well I doubt that. The Government of India has decided to screen all people entering India via the main airport hubs of Mumbai, New Delhi, Goa, Jaipur, Kochi, Chennai, Bangalore and Hyderabad. It said the primary focus will be on passengers entering from the United States of America, The United Kingdom, Canada, Mexico, France, and New Zealand. A team of 32 highly skilled medical professionals have been posted at these airports. The Ministry of Health is also trying to track down people who have entered India from Mexico in the last 10 days. It has been reported that one person recently traveled from Texas to Hyderabad with flu symptoms and was quarantined, but authorities refused to divulge his identity.Government health officials & WHO subsequently stated that there is no Swine flu in India and the said patient recovered from a common cold.Three other suspected cases of swine flu have been noticed. Two of them were flying from Chicago and the other one, who is UK citizen, aged 35, is landed from London. All are kept under observation in hospital

Libya-Pakistan relations refers to the bilateral and diplomatic relations between Pakistan and Libya. The relations between the two nations have always been deep and abiding, ever since the start. The two countries also share common religious and cultural links, especially the fact that both the countries are Islamic states.

The most strongest element in Pakistani-Libyan friendship is that of the great Libyan leader and ruler, Colonel Gadaffi, who Pakistanis sincerely respect. The first incident and occasion when Colonel Muammar-al Gadaffi got wide recognition from the Pakistani people and politicians was during the early 1970s, during which he gave a rousing speech in an Organisation of the Islamic Conference meeting, in which he declared his full support in favour of Pakistan's right to pursue its development of nuclear weapons, an issue which had extravagantly been made a hot-topic by the United States. When he came to Pakistan to attend the second Islamic Summit Conference in 1974, he said, "Pakistan is the fort of Islam." Because of his pro-Pakistani stance, Gadaffi became a very popular figure in Pakistan and is still widely acknowledged. The famous Gaddafi cricket stadium, which is one of the biggest in the world, in the city of Lahore, has been named after him as an honour, with its previous official name having being the Lahore stadium.

Pakistan also received immense help from Libya in the 1970s, in reducing its economic difficulties after the Pakistan-India war of 1971, in which the country had been disbalanced marginally from the effect of Indian war aggression. In recent times, Libya has provided additional assistance to Pakistan to fight against floods, infections, diseases and other natural calamities which are quite prevalent in general South Asian regions, especially in India.

In 1976, The Libyan Central Bank provided a loan of US $50 million to the Habib Bank of Pakistan as a form of aid. In the same year, an economic and cultural agreement was also signed, the initiative having first being proposed by Pakistan, according to which a combined shipping company was established. In recent times, Pakistan has monitored and taken special interest in Libya's progress and both the countries are involved in active co-operation. There are around 30,000 Pakistanis who are residents of Libya.

now, its in denmark and hongkong too

The Tamil Tigers on Friday took their war into the cyberspace by hacking the official website of the Sri Lankan army.

The Webmaster of the Army called the attack a desperate bid by the LTTE propagandists to hold the truth on humanitarian mission being revealed to the world. He said measures are being taken to restore the website soon.

"LTTE propagandists have been extensively using the Internet as a platform to launch their misinformation, and disinformation campaigns against Sri Lanka since 1997," the ministry said.

"The LTTE rebels had a free reign in spreading their propaganda ploys through the Internet until the end of 2005, when current Secretary of Defence Gotabaya Rajapaksa, introduced innovative counter actions," the ministry said.

"Since then, the terror propagandist like their field cadres on the ground have started to suffer ignominious defeats on the cyberspace, as their lies have been countered with the truth. Sri Lanka Army website has been playing a vital role in this mission for the truth," it said.

The defence ministry views this attack as another sign of the LTTE's inevitable defeat, it said.

"The attack provides an opportunity for those who still dance to the tune of the LTTE propagandists to reconsider their behaviour. The truth needs no violence to uncover itself," the ministry added.

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not good. war games coming up in georgia in 3..2..

Reuters - Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on Monday criticized NATO exercises in Georgia next month as harmful and said other countries should join Russia in boycotting them.

His retirement would give Obama his first chance to nominate a justice

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The government plans to host an Asian leaders' summit in Phuket in June, after red shirt protesters forced the recent cancellation of the Pattaya conference.

Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva said the Foreign Ministry was considering Phuket as the venue for the meeting between Asean leaders and dialogue partners from China, South Korea, Japan, Australia, New Zealand and India.

He stressed the need to consult other countries about their confidence in returning to Thailand before making the final decision on the date and venue.

Normally the choice is made by the host. Thailand now holds the Asean chair.

"Thailand will still host the summit and the date will be set as soon as possible, because many member countries are needed to seek ways to solve the global economic slowdown together," he said.

Mr Abhisit said it was uncertain whether talks between Asian leaders and the chiefs from the Institute for Global Dialogue would be held this time, because of the new summit's schedule.

The international agencies are the World Bank, the World Trade Organisation, the Asian Development Bank, the United Nations, and the UN Conference on Trade and Development.

Asean secretary-general Surin Pitsuwan said the new summit should take place by June.

Phuket was a candidate for the original conference's venue, but the government opted for Pattaya instead.

The Pattaya meeting was cancelled after red shirt protesters broke into the venue at the Royal Cliff Beach Resort hotel on April 11.

Phuket governor Vichai Praisangop, and the Tourism Business Association in Phuket's president Somboon Jirayus, said the southern resort island was ready to hold the summit.

"If Phuket is selected as the summit venue, people will be ready. It will boost tourism in Phuket and Thailand's image," Mr Vichai said.

Pattaya mayor Itthiphol Khunplome yesterday asked the prime minister to consider his city to host the new summit.

Mr Itthiphol and an executive of Royal Cliff Beach Resort said the hotel would sue leaders of the red shirts for damages.

Mr Itthiphol said the damages bill could come to about 10 million baht.

thats horrifying.

hahhaha. yeah right.

My GOD!!! thats so hard to believe... she is so cute

We already have one. Japan renewed and strengthened sanctions against North Korea as Tokyo struggles to punish the communist country for its recent rocket launch.

well its pretty much same as what happened in pakistan in the last elections. PPPP and pml(n) both had to seek favors from MQM and MMA. and MQM and MMA are still in the driving seat.

Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer previewed Windows Mobile 6.5 during his keynote address, and as expected, the updated OS brings a handful of enhancements, including an application store, a backup and restore service, and an improved mobile Web browser. Here's a full rundown of the new features:

My Phone service
My Phone is a free service that allows you to back up your phone's information to a password-protected Web service. It offers automatic synching and backup so you can store your contacts, appointments, text messages, and other information to the service and then easily restore the information to your device if you happen to lose it or upgrade to a new smartphone.

In addition, My Phone lets you automatically upload photos and videos straight from your phone to the service. Currently, My Phone is only available as an invitation-only beta.

Windows Marketplace for Mobile
Windows Marketplace for Mobile will operate as the central hub for searching, browsing, and purchasing mobile applications for your smartphone. It comes preloaded on all Windows Mobile 6.5 devices where you'll be able to download applications over the air or from your PC simply by entering your Windows Live ID. Developers who have already created programs for Windows Mobile will be able to offer their products through the marketplace after a security and compatibility check from Microsoft.

Internet Explorer Mobile
With Windows Mobile 6.5, you'll get more features from Internet Explorer Mobile. Built on the Internet Explorer 6 engine, the mobile browser will support Flash and JavaScript and includes new tools for better page navigation, such as zoom in/out sliding scale and a breadcrumb feature that shows you where you are on a Web page. In addition, Microsoft added that the browser allows for more transactions (e.g., checking flights, buying movie tickets) than any other mobile browser.

New user interface
The most noticeable difference you'll see in Windows Mobile 6.5 is the user interface. It was designed to be "finger friendly" and "people centric," bringing more important information up front and allowing for a better navigation experience.

The Start menu now features a honeycomb format so you can more easily tap on icons without hitting the wrong button. You can also move and rearrange the icons to your liking. From the lock screen, you'll be able to see any missed calls, voicemails, new messages, and upcoming appointments, providing your most important information at a glance. The Home screen also uses Zune's interface. Our slide show below better illustrates these features and how they work, so be sure to check it out.

Now, while these capabilities seem aimed for the touch screen, Microsoft said it's still committed to non-touch devices and offering its customers a choice, so Windows Mobile 6.5 will also come in Standard Edition.

Availability and partners
Now, here's some bad news. Microsoft doesn't plan on releasing Windows Mobile 6.5 upgrades or devices until the second half of 2009. While there were a couple of handset announcements made in conjunction with the Windows Mobile 6.5 news (LG has committed to Windows Mobile as the primary operating system for its smartphones and will release a 6.5 device later this year, and HTC will offer Windows Mobile 6.5 upgrades for its new HTC Touch Pro2 and HTC Touch Diamond2 devices), you can bet that Microsoft's competition won't be sitting still during that time and will make gains in their own operating systems.

The new enhancements promise to improve the usability of the OS but they seem more like baby steps rather than giant leaps forward, so it will be interesting to see where Windows Mobile 6.5 will be in the game by the time it finally comes out.

A White House official tells ABC News that President Obama was "furious" to hear about the incident this morning when Air Force One and Air Force fighter jets appeared to be flying into the Manhattan skyline, scaring many New Yorkers into thinking they were about to face another terrorist attack.

Many buildings in lower Manhattan evacuated. Angry New York politicians lashed out at whoever was responsible for the incident -- which turned out to have been for a photo op.

An explanation was forthcoming in a mea culpa statement issued from the White House.

“Last week, I approved a mission over New York," Louis Caldera, director of the White House military office, said.

i hope its not swine-flu :S

There is growing evidence that battle-hardened extremists are filtering out of safe havens along the Pakistan-Afghanistan border and into East Africa, bringing sophisticated terrorist tactics that include suicide attacks.
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The alarming shift, according to U.S. military and counterterrorism officials, fuels concern that Somalia is increasingly on a path to become the next Afghanistan _ a sanctuary where al-Qaida-linked groups could train and plan their threatened attacks against the western world.

So far, officials say the number of foreign fighters who have moved from southwest Asia and the Afghanistan-Pakistan border region to the Horn of Africa is small, perhaps two to three dozen.

But a similarly small cell of militant plotters was responsible for the devastating 1998 bombings of U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania. And the cluster of militants now believed to be operating inside East Africa could pass on sophisticated training and attack techniques gleaned from seven years at war against the U.S. and allies in Iraq and Afghanistan, U.S. officials said.

"There is a level of activity that is troubling, disturbing," Gen. William "Kip" Ward, head of U.S. Africa Command, told The Associated Press. "When you have these vast spaces that are just not governed it provides a haven for support activities, for training to occur."

Ward added that American officials already are seeing extremist factions in East Africa sharing information and techniques.

Several military and counterterrorism officials who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive intelligence matters cautioned that the movements of the al-Qaida militants do not suggest an abandonment of the ungoverned Pakistan border region as a safe haven.

Instead, the shift is viewed by the officials more as an expansion of al-Qaida's influence, and a campaign to gather and train more recruits in a region already rife with militants.

Last month, Osama bin Laden made it clear in a newly released audiotape that al-Qaida has set its sights on Somalia, an impoverished and largely lawless country in the Horn of Africa. In the 11-minute tape released to Internet sites, bin Laden is heard urging Somalis to overthrow their new moderate Islamist president and to support their jihadist "brothers" in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Palestine and Iraq.

Officials said that in recent years they have seen occasional signs that sophisticated al-Qaida terror techniques are gaining ground in East Africa. Those harbingers include a coordinated series of suicide bombings in Somalia in October.

In the past, officials said, suicide attacks tended to be frowned on by African Muslims, creating something of an impediment to al-Qaida's efforts to sell that aspect of its terrorism tactics.

But on Oct. 29, 2008, suicide bombers killed more than 20 people in five attacks targeting a U.N. compound, the Ethiopian consulate, the presidential palace in Somaliland's capital and two intelligence facilities in Puntland.

The coordinated assaults, officials said, amounted to a watershed moment, suggesting a new level of sophistication and training. The incident also marked the first time that a U.S. citizen _ a young Somali man from Minneapolis _ carried out a suicide bombing.

The foreign fighters moving into East Africa complicate an already-rising crescendo of terror threats in the region. Those threats have come from the Somalia-based al-Shabab extremist Islamic faction and from al-Qaida in East Africa, a small, hard-core group also known by the acronym EEAQ.

While not yet considered an official al-Qaida franchise, EEAQ has connections to the top terror leaders and was implicated in the August 1998 embassy bombings in Tanzania and Kenya that killed 225 people. The bombings were al-Qaida's precursors to the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, a plot spawned by a small cell of operatives as far back as 1992. Four men accused as al-Qaida plotters were later convicted in federal court in New York for those bombings.

Fazul Abdullah Mohammed and several other EEAQ members remain under indictment in the United States for their alleged participation in those bombings. Mohammed is on the FBI's most wanted terrorist list with a reward of up to $5 million on his head.

Al-Qaida has the skills while al-Shabab has the manpower, said one senior military official familiar with the region. The official said EEAQ appears to be a small cell of a few dozen operatives who rarely sleep in the same place twice and are adept at setting up temporary training camps that vanish days later.

What worries U.S. military leaders, the official said, is the that EEAQ and al-Shabab may merge in training and operations, potentially spreading al-Qaida's more extremist jihadist beliefs to thousands of clan-based Somali militants, who so far have been engaged in internal squabbling.

The scenario could become even more worrisome, the officials said, if the foreign fighters transplant their skills at bomb-making and insurgency tactics to the training camps in East Africa.

Africa experts, however, said it won't be easy for Islamic extremists to win many converts in East Africa.

Francois Grignon, Africa program director for the International Crisis Group, a Brussels-based research organization, said in an interview that many clan members generally practice a more moderate Islam, and militants are not inclined to join a fight they do not see as their own.

The U.S., he said, needs to encourage the new government in Somalia to deal with the growing terror threats there and to marginalize the jihadists so they are not able to sustain their activities in Somalia.

Ward said U.S. Africa Command is working with a number of nations to build their ability to maintain security. But he said commanders are less able to do much in Somalia, where the new government is still fragile.

Meanwhile, he said, officials continue to watch as the ties between the terror groups grow.

"I think they're all a threat," said Ward. "Right now it's clearly a threat that the Africans have, but in today's global society that threat can be exported anywhere with relative ease."

lol...u call that snubbing?

The Sri Lanka government on Monday announced that the combat operations against the LTTE had reached their conclusion and that the troops were instructed to end the use of heavy weapons, which could harm civilian population. The mission now was rescuing an estimated 20,000 civilians trapped inside the eight sq. km. no-fire zone.

A statement, titled “Statement by the Government on the Security situation,” issued by the Presidential Secretariat here said: “The government of Sri Lanka has decided that combat operations had reached their conclusion. Our security forces have been instructed to end the use of heavy calibre guns, combat aircraft and aerial weapons, which could cause civilian causalities.”

The statement followed a meeting of the National Security Council presided over by President Mahinda Rajapaksa. It said: “Our security forces will confine their attempts to rescuing civilians, who are held hostage, and give foremost priority to saving the civilians.”

The current phase of combat operations started in eastern Sri Lanka in August 2006 after the LTTE closed the sluice gates of a tank.

The LTTE, which on Sunday announced a unilateral cessation of offensive military operations, described the government statement as an “attempt by Sri Lanka to deceive” the world.

The government announcement came three days after the visit of National Security Adviser M.K. Narayanan and Foreign Secretary Shivshankar Menon to Colombo.

Prior to the announcement, Mr. Rajapaksa said in a statement that the outcome of the just-concluded elections in the Western Province (in and around Colombo) sent a decisive message to the world community.

“It has categorically declared that no power has any right or moral justification to bail out brutal terrorism at a time when the last lines in its final chapter are being writ[ten],” he said.

The ruling combine, led by Mr. Rajapaksa, registered impressive victories in all segments of the province, barring the Tamil and Muslim dominated Colombo Central.

In a statement, the Defence Ministry said the forces would continue with the humanitarian operations to rescue the people held hostage by the LTTE while avoiding the use of heavy calibre weaponry as a strictmeasure coinciding with its “zero civilian casualty policy.”

It said a section of the media misinterpreted the government declaration as “cessation of hostilities” and a “ceasefire.” “This is crude and an unethical way of media “reportage’ and a blatant twist of the original statement, perpetrated to motivate the hell-bent terrorist sympathisers-cum-political clouts.”

The logic behind the government decision was to avoid any form of collateral-damage while surging into the remaining 10 sq. km swathe of coast south of Valayarmadam and Vellamullivaikkal.


PTI reports:

On extradition of LTTE leader Velupillai Prabakaran to India, Mr. Rajapaksa said: “First he has to go through our trial for the sins he has done. He will have to face that trial and in the end we might send him.”