Protesters keep up momentum in Egypt
Political Punch
U.S. terror threat at highest since 9/11: Napolitano
In addition to the threats by al Qaeda, the militant group behind the attacks nearly a decade ago, Napolitano said the country faces new threats from those inspired by the group and those already inside the United States.
"The threat continues to evolve and in some ways the threat today may be at its most heightened state since the attacks nearly 10 years ago," Napolitano told the U.S. House of Representatives' Homeland Security Committee.
She also said in her testimony to lawmakers that U.S. officials believed there may be individuals who want to carry out attacks already in the country and that "they could carry out acts of violence with little or no warning."
Individuals associated with al Qaeda and the Taliban have tried to carry out several attacks against the United States, including by a Nigerian man who allegedly tried to blow up a U.S. airliner with a bomb hidden in his underwear and another individual who plotted to attack the New York subway system.
"As I have said before, we cannot guarantee that there will never be another terrorist attack, and we cannot seal our country under a glass dome," Napolitano said. "However, we continue to do everything we can to reduce the risk of terrorism in our nation."
The head of the National Counterterrorism Center, Michael Leiter, told the committee that the al Qaeda off-shoot based in Yemen, al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), at the moment represented the biggest threat to the United States.
Leiter said that the parent al Qaeda group, believed to be hiding in the Pakistan-Afghanistan border region, was probably at its weakest point since the September 11, 2001 attacks but remained a "very determined enemy."
"I actually consider al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula with (Anwar) al-Awlaki as a leader within that organization probably the most significant risk to the U.S. homeland," Leiter told the committee, noting that it has a large Internet following.
Al-Awlaki, a Muslim cleric who is U.S. citizen but left the country in 2001 and joined al Qaeda in Yemen, has been tied to plots against the United States over the last two years.
The group has claimed responsibility for the 2009 Christmas Day thwarted attack aboard a U.S. airliner and a more recent attempt to blow up two U.S.-bound cargo planes with toner cartridges packed with explosives.
Al-Awlaki also communicated with a U.S. Army Major Nidal Malik Hasan who in November 2009 allegedly went on a shooting rampage at Fort Hood, Texas, that killed 13 and wounded 32. Leiter said that it appeared to be more "inspiration rather than direction."
Hundreds of Afghan fighters to lay down arms: NATO
Egypt crisis shows little signs of ending even after talks
Julian Assange extradition hearing opens in London
Bill Gates: Vaccine-autism link 'an absolute lie'
Davos, Switzerland (CNN) -- Microsoft founder Bill Gates sat down recently with CNN Chief Medical Correspondent Sanjay Gupta in Davos, Switzerland. The billionaire philanthropist was attending the World Economic Forum to push his mission of eradicating polio by 2012. Gates, through his foundation, also pledged $10 billion to provide vaccinations to children around the world within a decade.
Gupta asked Gates for his thoughts about the alleged autism-vaccine connection. He also asked: Who holds ultimate accountability for the billions of dollars being spent on aid? Is a certain amount of corruption and fraud expected? Below is an excerpt of their conversation.
Dr. Sanjay Gupta: Ten billion dollars [pledged] over the next 10 years to make it "the year of the vaccines." What does that mean exactly?
Bill Gates: Over this decade, we believe unbelievable progress can be made, in both inventing new vaccines and making sure they get out to all the children who need them. We could cut the number of children who die every year from about 9 million to half of that, if we have success on it. We have to do three things in parallel: Eradicate the few that fit that profile -- ringworm and polio; get the coverage up for the vaccines we have; and then invent the vaccines -- and we only need about six or seven more -- and then you would have all the tools to reduce childhood death, reduce population growth, and everything -- the stability, the environment -- benefits from that.
Gupta: There has been a lot of scrutiny of vaccines recently -- specifically childhood vaccines. There has been a lot of news about is there a connection with autism, for example. What do you make of all that? Dr. [Andrew] Wakefield wrote a paper about this [in The Lancet in 1998] saying he thought there was a connection. And there were lower vaccination rates over a period of time as a result in Britain, then the United States. What are your thoughts?
Gates: Well, Dr. Wakefield has been shown to have used absolutely fraudulent data. He had a financial interest in some lawsuits, he created a fake paper, the journal allowed it to run. All the other studies were done, showed no connection whatsoever again and again and again. So it's an absolute lie that has killed thousands of kids. Because the mothers who heard that lie, many of them didn't have their kids take either pertussis or measles vaccine, and their children are dead today. And so the people who go and engage in those anti-vaccine efforts -- you know, they, they kill children. It's a very sad thing, because these vaccines are important.
Gupta: Developing the vaccine. The scientific research that goes into that, obviously, is one thing, and then distributing things, even after they've been created, [is another]. Someone said to me once that even if the cure for HIV/AIDS came in the form of a clean glass of water, we still wouldn't get rid of AIDS in the world because of actually distributing some of these things. How do you address a challenge like that, no matter the money?
Gates: Well, there are fantastic ways of getting vaccines out -- a system that has been built up over the years. In the case of smallpox, they just used the vaccine and they eradicated the disease all the way back in 1979. We cover about 75% of the world's children with the vaccines. Vaccination is pretty special because you can do a vaccination campaign anywhere in the world. All you are doing is gathering women from the villages, getting them the vaccines and asking them to go around and find the children. And then you pay other people who are independent to come in, look at the children, survey, and see what the coverage rate is. You also have clear indicators. Measles will always show you if someone isn't doing a good job on vaccinations. Kids will start dying of measles. So we know, when we spend money, that the group we asked to do that vaccination, they've delivered.
Gupta: You talk about smallpox being a little bit of a model in terms of proof of principle that it can be done. D.A. Henderson -- Donald Henderson -- who was with the World Health Organization at the time this was done, has said look, when you talk about polio, is this more of a movement rather than a public health initiative using objective evidence. And I think what he was saying is that, should this be more about annual immunizations rather than trying to find this moment in time?
Gates: Well, when you talk to mothers whose children who are paralyzed, I think, no matter what you label it, it should be about getting rid of this evil disease. I don't think there is any philosophy that suggests having polio is a good thing. The world has been very careful to pick very few diseases for eradication, because it is very tough. After smallpox got finished, the lesson from that was the miracle of vaccines, not that we should immediately take on other diseases.
Gupta: You have talked about Afghanistan, Pakistan and the polio vaccine, and you've said that doing this, the vaccination campaign, can help stabilize a war-torn region like this.
Gates: What you are seeing is that the density in the poor areas is greater than they can grow the food, greater than they can educate, greater than they can provide jobs. So you create these hot spots of instability. So even if all you care about is national security, these health things are a very cheap way to make sure you are not going to have turmoil that would eventually affect the whole world.
Gupta: Is there a diplomatic part of this? The fact that your foundation, others organizations and partnerships are doing this. Is that part of it?
Gates: The general idea of the rich helping the poor, I think, is important. That your sense of justice says, why should rich kids -- who barely get these diseases and almost never die of them -- why should they get the vaccines, when poor kids, who actually do die from these diseases, don't get those things? It's an unbelievable inequity that there isn't that access. It's been 15 years, usually, between when rich kids get vaccines and poor kids do.
Gupta: There was an article about concerns of corruption and fraud with regard to the Global Fund. Do you expect just to have a certain amount of corruption and fraud -- just say you know what, to do the work that we do, we have to expect and accept a certain amount of that?
Gates: Well the Global Fund does a fantastic job. [It has seen about 3% or 4% of the money it spends not be applied properly.] And they had a few grantees where the percentage was high enough that they cut them off and switched away from the government to another form of delivery. Because you don't want patients to die. You just have to find someone that does the honest delivery. So yes, you are going to have some. It's fine.
This is saving lives for well less than 1% of what you would spend in the rich world. And if you think lives are created equal -- this at least says well, are they at least worth 1%. And that's ignoring the sickness you avoid.
There was a survey recently that showed half the kids in Africa, because of infectious disease, have IQs of 80 or lower. That's cerebral malaria, that's malnutrition because their brain doesn't fully develop. And if you want them to be stable and on their own, you have got to make sure that terrible sickness, that permanently hurts them their entire life, is not there.
By and large, it is the one health intervention that can get to everyone. In fact, it is so simple, people often forget what a big deal this is. The 2 million people that would have died from smallpox now don't think, "Wow, I'm alive today because of vaccinations," but that's the case.
Pipeline Attacked Near Israel-Egypt Border
Long layered haircuts have clearly been the trend in celebrity hair styles for the last year and more. This poll is another indication that long hair styles are here to stay for a while longer. These long hair styles have varied mostly with the cutting in of bangs or no bangs. Side swept bangs, blunt bangs, wispy bangs or choppy bangs all contribute to changing the overall look of long hair styles, so find out if bangs are right for you.
This poll also included some questions on personal hair care that had some surprising results, check it out below.
EL-ARISH, Egypt - An explosion rocked a gas terminal in Egypt's northern Sinai Peninsula on Saturday, setting off a massive fire that was contained after officials shut off the flow of gas to neighboring Jordan and Egypt, officials said.
There were no reports of casualties from the blast at a gas terminal in the Sinai town of El-Arish. The explosion sent a pillar of flames leaping into the sky, but was a safe distance from the nearest homes, said regional governor Abdel Wahab Mabrouk.
The cause of the explosion was not clear. Mabrouk told Egyptian media he suspected "sabotage," but did not explain further.
The blast came as a popular uprising engulfed Egypt, where anti-government protesters have been demanding the ouster of longtime President Hosni Mubarak for the past two weeks. The Sinai Peninsula, home to Bedouin tribesmen, has been the scene of clashes between residents and security forces. It borders both Israel and the Gaza Strip, ruled by the Islamic militant Hamas.
The pipeline transports gas from Egypt's Port Said on the Mediterranean Sea to Israel, Syria and Jordan.
Mabrouk told Egypt's Nile News TV that the fire was brought under control by mid-morning, after valves allowing the flow of gas from the terminal into pipelines were shut off.
Egyptian authorities expect gas to remain shut off for a week, until repairs are completed, Maabrah said.
Egypt has potential natural gas reserves of 62 trillion cubic feet, the 18th largest in the world.
Neighboring Israel relies on the gas pipeline to meet its energy needs and spends billions to bring natural gas from Egypt.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office said that it's not clear whether damage was caused to the pipeline leading to Israel. "But as a security precaution, Israel temporarily stopped, by its own initiative, the transfer of gas as procedure dictates," the statement said. Israel has alternative energy sources and is not likely to experience power shortages, the statement said.
The blast also halted the gas supply to Jordan, which depends on Egyptian gas to generate 80 percent of its electricity.
Jordan's National Electric Power Company is resorting to heavy fuel and diesel to keep national power plants running, said the company's director-general, Ghalib Maabrah. He said Jordan has heavy fuel and diesel reserves to generate electricity for three weeks, adding that the shift will cost Jordan $4.2 million a day.
The SITE intelligence group, which monitors Islamist websites, reported that jihadists had issued online posts urging Sinai Bedouin tribes to launch attacks against the pipeline. SITE quoted one Islamist website author who wrote: "To our brothers, the Bedouins of Sinai, the heroes of Islam, strike with an iron fist, because this is a chance to stop the supply to the Israelites."
Egypt began providing Israel with natural gas in February 2008 under a deal by which it will sell Israel 60 billion cubic feet a year for 15 years.
The deal raised controversy at home, with some in the Egyptian opposition saying the gas was being sold at below-market rates. Others resent Israel's treatment of Palestinians, and say Egypt shouldn't supply energy to Israel.
"The deal (to sell gas) was a blow to the pride of Egyptians and a betrayal," former diplomat Ibrahim Yousri told The Associated Press on Saturday.
Yousri led a high court challenge to try halt Egypt's sale of gas to Israel. Although the high court ruled in his favor in February 2010, the ruling was widely ignored by the government.
The Sinai gas pipelines have come under attack in the past. Bedouin tribesmen attempted to blow up the pipeline last July as tensions intensified between them and the Egyptian government, which they accuse of discrimination and of ignoring their plight.
Sudan shootout kills 20, army warns of more clashes
Fighting with mortars and heavy machineguns broke out in Malakal on Thursday and again on Friday when part of a military unit refused to redeploy with its weapons to the north -- part of a separation of forces before the secession of south Sudan.
An overwhelming majority of people from the oil-producing south voted to split from the north in a referendum in January, according to preliminary results released this week.
The referendum was promised in a 2005 peace deal that ended a decades-long civil war between north and south that also set southern tribe against southern tribe, in internal conflicts that have left deep scars.
Northern and southern leaders still have to finalise how they will share out military hardware and security forces -- as well as oil revenues and debts -- before the south's departure, expected on July 9. Many fear tensions could re-emerge during the negotiations.
"This morning the number of dead (in Malakal) has risen to 20, and this could change at any moment. Searches are continuing and many are wounded ... Both sides were firing mortars and heavy machineguns," said southern army spokesman Philip Aguer.
The dead included two children and a Sudanese driver for the United Nations' refugee agency UNHCR, officials said on Friday.
Malakal is currently patrolled by a combined military unit made up of the north's Sudan Armed Forces (SAF) and the south's Sudan People's Liberation Army (SPLA), a force the U.N. said was in the process of splitting up before the south's independence
"SAF are supposed to go north, SPLA stay in the south," said Aguer.
The situation was complicated by the fact that the SAF unit included many southern soldiers drawn from a militia that fought alongside the north during the civil war.
Aguer said it was those southern soldiers in the SAF unit who resisted the redeployment north and began exchanging fire with other members of the same SAF unit.
"This fighting could happen anywhere where SAF has employed former militia. They are not real soldiers and don't understand the arrangement," he told Reuters.
He said the SPLA set up a buffer zone between the two sides and one SPLA soldier died after being caught in the crossfire.
UNHCR staff held a minute's silence in tribute to driver John James Okwath, 26, who died in hospital on Friday after being shot in the chest, the agency said in a statement.
Than Shwe Confounds Gamblers
“Burmese usually love to bet on European football matches or the last two numbers on Thailand’s daily stock exchange,” said a businessman in Rangoon. “But this time, a lot of people were betting on who would be the new president.
“A well-known businessman who runs a private journal lost 10 million kyat (about US $10,000) to his friend after betting on Than Shwe,” he said.
Before the weekend, a majority of government officials, journalists, businessmen and INGO staffers said they assumed Than Shwe would either assume the presidential position or hand it to one of his closest aides, such as Shwe Mann.
“We [my friends and I] predicted that the senior general would taken the presidency since—under the 2008 constitution—the Head of State is the President,” said an automobile dealer in Rangoon. “I certainly had my money on him. Others bet on U Shwe Mann.”
Expectations were running high among many gamblers that Shwe Mann would “win” because Than Shwe reportedly introduced him to Chinese counterparts in September during a state visit to Beijing.
However, it is an open secret that Than Shwe likes to keep everyone guessing. Not even his closest allies pretend to know his next move.
Shwe Mann was not only considered a safe bet by several pundits, but he was also backed by some executives of a well-known NGO in Rangoon. Many said they believed the 63-year-old general could bring about some positive developments.
Leaked information from Naypyidaw at the weekend and on Monday suggested Than Shwe was going to nominate Prime Minister Thein Sein, not himself or Shwe Mann.
This came true on Friday when Parliament announced the appointment of Thein Sein as President and another top junta official, ex-Gen Tin Aung Myint Oo, as Vice President alongside Sai Mauk Kham, a Shan MP from the junta’s proxy Union Solidarity and Development Party.
Shwe Mann was elected by the Lower House as its speaker on Monday.
But although political observers and gamblers were interested in who would become President, most Burmese citizens were not.
China to impose green tax on heavy polluter
The tax will be included alongside the world's most ambitious renewable energy scheme and fresh efforts to fight smog when the government unveils the biggest, greenest five-year plan in China's modern history next month.
After three decades of filthy growth, the measures are designed to pull the country from the environmental mire and make it a leader in the low-carbon economy. But sceptics question whether the policy will have any more success than previous failed efforts to overcome the nexus of corrupt officials and rule-dodging factory bosses.
The environmental tax – which will levy fees according to discharges of sulphur dioxide, sewage and other contaminants – is intended as a disincentive for polluting industries, many of which have flocked to China to take advantage of low costs and weak regulations. Officials and academics have been studying the options for several years, but government advisers have told the Guardian the policy is certain to be adopted.
"The environment tax is going to happen. This is evident in the proposals for the next five year plan," said Ma Zhong, director of the School of Environment and National Resources at Renmin University in Beijing. "It is likely to be levied nationwide, but there is also a possibility that it will initially be introduced in selected regions."
Jiangxi, a south-eastern province, has applied to host a pilot project. Domestic media predict the tax could come into force in 2013. "Our pollution situation is very serious. In order to deal with this, we need an environmental tax system. We will do it step by step," said Zhang Jianping, a senior economist at the Institute for International Economic Research in the National Development and Reform Commission.
Carbon dioxide, a key concern given China's status as the world's biggest greenhouse gas emitter, may be included in the system at a later stage, though the issue is being debated. "Some want to put them together, but I think a carbon tax should be different and at a higher level and from the environmental tax," said Zhang.
The revenues would go to the central government, prompting calls for them to fund the restoration of badly damaged ecosystems or to compensate victims of industrial contamination. But the main aim of the new system is act as a disincentive to polluters.
"In the early phase, the objective of this tax is to change behaviour rather than to raise money," Ma said. The main impact is likely to be felt by the energy sector as well as emission-intensive industries, such as steel, chemicals and cement.
China has pollution charges, but they are low and poorly enforced by weak environment bureaus. Tax officials are likely to be in a stronger position, though their impact depends on how high the rates are set and whether monitoring and accountability systems are improved.
The government has also announced plans to raise and widen resource and property taxes to discourage real estate speculation and excessive exploitation of energy, water and mineral supplies. A mandatory carbon trading system – on a regional or sectoral level – is also expected to be included in the next five-year plan, which will be announced in March.
The use of financial and market-based tools represents a departure for the communist government from previous five-year plans, which have tended to rely on top-down administrative orders.
Environmental groups welcomed the initiative, but said the government had to do more in terms of transparency, implementation and burden sharing.
"The launch of the environmental tax will mark China's first real effort to use financial mechanisms to curb pollution," said Wang Xiaojun of Greenpeace. "It's a good sign that the 'money talk' has begun, but there is still a long way to go to really charge polluters what they owe the environment and the people who rely on it."
Steps towards a greener China
It is too early to proclaim the emergence of the world's first green superpower, but March's five-year plan will outline several new steps in that direction:
• Energy efficiency and environmental services to be declared "priority industries" for first time.
• Three trillion yuan (£284bn) to be spent on environmental protection over the period – double the amount from 2006-2010
• A carbon intensity target – the ratio of GHG emissions relative to GDP – to be set, likely at about 16%.
• A new environmental tax on heavy polluters to levy fees on discharges of sulphur dioxide, sewage and other contaminants.
More radical steps are also under discussion including:
• A cap on energy use.
• A shift from GDP-based performance evaluation.
Establishing long-term mental health care in flood-affected areas in Brazil
Dr. Sérgio Cabral, who coordinated MSF’s activities in the region north of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, after recent floods, explains the scope of MSF activity during the natural disaster. After training over 150 psychologists in four towns, MSF is preparing to leave the area knowing the work will be continued.
Why has MSF decided to respond to the floods in Brazil?
“We came soon after the floods to do an assessment and were shocked by the extent of the disaster. I was also impressed by the volume of aid arriving in some towns, resulting from a massive mobilization by the population, other organizations and the state itself. However, in more isolated place, the population was stranded and their access to basic medical care was limited. In those places, like Sao Jose do Vale do Rio Preto, aid was much slower to arrive.”
What has MSF done?
“We have sent two additional teams with doctors, psychologists and a nurse to provide medical and psychological care in the most affected areas. But the volume of aid increased quickly, even in the isolated places. Unfortunately, mental health care was virtually non-existent so that is where we decided to focus.”
How have you done it?
“There were many skilled psychologists but most had never worked in a context of natural disaster, so they felt unable to help the survivors. Many had also been affected by the floods or mudslides and were extremely shaken by the disaster, and that initially hampered their ability to provide mental health care to those who had gone through the same experiences. We started by meeting groups of psychologists who were working in the area and, together with them, we decided that the best thing to do was to provide training on how to deal with survivors of this type of disaster. These psychologists were working for other organizations or for the public health system. And they will remain in the area after MSF leaves.”
How big is the team now?
“We have three psychologists with previous experience in other natural disasters – like the Haiti earthquake or another flood response in Brazil. When you work with other psychologists, the impact of your work multiplies. We have also seen an increased interest in the training. At the first meeting in Friburgo there were 20 people. On the second day, the number doubled. In total, more than 150 psychologists have participated in the training sessions we provided.”
Is this a usual strategy for MSF?
“In this case, where there were very skilled local workers and a large number of committed volunteers who are able to respond quickly, it was an appropriate strategy to adopt. MSF also works on capacity building.”
What has been the main lesson learnt?
“It was great to see the local and national mobilization to respond quickly to this type of emergency. But it is crucial that mental health care is integrated into the response early on to reduce the risk of other reactions such as post traumatic stress disorders at a later stage.”
Cyclone Yasi likely to have ravaged Great Barrier Reef
On its way to ravaging cities and towns in north Queensland, severe tropical cyclone Yasi will almost certainly have left a swath of destruction on the Great Barrier Reef off Townsville.
Early last month, as floods struck southern Queensland, I accompanied a team of divers from the Australian Institute of Marine Science on an expedition to a 300-mile part of the reef – a fifth of the 1,400-mile-long World Heritage Area.
The researchers dived 13 reefs – from Myrmidon, which is 75 miles out to sea, to areas around the inshore Palm Island group, just off the mainland. Much of what we saw was spectacular and showed the reef recovering from a decade of devastation caused by coral bleaching and crown-of-thorns starfish, both of which have been responsible for large areas of coral mortality.
It may be weeks or months before scientists can fully survey and assess the damage from cyclone Yasi but, based on the effect of previous large cyclones, they will not be optimistic. Tropical cyclones generate huge waves, which pulverise coral reefs into rubble.
In March 2009, category four tropical cyclone Hamish travelled in an unusual path from north to south, tracking parallel to the coast and not making landfall. It is estimated to have affected a quarter of the Great Barrier Reef.
A year later I was able to dive in one of the areas hit by cyclone Hamish, also with scientists from the Australian Institute of Marine Science. Much of what we saw at the Swains, at the southern end of the Great Barrier Reef, was denuded of life. Numerous coral bommies, many the size of big cars, had been lifted up on to the reef flat by the force of the storm. It can take years, or even decades, for such a coral ecosystem to recover fully.
Scientists fear that as climate change tightens its grip devastating storms such as cyclones Yasi and Hamish will become more frequent and intense. However, it is not just the direct impacts of these storms that can damage the reef.
In the wake of the Queensland flooding, a coral ecologist at the Australian Institute of Marine Science, Dr Katharina Fabricius, warned that floodwaters carrying high nutrient loads from agricultural and urban catchments could lead to outbreaks of crown-of-thorns starfish. The starfish feed on coral, quickly denuding entire reefs.
Last year Fabricius and her colleagues published new evidence that nutrients in floodwaters provide food to the starfish larvae, increasing their survivability.
These are nervous days for the marine biologists who study the Great Barrier Reef and the authorities responsible for its good health.
Black money funds political parties: Rahul Bajaj
However, he maintained that the Bajaj family does not fund parties in cash and pays only through cheques to ensure accountability.
He further hinted that promoters of companies also indulge in diverting some of the company's money illegally turning it into black money in the economy.
"Corporates do take it out from the company. Most of us know some of the ways of taking that money out ... taking out black money from a company is cheating minority shareholders," he said.
Bajaj's comments come even as a debate rages nationally over black money of Indians stashed in Swiss Bank accounts, with demands being made to get the money--quantum of which is unknown but speculated to be huge--back to India.
Bajaj said principles of corporate governance cannot help if the top management of a company, including its promoters, chairmen and CEOs, is corrupt and further expressed regret that nobody likes to talk about this facet.
The ex-president of industry body CII also made public his reservations clear about the role of industry associations, naming CII and FICCI. He said they take no action against its members indulging in corruption and do not even censure the wrongdoers.
However, he also spoke against the prevailing "presumption" in Government to see every promoter as a "crook" and asked for better legislative systems to boost the economic climate.
"One bad egg should not mean that you shackle the entire corporate sector. The 95 per cent who do business well should not suffer," he said, pointing out to the Satyam case involving R Raju and the company's external auditors PricewaterHouse Coopers.
"Raju shamed us, PwC shamed the auditing fraternity. That (PwC's misdoings) was either corruption or downright incompetence," he added.
On independent directors, he said, many-a-time, they are cronies appointed by the promoters themselves. Independent directors should decide whether "to be led or to lead", he said.
Google receives 75,000 CVs in one week
The web company received the flood of CVs after last week announcing that it would hire 6,000 employees this year.
Google is looking to increase its prescence in mobile services, display advertising and Internet applications. It also faces tougher competition from Facebook and Apple for users and engineering talent.
“We’re looking for top talent,” Alan Eustace, senior vice-president of engineering and research, said last week in a blog. “We’ll hire as many smart, creative people as we can to tackle some of the toughest challenges in computer science: like building a web-based operating system from scratch, instantly searching an index of more than 100m gigabytes and even developing cars that drive themselves.”
The number of job applications tops Google's previous high by 15pc, set in May 2007.
Google unveils Android Market website
Whether it’s a game or a lifestyle app calculating users’ calorie intake, the Android Market is a bustling place full of diverse content. Chipping in to create an enriching mobile experience, it now boasts of over 100,000 apps, games and widgets. According to a post on the official Google Mobile blog, the company has crafted the Android Market website for enabling users to download apps and other offerings directly from a web browser.
This newly developed website not only rolls out content on a wider and brighter interface but also allows users to wirelessly send applications on their handsets. Android phone owners can browse through the website while reading reviews about various apps and games.
The website makes it possible for visitors to create their personal Market account, allowing them to manage their already downloaded apps. Through this account, they will have the power to organize and classify this content. Besides, it has been engineered for rendering social connectivity as its Twitter integration enables customers to share apps with their dear ones.
Android users can now log into the website even while surfing through computing systems for administering apps, games and other content on their handset.
Immigrants must know English: Cameron
US welcomes India's role in Asia Pacific region
Cyclone Yasi batters northern Australia
Ayurvedic medicines face EU ban from May 1
alternative medicines.
Users and promoters of such medicines have called the EU directive called The Traditional Herbal Medicinal Products Directive, 2004/24/EC, "discriminatory and disproportionate".
Ayurvedic and traditional herbal medicines will need to licensed to comply with the EU directive passed in 2004, which takes effect from May 1.
Egypt: CNN-IBN journo's ID card, tapes burnt
However, Bhardwaj said after his release that those who took him into custody were not in army uniform.
"They asked me from where I was. When I replied that I was an Indian they took me near some Army tanks and asked for my identity card. My identity card was torn and burnt. My tapes were taken away and burnt them. They even took away my camera but returned it after removing the tapes from it. Those who burnt my identity card and tapes were not in army uniform," he said.
He also said that some Army personnel opened fire at anti-government protestors in Tahrir Square.
BBC reporter Rupert Wingfield-Hayes was arrested, handcuffed, blindfolded and interrogated. Wingfield-Hayes was arrested shortly after interviewing the advisor to Mubarak.
Passports of several journalists were also taken away by Egyptian authorities.
Indian Ambassador to Egypt, RS Swaminathan, told CNN-IBN that the Embassy had not been contacted so far by the Indian journalists present in Egypt. But he promised to get any Indian journalist under custody in Egypt released.
The Ministry of External Affairs has also decided to issue an advisory asking all Indian journalists to avoid troubled spots in Egypt. The Ministry also got in touch with the Egyptian government to get Bhardwaj released immediately after the news came out
Earlier, Army used tanks to separate supporters of Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak from the anti-government protestors. The Army stepped in after fresh clashes erupted in Cairo ahead of a Friday deadline for Mubarak to quit.
The violence started again just a few hours after Egyptian Prime Minister Ahmed Shafiq apologised for earlier violence and promised to hold an investigation into the deadly clashes that left at least six people dead and several others injured.
Supporters of President Mubarak targeted anti-government protesters in Tahrir Square reportedly from assault rifles.
Egypt forced Vodafone to send pro-govt SMSes
Facebook post that sparked Egypt revolution
"Yes. I was angry that everybody was saying that we had to take action, but nobody was doing anything. So I wrote on Facebook: 'People, I am going to Tahrir Square today'. This was a week before January 25."
"I wrote that I was going to demand the...rights of my country. I wrote that I was 26 years old...," the Middle East Media Research Institute quoted her as saying in a report Thursday.
Referring to the uprising, Asmaa said: "Whenever we talked to the people and told them to express their views, they would say: 'Who can we talk to? We will be thrown in prison and tortured.' When they saw what happened in Tunisia, the people realized that there was an Arab people that revolted and demanded its rights."
"We began to tell people that we must take action, that we must revolt and demand our rights."
"...People began to set fire to themselves, one after the other, and the response of the officials was that these people were mentally ill. The people's blood began to boil."
She recounted: "The number of people setting fire to themselves gradually rose, and in response, people began to say, on the streets and in Facebook: 'How come nobody is doing anything? Why aren't you taking action? Everybody says that something must be done, but the streets are empty'."
Asmaa said she wrote on Facebook that whoever is worried about Egypt should accompany her to Tahrir Square in downtown Cairo.
The gutsy woman said she also wrote, "Anyone who is worried about me or thinks that I am mentally ill should come in order to protect me...If the police wants to burn me - fine, I will be at Tahrir Square in half an hour."
"There were lots of messages saying: Wait until January 25. I said: There is no reason to wait for the 25th. I went to Tahrir Square and raised a sign," she recounted.
"I began to shout at the top of my lungs in Tahrir Sqare: 'Egyptians, four people set themselves on fire out of humiliation and poverty. Egyptians, four people set fire to themselves because they were afraid of the security agencies, not of the fire. Four people set fire to themselves in order to tell you to awaken - we are setting ourselves on fire so that you will take action. Four people set themselves on fire in order to say to the regime: Wake up. We are fed up. We are setting ourselves on fire in order to convey a message'."
Then she began to talk about 30 years of corruption.
"People began to gather to listen, and filmed me with their cell phones. All of a sudden, I saw four vehicles of the Central Security Agency arriving, and the square was suddenly filled with hundreds of agents and officers...They tried to push us into the entrance of a building. People began to shout: 'Leave them alone, leave them alone'."
"When they got us into the building entrance, the officers began to say: We are as fed up as you, but why didn't you inform us of your demonstration? I said: What are you talking about? Four people set themselves on fire, and you are asking why we didn't announce the demonstrations?"
"You should be asking yourselves why they set themselves on fire. Because of the poverty and the corruption. One of them couldn't feed his daughter. Yet, you still continue this oppression. I am not going to remain silent. If you want to set me on fire - go ahead. I am not budging from Tahrir Square," Asmaa recounted.
That snowballed into the unrest which has rocked Egypt for the past 10 days.