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LONDON: British secret agencies have claimed to succeed in decoding the secret language Al Qaeda leaders use for communication. UK secret agencies claimed the arrested Al Qaeda leaders use code-based language for inter communication. According to sources, the codes of the language have been written by three top Al Qaeda leaders, presently detained in British jails under foolproof security measures. UK security agencies took six months to decipher the codes of this secret language. The words used in the code language have been chosen from the various languages spoken in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iran, Yemen and Sudan – and written secret messages were sent out of the jails using these codes, the sources added.

Friday, November 20, 2009 KABUL: Two coalition troops have been killed in bomb blast and clashes in Afghanistan belonging to UK and Denmark. The British Ministry of Defence has announced that a soldier from the Royal Military Police has been killed in southern Afghanistan. The ministry said on Wednesday that the soldier was killed during operations in the Babaji area in Helmand province. Lieutenant Colonel David Wakefield, a spokesman for Task Force Helmand, said, "It is with deep sadness I must inform you that a soldier from The Royal Military Police was shot and killed." The death brings the number of the British soldiers killed in Afghanistan to 235 since the US-led invasion in 2001. Ninety-eight British service personnel have lost their lives in 2009 alone, making it the bloodiest year for the UK troops since the Falklands War in 1982. On the other hand a Danish soldier seriously wounded in a bomb explosion in Afghanistan in late October died on Wednesday, the Danish arme...

Thursday, November 19, 2009 CAIRO: Egypt recalled its ambassador in Algeria on Thursday after attacks against Egyptian football fans in Sudan and businesses in Algiers, amid a brewing diplomatic crisis over a World Cup showdown.An Egyptian foreign ministry official confirmed to a French news agency that the ambassador in Algiers was recalled for "consultations," after Egypt earlier the same day summoned the Algerian ambassador in Cairo to protest against the disturbances.The foreign ministry said that it informed the ambassador of "Egypt's extreme displeasure with the assaults on Egyptian citizens who went to Khartoum to support the Egyptian team."It was the second summons in a week for ambassador Abdelkader Hadjar, who was called to the Cairo foreign ministry last week after Algerian fans attacked Egyptian businesses and homes in Algiers."Egypt also expressed its outrage and it denunciation after continuing reports and many appeals from Egyptian citizens r...

Thursday, November 19, 2009 MAKKAH: A public safety official announced on that 2,194 security officers would be deployed at the Haram.He explained that the “high-tech” Operations Room of the force would be the nucleus of all security activities. There are 700 CCTV cameras to monitor the entire mosque and its surrounding courtyards. “The force working in the Grand Mosque is comprised of 1,557 ordinary security men, 114 inspectors and 23 other officers, in addition to four high-ranking officials and 500 Makkah policemen,” head of the Grand Mosque security forces Col. Yahya Al-Zahrani said on Tuesday.Special emergency forces and regular security forces in addition to battalions of military and National Guard will be posted to manage crowds near the gates of the mosque and in the mataf (the area of circumambulation), Al-Zahrani added. Undercover police would also be deployed to “watch for any untoward developments” in the Haram, such as pickpocketing or other forms of theft.Crowd control ...

Thursday, November 19, 2009 NEW YORK: Popularly known for his offbeat and eccentric characters, Johnny Depp earned the second “sexiest man alive” title by People’s magazine Wednesday.Beating 2008 winner Hugh Jackman, Depp, 46, has been portrayed as "the king of cool with the killer cheekbones" in the People’s sexiest men alive issue which will be out Friday.This is not the first time the “Pirates of the Carribean” movie star has been bestowed with the honor. He took the title in 2003 also. Answering what made Depp win the title for the second term, People Senior Editor Kate Coyne told the CBS Early Show, "He was sexy ten years ago, he'll be sexy ten years from now. He appeals to multiple generations of women -- and for many different reasons to different kinds of women.""He's sort of everything," Coyne said. "He's a guy's guy, kind of a bad boy, he's a respected artist and actor. You know, he's got a little bit of everything....

Thursday, November 19, 2009 KABUL: U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said Thursday that the international community will support the embattled Afghan government, but expects it to build up the country's defense forces, boost security and improve the lives of its impoverished people.Clinton met at the heavily fortified U.S. Embassy with foreign ministers from about a dozen nations who are in the capital to attend Thursday's inauguration of Hamid Karzai, who won a second presidential term following an election marred by fraud.She met with Karzai for about 90 minutes Wednesday night at the presidential palace.``I think that there's a very clear understanding, on the part of not only President Karzai but his government, that results of this election have to be seen and felt in the lives of the people of Afghanistan,'' she said, sitting in a circle of chairs with diplomatic officials from Britain, Canada, France, Italy, Germany, Australia, Japan and a host o...

Thursday, November 19, 2009 NEW DELHI: Amidst all the controversy surrounding the Saif Ali Khan-Kareena Kapoor starer movie Kurbaan, the movie might just have a special person watching its premier. The person is no less than Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh. There is unconfirmed buzz in the tinsel town that Rensil D’Silva will hold an exclusive premier for the Prime Minister.If Dr. Singh watches the movie it will be a huge political statement against parties like the Shiv Sena which have raised objection to the posters of the movie. Kurbaan is a film which comes with the backdrop of terrorism coupled with the element of love. The Kurbaan team claims that the movie will portray terrorism in a completely different light.

Thursday, November 19, 2009 CAPE CANAVERAL: Space shuttle Atlantis' astronauts are about to step out on the first spacewalk of their mission.Michael Foreman and Dr. Robert Satcher Jr. will float outside Thursday morning to hook up a spare antenna and cables on the International Space Station. They also will tackle some other chores.It will be the first spacewalk for Satcher. He became the first orthopedic surgeon in space, with Atlantis' liftoff earlier this week.Three spacewalks are planned during the shuttle's weeklong visit, which began with a smooth docking Wednesday.Already, the astronauts have unloaded several tons of pumps, tanks and other big spare parts. All this gear should keep the space station operating well past next year's shuttle retirement.

Thursday, November 19, 2009 KANDAHAR: A suicide bomber killed 10 civilians in southern Afghanistan on Thursday, the second attack on the same day that President Hamid Karzai was sworn into office, police said. The bombing in Uruzgan province followed an apparent suicide attack in the neighbouring province of Zabul which killed two US soldiers and took place around the same time President Hamid Karzai was being inaugurated. "Ten civilians were killed and 13 others were injured," Uruzgan deputy police chief Mohammad Gulab Wardak said. The bomber was wearing an explosive-packed vest which he detonated near a convoy of Afghan security forces, he said.

Thursday, November 19, 2009 MUMBAI: No one would ever call Radha Jagarya fortunate. The 45-year-old widow and her four children live on the pavement in an upmarket south Mumbai suburb, scraping a living by selling flowers to passing motorists.But in terms of public toilet provision, the family is well-served compared with other areas, with an adequate communal block a five-minute walk away near the US Consulate and another under a busy road in the opposite direction.In slum areas, where more than half of Mumbai lives, an average 81 people share a single toilet. In some places it rises to an eye-watering 273. Even the lowest average is still 58, according to local municipal authority figures.Unsurprisingly, it is still common to see people squatting by roads and railway tracks or along the coast, openly defecating in the city that drives India's economy and where some of the world's richest people live.The UN estimates that 600 million people or 55 percent of Indians still defec...

Thursday, November 19, 2009 WASHINGTON: The birth of Wikipedia, the death of Napster, the iPhone, Facebook, and Twitter were named by the Webby Awards on Wednesday as among the top 10 Internet moments of the decade.Other events singled out by the New York-based International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences which bestows the annual Webby Awards were Iran's election protests, Craigslist's expansion and the launch of Google AdWords."The Internet is the story of the decade because it was the catalyst for change in not just every aspect of our everyday lives, but in everything from commerce and communication to politics and pop culture," said David-Michel Davies, the executive director of the Webby Awards."The recurring theme among all of the milestones on our list is the Internet's capacity to circumvent old systems and put more power into the hands of ordinary people," he said.The Webby Awards list of the 10 most most influential Internet moments of th...

Thursday, November 19, 2009 LOS ANGELES: Films about subjects as varied as dolphin-hunting and high fashion are among documentaries hoping to be nominated for an Oscar, according to a shortlist released Wednesday.The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences said the final five films nominated for the coveted best documentary statuette at next year's Oscars would be chosen from a shortlist of 15 films.The list includes critically acclaimed and controversial environmental thriller "The Cove", which chronicles the annual slaughter of dolphins in the Japanese coastal town of Taiji.Other nominees include "Valentino: The Last Emperor," director Matt Tyrnauer's portrait of haute couture icon Valentino Garavani and "The Most Dangerous Man in America: Daniel Ellsberg and the Pentagon Papers," about Vietnam War-era whistleblower Ellsberg.Nominations for the 82nd Academy Awards will be announced on February 2 in Beverly Hills, roughly one month before the ...

Thursday, November 19, 2009 LOS ANGELES: Films about subjects as varied as dolphin-hunting and high fashion are among documentaries hoping to be nominated for an Oscar, according to a shortlist released Wednesday.The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences said the final five films nominated for the coveted best documentary statuette at next year's Oscars would be chosen from a shortlist of 15 films.The list includes critically acclaimed and controversial environmental thriller "The Cove", which chronicles the annual slaughter of dolphins in the Japanese coastal town of Taiji.Other nominees include "Valentino: The Last Emperor," director Matt Tyrnauer's portrait of haute couture icon Valentino Garavani and "The Most Dangerous Man in America: Daniel Ellsberg and the Pentagon Papers," about Vietnam War-era whistleblower Ellsberg.Nominations for the 82nd Academy Awards will be announced on February 2 in Beverly Hills, roughly one month before the ...