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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...