's nuclear and missile capability as a serious threat and indicated a new round of sanctions would follow if the country, one of the poorest in the world, goes ahead with a launch. Pyongyang has previously tested missiles under the guise of launching a satellite, and analysts have said recent comments from the North indicated it was on the verge of another attention-grabbing test. "When this satellite launch proves successful, the nation's space science and technology will make another giant stride forward i...

MUMBAI: A 1000-page chargesheet will be filed against the lone captured Mumbai attacks gunman Ajmal Kasab on Feb 26 detailing the sinister plot to attack Mumbai and its equally horrendous execution that left over 170 people dead on November 26, 2008, Indian media reported on Tuesday. Mumbai’s crime branch chief Joint Commissioner of Police Rakesh Maria told reporters that the chargesheet would be filed on Feb 26, exactly three months after the attacks.

LONDON: UK Home Secretary Jacqui Smith has announced tougher measures to reduce the number of foreign workers wishing to enter the UK, and to give British workers a greater change of applying first for UK jobs. This announcement is seen as a move to respond to the current economic downturn - helping British workers through the hard times of the recession. The UK Government has already suspended tier 3 of the points-based system (PBS) for low-skilled workers to ensure no foreign workers from outside the European Economic Area (EEA) can come to the UK and work in a low-skilled job. Three significant changes have been announced to support British workers and to be more selective about the migrants coming to the UK from outside the EEA. From 1 April the Government will strengthen the resident labour market test for tier 2 skilled jobs so that employers must advertise jobs to resident workers through JobCentre Plus before they can bring in a worker from outside the EEA. Government will also...

TOKYO: Japan will pay the salaries of Afghanistan's 80,000 police officers for six months as part of its ongoing financial support for the country, a government official said Tuesday. Tokyo will also fund the building of 200 schools and 100 hospitals, and train thousands of teachers in Afghanistan, said Foreign Ministry official Miyako Watanabe. The projects will be funded out of the $520 million remaining in the funds pledged by Tokyo to help rebuild the country's infrastructure, Watanabe said. Japan has already spent $1.48 billion of the $2 billion it has pledged since 2002. News of Japan's latest assistance in the region comes as Tokyo and Washington continue to strengthen their long-standing alliance. Prime Minister Taro Aso, who has said building better ties with the U.S. is one of his administration's goals, is in Washington, where he will become the first foreign leader to meet President Barack Obama in the White House. Last week, Secretary of State Hillary Rodha...

BAGHDAD: Iraq will deliver a verdict in March against Saddam Hussein's former deputy premier Tareq Aziz who is on trial over the 1992 execution of a group of Baghdad traders, a court spokesman said on Tuesday. "The verdict has been set for March 11," a spokesman for the Iraqi High Tribunal told reporters. Aziz, 73, and seven other defendants have been charged with crimes against humanity in a trial that opened in April last year. They risk the death penalty if found guilty. The charges relate to the killing of 42 merchants who were accused of speculating on food prices when the country was under punishing UN sanctions imposed after its invasion of Kuwait in 1990. Aziz, a Christian who also served as foreign minister under the now executed dictator, who was for two decades the regime's principal spokesman to the outside world. He is also among 16 former officials on trial in Iraq for a brutal 1980s campaign against Shiite Kurds. He turned himself in t...

ARIS: France will open a military base in the United Arab Emirates this year. France's military base in the UAE has been established under a strategic partnership and will be operational by the end of May this year, Herve Morin, French Defence Minister said. The GCC region is very strategic and important for France, on both defence and economic points of view, as well as for regional cooperation, the French defence minister, told reporters. "We have very special relations with the UAE. And this military base, which will cover the entire region, to help protect the UAE and other allies in the region as the region is very sensitive," he said. Up to 500 personnel will be stationed at the UAE base, from all the three French armed forces of military, navy and air force. However, he said, the country has no plans to set up similar bases in other countries in the region, as the UAE base will serve them all. He urged Iran to make its nuclear programme transparent and enter into d...

EOUL: Iraqi President Jalal Talabani arrived in Korea to meet President Lee Myung-bak on Tuesday. Officials at the president's office say the two leaders will discuss cooperation in energy and defense among other issues. Presidents Lee and Talabani are also expected to discuss Korea's participation in the ongoing reconstruction efforts in Iraq. During his four-day state visit, Talabani is accompanied by some 20 high-ranking officials including the leader of the Kurdistan Regional Government. This is the first time an Iraqi leader has visited Korea since the two countri

WELLINGTON: New Zealand announced Tuesday its troops will remain in Afghanistan until at least September 2010, extending by another year a troop commitment that began in 2001. Some 140 New Zealand soldiers currently make up a provincial reconstruction team providing security and development aid in Bamiyan province, northwest of the capital, Kabul. Another 10 are deployed in U.N. missions and other headquarters in the country. ``The situation in Afghanistan requires an ongoing international program of security and development assistance,'' New Zealand Prime Minister John Key said as he announced the troop extension. Taliban militants, whose hard-line Islamist regime was ousted from power by the 2001 U.S.-led invasion, have greatly increased attacks the last three years and now control wide swaths of territory.

RIYADH: A senior member of royal family says he is certain that one day there will be movie theaters in the kingdom. Prince Alwaleed bin Talal's who owns Rotana, a popular network of Arabic satellite channels airing movies and music videos, says cinemas and more Saudi movies are inevitable and have a "positive" social role in Saudi Arabia. Alwaleed, whose company produced "Menahi," the first Saudi movie, added in a statement that a new movie could be expected soon. Movie theaters were banned 30 years ago in Saudi Arabia after the conservative clergy described them as un-Islamic.

ASHINGTON: Japanese Prime Minister Taro Aso has arrived in the United States for a meeting Tuesday with President Barack Obama. Aso is the first foreign leader to visit Obama's White House. Obama and Aso are expected to discuss North Korean nuclear bombs, Japanese abducted by the North Koreans, climate change, security in Afghanistan and Pakistan and the global economic crisis. Aso's trip follows Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton's visit to Japan last week, her first destination as top US diplomat.

WASHINGTON: The Defense Department effort to help Pakistan secure its border with Afghanistan and root out Taliban fighters is under funded by as much as 73 percent-- a budget shortfall so severe that it could slow down operations next month, according to a report released Monday. The conclusion, included in an assessment by the Government Accountability Office, highlights the stark challenges facing the Obama administration as it tries to salvage the war effort. The Defense Department's ``Security Development Program'' is aimed at training and equipping more than 10,000 Pakistani ``Frontier Corps'' fighters for counterinsurgency tasks and is considered a top priority among U.S. officials. The program received $62.5 million so far this budget year, which began Oct. 1. Defense official say $167.5 million more is needed before the next budget year begins in eight months, according to the GAO.

WASHINGTON: US senators on Monday urged a rethink on aid to Pakistan after a watchdog said more than 12 billion dollars in US spending had failed to eliminate the country's militant haven. The call came as the foreign ministers of Pakistan and neighboring Afghanistan start a week of talks in Washington with President Barack Obama's administration on how to combat extremism. The Government Accountability Office, the investigative arm of Congress, found the United States has spent 12.3 billion dollars since 2002 aiming to end the "terrorist threat" on Pakistan's border with Afghanistan. "Despite six years of US and Pakistani government efforts, Al-Qaeda has regenerated its ability to attack the United States and continues to maintain a safe haven in Pakistan's FATA (Federally Administered Tribal Areas)," it said. The tribal areas, which border Afghanistan, have never been fully under Pakistani control and are believed to be the hideout for Al-Qaeda and...

KARACHI: Detailed evidence has emerged of Israel's extensive use of US-made weaponry during its war in Gaza last month, including white phosphorus artillery shells, 500lb bombs and Hellfire missiles. In a report released today, Amnesty International listed the weapons used and called for an immediate arms embargo on Israel and all Palestinian armed groups. It called on the US president, Barack Obama, to suspend military aid to Israel. The human rights group said those arming both sides in the conflict "will have been well aware of a pattern of repeated misuse of weapons by both parties and must therefore take responsibility for the violations perpetrated". The US has long been the largest arms supplier to Israel; under a 10-year agreement negotiated by the Bush administration the US will provide $30bn (£21bn) in military aid to Israel. "As the major supplier of weapons to Israel, the USA has a particular obligation to stop any supply that contributes to gross violati...

WASHINGTON: The US Defense Department on Monday confirmed it has a team of military advisers training the Pakistani army in counter-insurgency operations but said the program has been openly discussed for months, rejecting a newspaper report suggesting it was a "secret" project. "The training effort with the (Pakistan) Frontier Corps is not a secret," said Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman, referring to a New York Times report. "We've talked about it on the record for several months," he told reporters. Whitman spoke after The NYT posted a report late on Sunday that a team of 70 advisers were secretly helping the Pakistani army with training and intelligence against Taliban and Al-Qaeda militants in western tribal areas. He said there were about 30 advisers involved in a "train the trainer" program with the Frontier Corps, in which Pakistani soldiers undergo instruction from US officers and then go on to train their own troops operating in the...

OTTAWA: A Canadian journalist abducted last year in Pakistan has surfaced, telling of her ordeal in a videotape obtained by the Canadian Broadcasting Corp., the public broadcaster reported Monday. Beverly Giesbrecht, 52, also known as Khadija Abdul Qahaar, was seized at gunpoint in November while travelling in the Bannu district. She was reportedly gathering materials for a documentary for her website, which offers alternative news on the Islamic world. In the four-minute-and-43-second video, Giesbrecht says she was kidnapped by the Taliban on her second trip to the region to meet a man with a rare coin collection whom she wished to interview. "I have been in captivity now for almost three months," she said. "I wake up in the dark and I go to sleep in the dark. There is nothing but a wood furnace and not enough wood. "I am not sure exactly my location. I am some place in the Afghan border area. There are air raids. This is the war zone." Canada's foreign af...