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Pentagon charges former U.S. resident at Guantanamo
Karachi: 2 killed, 1 injured in road mishap
Eurozone delays Greek bailout decision
Syria rejects UN charges as Homs under barrage
143th death anniversary of Mirza Asadullah Khan Ghalib today
Greipel wins stage one on Tour of Oman
Musharraf, Ijaz Shah knew Osamas presence: Ziauddin Butt
Pashas retirement can affect Pak-US cooperation: Munter
US concerned about IEDs in Pakistani tribal areas
New Congressional move to award Dr. Afridi
US receives Egypt document charging Americans: Nuland
Iranian suspect held as blasts rattle Bangkok
China to take steps to improve human rights
WB approves $240 loan to Egypt
Canada introduces new cyber monitoring rules

Pentagon charges former U.S. resident at Guantanamo

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U.S. prosecutors in the Guantanamo war crimes tribunals filed charges on Tuesday against a Pakistani man who grew up outside Baltimore, alleging he plotted with al Qaeda to attack U.S. targets and assassinate former Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf. The charges against defendant Majid Khan allege that in 2002, he donned an explosives vest and sat in a mosque in Karachi, Pakistan, where Musharraf was expected. He planned to blow himself up and kill Musharraf, but the plot was foiled when the president failed to show up, the charges said. Prosecutors allege Khan, 31, was an al Qaeda operative who reported directly to Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the self-described mastermind of the September 11 attacks. Khan is accused of plotting with Mohammed, better known as KSM, to blow up underground gasoline storage tanks in the United States - attacks that were apparently not carried out. And Khan is accused of conspiring with al Qaeda operatives in Indonesia to bomb bars, cafes and nightclubs frequented by Westerners. The charges, filed at the Pentagon, allege Khan delivered money used to fund a 2003 attack in which a suicide bomber drove a truck full of explosives into the JW Marriott Hotel in Jakarta. The explosion killed 11 people and injured scores. Khan was charged with conspiring with al Qaeda, murder and attempted murder in violation of the laws of war, providing material support for terrorism and spying on U.S. and Pakistani targets. He would face a maximum penalty of life in prison if convicted. Khan, a Pakistani with legal U.S. residence, moved with his family to the Baltimore area in 1996 and graduated from high school there three years later. He worked for a while at his family s gas station before traveling to Pakistan in 2002 to attend a series of family weddings and look for a wife. While there, an associate introduced him to KSM and he began to work with al Qaeda, investigators said. Khan was captured in Pakistan in March 2003 and held in secret CIA custody for three years before being transferred in 2006 to the detention center at the Guantanamo Bay U.S. naval base in Cuba. He is currently held in a top-security prison at the base for "high-value" prisoners. Prosecutors submitted the charges to a retired Navy admiral overseeing the Guantanamo trials, who must approve them before a tribunal is convened to hear the case. Khan s wife, U.S.-trained neuroscientist Aafia Siddiqui, is serving an 86-year prison sentence for her conviction in New York on charges of grabbing a gun and trying to kill U.S. interrogators who were questioning her at a police station in Afghanistan in 2008.

Karachi: 2 killed, 1 injured in road mishap

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As per details, a speedy trailer ran over a motor cycle near Aisha Manzil, killing at least two people, injuring another. After the mishap, enraged mob set the trailer in flames in protest.

Eurozone delays Greek bailout decision

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The ministers were expected to meet in Brussels on Wednesday but the talks were switched to a conference call after Greek politicians failed to provide written commitments they will enact cuts demanded by creditors. "I did not yet receive the required political assurances from the leaders of the Greek coalition parties on the implementation of the programme," Luxembourg Prime Minister Jean-Claude Juncker said in a statement. Juncker said "further technical work" was also needed between Greece and EU and IMF auditors "in a number of areas," including finding another 325 million euros in savings and finishing an analysis of the sustainability of Greece s debt. "Against this background, I have decided to convene ministers to a conference call tomorrow in order to discuss the outstanding issues and prepare the ordinary meeting of the Eurogroup on Monday," he added. Greece desperately needs the 230-billion-euro ($303-billion) rescue package -- 130 billion euros in fresh loans and a 100-billion-euro write down on privately-held bonds -- to avoid defaulting on debt owed on March 20.

Syria rejects UN charges as Homs under barrage

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Syria on Tuesday rejected UN charges of crimes against humanity, as monitors accused President Bashar al-Assad s forces of launching one of their heaviest assaults yet on the protest city of Homs. The Syrian government s crackdown on 11 months of pro-democracy protests has been centred on Homs, which has been under a relentless barrage of machinegun fire, shells, mortars and rocket-propelled grenades for 10 days. Monitors said 18 civilians died Tuesday, six of them in Homs in the barrage which began before dawn, amid fears over the worsening humanitarian situation in the central city. "Two rockets are falling a minute on average," Rami Abdel Rahman, the head of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Britain-based monitoring group, told AFP by telephone, citing activists on the ground. Syrians who have fled to neighboring Jordan said the situation was unbearable, and monitoring groups say more than 6,000 people have been killed since Assad s forces began their crackdown on the protesters in March. "The situation in Syria has become unbearable and what the media broadcast is nothing but a tiny fraction of the painful reality," a 26-year-old computer engineer who sought shelter in a Jordanian border town told AFP. A video uploaded to YouTube by activists showed a powerful blast striking what they said was Baba Amr, sending flames shooting into the sky and a plume of black smoke over the rebel stronghold. Hadi Abdullah of the General Commission of the Syrian Revolution, an opposition activist group, said the shelling of Baba Amr was extremely heavy. "The situation is tragic. There are pregnant women, people with heart problems, diabetics and, foremost, wounded people who we cannot evacuate," he said on the phone from the beleaguered city. "On Monday evening three activists entered the town by car transporting bread, baby milk and medicine," he said. "Their car was hit by a rocket. They all burned to death." Vital supplies have been cut off for days, including communications, electricity, food, medicines and water, he said. "The urgency is to evacuate the wounded. How can we let them die in cold blood?" he asked. "For one week, the dead have been buried in gardens, because even the cemeteries and graves are being targeted. People are crammed into shelters." Navi Pillay, the top human rights representative at the United Nations, on Monday said the world body s inaction had "emboldened" Syria s government to unleash overwhelming force against its own civilians. "The nature and scale of abuses committed by Syrian forces indicate that crimes against humanity are likely to have been committed since March 2011," she told the General Assembly. But Syria s government rejected her accusations. "The foreign ministry, in a message sent to the UN Human Rights Commission, categorically rejected the new allegations made by the commission," state news agency SANA said. After Russia and China twice vetoed a resolution calling on Assad to stop the deadly attacks on civilians, diplomats said they would now seek a condemnation of the violence at the UN General Assembly on Thursday. Russia and China vetoed a UN Security Council resolution on the crisis in Syria on February 4 -- for the second time in four months -- because they said it was "unbalanced." The two allies are expected to oppose the new text but no one can veto resolutions in the 193-nation General Assembly, though they carry less weight. Diplomats said the measure was almost sure to pass. The General Assembly draft is similar to the one blocked in the Security Council. The text "fully supports" the Arab League s plan "to facilitate a Syrian-led political transition to a democratic, plural political system," without however mentioning Assad by name or the plan for him to hand over power. It "calls upon the Syrian government to immediately put an end to all human rights violations and attacks against civilians" and "condemns all violence, irrespective of where it comes from." The Arab League agreed Sunday on its latest initiative to stop the bloodshed, calling for the UN to approve a joint Arab-UN peacekeeping force. But Syria has "categorically" rejected the proposal and Russia cast doubt on it. Lebanese opposition leader Saad Hariri meanwhile used the anniversary of his father s 2005 assassination to voice support for the protests. "A democratic regime in Syria would be a guarantee of democracy in Lebanon," Hariri, whose family has long been opposed to the Damascus regime, told supporters in a video conference from Paris.

143th death anniversary of Mirza Asadullah Khan Ghalib today

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Mirza Asadullah who is renowned with a pen-name Ghalib, was born on 27 December 1796.  Mirza Asadullah Khan Ghalib was born in Agra, the former capital of the Mughal Empire, now part of India s state of Uttar Pradesh during the terminal period of Mughal rule. Mirza Ghalib started writing poetry in the age of 10. Known for using his poetry to speak of pain, anger, anguish and humour, Ghalib was also honoured by last Mughal Emperor Bahadur Shah Zafar. He is considered to be the most popular and influential of the Urdu language. In 1850, Bahdur Shah Zafar awarded Mirza Ghalib as ‘Najm al-Daulah Dabir al-Mulk Nizam Jung’ and bestowed upon him the responsibility to write the family’s history. Ghalib was a great Urdu writer and is considered the founder of modern prose. The real reason for the everlasting popularity of Ghalib was because of his Khutoot-e-Ghalib and Deewan-e-Ghalib. He was died on 15 February 1869.

Greipel wins stage one on Tour of Oman

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Germany s Lotto-Belisol rider Andre Griepel continued his great start to 2012 on Tuesday by winning the first stage on cycling s Tour of Oman. The winner of three stages of the Tour Down-Under in Australia last month, Greipel powered ahead of his rivals on the line to win a sprint finish and claim the leaders red jersey on the opening day of the six day race. In windy conditions, Danilo Wyss, Mikhail Ignatyev, Alexandre Lemair and Pengda Jiao powered into an early breakaway with Ignatyev staying clear of the peleton until just five kilometre to the finish. However he was hauled and in the end Greipel was too strong, winning from Denis Galimzyanov and American Tyler Farrar.

Musharraf, Ijaz Shah knew Osamas presence: Ziauddin Butt

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Pakistani military had harboured al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden with the knowledge of former president General Pervez Musharraf, General (r) Ziauddin Butt has said. According to a US-based magazine, despite denials, evidence is emerging that "elements within the Pakistani military harboured Osama with the knowledge of Musharraf and Kayani". Ashfaq Parvez Kayani is the current Army Chief. Ziauddin Butt, a former Army Chief, told a conference on Pakistani-US ties in October 2011 that according to his knowledge then director general of Intelligence Bureau, Brigadier (retd.) Ijaz Shah had "kept Osama bin Laden in an Intelligence Bureau safe house in Abbottabad". Osama bin Laden was gunned down May 2 by US commandos who mounted a daring operation using stealth helicopters. The retired general said in the same address that the Inter Services Intelligence (ISI) had helped the CIA to track Osama down and kill him. The report said that stunning revelation was unreported for some time as some intelligence officers had asked journalists not to publish Butt s remarks. The report said Butt told the daily Dawn Dec 11 that he fully believed that "(Brigadier) Ijaz Shah had kept this man (bin Laden in the Abbottabad compound) with the full knowledge of General Pervez Musharraf..." Butt added, "Ijaz Shah was an all-powerful official in the government of General Musharraf". To a query on whether the present army chief knew about it, Butt said yes, but later added: "(General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani) may have known - I do not know - he might not have known." The former army chief has, however, not been able to explain as to how Osama was not found even after Brigadier Shah and Musharraf went out of power. Butt had been the ISI chief under then prime minister Nawaz Sharif. Sharif had promoted him as the army chief after forcibly retiring General Pervez Musharraf Oct 12, 1999, but the army s top brass then revolted. Musharraf, who toppled Sharif and became the new chief executive of the country, stepped down in 2008. Nawaz Sharif and the Pakistani top military officials had major differences, including on Pakistan s ties with Osama bin Laden. According to Butt, Sharif had made up his mind to cooperate with the US and track down Osama in 1999. Citing a senior advisor to the prime minister, the report said, "The general staff ousted Sharif to scuttle the  get-Osama  plan". Butt said that Nawaz Sharif had set up a special task force of 90 US-trained commandos to track down Osama in Afghanistan.

Pashas retirement can affect Pak-US cooperation: Munter

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The US envoy to Pakistan Cameron Munter has said that the military-to-military cooperation with Pakistan has taken a nosedive with back-to-back during the last year or so. The intelligence cooperation, though good at the moment, could also be affected after ISI Chief, Gen. Pasha’s retirement in March this year.  “The CIA-ISI relationship is still cooperative. The Pakistani government realizes that we have a lot in common on counter-terrorism and we still have a decent relationship with the intelligence. But this may change when Pakistan’s DG ISI, Lt. Gen. Ahmad Shuja Pasha retires, predicted to be around March 18”, Munter pointed out.  While addressing at the Harvard-Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University in Boston, he agreed that the “military-to-military relationship has taken a beating (referring to army chief Gen. Ashfaq Parvez Kayani decision to oust US personnel after May 2)”. “When military aid was limited because of the incident, I told Gen. Kayani ‘when trainers go, equipment has to go too’. If you get rid of the boys, then you have to get rid of the toys”, Munter said. “Gen. Kayani said, ‘I understand’.” Munter revealed. “Still, Pakistan has shown its commitment to fighting terrorism”, he appreciated while informing the audience that Pakistan had experienced huge losses fighting insurgents at its own borders — nearly 4,000 troops and between 30,000 and 40,000 civilians. “In any other country this would be called a civil war. It causes a fair amount of resentment in Pakistan, and we would be wise to remember what it is that they’ve lost”, he advised. Recalling the events in 2011, he agreed that the previous year was a very tough year for the United States in Pakistan. “In the beginning of 2011, the arrest and negotiated release of Raymond Davis, an American CIA contractor, caused bad blood on both sides” he pointed out. “Two months later, an American drone strike killed nearly 50 people in North Waziristan. And not least of all, the killing of Osama bin Laden by American troops in Islamabad last May was taken as an insult to the Pakistani military”, he observed. He believed that “current strain in the US relationship with Pakistan is in part the result of a wave of idealism in the US government in 2008. “The US leaders at that time over-promised extensive commitments to Pakistan, aiming to strengthen the two countries’ relations. But those assurances backfired when American leaders failed to deliver on their promises”, he regretted. “In this relationship, neither side is blameless”, he pointed out while calling for a “more modest relationship with Pakistan, less extensive involvement in Pakistan’s affairs and less bluster in the dialogue between the two nations”. “The only way to get past a relationship that’s fraught with anger and misunderstanding is to create a partnership. You have to get as far away as you can from an assistance-based relationship”, he suggested. He hoped that the “assistance relationship currently existing will turn into a bilateral partnership in areas like trade, business, and investment in Pakistan. He was optimistic about the future of Pak-US relationship though. “If we’re going to get out of what has been a very tough period, it is going to be because both countries decide they’re going to look at something bigger than themselves”, he maintained. “The bad news is that America is unpopular in Pakistan, with a public favorability rating of roughly 6 to 10 percent. The good news, however, is that the Pakistanis care desperately what America thinks”, the US ambassador stated through his experiences in the country. “They want desperately for Americans to do good things in Pakistan, and want to see us live up to their image of what they think Americans can do”, he opined while adding that “deep down, Pakistani politicians do not want Americans to go away”. Referring to the ongoing parliamentary review in Pakistan of the relationship with US, he said the Pakistanis wanted a partnership and a better sense of respect. “We need to expand to get them out of a certain narrative they have created about the US, and we have to be less arrogant”, Munter advised. Munter’s talk kicked-off the South Asia Week at the Harvard-Kennedy School, a discussion series on the region’s politics and diplomacy hosted by the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs  Future of Diplomacy Project and Harvard University’s South Asia Initiative. The School will also host lectures by Shyam Saran, former Indian foreign secretary (Feb. 15), Zalmay Khalilzad, former US ambassador to the United Nations, Iraq and Afghanistan (Feb. 16), and Nirupama Rao, Indian ambassador to the United States (Feb. 17).- Contributed by Awais Saleem, Dunya News correspondent in Washington, DC

US concerned about IEDs in Pakistani tribal areas

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The United States administration has once again express extreme concern over the safe heavens of terrorists as well as the production of improvised explosive devices (IEDs) in Pakistani tribal areas.  The US Secretary of Defense, Leon Panetta and the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gen. Martin Dempsey Tuesday said that the issue had been raised with Pakistan for controlling the flow of IEDs from tribal areas to Afghanistan, for usage against American and NATO forces. While appearing before the US Senate’s Armed Services Committee, Secretary Panetta agreed that IEDs were causing destruction for US forces in Afghanistan, and blamed it on the unchecked supply from Pakistan. “The supply network of these IEDs, in some ways, are related to the safe heavens in Pakistan that continue to supply a lot of this. That is an area that we have urged the Pakistanis to address, because we think that this whole issue needs to be addressed, if we are going to be effective in trying to cut back on IEDs”, Panetta stated. When a committee member, Senator Kay Hagan, asked Secretary Panetta about the steps being taken to put pressure on Pakistan’s network of the distribution of ammonium nitrates (used in IEDs), he said “we have made very clear to them that where these threats emanate from”. “We have identified locations. We have directed them to specific sites, we have urged them to take steps; in some cases they have, in some cases they wind up there too late. But we are continuing to impress upon them that they have got to be part of the answer to dealing with this issue”, Panetta explained. Senator Richard Blumenthal, another member of the committee, hoped that work was being done “to discourage the Pakistanis from permitting the fertilizer and ammonium nitrate crossing the border, going into these roadside bombs (IEDs)”. Responding to the query, Chairman Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gen. Martin Dempsey assured the members that necessary measures were being taken in this regard. “I just assure you. We are seized with this”, he observed. “Our relations with Pakistan have been somewhat challenged. They are improving and this is one of the points of friction between us that we have to get at”, he conceded.- Contributed by Awais Saleem, Dunya News correspondent in Washington, DC

New Congressional move to award Dr. Afridi

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The Chairman of the House Foreign Affairs subcommittee on oversights and investigations, Dana Rohrabacher is seeking to introduce a bill this week for award of Congressional gold medal to Dr. Shakeel Afridi, who remains in detention in Pakistan for his alleged role in running a fake vaccination campaign in Abbottabad to help CIA operatives reach Osama bin Laden. According to a press release issued Tuesday, Republican Congressman from California, Dana Rohrabacher said that he "plans to introduce legislation to award Congressional Gold Medal to Dr. Shakeel Afridi, the Pakistani doctor who bravely risked his life to identify Osama Bin Laden so that US military forces could bring him to justice. "Dr. Afridi, acting at great personal risk, used the cover of conducting a vaccination program in Abbottabad to gain access to Bin Laden’s compound and identify the cowardly Islamic terrorist. If discovered, he, along with his family, would mostly likely have been killed", the Congressman stated in the press release. “Dr. Afridi’s acts to help the United States were extremely valiant and daring,” said Rohrabacher. “All Americans owe him our most sincere gratitude for helping to execute the terrorist who murdered thousands of innocent Americans", he added. “Awarding Dr. Afridi the Congressional Gold Medal is a great honor befitting a hero who took such great risks to help the United States achieve a major victory", he argued. Dr. Afridi’s major contribution to the raid on Bin Laden’s compound was confirmed recently by Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta, who said that Dr. Afridi is “an individual who in fact helped provide intelligence that was very helpful with regards to this operation to kill or capture Bin Laden.” "Since the May, 2011 raid in Abbottabad, Dr. Afridi has been arrested and held by the same Pakistani government that gave refuge to Bin Laden. Islamabad now threatens to try Dr. Afridi for treason for helping the United States. Pakistan’s Inquiry Commission on the Abbottabad Operation has called him a “national criminal,” punishable by death", grumbled Rohrabacher. "Dr. Afridi continues to sacrifice for the United States and awarding him the Congressional Gold Medal is a fitting way to recognize his ongoing bravery", he emphasised. It may be mentioned here that Dana Rohrabacher also introduced another bill in the Congress last week for awarding US citizenship to Pakistan. The US State Department spokesperson, at that time, had said that the Congressional resolution for award of citizenship to Dr. Afridi, even if approved, was only a recommendation and was not binding upon the American administration.- Contributed by Awais Saleem, Dunya News correspondent in Washington, DC

US receives Egypt document charging Americans: Nuland

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The United States said Tuesday its lawyers have received from Egyptian prosecutors a 24-page document that includes formal charges against US citizens working for pro-democracy groups in Egypt. The deputy prosecutor general also confirmed that Egypt s court of appeals now has the investigative file, which includes the charging document and related evidence, State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said. "However, the chief judge has not yet assigned the case to a criminal court, nor has any trial date been set," Nuland told reporters. US officials are now translating the document that contains charges against 43 people, Nuland said without being able to confirm how many Americans are among those charged. Egyptian judicial sources said earlier this month that 44 people, including 19 Americans, would stand trial over the alleged illegal funding of non-government organizations promoting Egypt s fledgling democracy. The aid workers are accused of "setting up branches of international organizations in Egypt without a license from the Egyptian government" and of "receiving illegal foreign funding." Several of the Americans have been banned from leaving the country.

Iranian suspect held as blasts rattle Bangkok

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The explosion in central Bangkok came a day after bombers targeted Israeli embassy staff in the capitals of India and Georgia, with a female diplomat critically wounded in New Delhi, in attacks Israel said were plotted by Iran. Thai bomb squad experts were called out to the Sukhumvit Road area in the east of the city after a blast at a house, following which three men were seen fleeing, authorities said. One of the men hurled an explosive device at a taxi, which refused to stop, and then tried to throw another at police, triggering a blast at the side of a busy road which tore off his legs, they said. Police said they found Iranian identification on the injured man, who was admitted to a Bangkok hospital for emergency treatment. "So it s likely that he s an Iranian national," Major General Pisit Pisuthisak, deputy commander of Bangkok Metropolitan Police, told AFP. A high pressure water cannon was used to defuse another device found inside the same house, police said. Authorities detained an Iranian man at Bangkok s Suvarnabhumi Airport for questioning but it was not immediately clear if he was one of the other suspects, whose motives were unknown. Bangkok has been on the watch for a terror attack since police last month charged a Lebanese man suspected of planning a strike following a US warning that tourist areas maybe targeted. Thai authorities alleged the Lebanese man had links to Hezbollah, an Iranian- and Syrian-backed Muslim Shiite group that is blacklisted as a terrorist organisation by Washington. Israel was quick to accuse Iran of involvement in the blasts in Bangkok Tuesday. "The attempted attack in Bangkok proves once again that Iran and its proxies are continuing to act in the ways of terror and the latest attacks are an example of that," Israeli Defence Minister Ehud Barak said. The country assailed Iran as the world s "biggest exporter of terror" after Monday s attacks in India and Georgia, amid rising tensions in the region. The blast in New Delhi blew up a car, critically wounding the Israeli diplomat and her Indian driver. In Tbilisi, an Israeli embassy employee found a bomb on his car and contacted police who were able to defuse the device before it detonated, according to Georgia s interior ministry. Thai police said they had found no direct link between Tuesday s bombings and the earlier threat but had received a separate warning from intelligence sources about a potential new attack. "There was some warning of a possible attack and police were monitoring, but we did not know where it would happen," national police chief Phrewphan Damapong told reporters. The United States condemned the Bangkok blasts and voiced concern about a worldwide "uptick" in such violence, including some with alleged links to Iran. "We re concerned about it. Some of these (attacks) have been linked to Iran," State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said. US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton condemned Monday s attacks in India and Georgia in the "strongest possible terms", although the White House reserved judgment on who was responsible. Iranian foreign ministry spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast has rejected the accusations that Tehran was responsible. "Iran condemns all acts of terrorism," he was quoted as saying by Al-Alam television. Thai Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra urged people not to "jump to conclusions" and urged people not to panic. The safety scares are another blow to the kingdom s tourist-friendly image, which was badly dented last year by devastating flooding across much of the country, as well as rounds of rival political protests in recent years. Security has been stepped up around possible targets in Bangkok, including the Israeli embassy and the Khao San Road backpacker district. Britain on Tuesday warned its citizens in the country to be on guard following the latest incident.

China to take steps to improve human rights

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Chinese Vice President Xi Chinese Vice President said that in his talks in Washington with President Barack Obama, he "stressed China has made tremendous and well-recognized achievements in the field of human rights over the past 30-plus years since reform and opening up. "Of course there is always room for improvement when it comes to human rights," Xi added during a lunch at the State Department with US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and US Vice President Joe Biden. "Given China s huge population, considerable regional diversity and uneven development, we are still faced with many challenges improving people s livelihood and advancing human rights," Xi said. "The Chinese government will always put peoples  interests first and take seriously people s aspirations and demands," said the man who is likely to become China s next president. "We will, in light of China s national conditions, continue to take concrete and effective policies and measures to promote social fairness, justice and harmony and push forward China s course of human rights," he said. He said China is "ready to conduct candid and constructive dialogue and exchanges on human rights with the United States and other countries on the basis of equality and mutual respect." Chinese President Hu Jintao made similar remarks in Washington last year, but both leaders stressed the need to take "national" conditions into account, and Hu acknowledged China does not share Western ideas about human rights. During his talks with Xi, Obama brought up concerns about human rights, saying Washington would "continue to emphasize what we believe is the importance of realizing the aspirations and rights of all people." Human rights groups say that China has also stepped up curbs on dissent, with dozens of government critics detained since last year. Democracy activist Zhu Yufu was sentenced Friday to seven years in prison, his wife said. Residents say that China has imposed virtual martial law in Tibetan areas, amid a wave of self-immolations to protest Beijing s rule, and has kept tight control of the Uighur minority concentrated in northwestern Xinjiang. Standing next to Xi during the lunch, Biden said: "We see our advocacy for human rights as a fundamental aspect of our foreign policy, and we believe a key to the prosperity and stability of all societies." Biden added: "We have been clear about our concern over the areas in which, from our perspective, conditions in China have deteriorated and about the plight of several very prominent individuals. We appreciate your response."

WB approves $240 loan to Egypt

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Itcomes on the back of $600 million in financing for the 1500 megawatt project set in 2010. "The project is the most effective way to quickly strengthen the ability of the power sector to cover the gap in electricity supply and serve more than five million households," the Bank said in a statement. In early February Egypt asked the World Bank for a $1.0 billion loan to help it rebuild its economy. In addition, Cairo is in talks with the International Monetary Fund over an estimated $3.2 billion loan to help bridge its fiscal shortfalls as it attempts to recover from the political upheaval of the past year.

Canada introduces new cyber monitoring rules

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Canada s government Tuesday introduced a bill to give law enforcement authorities sweeping powers to probe online communications, but the move sparked criticism about threats to privacy. "New technologies provide new ways of committing crimes, making them more difficult to investigate," Justice Minister Rob Nicholson told a press conference in unveiling the measure. Opposition parties and civil liberties groups, however, said new police powers contained in the bill could result in unreasonable searches and seizures. Privacy Commissioner Jennifer Stoddart, whose office is independent from the government, said in a letter to Public Safety Minister Vic Toews last October she had "deep concerns" about the proposed changes, which she said could have "serious repercussions for privacy rights." "I recognize that rapid developments in communication technologies are creating new challenges for law enforcement and national security authorities and that the Internet cannot be a lawless zone," Stoddart said. But "by expanding the legal tools of the state to conduct surveillance and access private information, and by reducing the depth of judicial scrutiny... (the bill would allow the) government to subject more individuals to surveillance and scrutiny." Further more it goes "far beyond simply maintaining investigative capacity or modernizing search powers. Rather, (it) added significant new capabilities for investigators to track, and search and seize digital information about individuals." The legislation would require telecommunications service providers to set up systems that allow police or Canada s spy service to intercept communications as part of their investigations. As well, they would be required to provide subscriber information to authorities and other data that would allow police to track suspects using a cell phone or a computer. Toews in parliament insisted the newest draft of the bill balances law enforcement needs and privacy rights, but Stoddart s office told AFP her concerns remain.

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