”हाफ़िज़ की रिहाई पर टिप्पणी नहीं”

पाकिस्तान और अफ़गानिस्तान में अमरीका के विशेष दूत रिचर्ड होलब्रुक ने आज जमात उद दावा के प्रमुख हाफ़िज़ मोहम्मद सईद की रिहाई पर ”परेशानी” जताई लेकिन फिर बयान से पलट गए. होलब्रुक ने एक निजी पाकिस्तानी टीवी चैनल से कहा कि ओबामा प्रशासन सईद की रिहाई से ”परेशान” है लेकिन वो बाद में इस बयान से यह कहते हुए पलट गए कि यह ”पाकिस्तान का अंदरुनी मामला” है. पाकिस्तान की यात्रा पर पहुंचे होलब्रुक ने दिन में बड़े नेताओं से मुलाक़ात की. संवाद समिति प्रेट्र के अनुसार होलब्रुक ने जियो न्यूज़ चैनल से कहा,” हाफ़िज की रिहाई से हम सभी परेशान हैं.” लेकिन बाद में पाकिस्तान के राष्ट्रपति आसिफ अली ज़रदारी के साथ एक संयुक्त प्रेस वार्ता में इस संबंध में पूछे जाने पर उन्होंने बयान पलट दिया. प्रेस कांफ्रेस में उन्होंने कहा कि हाफ़िज़ सईद का मामला पाकिस्तान का अंदरूनी मामला है. उनका कहना था, ” मैं इस प्रेस कांफ्रेंस में इस मुद्दे पर टिप्पणी करने नहीं आया हूं.यह पाकिस्तान का अंदरुनी मामला है मैं बस यही कह सकता हूं.” उल्लेखनीय है कि लाहौर की हाई कोर्ट ने बुधवार को पर्याप्त सबूतों के अभाव में हाफ़िज़ मोहम्मद सईद को बरी कर दिया था. पाकिस्तान को मदद होलब्रुक की यात्रा के दौरान पाकिस्तान के उत्तर पश्चिमी प्रांत में बड़ी संख्या में विस्थापित हुए लोगों के लिए मदद की भी घोषणा की गई है. होलब्रुक ने बताया कि अमरीकी कांग्रेस पाकिस्तान के लोगों के लिए 200 मिलियन डॉलर की मदद मुहैया कराएगी. उनका कहना था कि तालिबान के ख़िलाफ़ कार्रवाई के कारण विस्थापित हो रहे लोगों को ये मदद देना ज़रुरी है. पाकिस्तान को दी जा रही मदद के बारे में उनका कहना था, ” अमरीका पाकिस्तान की शरणार्थी समस्या से निपटने में मदद कर रहा है और पूरी दुनिया से मिल रही मदद का आधा से अधिक हिस्सा दे रहा है. मैं कहना चाहूंगा कि और देशों को भी पाकिस्तान की मदद करनी चाहिए. ”

New US aid for Pakistan displaced

The Obama administration has asked the US Congress for an extra $200m to help displaced people in northwest Pakistan, the top US envoy to the region says.

Richard Holbrooke said the cash was needed for emergency aid to help people affected by the anti-Taliban offensive.

Mr Holbrooke was speaking at a news conference with Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari in Islamabad.

He said it was ludicrous to suggest that anyone but al-Qaeda and the Taliban are responsible for the crisis.

Diplomatic tightrope

The US envoy to Pakistan and Afghanistan was responding to claims in a new taped message by al-Qaeda leader Osama Bin Laden that it was US pressure which led to the army’s offensive and caused millions of people to flee the Swat valley region.

 

We believe that the actions taken by the Pakistani government and the military in recent weeks have… improved the situation US envoy Richard Holbrooke ‘Bin Laden’ tape denounces Obama Swat fight ‘may take two months’

Mr Holbrooke wants to focus in public on the issue of helping more than two million people displaced by the fighting between government forces and Taliban militants.

Hence the announcement of a request for significant additional funding – he said that he hopes the people of Pakistan will understand that the US has given more assistance to people affected by the fighting than the rest of the world combined.

“The United States will now have given well over half of all the assistance that your country has received from the world in regard to the refugee crisis. I must say in all frankness I think other countries can and should do more,” Mr Holbrooke said.

 

Mr Holbrooke said militants were to blame for the conflict

Concentrating on the humanitarian crisis is a deliberate strategy in a country where the United States is not popular.

Mr Holbrooke is as ever treading a diplomatic tightrope – wanting to express support for military action by Pakistan, without giving the impression that it is being done at the behest of the US.

Asif Ali Zardari, standing alongside Mr Holbrooke at the news conference, said his government was defending the homeland against a serious threat.

But he acknowledged that the fight to win hearts and minds was only just beginning.

To underline the depth of that challenge a new report from the International Crisis Group has warned that unless relief, rehabilitation and reconstruction efforts are urgently improved, the army’s offensive against the Taliban risks leaving extremists as the ultimate winners.

Meira Kumar’s selection political symbolism?

New Delhi: Sonia Gandhi proposed the name of five-time MP from Bihar, Meira Kumar as the Lok Sabha Speaker. Her choice was unanimously accepted, with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh even patting Meira Kumar‘s back.

 In what is being seen as political symbolism, the Congress has scored a masterstroke by proposing a woman to the top post, even adding to its earlier feat of making Pratibha Patil the first woman President of India.

 Meira takes over from CPI(M)’s Somnath Chatterjee who used to conduct the House with his booming voice and authority.

 And there are some who doubt whether a soft-spoken woman can conduct the House dominated by men. Meira admitted as much herself by saying, “People have commented on my voice and think itis not the booming voice which is required for running the House.”

 Some would criticise Meira Kumar‘s selection as Speaker as political symbolism stretched too far. But the fact also remains that the choice of a Dalit and an MP from Bihar is a combination which may be difficult to refute.

Upcoming trio from Nokia news

Nokia 6600i slide

The number 6600 has ranked high with Nokia. We all remember the days, back in 2003, the curvy form of the Nokia 6600, which was the company’s top-of-the-line Series 60 business phone.

It’s since been recycled in the form of a new Series 40 device, the Nokia 6600 slide phone, which has just been announced.

The company claims that it’s its ”smallest 5 megapixel slider to date”. Build quality is high as the quad-band 3G phone, which comes in black or silver colour schemes, offers brushed steel covers and chrome center key.

The screen is a 2.2-inch, 240 x 320 pixel, display with 16 million colours, while the 5 megapixel rear-mounted camera is backed with a double LED flash, autofocus and eight times zoom, and can handle video recording at up to 15 frames per second at 640 x 480 resolution.

The 6600i slide comes with GPS and Nokia Maps software for location-based services. The phone will also ship with a 1GB microSD card, which can be expanded up to 16GB, while you can listen to the FM radio thanks to bundled the Nokia WH-203 stereo headset.

The Nokia 6600i slide has an estimated retail price of 200 euros (excluding taxes and subsidies) and it is expected to start shipping in the third quarter of 2009.

Nokia E 52 Smartphone

Heavy talker, but light e-mailer?  This new business phone from Nokia will be perfect, then.

They’ve just announced another smartphone in its E-series, the E52. The main feather in the E52’s cap is the extra long-life battery, which should last users eight hours when talking on a single charge.
 
Weighing 98g, the E52 is one of the smallest E-series phones Nokia’s launched, measuring 116 x 49 x 9.9 mm. HSDPA internet and a 3.2-megapixel camera have all been crammed on, as has A-GPS and – as a first – also boasts an inbuilt compass ( a La Android G1).
 
This one, though, is for the business users who aren’t serious about emailing (there’s no qwerty keyboard, sorry folks), the Nokia E52 will be launched in the second half of this year for around 245 Euros.

Nokia 6700

The new Nokia 6700 handset is set to hit the UK this month.

This is the successor to the much respected 6300, mixing simple, eye-catching styling with one or two high-end features. If that sounds like your kind of phone, you can pick it up in a matter of weeks in the UK.

19th June is the expected date of the UK launch, with a price of £269 for the sim-free version, which will be available from Nokia’s flagship store on London’s Regent Street or online from Nokia. If you don’t happen to be in the capital, other operators will be offering the mid-range handset a week later, no doubt free with the right contract.

For your outlay, you get a handset with a slim profile, understated metallic looks and a few interesting selling points within, including a 5-megapixel camera, A-GPS with Nokia Maps, high-speed HSDPA data access, a 2.2-inch QVGA screen, up to 8GB of storage and two microphones for audio clarity.  To top off the list is the lovely all-metal keypad.

It’s certainly no iPhone beater, but if you want a phone primarily for calling, the Nokia 6700 does it well and does it with style.

10 most dangerous web search terms

Web searches including terms like lyrics, free music downloads are most likely to put your computer at risk of virus or even malicious software,

for security firm McAfee, Inc. has listed these words as some of the most dangerous search terms on the internet.

In a recent report, McAfee has revealed Web search terms that put users most at risk for accidentally downloading unwanted or malicious software.

The report, titled ”The Web’s Most Dangerous Search Terms”, reveals that the researchers analysed over 2,600 of the most popular search terms of 2008 from a range of sources, including the Google Zeitgeist and the Yahoo! 2008 Year in Review.

“Search engines are our on-ramp, our highway and our off-ramp — they’re everything for Web travel. The hacking community is very smart — they can spot a trend as well as any trendspotter,” the Telegraph quoted Shane Keats, the research analyst with McAfee who led the study, as saying.

After analysing the search terms, the researchers found that hackers looking for crowds.

They are also attacking Internet surfers who are ready to take an online action, like downloading a ringtone or logging in to a site with a name, address and social security number.

For example, people searching for free music downloads are easy targets for hackers because they are expecting to download an mp3.

In order to evaluate the risk associated with each keyword, the researchers looked at the search results generated by each keyword, and then calculated the percentage of links that would take users to Web sites with unwanted adware, spyware or other malicious software.

For example, the term “lyric,” had an average risk of 14.8 percent, meaning that nearly 15 out of 100 search results would take users to risky sites.

The most dangerous categories of search terms include online games, free downloads, song lyrics, and screensavers.

Search terms involving online games were among the riskiest because online games often prompt users to install plug-ins or register with a name or e-mail address.

Keywords that include lyrics were risky because Web sites featuring the words to songs sometimes host links that take users to sites with unwanted pop-up ads or spyware.

The 10 Most Dangerous Web Searches in the United States are:

1. Word Unscrambler
2. Lyrics
3. MySpace
4. Free Music Downloads
5. Phelps, Weber-Gale, Jones and Lezak Wins 4x 100m Relay
6. Free Music
7. Game Cheats
8. Printable Fill in Puzzles
9. Free Ringtones
10. Solitaire