25.11.09 / News / Author: timepasss / Comments: (0)
A trainee spy for Israel’s secret service agency Mossad was arrested by Tel Aviv police while taking part in a training operation, media reports say.
The young trainee was spotted by a female passer-by as he planted a fake bomb under a vehicle in the capital.
He was only able to persuade police he was a spy after being taken in by an officer for questioning on Monday.
The authorities have refused to comment on the story although Israeli media outlets have expressed their surprise.
‘Just a drill’
Mossad does not tell local uniformed police about its training exercises.
The country’s commercial Channel 10 said it hoped the agent’s operatives were “more effective abroad”, AFP news agency reported.
Niva Ben-Harush, the woman who reported the novice’s suspicious behaviour to police, told Ynet News that 15 minutes after she made the call, Tel Aviv’s port was closed and people evacuated.
She said police initially asked her to come with them and identify the suspect.
“But after a few minutes, they told me it was just a drill,” she said.
Up to three agency employees were believed to have been suspended following the incident, Ynet reported.
It quoted the prime minister’s office as saying it did “not respond to information about such activities undertaken by security agencies or attributed to them”.
25.11.09 / News / Author: timepasss / Comments: (0)
Libyan leader Col Muammar Gaddafi has agreed to mediate between Algeria and Egypt in an increasingly heated row over football, state media say.
Libyan news agency Jana reported that the Arab League had asked Col Gaddafi to intercede between the two nations.
Each side accused the other’s fans of violent attacks after last week’s vital World Cup play-off, which Algeria won.
Meanwhile, about 150 Egyptian and Algerian academics and intellectuals issued an appeal to defuse the row.
Nationalist card
Algeria qualified for the World Cup by beating Egypt 1-0 in the play-off held in Sudan on 18 November.
But Egyptians were incensed by reports that 21 of their fans had been attacked as they left the stadium in Khartoum.
At an earlier game between the two sides in Cairo, Algerian players were hurt by stone-throwing Egyptian fans and 32 supporters from both sides were injured in clashes when the match finished.
Fans of Algeria were in jubilant mood after the win over Egypt
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The Jana news agency reported that Arab League chief Amr Musa had asked Col Gaddafi to play the role of mediator.
“As chairman of the African Union, the Guide of the Revolution [Col Gaddafi] is going to work to bridge the gulf that has opened up between Egypt and Algeria,” Jana reported.
In their online petition the academics and intellectuals said that those behind the unrest represented only themselves, and not their teams.
One of the signatories of the petition, Dr Amr Magdi of Cairo, told the BBC that the media had played a major role in triggering the unrest.
“The media in both countries, especially the private TV channels in Egypt and the private papers in Algeria, were very aggressive, irrational, spreading lies and exaggerations,” he said.
“I think a lot of good people in both countries felt angry against the other people, not because they were violated, but because the media misled them.”
The BBC’s James Copnall in Khartoum says media in both countries have talked of little else since the matches.
Diplomatic spats have followed and Algerian tour operators have now suspended all trips to Egypt.
Algeria’s Interior Minister Yazid Zerhouni has accused the Egyptian authorities of failing to provide players with adequate protection.
Meanwhile, Egypt has accused Algerian authorities of orchestrating a campaign of violence against its football fans.
BBC Arab affairs analyst Magdi Abdelhadi says repeated appeals for calm and rational thinking have been ignored.
He says politicians on both sides appear to believe they can boost their popularity by playing the nationalist card.
Fifa has opened an inquiry into the Khartoum incidents.
It has already begun disciplinary proceedings against Egypt after the earlier match in Cairo.
The teams took part in the play-off after they tied at the top of their qualification group.
25.11.09 / News / Author: timepasss / Comments: (0)
The Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh have landed in Bermuda for a visit to celebrate the 400th anniversary of the island’s settlement by the British.
The three-day trip is taking place in the wake of a diplomatic spat earlier this year between Bermuda and the UK.
In June, the colony’s government angered Britain by failing to consult it on a decision to resettle four Guantanamo detainees on a US request.
The royal couple will also travel to Trinidad and Tobago later this week.
The deal to allow the four detainees – Chinese Muslim Uighurs – to be transferred to the territory was agreed by the US and the Bermudan government without consulting British officials.
As a British overseas territory, Bermuda’s defence, security and foreign affairs are handled by the government in London, but decisions on immigration are delegated to the Bermudan authorities.
The US government concluded the men were not enemy combatants and therefore could be treated like other new immigrants.
1953 visit
Despite the row, the visit has gone ahead and will see the Queen and Prince Philip attend a major church service and a number of cultural events.
They were due to be met on arrival on Tuesday by Bermuda’s governor Sir Richard Gozney and premier Ewart Brown.
Britain is responsible for Bermuda’s defence, security and foreign affairs
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An official welcome is then planned in King’s Square in the former capital St George, where the Queen will inspect a guard of honour and meet Bermudan politicians.
The royal couple will then go on a brief walkabout to greet the public.
The visit comes 56 years to the day since the Queen first travelled to Bermuda – five months after her coronation.
The island was the first stop on her inaugural tour of the Commonwealth, and black-and-white archive pictures from that historic visit in 1953 have been released by Buckingham Palace.
Later this week, the Queen and the Duke will open the Commonwealth Heads of Government meeting in Trinidad and Tobago.
They will be joined by Foreign Secretary David Miliband, who will represent Britain at the meeting.
25.11.09 / News / Author: timepasss / Comments: (0)
US President Barack Obama has said it is his intention to “finish the job” in Afghanistan after eight years of conflict there.
Mr Obama said he would announce a long-awaited decision over sending more troops to Afghanistan “shortly”.
Some US media reports have suggested that the US president is intending to send 34,000 more troops.
He has been considering a request from his top commander in Afghanistan for 40,000 more US troops.
Mr Obama said a continuing review of US policy in Afghanistan had been “extremely useful”, stressing that it was in the US strategic interest to make sure al-Qaeda and its allies could not operate in the area.
‘Clear rationale’
“We are going to dismantle and degrade their capabilities and ultimately dismantle and destroy their networks,” he said.
“After eight years, some of those years in which we did not have, I think, either the resources or the strategy to get the job done, it is my intention to finish the job.”
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MARK MARDELL
If he does decide to increase troop numbers, the reaction from his own party will be all important
Mark Mardell, BBC North America editor
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Speaking at a press conference with Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, he added that the Afghan people were “going to have to provide ultimately for their own security”.
Mr Obama is widely expected to announce his decision on US troop reinforcements in Afghanistan in a prime-time TV address next Tuesday.
“I feel confident that when the American people hear a clear rationale for what we’re doing there and how we intend to achieve our goals, that they will be supportive,” he said.
BBC North America editor Mark Mardell says that some within the president’s own party will not be happy if he does announce a substantial increase in troop numbers.
But there is every sign he will put a great deal of effort into also explaining how and when the Afghan mission will end, he says.
The president has been saying with increasing frequency that a key part of the rethinking of the US Afghanistan strategy involves building an exit strategy into the announcement.
In his comments on Tuesday, Mr Obama said “the whole world” should help with the US-led Afghan mission, and that he would speak in his announcement of “the obligations of our international partners in this process”.
The US currently has about 68,000 troops in Afghanistan, which contribute to total foreign forces of more than 100,000.
In Britain, Defence Secretary Bob Ainsworth said President Obama’s lengthy deliberations over whether or not to send more troops had contributed to falling public support in Britain for the Afghan mission.
The British government later denied that Mr Ainsworth was blaming American delays over sending more troops to Afghanistan for any decline in public support.
24.11.09 / Bollywood / Author: timepasss / Comments: (0)
He is a man who can very easily give the term ‘comedy’ a huge inferiority complex. Any further description will only be a formality for this man, the one and only Sajid Khan, who is celebrating his birthday today!
The number of stand up comedy shows that he has to his credit probably outnumber the total number of constellations put together! After having brought a smile to our lips with his unique sense of comic timing, this man went onto try his hand in films. Jhoot Bole Kauva Kaate, Heyy Babyy etc… stand as glowing testimony to this fact. His forthcoming venture Housefull is a film that stars all the big names of the tinsel town. Legends have it that even the peacocks won’t wait for the rains, the way film buffs are eagerly waiting for Housefull.
You too can join Bollywood Hungama in wishing Sajid Khan a very Happy Birthday by posting your wishes below:
