Amid the pomp and ceremony of a full state visit, Chinese leader Hu Jintao has been warmly received at the White House.
Given a welcome normally reserved for close allies, Hu is on a four-day trip to the US, which will include a formal state dinner. US President Barack Obama has already hosted a rare private dinner with Hu in the White House.
Both leaders have thorny issues to raise, including North Korea and Taiwan, as well as the sensitive subject of trade imbalances.
One report in Washington says the US and China plan to announce that they have reached a deal to boost cooperation on nuclear security. Both men say they are determined to improve cooperation. However, experts say they are not expecting any major breakthroughs on the difficult issues.
Critics of the Chinese leader, including pro-Tibet campaigners, are bristling at the pomp and ceremony he is receiving.
LAHORE: Pakistan Cricket Board has announced here on Tuesday a final squad for next month's cricket World Cup to be jointly hosted by India, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh.
No captain or vice-captain has yet been announced for the team.
Veteran batsman Mohammad Yousuf and fast bowler Tanvir Ahmed have not been included in the 15-member team.
Squad: Shahid Afridi, Misbah-ul-Haq, Mohammad Hafeez, Kamran Akmal, Younis Khan, Asad Shafiq, Umar Akmal, Abdul Razzaq, Abdur Rehman, Saeed Ajmal, Shoaib Akhtar, Umar Gul, Wahab Riaz, Sohail Tanveer, Ahmed Shahzad.
According to a loosely-organized apocalyptic Christian movement, May 21, 2011 will be the "end of days."
On or about that same date, the price of oil in the United States will begin to climb to $4 a gallon, according to two savants of the oil industry.
The former is highly unlikely but the latter is very probable.
The escalation in the price of oil is predicted by the legendary oil man T. Boone Pickens, known for his financial acuity as well as his oil expertise, and John Hofmeister, who retired as president of Shell Oil Company, to sound the alarm about the rate of U.S. consumption of oil.
In an interview with a trade publication, Hofmeister predicted that oil would rise to $4 a gallon this year and to $5 a gallon in the election year 2012. Separately, Pickens—who has been leaning on Congress to enact an energy policy that would switch large trucks and other commercial vehicles from imported oil to domestic natural gas—predicts that oil currently selling for just over $90 a barrel will go to $120 a barrel, with a concomitant price per gallon of $4 or more.
The Obama administration appears to have been slow to grasp the political implications of an escalation in the price of oil. When asked about it, outgoing White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs referred the questioner to the Department of Energy.
Not everyone is alarmed by the incipient rise in the oil price. Republicans, who are especially close to the oil industry and its Washington lobby, orchestrated by the American Petroleum Institute, think that a great deal of hay can be made while this particular sun shines. They plan to attack the administration for spending too many resources on alternative fuels, over-regulating the industry, and keeping too many federal lands away from oil prospecting. They also accuse the administration of being too frugal with its release of drilling areas in the Gulf of Mexico and on the two coasts, as well as Alaska.
The Republicans have unlikely bedfellows in their quest to politicize the price of oil. They are joined by environmentalists who have long believed that only high prices will break America's passion for the automobile.
Environmentalists have long advocated European-style taxation to drive motorists out of their cars and onto buses and trains.
A third interest group that will take some pleasure in rising oil prices are those who are invested in alternatives such as ethanol, oil from algae and electric vehicles.
Meanwhile, the International Monetary Fund is keeping an eye on the price of oil, according to Caroline Atkinson, director of external relations at the IMF. She told a Washington press briefing that the IMF is particularly concerned with food and other commodities that are directly affected by the price of oil.
Hofmeister, who now heads the non-profit Citizens for Affordable Energy that advocates energy development in all forms, believes that the United States could increase oil production from the current 7 million barrels per day to 10 million, half of its consumption. He told an interviewer from Platt's, an energy publisher and broadcaster, that we were "essentially frittering at the edges of renewable energy, stifling production in hydrocarbon energy," which he said could lead to blackouts, brownouts, gas lines and rationing.
There are already signs that the Republican-controlled House of Representatives is planning a big push for hydrocarbon energy. An indication of this comes from Rep. Fred Upton, R-Mich., a one-time global-warming believer who has dropped that issue from his agenda. He is the new chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee.
In periods of high gasoline prices in the past, presidents have found there is very little that they can do. Their options are to reduce the tax on gasoline, sell oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve or the Naval Petroleum Reserve. President George W. Bush went a step further: He went to Saudi Arabia twice to ask the Saudis to increase their rate of production. Twice he came back empty-handed.
All of this would be good news for the oil producers and especially those troublesome players, Russia and Venezuela.
Of course, if you believe the human endeavor ends on May 21, better fuel the SUV and hit the road.
Grieving mudslide survivors carried the bodies of loved ones for hours down washed-out mountainsides on Friday as the death toll hit 514. They told of entire neighbourhoods in a resort city destroyed and pleaded for food and water to reach those still isolated by Brazil's deadliest natural disaster in four decades.
Officials said the death toll in four towns north of Rio de Janeiro was still rising and could jump further once rescuers can reach areas cut off by Wednesday's slides. They refused to even guess how many remain missing. Local reports put it in the hundreds.
Fernando Perfista, a 31-year-old ranch hand, walked with friends for hours through the night, carrying the body of his 12-year-old boy, the only of his four children he had found.
In the Fazenda Alpina area where he lives, Mr. Perfista said uncovered bodies still lay on the ground and the injured left to suffer on their own because no relief had yet reached them.
He said he found his son's body buried in the mud and had to put it in a refrigerator to keep it from dogs while he went out to search without success for his other three children.
Friends helped Mr. Perfista haul the boy's body to town, where they buried him Friday. Like the scores of other survivors standing outside a morgue in Teresopolis, he was dazed with the shock of sudden loss.
“My children are in there, in that river bank, under that mud,” he said blankly, a hand held to his face.
After morning rains caused delays Friday, rescuers resumed efforts, but manpower or resources had yet to reach many in Teresopolis, a mountain city of 163,000 alongside a national park that hosts a major training site for Brazil's national football team.
It holds ornate weekend homes where the wealthy of Rio escape the summer heat to enjoy horseback riding and rock climbing, as well as brick or wood houses built by the poor on denuded land.
The avalanche of mud and water swept away trees and sent boulders larger than cars rumbling down the slopes, destroying everything in their paths, striking rich and poor alike — though most of the toll appears to have fallen, as usual, on the poor.
It is the worst natural disaster to hit Latin America's biggest nation since flooding and slides in Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paulo states killed 785 people in 1967, according to the Brussels-based International Disaster Database, which has records of deadly natural events in Brazil since 1900.
Amauri Souza, a 38-year-old who helped Mr. Perfista hike his son's body to town, said a few helicopters are reaching remote areas, but “they're only taking down the wounded.”
He said they were not dropping off food, water or body bags, and he came to town to plead for help.
Mr. Souza said he pulled his wife and 6-month-old daughter to safety when the wall of mud and water hit early Wednesday. But his wife's parents were lost. He heard their screams for help as they were caught up in the mud. Their bodies has yet to be found.
“It's a scene of war and total loss,” he said of the Fazenda Alpina area. “I heard my friends screaming for help in the night.”
Now, after the initial disaster, he fears another from hunger, thirst and disease, if officials do not act.
“The water is rotten, but people are forced to drink it. There is no food. I had meat in my house, but it's all gone bad.”
Despite the number of deaths, the relatively low number of injured has surprised officials.
Carlos Eduardo Coelho, in charge of the Rio state's health services effort in Teresopolis, said hospitals have ample space. He said that on Thursday, 185 people were treated for injuries in two city hospitals, while 20 people sought treatment in a military field hospital.
He said the injuries are not that severe — mostly cuts and broken bones — but that he was worried about the health risks to come as even the survivors were “buried in contaminated water” and even people with minor cuts are developing infections.
Flooding and mudslides are common in Brazil when the summer rains come, but this week's slides were among the worst in recent memory. The disasters punish the poor, who often live in rickety shacks perched perilously on steep hillsides with little or no foundations. But even the rich did not escape the damage in Teresopolis, where large homes were washed away.
Rio state's Civil Defence department said on its website that 227 people were killed in Teresopolis and 230 in Nova Friburgo, a 45-mile (75-kilometre) drive to the west of Teresopolis that draws hikers and campers to mountain trails, waterfalls and dramatic views of lush green slopes.
Another 41 died in neighbouring Petropolis and 16 in the town of Sumidouro. The Civil Defence agency said about 14,000 people had been driven from their homes.
An additional 37 people had died in floods and mudslides since Christmas in other parts of southeastern Brazil — 16 in Minas Gerais state north of Rio and 21 in Sao Paulo state.
Dozens of Hindu devotees returning from a shrine were feared killed after a stampede in Kerala, several TV news channels reported on Friday. Police were not immediately able to confirm the death toll.
(Reporting D. Jose; editing by Matthias Williams)
Violent anti-government protests drove Tunisian President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali from power Friday after 23 years of iron-fisted rule, as anger over soaring unemployment and corruption spilled into the streets.
Thousands of demonstrators from all walks of life mobbed the capital of Tunis on Friday to demand Ben Ali's ouster, the culmination of weeks of protests that have swept the country. Prime Minister Mohammed Ghannouchi went on state television to announce that he is assuming power in this North African nation known for its sandy beaches and ancient ruins.
The shakeup was certain to have repercussions in the Arab world and beyond - as a sign that massive public outrage could bring down a leader as entrenched and powerful as Ben Ali.
The president tried vainly to hold onto power amid Friday's riots, declaring a state of emergency, dissolving the government and promising new legislative elections within six months. A day earlier, he had promised not to run for re-election in 2014 and also slashed prices on key foods such as sugar, bread and milk.
Yet Friday saw the largest demonstrations in generations. Police repeatedly clashed with protesters, some of whom climbed the walls of the dreaded Interior Ministry, site of torture reports for years. Clouds of tear gas and black smoke hung over the city's whitewashed buildings, and tour operators hurriedly evacuated thousands of tourists.
Hours later, the airport was closed and unconfirmed news reports citing unidentified government sources said Ben Ali had left the country.
"I take over the responsibilities temporarily of the leadership of the country at this difficult time to help return security," Ghannouchi said in a solemn statement. "I promise that when I take this responsibility, to respect the Constitution and work on reform of economic and social issues with care and to consult with all the sides."
The 74-year-old leader came to power in a bloodless coup in 1987, taking over from a man called formally President-for-Life. Ben Ali seized power from Habib Bourguiba, the founder of modern-day Tunisia who set the Muslim country on a pro-Western course after independence from France in 1956.
Ben Ali removed Bourguiba from office for "incompetence," saying he had become too old, senile and sick to rule. Ben Ali promised then that his leadership would "open the horizons to a truly democratic and evolved political life."
But after a brief period of reforms early on, Tunisia's political evolution stopped.
A U.S. diplomatic cable released by WikiLeaks called Tunisia a "police state" and says Ben Ali has lost touch with his people.
Manning, an Army intelligence officer, remains in a Quantico, Va., maximum-security facility while he awaits trial on charges that he passed on a mountain of classified U.S. government material to WikiLeaks. Now WikiLeaks has donated $15,000 to help pay Manning's legal fees.
Other groups and individuals from around the world have also made donations to support Manning's defense, building a fund that's just $15,000 shy of the $115,000 his supporters say they'll need.
The fundraising effort (and the money) is being managed by the Bradley Manning Support Network, working in partnership with an anti-war grassroots organization called Courage to Resist. Founded in 2005, Courage to Resist's motto is "Support the Troops Who Refuse to Fight." It has worked with many war resisters and military objectors, providing strategic, financial and legal assistance to service members who face penalties for conscientious objection or refusal to fight.
The Bradley Manning Support Network is a more recent creation, launched in 2010 by "cyberactivist" Mike Gogulski, a resident of Slovakia who renounced his American citizenship in 2008. The Support Network has been collecting donations for Manning's defense since July.
What accounts for the $115,000 figure that Courage to Resist says will be needed for Manning's defense? The group says the number is based on the flat fee that Manning's civilian attorney, David Coombs, has agreed to accept, plus expenses for travel and defense witnesses.
Meanwhile, WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange faces his own financial troubles: Visa, MasterCard and PayPal stopped processing donations to the WikiLeaks organization last month. Legal costs for WikiLeaks and Assange, who has been charged with rape in Sweden, are nearing $750,000.
But Assange may not have to rely on good will from grassroots groups in order to pay his lawyers. He's already signed book deals worth more than $1 million.
Wall St stocks rose broadly on Wednesday after a successful bond auction in Portugal eased worries about Europe's debt crisis. Financial shares jumped on hopes that banks would start raising their dividends this year.
Portugal borrowed $US1.6 billion ($A1.62 billion) at a lower long-term interest rate than many expected. That helped reassure investors concerned that Portugal may become the third European country to require a bailout after Greece and Ireland.
Analysts cautioned that it's still possible Portugal could need a financial lifeline if its economy slips back into recession this year.
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Financial stocks led the market higher after an analyst at Wells Fargo Securities issued a report saying bank earnings should grow much faster than other companies this year. He also said banks were likely to distribute more of their earnings to shareholders as dividends.
JPMorgan Chase & Co rose 2.6 per cent to $44.71 after the company's CEO, Jamie Dimon, told CNBC late Tuesday that the bank hopes to raise its dividend in the second quarter. JPMorgan's stock led the 30 large companies that make up the Dow Jones industrial average.
Other banks also rose. Bank of America gained 1.8 per cent to $14.96. US Bancorp rose three per cent to $26.82.
In early afternoon trade, the Dow was up 92.03 points, or 0.79 per cent, at 11,763.91.
The Standard & Poor's 500 index had gained 10.81, or 0.85 per cent, at 1,285.29.
The Nasdaq composite was 17.41 points higher, by 0.64 per cent, at 2,734.24.
Bond prices fell, pushing their yields higher. The yield on the 10-year Treasury note rose to 3.41 per cent from 3.34 per cent late Tuesday. The yield is used to set interest rates on many kinds of loans including mortgages.
The Federal Reserve will release a report at 2 pm (1900 GMT) on how the US economy is doing across 12 different regions in the country. Analysts expect the survey to show more signs of recovery.
LONDON - European stock markets closed higher on Wednesday as eurozone debt worries were eased by a successful Portuguese bond auction and record economic growth figures for Germany, dealers said.
They said that after weeks of doubt over whether Lisbon could raise fresh cash from the money markets, its bond sale proved that it could, if at a price which might not be sustainable over the long-term.
That was enough, however, to ease immediate concerns that Portugal would need an EU-IMF bailout, after Greece and Ireland last year, with investors happy to go along with the relief rally.
Record German 2010 growth - 3.6 per cent after a contraction of 4.7 per cent in 2009 - supported hopes that Europe's largest economy will provide enough momentum to keep the EU afloat while it puts its financial house in order.
Gains in some weaker eurozone countries were substantial - Lisbon put on 2.59 per cent, and Madrid, seen as most at risk if Portugal needs to be bailed out, soared 5.42 per cent, while Milan jumped 3.82 per cent.
In London, the FTSE 100 index of leading shares closed up 0.61 per cent at 6,050.72 points. In Paris, the CAC 40 jumped 2.15 per cent to 3,945.07 points and in Frankfurt the DAX rose 1.83 per cent to 7,068.78 points.
HONG KONG - Asian stock markets edged higher on Wednesday, taking a cautious attitude to Europe's debt crisis but buoyed by gains on Wall Street and strength among Chinese shares.
Japan's Nikkei index closed up just 0.02 per cent, or 2.12 points, at 10,512.80.
Hong Kong ended up 1.54 per cent, or 365.27 points, at 24,125.61, the Hang Seng's highest close in two months and marking a rally of 4.7 per cent so far this year.
Shanghai's Composite Index gained 0.62 per cent, or 17.26 points, to reach 2,821.31.
Stocks were boosted by gains on Wall Street and Japan's announcement that it will buy bonds from a eurozone rescue fund to help finance Ireland's bailout and support the debt-hit bloc.
But sentiment remained cautious ahead of Portugal's 2011 debut on the long-term bond market on Wednesday, amid speculation that aggressive intervention by the European Central Bank may help it avoid a bailout.
The yen's recent weakness against the euro gave Japanese exporter stocks an early boost but this was offset as the yen again pushed higher.
In Hong Kong, a 3.7 per cent jump for previously lacklustre HSBC gave the index a major boost, echoing gains by banks in Europe.
Shanghai saw gains among property, developer and resource stocks, although the market remains cautious ahead of major economic data next week.
Taipei's stock market rose 0.38 per cent, or 33.64 points, to 8,965.00, as Ruentex Industries gained 4.81 per cent on advance reports, confirmed after the close, that troubled US insurer AIG will sell its Taiwanese unit to a Ruentex-led consortium for $2.16 billion.
Bangladesh's volatile exchange rose 2.38 per cent, or 178.59 points, to 7,690.68. The market had gained 15.58 per cent on Tuesday after two days of record plunges that sparked violent protests across the country.
Mumbai jumped 1.74 per cent, on choppy trading after data showing India's industrial output fell to a 20-month-low of 2.7 per cent growth in November.
India's stock markets have been jittery amid fears of an interest rate rise by the central bank to curb soaring food inflation.
In other markets, Singapore rose 0.11 per cent, Seoul rose 0.32 per cent, Kuala Lumpur rose 0.23 per cent, Jakarta rose 2.88 per cent, Bangkok rose 0.60 per cent, and Manila rose 0.12 per cent.
WELLINGTON - The New Zealand sharemarket rose modestly with brokers noting strength in selected stocks like Vector.
Tower fell 7c to 200 on a day it traded ex a 6c dividend. Trading in Abano Healthcare was halted for a previously announced one-in-four share cancellation to be carried out. The cancellation effects a $NZ27.3 million ($A21.08 million) capital return to shareholders.
The benchmark NZX-50 index closed up 4.822 points, or 0.145 per cent, at 3,334.585, having gained 5.7 points on Tuesday.
Turnover was 32 million shares worth $NZ87.4 million ($A67.49 million). There were 32 rises and 34 falls.
THE rain stopped but the water kept coming all day. Three rivers emptied the hills behind Brisbane. The Bremer swamped Ipswich. The Lockyer tore through its valley, killing at least 10 people on the way. The upper Brisbane cascaded from the Wivenhoe Dam. And all that water was heading for Brisbane.
In the face of this catastrophe, old records don't mean much any more. ''People talk about the floods of 1974 but they are history now,'' said the mayor of Ipswich, Paul Pisasale, as he surveyed his underwater town. ''Now we'll be talking about the floods of 2011.''
Brave and terrible stories are coming out of the hills, stories of lucky escapes and awful deaths. Trapped on a roof in Grantham, Martin Warburton watched bodies float by. He thought at first they were trying to swim. ''You bend down to try and grab them,'' he told Channel Seven, ''And then you realise that they are already gone.''
While police were picking through the wreckage upstream, emergency workers began preparing for the devastation yet to come in Brisbane. All day, authorities were urging people to get out and get out soon. For a long time, not much attention was paid.
Crowds gathered on the banks of the river. The wreckage drifting by was light entertainment. As the floating restaurant called Drift met its end under the Goodwill Bridge, there were cheers from vantage points. But what drew that crowd and held its attention all afternoon was the awesome power of the river itself.
By the time it hit its first peak of 4.4 metres in the middle of the afternoon, the Brisbane CBD was shut down, buses were off the roads, supermarket shelves were empty and water had entered 35 suburbs. But this was only a rehearsal for what was coming in the middle of the night when the flood would rise another metre.
Updated at: 2120 PST, Tuesday, January 11, 2011
ISLAMABAD: President Asif Ali Zardari appointed close aide Latif Khosa to succeed the murdered governor of the Punjab province Salman Taseer, officials said
Earlier, President Zardari held consultations with senior leaders of Pakistan People's Party (PPP) in connection with the appointment of Punjab governor. The announcement was made public after an elaborate meeting between Latif Khosa and Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani.
Geo Super has exclusively signed Imran Khan to participate, provide commentary, and be the brand ambassador for its Cricket World Cup presentation in Pakistan.
Imran Khan is one of the icons who ruled the international cricket for two decades and also led the Pakistani team to World Cup glory in 1992.
Khan will feature in Geo Super expert reviews, opinions and analyses leading up to and during the ICC Cricket World Cup matches due to start on February 19. The tournament is one of the most widely-viewed sporting events in the world and the number one TV event for Pakistan in terms of revenue and TV ratings.
Geo Super has the exclusive rights to broadcast all the matches of the ICC Cricket World Cup 2011 over cable and satellite networks throughout Pakistan.
Prior to the ICC Cricket World Cup 2011, nine Cricket World Cups have been organised by the ICC. Australia have emerged winner on most occasions, with four. Closely following is West Indies, who won the inaugural and the very next World Cup. India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka have won one World Cup each.
Having captained Pakistan more or less throughout 1982-1992, Khan had retired from cricket at the end of the 1987 World Cup campaign, but returned after a presidential call to "rise above one's self" and answered the nation's call, rejoining the Pakistan team in 1988 as the skipper. At 39, Khan led his teammates to Pakistan's first and only World Cup victory in 1992. He has a record of 3,807 runs and 362 wickets in Test cricket, making him one of eight World-class cricketers to have achieved an 'all-rounder's triple' in Test matches, widely recognised as one of the best leaders the game has seen. Khan was inducted into the ICC Cricket Hall of Fame on July 14th, 2010.
LAS VEGAS: Lady Gaga introduced her new line of Grey Label products for Polaroid at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. These products include sunglasses embedded with cameras and photo printers that can fit in a purse.
Grey Label allowed Lady Gaga, who is now a creative director for the company, to design the frames for the Polaroid GL20 image-capturing sunglasses, which stores photos on a chip inside an earpiece. The GL10 Instant Mobile Printer, which she takes to bars with her in her purse, connects to phones via Bluetooth and prints 3-by-4-inch pictures on the go.
“I suppose many of you are nerdy enough to carry around a mobile printer," said Lady Gaga at the even. "I know I will."
The products are set to be released later this year.
"I consider myself to be a visionary, not just a songwriter and a singer," Lady Gaga said in a press release distributed by Polaroid. "I am an artist. I brought my vision and love of fashion, technology and obsession with the future into all of my work with Polaroid."
Lady Gaga is set to release her second studio album, "Born This Way," on May 23, 2011. The pop superstar is up for six Grammy awards.
Lady Gaga promised fans at a concert stop in Gdsank, Poland that the follow-up album to "The Fame" will be the "greatest album of this decade."
