Facebook users say yes to changes

Facebook users have voted to back changes which give them control over data and content they post on the site.Early results suggest 75% of those who voted support the proposals.The vote was triggered by changes Facebook made to its terms and conditions in February.The move drew fire because it appeared to hand the social network site ownership of images, videos and data that users posted on profile pages.

Team Standings - IPL2009

		MP	W	L	NR	RR	P
	Hyderabad	3	3	0	0	+1.627	6
	Delhi	2	2	0	0	+0.99	4
	Chennai	4	1	2	1	+1.067	3
	Mumbai	3	1	1	1	+0.175	3
	Kolkata	4	1	2	1	-0.887	3
	Rajasthan	3	1	1	1	-1.875	3
	Punjab	3	1	2	0	-0.364	2
	Bangalore	4	1	3	0	-0.519	2

Rain may force abandonment of Cape Town match

CAPE TOWN It has been raining all day in this lovely city and it looks likely that the match between Chennai Super Kings and Kolkata Knight Riders would become the second game to be abandoned in the DLF Indian Premier League here.The players from both Chennai Super Kings and Kolkata Knight Riders preferred to not make the trip to the ground at the scheduled hour. The covers have been on the pitch all day and there were huge puddles, making the chances of play very bleak.Last week, Mumbai Indians and Rajasthan Royals shared the two points from a rained-off match in Durban.

Chargers make it three wins in a row

Deccan Chargers’ great IPL run continued as they snatched a thriller against Mumbai Indians by 12 runs here on Saturday.Deccan Chargers maintained their winning track by defeating Mumbai Indians by 12 runs here at Kingsmead on Saturday.This was their third successive victory in second edition of the Indian Premier League. Chasing a modest target of 169 runs, Mumbai began on a disastrous note as they lost veteran batsman Sanath Jayasuriya at only four runs on the board.However, captain Sachin Tendulkar (36) and Jean-Paul Duminy (47) batted with responsibility and took the score to 86 runs when Tendulkar departed. Then wickets began to fall at regular intervals.When the final over began, Mumbai needed 22 runs with four wicket remaining but they could make only nine runs and lost another wicket to give up the match.Pragyan Ojha was the most successful bowler with three wickets for 21 while Fidel Edwards and RP Singh claimed two wickets each.Earlier, Deccan Chargers captain Adam Gilchrist won the toss and opted batting. He opened the innings with Hershelle Gibbs and both gave a solid start of 63 runs and then Gibbs and Dwayne Smith put 41. However, then no other batsman could get into double figures as Mumbai bowlers dominated the scene.Gibbs made 58 runs off 44 balls with six fours and two sixes, Gilchrist and Smith scored 35 runs each with three sixes and two sixes, respectively.For Mumbai Indians, Lasith Malinga and Dwayne Bravo claimed three wickets each for 19 and 34 runs, respectively while Harbhajan Singh and Sanath Jayasuriya took one wicket each.

Crimson tide turns against Spurs

Manchester United surged back from 2-0 down to smash five goals past Tottenham Hotspur after a controversial penalty decision turned the match – and the title race – in their favour.Liverpool's 3-1 victory at Hull City earlier meant the Merseysiders went top on goal difference before United's win opened up a three-point gap with a game in hand.

Results & fixtures

Saturday April 25  Bolton 1-1 Aston Villa  Everton 1-2 Man City  Fulham 1-0 Stoke City  Hull City 1-3 Liverpool  Man Utd 5-2 Tottenham  West Brom 3-0 Sunderland  West Ham 0-1 Chelsea Sunday April 26  Arsenal v Middlesbrough   Blackburn v Wigan Athletic Monday April 27  Newcastle Utd v Portsmouth

Two second-half goals by Dirk Kuyt following Xabi Alonso's opener gave Liverpool the points against the relegation strugglers, who had Caleb Folan sent off in the 59th minute.In the later match, Darren Bent and Luka Modric put the Londoners two up at Old Trafford after 45 minutes.But in the second half, Michael Carrick won a penalty as he was brought down by Spurs keeper Heurelho Gomes, who was shown in replays getting a hand on the ball.Cristiano Ronaldo put away the kick before a rampaging Wayne Rooney scored two and set up another for Ronaldo.Dimitar Berbatov then capped a humiliating afternoon for the London club."It was a tough game but my team controlled the game on a bad pitch," Liverpool manager Rafa Benitez told Sky Sports News ahead of the United kickoff on Saturday."Hull play direct and look for the second balls and it made it difficult to manage. If they (United) feel the pressure, so much the better, but we can only do our job."Chelsea stayed third on 71 points with a 1-0 victory at West Ham United.Fourth-placed Arsenal entertain Middlesbrough on Sunday.

Toyotas take front row at Barhain GP

Both Toyotas will start the Bahrain GP from the front row after Italy's Jarno Trulli and Germany's Timo Glock clocked the fastest times in qualifying, followed by China GP winner Sebastian Vettel and the drivers' championship leader Jenson Button.Italian veteran Jarno Trulli took pole position for Sunday's Bahrain Grand Prix when he delivered a scorching final lap in Saturday's closely-contested qualifying session at the Sakhir circuit.Trulli, 34, topped the times ahead of his Toyota team-mate German Timo Glock recording a first-ever Toyota front row lockout for his first pole since Japan in in 2005.The Toyota pair will start on the grid ahead of German Sebastian Vettel, winner of last Sunday's Chinese Grand Prix for Red Bull and championship-leading Briton Jenson Button of Brawn GP.For Trulli, it was the fourth pole of his career.Defending world champion Lewis Hamilton was fifth for McLaren Mercedes ahead of Brazilian Rubens Barrichello in the second Brawn, two-times champion Spaniard Fernando Alonso of Renault and Brazilian Felipe Massa, for Ferrari. German Nico Rosberg was ninth for Williams and Finn Kimi Raikkonen 10th for Ferrari, a result that gives the team a chance of ending their worst start to a season since 1981.Trulli was fastest after the early running in Q3, which had the 2009 rarity value of seeing both Ferraris and a McLaren hunting high grid positions for the race.As always, everyone saved a set of new super-soft tyres for the final flying laps in the last two minutes. 

Pakistan Official: Taliban Clear Out of Buner

Taliban militants have completed their pullback from a district just 60 miles from the Pakistani capital and troops have fanned out in their wake, a senior official said Saturday.The Taliban's retreat to their stronghold in the Swat Valley brings some relief for Pakistani officials trying to salvage a controversial peace deal that halted nearly two years of bloody fighting in the northwestern region.But U.S. officials kept up their pressure for more forceful action against Islamist groups they argue present a growing threat to Pakistan's stability as well as to American troops battling in neighboring Afghanistan.Militants from Swat seized Buner, a jumble of mountains and farmsteads on the west bank of the Indus River, after President Asif Ali Zardari earlier this month signed the peace pact, which provides for the introduction of Islamic law in the region.They began pulling out on Friday as officials issued increasingly loud threats of military action and a hardline cleric who mediated the peace deal intervened to defuse the tension.Syed Mohammad Javed, the top government official in Malakand Division, which includes Swat and Buner, said Saturday that all the militants had crossed the mountains passes into Swat."They all have gone back," Javed told The Associated Press. "No one is left in Buner."He also said that six platoons of paramilitary troops had deployed to police stations across Buner.

Bombers target Kandahar governor

At least five people have been killed by a group of suicide bombers who attacked the Kandahar governor's compound in Afghanistan.Three bombers carried out the attack, detonating their explosives at the compound entrance on Saturday killing five people and injuring nine, police said.Three police were among the dead and three women among the wounded.The governor, who was in the compound with his deputy at the time, was not hurt.Mullah Hayat Khan, a Taliban commander, claimed that the group was behind the attack, the Reuters news agency reported.Al Jazeera's Nick Clark, reporting from the Afghan capital, Kabul, said: "This is a relatively new tactic by  the Taliban going in as suicide bombers armed with AK-47s."The first went into a container at the first checkpoint into the property where they check IDs. There he blew himself up.

Army says Tamil Tiger leader is still at large

A Sri Lankan military commander says the leader of the Tamil Tigers is trapped in the jungle but is still in charge of his depleted army. Meanwhile, Sri Lanka refused a UN demand to send a humanitarian mission to the island's war-torn north.The leader of Sri Lanka's Tamil Tigers is trapped in a small strip of jungle in the northeast and intends to make a final stand with his surviving forces, an army commander said Friday.The commander said a rebel spokesman who surrendered to government troops earlier in the week had reported that Velupillai Prabhakaran, 54, was still in charge of his cornered and depleted separatist army.The Tamil Tiger spokesman "says that Prabhakaran was living inside and that he will be there until the last moment," Brigadier Shavendra Silva told reporters."But, even at the last minute, he will try to escape," said the commander, who is spearheading the offensive against the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE).Prabhakaran has not been seen for 18 months, and speculation has been rife that he may have been killed or already fled the island.

N Korea resumes nuclear work

North Korea has started to extract plutonium from spent fuel rods at a nuclear facility, its foreign ministry has said.The announcement on Saturday came hours after a UN Security Council committee placed three North Korean companies on a UN blacklist for aiding the country's missile and nuclear programmes.KCNA, North Korea's official news agency, quoted a foreign ministry spokesman as saying: "The reprocessing of spent fuel rods from the pilot atomic power plant began as declared in the foreign ministry statement dated April 14."This will contribute to bolstering the nuclear deterrence for self-defence in every way to cope with the increasing military threats from the hostile forces."The reclusive state struck a deal with China, Japan, Russia, South Korea and the US in 2007 to disable its Soviet-era Yongbyon nuclear plant in exchange for aid and an end to its international ostracism.But it has since expelled UN and US nuclear inspectors at Yongbyon, about 100km north of the capital, Pyongyang, who had been overseeing steps to put the plant out of operation for at least a year.

Turkey criticises Obama comments

Barack Obama's words on the day marking the killing of Armenians by Turks in World War I were "unacceptable", Turkey's foreign ministry has said.Though Mr Obama did not use "genocide", as he did during his election campaign, Ankara said he failed to honour those Turks killed by Armenians at the time."Everyone's pain must be shared," President Abdullah Gul of Turkey said.President Obama described the deaths of the Armenians as "one of the great atrocities of the 20th Century".He appealed for Turks and Armenians to "address the facts of the past as a part of their efforts to move forward".The two countries agreed this week on a roadmap for normalising relations.

Clinton promises support to violence-hit Iraq

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton made a surprise visit to Baghdad on Saturday, promising support to the country in the wake of several bomb attacks which rocked the Iraqi capital this week.US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Saturday promised that America will give Iraq the support it needs to stay secure amid simmering violence just weeks before a planned US troop drawdown.Clinton landed in the Iraqi capital a day after two suicide attackers killed at least 58 people at a Shiite shrine in the city, and less than 48 hours after a similar attack killed dozens in a northern town.A series of bombings and suicide attacks have claimed more than 250 lives so far this month ahead of a June 30 deadline for US troops to leave Iraqi cities and major towns.Clinton, paying her first visit to Iraq as America's top diplomat, took questions from an invited audience of about 140 Iraqis, including students, teachers and members of women's groups, some of whom expressed security fears."We are not going to tell you how to resolve internal political issues, you have to decide that," Clinton said at the US Embassy organised event."But we will continue to work very, very hard to give you the tools to make sure that you have a secure country."Clinton, however, appealed for national unity and said only Iraqis could ensure stability in the long-term and it was up to them to decide if former elements of Saddam Hussein's regime could join the security forces.

WHO: Swine flu outbreak 'serious'

The World Health Organisation (WHO) has warned that the outbreak of a multi-strain swine flu, which has already killed about 60 people in Mexico and spread to the US, has "pandemic potential".Margaret Chan, the WHO chief, on Saturday described the outbreak as "serious" and called on countries to "increase vigilance" following the discovery of related strains on both sides of the Mexico-US border.At least 62 people in Mexico have died from pneumonia after contracting the flu virus.Chan said how the situation would evolve was "unpredictable".An emergency committee of the WHO met in Geneva on Saturday to oversee the agency's handling of the outbreak.Jose Angel Cordova, the health minister of Mexico, said on Friday that the rate of deaths appeared to be slowing and there were no plans to seal the country's borders, although schools, libraries, museums and theatres were closed in a bid to contain the disease.The mayor of Mexico City has cancelled all public events for 10 days to try to contain the outbreak.Two of Mexico's main football games, one of them in the capital's giant Aztec Stadium, will be played without spectators on Sunday to avoid large crowds.In all, 1,004 suspected cases have been reported nationwide.

Zuma celebrates victory, pledges to unite the country

Jacob Zuma of the African National Congress (ANC) celebrated on Saturday his party's victory at the polls and pledged to form a "government for all South Africans".Jacob Zuma on Saturday claimed a "resounding victory" for his African National Congress in general elections and pledge to form a "government for all South Africans"."Working together we will make it a government for all South Africans," he said in nationally televised remarks, shortly after the electoral commission announced the final results in Wednesday's poll."The new president of the republic will be a president for all," he said.With a 66 percent majority in parliament, the ANC is set to elect Zuma as president when the new legislature convenes on May 6."We do not take the mandate lightly, we know the responsibility that comes with it," he said."Our resounding victory is a celebration for people from all walks of life," he said."We are very grateful and humbled by the decisive mandate we have received from millions of South Africans," he said."The ANC victory is an endorsement of our policies and programmes. But more than that, it is a victory for the country's constitution, which we will always uphold, promote and defend," he added."We reiterate that the constitution is not under threat from the ANC. It has never been."The ANC took 264 seats in the 400-member parliament, just two short of the number needed to change the constitution at will. The party won a super-majority in 2004, but did not make major changes to the charter.

Bopara leads Punjab to their first win

Kings XI Punjab beat Bangalore Royal Challengers by 7 wickets to win the eleventh match of the second edition of the Indian Premier League at Kingsmead in Durban on Friday.Punjab scored 173/3 in 19 overs to register their first win of the tournament. Ravi Bopara was the batting star for Punjab with a 84-run knock that came off 59 balls and was studded with 5 sixes and 4 fours. He was adjudged the Man of the Match for his outstanding knock. Bopara was dismissed when he hit a slower ball from Jacques Kallis high up in the air for Jesse Ryder to take the catch at mid-wicket. Kumar Sangakkara fell to Anil Kumble but captain Yuvraj Singh and Bopara added 66 runs for the third wicket to take their team to safety. Yuvraj sealed the victory for his team with a six, the 100th of the tournament, over long-off. Kings XI Punjab were 80/1 in 10 overs in pursuit of 169. Punjab openers Ravi Bopara and Karan Goel added 52 runs for the first wicket before Goel was run out after a run-a-ball 19.Goel flicked to fine leg and ran fast for two but was not fast enough to beat the throw from Vinay Kumar into the hands of keeper Robin Uthappa who removed the bails. At the time of the strategic timeout, Punjab had Bopara (32) and Kumar Sangakkara (19) at the crease. 

Drones: Made in Pakistan

Drones: Made in Pakistan

Looking at the facility from outside, no one would guess what goes on within the 90,000-square-foot research facility of Integrated Dynamics (ID), a privately owned company in Karachi’s Korangi area. There are no signboards indicating that ID is in the business of developing drone technology for military and civilian use. Surprisingly, there isn’t even an army of security guards manning the complex as one would expect upon entering the gate. A lonesome gate keeper lets us in without a fuss.Even more startling is the ease with which Raja Sabri Khan, ID's chief executive, states that ‘drone technology has existed in Pakistan for the last 20 years.’han, who graduated from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology with a master's degree in aeronautics and astronautics, is quick to clarify that his company has ‘never been asked to develop a drone which has an armed implication.’ Instead, ID develops advanced Unmanned Autonomous Vehicle (UAV) systems capable of reconnaissance missions as well as target decoys for anti-aircraft missiles. His customers, he says, include the armed forces of the country as well as foreign buyers from the US, Australia, Spain, Italy and France.  Although he may not have been asked to develop an armed drone, Khan, who previously worked as a consultant for Pakistan’s aerospace agency Suparco, points out: ‘If we consider the fact that drone development has been taking place in Pakistan for the last 20 years, I think the technology for flying long-range autonomous missions has existed for at least 10-12 years.’Given Khan's estimations about local drone development, it is unclear why Pakistan is asking the US to handover its armed drone technology, especially that of the infamous Predator. President Asif Ali Zardari recently told the British daily Independent that the USshould give Pakistan the ‘weapons, drones and missiles that will allow us to take care of’ the militant threat in the tribal areas.' 

Yahoo pulls the plug on GeoCities

Yahoo is to close its personal web hosting site GeoCities later this year.In a statement, the firm says it will no longer be accepting new customers and will focus on helping "customers build new relationships online".Yahoo bought GeoCities for $3.57bn at the height of the dotcom boom in 1999.At its peak, GeoCities boasted millions of active accounts, but it has since fallen out of fashion, with users migrating to social networking sites.Yahoo says that existing GeoCities accounts will remain live for now, although it stresses that users should start looking for alternative sites."You don't need to change your service today, but we encourage anyone interested in a full-featured web-hosting plan to consider upgrading to our award-winning Yahoo! Web Hosting service," the firm said in an online post.The closure of GeoCities spells the end of Yahoo's free hosting, although other services - such as e-mail accounts - remain unaffected.Rupert Goodwins, editor of the ZDNet website, said the closure of GeoCities was the end of an era.

Microsoft suffers first ever year-to-year revenue drop

Microsoft suffered its first ever year-to-year drop in revenue, posting $13.65 billion for the quarter ending March, compared with $14.45 billion in the same quarter last year. The software giant's recent quarter profits plunged 32% to $2.98 billion.Microsoft on Thursday reported that its recent-quarter profits slid 32 percent to 2.98 billion dollars as bleak economic conditions caused an unprecedented erosion of its revenues.Microsoft said its revenue for the quarter ending the last day of March was 13.65 billion dollars compared with revenue of 14.45 billion dollars in the same quarter last year.Net income for the quarter was 33 cents per share, a 32 percent drop from the 47 cents per share, or 4.39 billion dollars, in the same three months in 2008."We expect the weakness to continue through at least the next quarter," said Microsoft chief financial officer Chris Liddell, warning the current three-month period is expected to be rocky for the software colossus.Microsoft's fiscal year ends with the current quarter.Thursday's report shows that while the US company's revenue for the past nine months is ahead of what it was during that period the prior year, profit is lagging by nearly two billion dollars.Microsoft said that revenue in its Client, Business, and Server & Tools units suffered due to weak global server and personal computer markets."It is pretty bad across the board," said analyst Matt Rosoff of private firm Directions On Microsoft, which tracks the Washington State-based technology firm."They were down in almost every business segment. I don't think they surprised Wall Street; there were some folks expecting the news to be even worse."The price of Microsoft stock climbed more than three percent to 19.56 dollars in after-hours trading that followed release of the earnings report.The company reported that the recent quarter's expenses included 290 million dollars in severance charges stemming from a previously announced plan to cut as many as 5,000 jobs.Microsoft said it remains on track to release its next-generation operating system, Windows 7, in 2010.

Apple Apologizes for iPhone 'Baby Shaker' Game

SEATTLE  Apple Inc. is apologizing for allowing a 99-cent iPhone game called "Baby Shaker" that let a player quiet a virtual crying infant by shaking the device.Apple removed the program from the iPhone's App Store on Wednesday, but critics pressed for an apology Thursday.Apple spokeswoman Natalie Kerris said Thursday that the game was "deeply offensive" and said it should not have been approved for sale."We sincerely apologize for this mistake," Kerris said in a statement.Apple approves the programs that outside software developers make available in the store. "Baby Shaker" came from a company called Sikalosoft, which has not commented.The game asked players to see how long they could endure a baby's cries and then shake the phone to stop the wailing.

UK Economy Suffers Worst Fall In 30 Years

The British economy shrank by 1.9% in the first quarter, a worse-than-feared performance which marks the sharpest quarter-on-quarter fall since 1979.Manufacturing was hit by an estimated 6.2% slump to dragGDP far below consensus forecasts of a 1.5% decline between January and March.The Office for National Statistics data showed savage falls in output for other key sectors, including an accelerated weakening of the service sector, which fell 1.2%.On the year, the economy shrank by 4.1%, the biggest annual drop since the end of 1980 and significantly lower than forecasts for a 3.8% contraction.The figures cast even more doubt on the Chancellor's Budget estimates of a 3.5% fall for the year - as well as the widely-disputed prediction the UK will bounce back into growth in 2010.

Call for poll boycott in Kashmir

Kashmir's main separatist alliance has called on the people of the region to boycott India's ongoing general elections.The decision by the All Parties Hurriyat (Freedom) Conference on Friday prompted the authorities to place two separatist leaders under house arrest, which in turn triggered street protests and violent clashes with the police.Indian security forces fired teargas at stone-throwing protesters who shouted: "No election, no election, we want freedom."At least a dozen people were hurt in the clashes with police in Srinagar, the summer capital of Kashmir."Elections are no substitute for the aspirations of the Kashmiri people and for the resolution of the dispute," Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, chairman of the alliance, said in a statement.

ANC celebrate ahead of S. Africa vote tally

Votes were still being counted Friday in South Africa's parliamentary elections, but the ruling African National Congress was already celebrating what party officials predicted will be a crushing victory.Presumed president-to-be Jacob Zuma -- an ethnic Zulu whose flamboyant style sits in contrast to more staid predecessors Nelson Mandela and Thabo Mbeki -- led a raucous rally in Johannesburg Thursday, telling thousands of cheering supporters the ANC will outstrip its goal of two-thirds control in parliament."The ANC will never go above 60 percent -- that's what they were saying," Zuma said. "The counting is still continuing and I smell 70 percent."Members of parliament -- in which the ANC is virtually assured of having a majority -- will elect the president next month.

Thai PM lifts state of emergency

The Thai prime minister has lifted a state of emergency imposed in the capital Bangkok after clashes between anti-government protesters and troops last week.Abhisit Vejjajiva made the announcement at the end of a two-day parliamentary session aimed at finding a solution to the country's political crisis."Lifting the state of emergency is one of the measures to find a solution for the country. The government wants reconciliation and to move the country forward," Abhisit told parliament on Friday.The state of emergency, banning gatherings of more than five people and giving government forces additional powers, was imposed on April 12 at the height of anti-government protests.Known as the Red Shirts, protesters had besieged Abhisit's offices for several weeks and derailed a meeting of regional leaders in nearby Pattaya in an attempt to force the prime minister to resign and call elections.The Red Shirts, mostly supporters of Thaksin Shinawatra, a former prime minister, called off their own protests last week following street battles with the military and Bangkok residents that left two people dead and more than 130 injured.

Militants will not be allowed to dictate terms: Gen Kayani

General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani

ISLAMABAD Pakistan’s chief of Army Staff, General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani, on Friday rejected the notion that the peace deal through Sufi Mohammed amounted to giving any 'concession' to the militants, and declared that the army has the resolve to take on the militants. He said that 'victory against terror and militancy will be achieved at all cost'.Speaking at a meeting of top military commanders, at the General Headquarters in Rawalpindi, the army chief acknowledged that doubts were being voiced about the intent and capability of the army to defeat the militants. However, his view was that the army 'never has and never will hesitate to sacrifice, whatever it may take, to ensure safety and wellbeing of the people and country’s territorial integrity'.It was the most direct statement by General Kayani, or any other security or civilian official, about the prevailing situation and the manner in which it needs to be tackled. The statement came following a series of reports from Swat’s adjoining district Buner, and later Shangla, of the Taliban march in the area, with clear signs of the armed militants trying to spread their influence under the cover of the peace deal.Kayani condemned what he called 'pronouncements' by outside powers that raised doubts on the future of Pakistan, and declared that the militants will not be allowed to 'dictate terms to the government or impose their way of life on the civil society of Pakistan'.'A country of 170 million resilient people under a democratic dispensation, strongly supported by the army, is capable of handling any crisis that it may confront', he was quoted as saying in a press release issued by the ISPR.He described recent peace deal with Mullah Fazlullah’s Swat militants as an 'operational pause' that was meant to give the reconciliatory forces a chance, but declared that it 'must not be taken for a concession to the militants'.

Taliban 'withdraw' from key district

A Taliban regional spokesman says its fighters will withdraw from Buner, a region just 100km from Islamabad, after seizing control of the district earlier this week. Taliban advances have caused mounting alarm in the US and Islamabad.Army soldiers faced off with Taliban militants on Friday after Pakistani paramilitary troops arrived in Buner in a bid to regain command after the Taliban seized control of the district earlier this week.Reporting from Islamabad, up to 300 Pakistani paramilitary troops arrived in Buner, some 100 kilometres northwest of the capital, on Thursday. The troops have regained control of local police stations although Taliban fighters continue to patrol the streets.In recent days, hundreds of armed Taliban fighters set up checkpoints, occupied mosques and began patrolling Buner, warning its residents not to engage in “un-Islamic” activities and banning women from public places.The latest confrontation comes as a Taliban regional spokesman says the Islamist group has plans to leave the district.“Our leader has ordered that Taliban should immediately be called back from Buner,” Muslim Khan told Reuters.The Taliban advance comes after the group’s leadership in the Swat valley struck a deal with the Pakistani government earlier this month to establish Sharia law in the valley in exchange for a ceasefire.But FRANCE 24’s Stephen Kloss says that, despite this agreement, the government and the Taliban may be on a collision course. The Taliban insists that the rulings of Swat’s Sharia courts cannot be challenged; the government insists that all courts in the country fall under the purview of Pakistan’s Supreme Court.While the Pakistani government is trying to downplay these problems, Kloss says it is well aware the pressure is mounting.“Trouble is ahead,” he says. 

UN report discloses Sri Lanka dead

Nearly 6,500 civilians have been killed and 13,000 wounded in fighting in Sri Lanka over the past three months, accord to a UN report.The release of the document on Friday comes a day after Ban Ki-moon, the UN secretary-general, said in Brussels he was sending a team of humanitarian experts to the country as part of efforts to "try to do whatever we can to protect the civilian population".According to the UN figures, 6,432 civilians have been killed in the fighting since 20 January and another 13,946 wounded.Speaking in New York, Catherine Bragg, the UN assistant secretary-general for humanitarian affairs, said the organisation continued to receive reports that "heavy weaponry is being used ... and the LTTE (Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam) is preventing people form leaving that area and using the civilians as human shields".

First 100 Days: Obama's Federal Spending Spree Raises Management Concerns

In the early months of his presidency, President Obama has shown he isn't afraid to spend billions of dollars on corporate bailouts or to run up trillions of dollars in U.S. debt to battle an economic crisis.But in doing so, he has initiated the largest expansion of federal government since World War II and set up a massive challenge for his administration -- one that officials are already warning will be fraught with peril.During the first 100 days of his presidency, Obama has signed a $787 billion stimulus bill into law, proposed an eye-popping $3.6 trillion budget for the next fiscal year, taken over a massive $700 billion Wall Street bailout program and created other billion-dollar programs to help grease the economic wheels.Analysts call the spending spree "unprecedented" when the nation is not in a declared war, and they say the challenges that accompany it are a logical result."You take any organization in the world and you double its size in 90 days, it's going to have a hard time managing that transition," said William Gale, vice president and director of the economic studies program at Brookings Institute."The sheer management issues that come up are very important," Gale said, "because I can imagine the people running those projects that are about to be doubled may not want to see their face on '60 Minutes' as the poster child for government waste and useless spending." Among the warning signs: The Government Accountability Office said Thursday that states need help covering the cost of overseeing their share of the massive federal stimulus program.