Hackers break into Pentagon computers

Hackers broke into Pentagon’s .......

NEW YORK Computer spies have broken into Pentagon’s $300 billion Joint Strike Fighter project – the Defence Department’s costliest weapons programme ever, the Wall Street Journal reported on Tuesday citing current and former government officials familiar with the attacks.The newspaper said the specific identity of the attackers, and the scope of the damage to the defence programme, either in financial or security terms, was still not known. In addition, while the spies were able to download sizable amounts of data related to the jet-fighter, but they weren’t able to access the most sensitive material, which is stored on computers not connected to the Internet.Former US officials claimed that the attacks appeared to have originated in China. However, it can be extremely difficult to determine the true origin because it is easy to mask identities online. 

A Pentagon report issued last month said that the Chinese military has made ‘steady progress’ in developing online-warfare techniques.However, Chinese embassy told WSJ in a statement that China ‘opposes and forbids all forms of cyber crimes’. It called the Pentagon’s report ‘a product of the Cold War mentality’ and said the allegations of cyber espionage were ‘intentionally fabricated to fan up China threat sensations’.WSJ claimed similar incidents had breached the Air Force’s air-traffic-control system in recent months.  In the case of the fighter-jet programme, the intruders were able to copy and siphon off data related to design and electronics systems, officials say, potentially making it easier to defend against the craft. The newspaper said the latest intrusions provided new evidence that a battle was heating up between the US and potential adversaries over the data networks that tied the world together. The revelations follow a recent Wall Street Journal report that computers used to control the US electrical-distribution system, as well as other infrastructure, have also been infiltrated by spies abroad.

Yahoo to cut more jobs amid struggling profits

Internet giant Yahoo has reported a drop of 78 percent in the first three months of the year. The group has decided to cut around 600 more jobs, representing almost five percent of its worldwide workforce.Yahoo! on Tuesday reported that its net profit slumped nearly 80 percent in the first three months of the year and that it will trim its workforce by five percent.Yahoo! said its net income for the first quarter was 117.6 million dollars, or eight cents per share, compared to 536.8 million dollars, or 37 cents per share, during the same period last year."Yahoo! is not immune to the ongoing economic downturn, but careful cost management in the first quarter allowed our operating cash flow to come in near the high end of our outlook range," said Yahoo! chief executive Carol Bartz."With our leading audience properties, substantial reach and innovative advertising solutions, we are confident Yahoo! will be well positioned when online brand advertising resumes its growth," she added.In a statement, Yahoo! said it expects to "reduce its number of current employees worldwide by approximately five percent" to "allow flexibility for accelerated strategic investments and targeted hiring in its core operations."Workers being cut from the payroll will get word during the coming two weeks, according to the Sunnyvale, California-based Internet pioneer."Yahoo!'s balance sheet remains strong, and we are continuing to generate free cash flow which provides us the flexibility to make strategic investments in key talent, platforms, products and infrastructure, even during this economic downturn," said Yahoo! chief financial officer Blake Jorgensen.Yahoo!'s earnings were in line with analyst expectations and the firm's stock price climbed about five percent to 15.03 dollars in after-hours trading that followed the release of the earnings report.

Obama invites Arab and Israeli leaders to Washington

US President Barack Obama has launched a major peace drive for the Middle East, inviting Palestinian leader Mahmud Abbas, Israeli premier Benjamin Netanyahu and Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak to the White House.President Barack Obama dived Tuesday into Middle East peacemaking as he invited Arab and Israeli leaders to Washington and called for "good faith" gestures from all sides, including Israel.The US president signaled deeper involvement in the peace process weeks after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu took the helm of an Israeli government that resists the two-state solution endorsed by the new US administration.Obama, who received Jordan's King Abdullah II in the Oval Office on Tuesday, has also invited Netanyahu, Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas and Egyptian leader Hosni Mubarak to the White House, said Obama spokesman Robert Gibbs.Gibbs told reporters the visits were expected in the coming weeks.After his inauguration on January 20, Obama and his secretary of state Hillary Clinton named George Mitchell as the special envoy for Arab-Israeli peace, a move analysts said signals constant and focused high-level involvement.Obama's predecessor George W. Bush largely left the peace process to his secretary of state, Condoleezza Rice, after they convened a conference in Annapolis, Maryland in November 2007 to re-launch the negotiations after a seven-year hiatus.After meeting the Jordanian king, Obama said: "My hope would be that over the next several months ... you start seeing gestures of good faith on all sides."I don't want to get into the details of what those gestures might be, but I think that the parties in the region probably have a pretty good recognition of what intermediate steps could be taken as confidence-building measures."The king was paying his first visit to the White House since Obama became president in January vowing to work for Middle East peace.

UK frees nine out of the 11 arrested Pakistanis

The men are now being held by the UK Border Agency, which controls

 immigration into Britain, and face deportation..

LONDON British police on Tuesday released nine of the 11 mostly Pakistani men arrested earlier this month in a major anti-terror operation into the custody of immigration authorities, a spokeswoman said.The men, aged between 22 and 38, are now being held by the UK Border Agency, which controls immigration into Britain, and face deportation.‘We are seeking to remove these individuals on grounds of national security,’ said a spokeswoman for the agency.Prime Minister Gordon Brown said at the time the operation involved a ‘major terrorist plot,’ which briefing documents said was linked to al Qaeda.However, a spokeswoman for Manchester Police said Tuesday: ‘The north-west counter-terrorism unit has released nine of those arrested as part of a national operation.’The Border Agency spokeswoman added: ‘The government's highest priority is to protect public safety. Where a foreign national poses a threat to this country we will seek to exclude or to deport, where this is appropriate.’Two men remained in police custody and the police spokeswoman said searches were still being carried out at an address in Manchester.Twelve men were originally arrested in the raids on April 8, among them 11 Pakistani nationals and a Briton. One man was released into the custody of the UK Border Agency three days later.The government has come under pressure to strengthen its visa rules after it emerged that 10 of the Pakistani men were in Britain on student visas.Relatives of the suspects in Pakistan had pleaded their innocence and demanded access to them, saying neither the British nor the Pakistan government had provided them with information on their detention.The raids had to be brought forward after Britain's top counter-terrorism policeman was photographed holding clearly legible briefing notes on the operation.

Suspect in Hariri murder 'arrested'

A main suspect in the assassination of Rafiq al-Hariri, Lebanon's former prime minister, has reportedly been arrested in Dubai.Mohammed Zuhair Siddiq, a purported Syrian intelligence officer, was arrested on Friday in Dubai and Syria has requested that he be extradited, an Arab diplomat, who spoke on condition of anonymity due to the sensitivity of the case, said on Sunday.The United Arab Emirates' foreign ministry was unable to confirm whether Siddiq was living in the country and did not know if he had been arrested.Siddiq was once considered a witness who gave evidence to officials from the UN commission investigating the 2005 assassination.But his information had eventually been discredited and he was arrested in France in October 2005 as a primary suspect.

Bush-era interrogation may have worked, Obama official says

The Bush-era interrogation techniques that many view as torture may have yielded important information about terrorists, President Obama's national intelligence director said in an internal memo."High-value information came from interrogations in which those methods were used and provided a deeper understanding of the al Qaeda organization that was attacking this country," Director of National Intelligence Dennis Blair said in a memo to personnel.The memo, was sent around the time the administration released several memos from the previous administration detailing the use of terror interrogation techniques such as waterboarding, which simulates drowning. Obama left open the possibility of criminal prosecution Tuesday for former Bush administration officials who drew up the legal basis for aggressive interrogation techniques many view as torture.Obama said it will be up to Attorney General Eric Holder to decide whether or not to prosecute the former officials."With respect to those who formulated those legal decisions, I would say that is going to be more a decision for the attorney general within the parameter of various laws, and I don't want to prejudge that," Obama said during a meeting with Jordan's King Abdullah II at the White House."There's a host of very complicated issues involved there. As a general deal, I think we should be looking forward and not backward."I do worry about this getting so politicized that we cannot function effectively, and it hampers our ability to carry out critical national security operations." 

Maoists hijack train in India

About 400 Communist rebels in India have surrounded a railway station and hijacked a train with about 1,000 passengers on board.The incident comes on the eve of the second round of voting in the country's general election.No-one has been reported hurt in the hijacking in eastern Jharkhand state.Hundreds of Maoist rebels, also known as Naxals, boarded the train and forced the driver to take it to Latehar station.The area is known to be a rebel stronghold.Superintendent Hemant Toppo said the rebels were refusing to let the train leave the station."We are sending security forces to rescue the passengers," said Sarvendu Tathagat, a local government official in Jharkhand.Maoists say they are fighting for the rights of landless labourers and poor farmers.They have stepped up attacks in their strongholds in central and eastern India during the general election.The rebels have asked people in the region to boycott the poll.Maoist rebel violence marred the first stage of India's election last Thursday when five election officials were killed in a landmine blast in Chhattisgarh state.Eleven police were killed across the central and eastern "red belt".Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has described Maoist violence as India's biggest internal security threat. Some 500 civilians and police were killed in insurgent clashes last year.India is holding a staggered general election over April and May in which 714 million people are eligible to vote.Maoists have taken over trains in past years in a show of strength, holding them up for several hours before leaving.Passengers are usually unharmed.

North and South hold fruitless 22-minute talks

North and South Korea held brief and acrimonious talks over a cross-border industrial estate amid rising tensions following Pyongyang's controversial missile launch. The feuding parties failed to reach an understanding.Rare talks between North and South Korea ended without agreement late Tuesday after Pyongyang made tough new demands about the operations of a joint industrial estate on its territory, officials said.The talks, the first since a conservative government took office in Seoul almost 14 months ago, were delayed some 12 hours by procedural wrangles and lasted just 22 minutes when they finally got underway.Cross-border relations are at their worst in a decade after South Korean President Lee Myung-Bak abandoned his predecessors' policy of providing almost unconditional aid to the communist state.Regional tensions are also rising after the North's purported satellite launch on April 5, widely seen overseas as a disguised missile test.The North, angry at UN censure of the launch, has announced it is quitting nuclear disarmament talks and restarting its atomic weapons programme. It has  expelled US and UN nuclear inspectors.Each side presented written demands during the talks at the Kaesong joint industrial estate just north of the heavily fortified border, said Seoul's unification ministry, which handles cross-border ties.A ministry spokesman said Pyongyang told Seoul it would consider ending "benefits" for South Korean companies at Kaesong, including low wages for the North Korean employees.The North also demanded a review of wages and contracts at the estate and said it would charge land use fees there from next year.

Many dead in central Kenya clashes

At least 24 people have been killed in central Kenya in clashes between villagers and members of the Mungiki sect.Charles Owino, the deputy police spokesman, said on Tuesday that the deaths occurred overnight when villagers near the  town of Karatina took on members of the sect saying they had been extorting money from them."The majority of the dead are Mungiki members," he said.Eric Kiraithe, a police spokesman, said that three people had been left seriously injured and that police had arrested 37 people. They also seized machetes, axes and clubs from suspects."A total of 24 people are dead as we speak but we are not able to tell who is Mungiki and who is not," Kiraithe said.

Buner falls into the hands of Swat Taliban

Taliban are seen at an entrance of the shrine of the Pir Baba adjacent to 

a mosque, which was closed by Taliban after taking it over in Buner

BUNER Taliban militants from Swat took control of Buner on Tuesday and started patrolling bazaars, villages and towns in the district. The militants, who had sneaked into Gokand valley of Buner on April 4, were reported to have been on a looting spree for the past five days.They have robbed government and NGO offices of vehicles, computers, printers, generators, edible oil containers, and food and nutrition packets.Sources said that leading political figures, businessmen, NGO officials and Khawaneen, who had played a role in setting up a Lashkar to stop the Taliban from entering Buner, had been forced to move to other areas.The Taliban have extended their control to almost all tehsils of the district and law-enforcement personnel remained confined to police stations and camps.The Taliban, equipped with advanced weapons, were reported to be advancing towards border areas of Swabi, Malakand and Mardan, the hometown of NWFP Chief Minister Amir Haider Khan Hoti.According to reports reaching here, the militants have set up checkposts and camp bases in Kangar Gali village, along the Malakand border; Naway Dhand village, along the Mardan border; and Tootalai village, along the Swabi border.The sources said officials of the FC camp in Jorh had asked people to vacate their homes in view of threats of an attack.The militants have started digging trenches and setting up bunkers on heights in strategic towns of Gadezi, Salarzai, Osherai and other tehsils.After occupying the Buner district and setting up their headquarters in the bungalow of businessman Syed Ahmed Khan (alias Fateh Khan) in Sultanwas, the militants started patrolling the streets and roads with no signs of law-enforcement personnel.Led by Fateh Mohammad, the militants were asking local people, particularly youngsters, to join them in their campaign to enforce Sharia.They have established checkposts on roads and are searching all passing vehicles. They have virtually established their writ in Buner region, once a stronghold of the Awami National Party.On Tuesday, armed groups entered the Rural Health Centre at Jure in Salarzai area and took away a Land-Cruiser being used by the Expanded Programme of Immunisation (EPI), Buner.On April 17, they raided a basic health unit in tehsil Chamla and looted 480 cans of edible oil. They took away from the house of a lady health visitor a large number of food and nutrition packets supplied by USAID and sewing machines from an Action Aid-sponsored vocational centre in the Korea village of tehsil Chamla.On April 18, they looted a huge quantity of medicine from a health facility at the Afghan refugee camp in Koga in the same tehsil and 640 cans of edible oil from a godown of the World Food Programme in Nawagai.On April 19, armed men took away a Suzuki Potohar Jeep from a rural health centre in Nagrai. A group of 20 militants took away a Suzuki Ravi car and 400 cans of edible oil from a basic health unit in Garga.Another armed group snatched an ambulance, a pick-up provided by Gavi for EPI cell, a Suzuki Ravi from a health centre in Swari.They also broke into the offices of Paiman (Save the Children) EPI, Jica offices and took away several computers, printers, two generators, fax machines, UPS and other appliances.The armed men stopped near Ambela a double-cabin vehicle of Paiman going to Buner from Peshawar and took it along with the driver to a nearby camp. Later, they released the driver and escaped with the vehicle.They have also occupied the main office of Rahbar in Swari.

Thai parliament to meet amid unrest

The Thai parliament is to convene a special session aimed at resolving the country's political crisis that erupted into street violence last week.Abhisit Vejjajiva, the prime minister, has called for the legislature to hold two days of 12-hour sessions.His government issued a statement saying the debate starting on Wednesday would "give all sides an opportunity to propose solutions'' to the political crisis first sparked three years ago by the military coup that ousted Thaksin Shinawatra, the former prime minister.Abhisit also said that legislators could propose amendments to the constitution or law enforcement in the country that could help end the political impasse.Al Jazeera's Marge Ortigas, reporting from Bangkok, said Abhisit was attempting to reconcile all sides of Thai society, and had asked for a constructive exercise, free from criticism and sarcasm.In the most recent round of protests, Thaksin's supporters and soldiers fought street battles in the capital, Bangkok, that left two people dead and about 130 injured.The government has extended an emergency law first imposed on April 12, saying that it was still needed amid reports of more protests planned by anti-government demonstrators.

South Africans head for the polls

South Africans are going to the polls in what is expected to be the most competitive general election since the end of apartheid in 1994.The ruling ANC - led by Jacob Zuma - is expected to win, but it could lose its two-thirds majority in Parliament.It is being challenged by a new party which split from the ANC last year - as well as by the long-standing official opposition, the Democratic Alliance.The Independent Electoral Commission says it expects a high turnout.Some 20,000 polling stations are being used for the more than 23 million registered voters.Mr Zuma said the emergence of the opposition Congress of the People (Cope) had "re-energised" the ANC.

62,000 flee as troops move in for Tigers showdown

Sri Lankan government troops battled into the last redoubt of the rebel Tamil Tigers on Tuesday as the exodus of people fleeing the war zone surpassed 62,000 and the United States said the conflict was at a "decisive point".Sri Lankan soldiers battled into the last redoubt of the rebel Tamil Tigers on Tuesday as the exodus of people fleeing the war zone surpassed 62,000 and the United States said the conflict was at a "decisive point".The International Committee of the Red Cross warned the situation was "nothing short of catastrophic" and urged both sides to prevent further mass casualties among civilians, saying hundreds had been killed in the past 48 hours.The neutral agency did not assign blame to either side.Senior U.S. diplomat Michael Owen, speaking in Washington, urged Sri Lanka to allow the international community to monitor what was happening and assure help for trapped civilians."The 26-year-old conflict is at a decisive point and we see the potential for major developments witin the next 48 hours," Owen told reporters, urging restraint on all sides.The operation gathered speed after the military's noon (0630 GMT) deadline for the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) to surrender passed without any word from the separatists, in what appears to be the final act in Asia's longest-running war.The LTTE hours later vowed no surrender, despite being massively outgunned by a military built up to wipe them out and finish a conflict that has percolated since the early 1970s but erupted into full-blown civil war in 1983."LTTE will never surrender and we will fight and we have the confidence that we will win with the help of the Tamil people," Seevaratnam Puleedevan, secretary-general of the LTTE peace secretariat, told Reuters by telephone.Sri Lanka's military, in what it dubbed the world's largest hostage rescue operation, went in to keep the stream of people moving and give troops a clear shot at the LTTE and its elusive leader Vellupillai Prabhakaran."So far 62,600 people have come out and still they are coming," military spokesman Udaya Nanayakkara said. Earlier, he said soldiers had reached the beach, which meant they had divided the Tigers' last remaining area into two.