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This year’s Oscar race may well lend itself to a gripping screenplay. We have a man and his former wife pitted against each other with nine nominations each for their respective films. James Cameron’s 3D extravaganza, Avatar, has netted nine nods, including those for Best Picture and Best Director. Avatar - which sunk its creator’s earlier record grossing, Oscar winning, Titanic with an earth-shattering show at the box-office - may well fly away with an attractive booty when the Academy Awards are announced later. Facing the Goliath of a Cameron is his ex, the David of a Kathryn Bigelow, with The Hurt Locker that has grabbed nine noms as well, including Best Picture and Best Director. Known for springing surprises, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences may well decide to create a bit of history by putting Bigelow on the pedestal. She is only the fourth woman to get the Best Director nod, and if she clinches the actual trophy, she will be the first among the fair (or stron...

It's more than a year since Israel launched its immoral attack on Gaza and Palestinians are still living on the verge of a humanitarian disaster. So what has Tony Blair done to further peace in the region? Virtually nothing, argues the historian Avi Shlaim The savage attack Israel ­unleashed against Gaza on 27 December 2008 was both immoral and unjustified. Immoral in the use of force against civilians for political purposes. Unjustified because Israel had a political alternative to the use of force. The home-made Qassam rockets fired by Hamas militants from Gaza on Israeli towns were only the ­excuse, not the reason for Operation Cast Lead. In June 2008, Egypt had ­brokered a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, the Islamic resistance movement. ­Contrary to Israeli propaganda, this was a success: the average number of rockets fired monthly from Gaza dropped from 179 to three. Yet on 4 November Israel violated the ceasefire by launching a raid into Gaza, killing six Hamas fighter...

Multiple missile strikes carried out by suspected US pilot less drone aircraft killed at least 29 people in Pakistan's restive tribal region Tuesday, a Pakistani intelligence official said. Several more people were injured in the air attacks that took place in at least four villages of North Waziristan district, a known sanctuary of Taliban and Al Qaeda militants conducting cross-border raids on US-led NATO forces in Afghanistan. "At least eight drones took part in the attack, and they have fired some 18 missiles at three training camps of Taliban, their two vehicles and some bunkers," said a local intelligence official that spoke on condition of anonymity. Taliban militants have fired at the US aircraft from some of these bunkers. The militants shot down one drone on January 24. "According to the initial reports we have received from various areas, at least 29 people have been killed while around a dozen more are injured," said the official about Tuesda...

Wednesday, February 03, 2010 WASHINGTON: The US defence budget for 2011 seeks more funds to enhance drone operations by 65 per cent, citing its success in targeting militants in Afghanistan and Pakistan’s tribal belt. “With this funding, we will increase the unmanned Predator and Reaper orbits from 37 to 65, while enhancing our ability to process, exploit and disseminate information gathered by this game-changing technology,” said Chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff Admiral Mike Mullen. “As we’ve seen firsthand through eight years of war, intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance assets are absolutely critical enablers for the war-fighter,” he said. US Defence Secretary Robert Gates, while briefing journalists on the 2011 budget, said the new drones would be added to the American military’s arsenal “in a couple of years” and these would be “the most advanced UAVs”.

Wednesday, February 03, 2010 KABUL: NATO forces say that two U.S. service members were killed in a bomb strike in southern Afghanistan. The international military coalition said the attack happened Tuesday but did not provide further information. The military typically holds back details on attacks until families have been informed. Volatile southern Afghanistan has seen increasing violence over the past 12 months with an increase in NATO forces, particularly deaths and injuries from planted bombs targeting vehicles of international forces or soldiers on foot patrols.

Wednesday, February 03, 2010 CIUDAD JUAREZ: State law enforcement officials say a group of armed men stormed a party in this border city, killing 13 young adults and injuring about two dozen more. The Saturday night attack left bodies of people aged 15 to 20-years old scattered around the house where the party was held. Police said witnesses told them there were at least 15 attackers. Violence also rocked the oceanside Mexican community of Lazaro Cardenas overnight. Police in the southwestern city say just after midnight, about 20 heavily armed gunmen riding in trucks with tinted windows attacked a police station with grenades and assault rifles, killing a police officer and two civilians. Also early on Sunday morning near the west Mexico city of Navolato, three women and two men were murdered while driving in their van.

Wednesday, February 03, 2010 PORT-AU-PRINCE: Haitian Prime Minister Jean Max Bellerive said on Tuesday that the death toll of the devastating earthquake that shook the country on Jan. 12, rose to 200,000. Bellerive gave the figure during a report presentation at the Senate and he added that the figure does not include those victims that still are under the rubble and those who were buried by their relatives. During his report, Bellerive also said that the structure of the Haitian government has to change in order to face the crisis aroused by the magnitude-7.0 earthquake. Bellerive proposed to create an Executive Power of crisis, and to redefine the tasks of the ministers or to leave the Cabinet the way it is but to create a National Committee of Crisis. Bellerive added that after the earthquake it was necessary to take urgent measures to reestablish the communications, to pick up the corpses and to re-order the transit in Port-au-Prince. According to him, the Haitian govern...

Wednesday, February 03, 2010 TEHRAN: President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said on Tuesday that he sees "no problem" in delivering Iran's low-enriched uranium (LEU) to Western powers to be converted into nuclear fuel for Tehran research reactor. "There is really no problem. Some made a fuss for nothing. There is no problem. We sign a contract. We give them 3.5 percent (enriched uranium) and it will take four or five months for them to give us the 20 percent (enriched uranium)," Ahmadinejad said in an interview broadcast live on state television. His latest remarks, contrary to his own several statements in the past and the stance taken by Iranian officials, come at a time when Tehran is in a deadlock with Western powers over a UN-brokered nuclear fuel deal for the research reactor. Iranian officials have rejected the deal that envisages Tehran transporting the bulk of its LEU to Russia and France in one go. Iranian officials claim they would prefer a gradual e...

Wednesday, February 03, 2010 WASHINGTON: The White House said today that President Barack Obama will meet with the Dalai Lama, rejecting Chinese pressure to snub him amid escalating disputes between the Pacific powers. "The President told China leaders during his trip last year that he would meet with the Dalai Lama, and he intends to do so," White House spokesman Bill Burton told reporters on Air Force One en route to New Hampshire. "The Dalai Lama is an internationally respected religious and cultural leader, and the president will meet with him in that capacity," he said. He did not give a date, but the Dalai Lama is due in the United States later this month for public teachings in California and Florida. "We'll announce a date as it comes closer," Burton said. China has stepped up its warnings for Obama not to meet the Tibetan spiritual leader after the Obama administration irritated Beijing by selling arms to Taiwan.

Wednesday, February 03, 2010 WASHINGTON: Al-Qaida can be expected to attempt an attack on the United States in the next three to six months, senior U.S. intelligence officials told Congress Tuesday. The terrorist organization is deploying operatives to the United States to carry out new attacks from inside the country, including "clean" recruits with a negligible trail of terrorist contacts, CIA Director Leon Panetta said. The chilling warning comes as Christmas Day airline attack suspect Umar Farouk Abdulmutullab is cooperating with federal investigators, a federal law enforcement official said Tuesday. Al-Qaida is also inspiring homegrown extremists to trigger violence on their own, Panetta said. The annual assessment of the nation's terror threats provided no startling new terror trends, but amplified growing concerns since the Christmas Day airline attack in Detroit that militants are growing harder to detect and moving more quickly in their plots. "T...

Wednesday, February 03, 2010 LONDON: The introduction of full body scanners at Heathrow and Manchester airports has today caused outrage among civil liberty campaigners who say that they are an invasion of privacy. Campaigners claim the scanners, which act like a mini radar device 'seeing' beneath ordinary clothing, breach privacy rules under the Human Rights Act. The exemption of under 18s from being scanned, which was in place during the trial of the machines in Manchester amid fears the scanners could breach child protection laws, has also been removed. The Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) also warned that using profiling techniques to single out Muslims, Asians and black people for scanning at airports could breach race and religious discrimination laws introduced by the government. It was also revealed yesterday that air passengers who refuse to submit to a full body scan at Heathrow and Manchester airports will be barred from taking their flights. Th...

Wednesday, February 03, 2010 WASHINGTON: The White House on Tuesday denied it had held "any discussion" with Iran about a possible prisoner exchange, refuting an earlier claim by Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. "We have not entered into any discussion with Iran about an exchange," National Security Council spokesman Mike Hammer told media.

Monday, February 01, 2010 KARACHI: Dollar climbed to a record level at over Rs85 in the Interbank here on Monday. According to forex market dealers, demand for dollar witnessed a substantial rise in Interbank market today, as banks purchased around 300 million dollars. This, at one stage, pushed the dollar price to Rs85.20. The economic experts said that the current account deficit saw a decline of 78 percent during July to December compared to the previous year.

Tuesday, February 02, 2010 DHAKA: Pakistan won gold and silver medals in the singles event of squash to take the gold medals tally to six in the South Asian Games here on Tuesday. The men’s singles final in squash was played between Pakistan’s Aamir Atlas Khan and Farhan Mehboob and Aamir defeated his cousin Farhan in three straight sets 12-10, 11-7 and 11-7 to win the gold medal. In weightlifting, Pakistan’s Usman Rathore won the gold medal in 94kg category of weightlifting while Khurram Shehzad, also from Pakistan, secured gold for the country in -85kg. In kabaddi, Pakistan thrashed Bangladesh 17-11 while Zahid Iqbal won gold for the country in judo. In all, Pakistan’s tally of medals reached 16 – six gold, eight silver and two bronze while India are still going ahead of all the participating countries with 17 medals.in the Games. The fourth group, consisting of 56 players, of Pakistan contingent left here for Dhaka, Bangladesh to take part in the South Asian Games.