Web Hosting India Windows Hosting Linux Hosting India Reseller Hosting India News India SEO India Web Design India SEO India

Israel to continue Gaza operation, rejects UNSC ceasefire resolution

Fri, 09 Jan 2009 09:24:00 -0500

Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said on Friday that the IDF operation in Gaza would continue despite the UN Security Council resolution calling for an immediate ceasefire.

“Israel has never agreed to an outside actor determining its right to defend its citizens,” Olmert said in a statement issued following the Security Cabinet discussion on the UNSC resolution.

“The IDF will continue to work to defend Israeli citizens and will carry out all the objectives it was given in the operation,” The Jerusalem Post quoted him, as saying.

Olmert said that the rocket fire from Gaza on Friday morning “only proves that the UN resolution is not practical and will not be honored by the murderous Palestinian organizations,” Olmert added.

Earlier on Friday, Olmert, Defense Minister Ehud Barak and Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni convened for a preliminary consultation on the UNSC Gaza truce resolution ahead of the Security Cabinet meeting scheduled for later in the day.

Livni also released a statement on Friday morning regarding the resolution in which she stressed Israel’s independence in defining its goals.

“Israel’s past, present and future actions are based solely on its considerations, the security of Israel’s residents and its right to self-defense,” she said.

Osama Hamdan, a Hamas envoy to Lebanon, also rejected the UNSC call for a ceasefire, telling the al-Arabiya satellite channel that the group “is not interested in it because it does not meet the demands of the movement.”

Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri said the UN failed to consider the interests of the Palestinian people. (ANI)

Brit cops warn West End revellers to beware of ‘hugger muggers’

Fri, 09 Jan 2009 09:24:00 -0500

The British police have warned West End revellers to beware of the ‘hugger muggers’ that are targeting pedestrians.

The muggers or robbers, according to Scotland Yard, befriend their victims by chatting or asking them to join in a drunken dance, and then relieve them of their wallets or phones.

The police, who first became aware of the offence a few years ago, say the thieves are responsible for 60 per cent of muggings in Westminster, and usually work with certain accomplices.

“Basically it is strangers coming up to people and trying to befriend them and hugging them,” the Telegraph quoted detective Inspector Sean Oxley as saying.

“There are people who try and dance with you while another method is for someone to play football with you in the street with a can. They try anything to get close so they can grab a wallet or a phone,” he added.

The "hugger muggers" often pretend to be drunk themselves, and target people coming out of pubs and clubs in the early hours.

The police are also advising people to drink safely, be aware of unsolicited approaches, and report offences immediately. (ANI)

Obama-brand beer in storage for Inauguration Day celebrations

Fri, 09 Jan 2009 09:23:00 -0500

A beer named after President-elect Barack Obama, which Red Hook-based Six Point Craft Ales stopped selling after Election Day, has been tucked away by some barkeepers for Inauguration Day celebrations.

The ale, which became very popular with its touch of citrus, had made its debut in March during the Democratic primaries, and it sold out in just six days.

But Six Point brought it back Hop Obama from August through Election Day, donating part of the proceeds to Project Vote.

“It was our fastest-selling beer ever,” the New York Daily News quoted Six Point spokesman Jeff Gorlechen as saying.

The Van Dyke St. microbrewery sold 504 kegs of Hop Obama, which was served at 90 bars in New York and Boston.

“It was getting out of hand,” Gorlechen said.

“We couldn''t make it fast enough. We''re a small brewery and it was actually interfering with the production of our other beers,” he stated.

But there will be places in Manhattan, and hopefully Brooklyn where Hop Obama will be poured for Inauguration Day celebrations.

The beer became so popular that barkeepers, who still have a keg or two left with them, decided to use it for the bigger occasion, Obama’s inauguration. (ANI)

Oz mayor ‘gets the s..ts’ after whole town down with diarrhoea reports!

Fri, 09 Jan 2009 09:23:00 -0500

The mayor of Bluff is upset with the claims that almost all the people in the central Queensland town have contracted diarrhoea by drinking contaminated water.

Central Highlands mayor Peter Maguire hit out at the claims of resident Tim Cummings that "the water is so crook, just about everyone gets gastric sooner or later.”

Maguire said that he’s “got the s..ts” with reports.

“The whole town doesn’t have diarrhoea,” the Courier Mail quoted Maguire as saying.

“The story is that everyone in the town has got diarrhoea but that’s not true and it (the report) has given me the s..ts,” he added.

Maguire said the town had endured problems with its drinking water with runoff from a coalmine increasing salinity and a mechanical breakdown at the Blackwater Water Treatment Plant, leading to partially treated water entering the drinking supply on December 15.

Cumming had claimed that almost everyone in town had contracted diarrhoea from drinking water contaminated by the Ensham mine.

Maguire said he could definitely taste the salt in the water after an earlier release of water from the coal mine but he did not believe it had caused a diarrhoea outbreak.

“We’ve just had a lot of rain that has flushed out all that dirty water,” he said.

Residents of Blackwater and Bluff had been advised to boil their drinking water after the December 15 breakdown at the water treatment plant.

A note on the council’s website advised residents that the situation has now been resolved. (ANI)

Gaza conflict could spark violent Islamic backlash in Britain

Fri, 09 Jan 2009 09:23:00 -0500

Muslim advisers have warned British PM Gordon Brown that the Gaza conflict could spark a violent Islamic backlash in Britain.

According to a report in The Sun, the alert came hours after dozens of police officials battled to separate hundreds of demonstrators outside the Israeli Embassy in London.

One cop was hurt and nine men were arrested in Wednesday night’s clashes between pro-Palestinian and pro-Israeli factions in Kensington.

“For the last 11 days, we have policed a number of demonstrations in central London by those who wanted to express their views about the ongoing conflict. We are now preparing for further protests,” said Commander Bob Broadhurst, responsible for public order policing by the Met.

“I am mindful of the deeply passionate response that this conflict causes in people,” he added.

In lieu of the demonstrations that are going on in England since the Gaza conflict started, 14 British Muslim advisers warned Gordon Brown that anger in their UK communities had reached “acute levels of intensity”.

They said that Israel’s attacks on Gaza had “revived extremist groups and empowered their message of violence”.

In a letter to the PM, they called for pressure to be put on the US to change its approach to the crisis.

Maajid Nawaz, of counter-extremism think-tank the Quilliam Foundation, said moderate groups needed to be able to explain the Government’s stance to British Muslims.

This would help them counter the view put by hate-mongers that it was not doing enough or did not care about Palestinian deaths.

Meanwhile, Jewish communities in Britain have reported a significant rise in anti-Semitic attacks since Israel launched its offensive on December 27.

These include two serious assaults on Jews, an arson attack on a synagogue in Brondesbury Park, North West London, and death threats to rabbis in Manchester. (ANI)

Most and least stressful jobs revealed

Fri, 09 Jan 2009 09:22:00 -0500

Police officers, fire-fighters and family or general practice physician have been ranked among occupations with the highest levels of work-life conflict while taxi drivers, insurance adjusters and bank tellers are among those with the least, a new study has revealed.

The study found that the people who have to interact a lot with others in their jobs, they experience a lot of stress when trying to juggle work and family.

“High levels of interaction at work may lead to increased fatigue and depletion of personal resources needed to fulfill family role obligations,” Globeandmail.com quoted the study author Erich Dierdorff, assistant professor of management at DePaul University, as saying.

For the study, researchers examined people in 126 occupations and found that police officers, fire-fighters and family or general practice physicians were ranked among occupations with the highest levels of work-life conflict while taxi drivers, insurance adjusters and bank tellers are among those with the least.

The findings remained consistent “even after controlling for other factors known to create conflict, including demographics, schedule flexibility, time pressure, workload and support offered by co-workers.”

Dierdorff found that social interaction is one stress factor, but another is whether a person faces increased responsibility for the work quality, health and safety of co-workers.

He suggested that employers use the study''s results to tailor new employee training and support services “to address work-life stress generated by the nature of work roles.”

The study appears in the Journal of Applied Psychology. (ANI)

Aussies work longest hours in developed world

Fri, 09 Jan 2009 09:15:00 -0500

Australians work the longest hours in the developed world, according to a new study.

One third of full-time workers won’t take any annual leave this year, according the country''s largest ever study into annual leave accrual by Tourism Australia.

Almost 60 per cent of full-timers don''t use their four weeks holidays each year and have at least eight weeks of leave up their sleeve, the figures show.

Corporate men aged between 35 and 49 are the worst offenders, comprising the largest group with accrued leave - and half of them have children under the age of 12.

Australians have 121 million days of accrued annual leave, worth 31 billion dollar in holiday pay.

Geoff Buckley, Tourism Australia managing director, said there had been a shift in Australia''s traditionally laid-back psyche to one where diligent workers were too busy to look at a holiday brochure.

"You''ve got younger people who are driving to create a career and don''t take the leave that they''re owed," the Sydney Morning Herald quoted Buckley, as saying.

"Or there is the other end of the market where they''re worried about taking leave and maybe not having a job at the end of it.

"And then there is a whole group who are keeping that leave up their sleeve in case something happens.

"That''s a big risk strategy for people with families or who are struggling to pay the mortgage. It''s almost like a forced savings," Buckley

And when people do take time off, they''re opting for short, weekend escapes over the traditional month-long coast holiday, popular 20 years ago.

Buckley said many people felt a short break was enough, while others had too much trouble finding a long stretch when both partners could get time off work. (ANI)

Single cigarette causes £6million of damage to stately home!

Fri, 09 Jan 2009 09:14:00 -0500

A discarded cigarette caused a blaze leading to 6 million pounds of damage to a stately home.

An official report has accused a plumber for dropping the cigarette during a fag break, which gutted Grade II listed Moreton Hall last March.

The plumber was in the team doing maintenance checks in the roof of the Edwardian mansion, which is now part of an agricultural college.

“The lad is very upset. He has admitted dropping the cigarette, but there is no proof that it started the fire,” the Mirror quoted Paul Lockyer, managing director of the Magna Heating Company, based in Warwick, as saying.

“There were other people, including students, around at the time. The truth is we will never know for sure what caused the fire,” he added.

Ian Tonner of Warwickshire Fire Service confirmed that it was an accident.

“A worker had gone on to the roof for a cigarette. He dropped it down a hole he thought was a drain pipe – it was a hole in the roof,” he said.

The fire destroyed the roof and the lavish interior, including oak panelled walls.

Restoration work is due to be completed next year. (ANI)

Obama might establish channel of communication with Hamas

Fri, 09 Jan 2009 09:13:00 -0500

Sources close to US President-elect Barrack Obama’s transition team have said that he is likely to establish a channel for communicating with the Islamist organization Hamas in Palestine.

According to a report in the Guardian, the incoming Obama administration is prepared to abandon George Bush’s doctrine of isolating Hamas, by opening contacts with the organization.

The move to open contacts with Hamas, which could be initiated through the US intelligence services, would represent a definitive break with the Bush presidency’s ostracizing of the group.

The state department has designated Hamas a terrorist organisation, and in 2006, Congress passed a law banning US financial aid to the group.

There is no talk of Obama approving direct diplomatic negotiations with Hamas early on, but he is being urged by advisers to initiate low-level or clandestine approaches, and there is growing recognition in Washington that the policy of ostracizing Hamas is counter-productive.

A potential contender for a foreign policy role in the Obama administration suggested that the president-elect would not be bound by the Bush doctrine of isolating Hamas.

“This is going to be an administration that is committed to negotiating with critical parties on critical issues,” the source said.

A tested course would be to start contacts through Hamas and the US intelligence services, similar to the secret process through which the US engaged with the PLO in the 1970s.

Meanwhile, a UN resolution was agreed last night at the UN, calling for an immediate and unconditional ceasefire between Hamas and Israeli forces in Gaza.

The resolution was passed, though the US, represented by secretary of state Condoleezza Rice, abstained.

The two weeks since Israel began its military campaign against Gaza have heightened anticipation about how Obama intends to deal with the Middle East.

He adopted a strongly pro-Israel position during the election campaign, as did his erstwhile opponent and choice for secretary of state, Hillary Clinton.

But, it is widely thought Obama would adopt a more even-handed approach once he is president. (ANI)

Obama appoints veteran CIA agent as his top advisor to tackle terror menace

Fri, 09 Jan 2009 09:13:00 -0500

US President-elect Barack Obama has appointed John O. Brennan as his top adviser on counterterrorism.

By appointing Brennan to the post, Obama has got an influential adviser on the Middle East and Iran.

Incidentally, Brennan had called for a sharp break with the past U.S. policy regarding the Middle-East, and Iran.

The appointment comes six weeks after he (Brennan) was forced to pull out of contention for the directorship of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), because of fears that his statements supporting some controversial interrogation techniques would have complicated his confirmation to the post, the Washington Post reported.

Brennan was in the news recently for defending the CIA''s long-standing practice of forced renditions, or transfers, of terrorism suspects for interrogations, a position that forced his withdrawal of his candidacy to head the CIA.

He also had to face personal criticism from human rights experts regarding his view on the trial and transfer of terror suspects.

Brennan a CIA veteran, currently heads a private counterterrorism firm, the Analysis Corporation. The firm has been providing services to several federal agencies and private firms on counterterrorism over the last one decade. (ANI)