Taliban renew Afghan offensive despite UN plea

By Hamid Shalizi and Rob Taylor

KABUL | Sun 1 May 2011, 8: 28 am EDT

KABUL (Reuters)-insurgents under the leadership of the Taliban at least 11 people killed in Afghanistan in a renewed springtime offensive on Sunday despite a huge security clampdown, hours after the United Nations pleaded for all parties to avoid civilian casualties.

The hardline Islamists have warned citizens to stay away from public gatherings, military bases and convoys, as well as the Government offices, because these sites would be the target of a wave of attacks begins on Sunday.

Both sides of the conflict have vowed to protect civilians – the civilian toll hit record levels in 2010--but more than half of the deaths on Sunday were ordinary Afghans.

"Our mission is to ensure that citizens and Afghan people are not affected by now 11 years of conflict," said Staffan de Mistura, the head of the UN in Afghanistan, Reuters Television in his heavily guarded compound in the capital Kabul.

"What we are concerned about, and I believe that every Afghan is concerned about is whether the Afghans and Afghan citizens will again the victims of a long conflict," said de Mistura.

The vast majority of civilian casualties in Afghanistan are caused by insurgents, figures from the United Nations and other human rights groups Show, although there are still many caused by foreign hunting militants with air strikes and night raids.

The increasingly sophisticated Taliban communication network quickly wanted to Mistura's comments. Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid foreign troops must also protection of citizens and their "rising atrocities" stop.

CHILD BOMBER

The new wave of attacks began early on Sunday with what appeared to be a surprising and rare tactic--the use of a bomber kid in the dangerous South Eastern Province of Paktika.

The bomber, wearing a vest packed with explosives, four civilians were killed and 12 wounded, said a Government spokesman of the. A statement from the Office of the Governor of Paktika province, near the borders with Pakistan, said that the bomber was 12 years old.

In neighboring Ghazni, two police and two civilians were killed in a gunfight after insurgents opened fire on a passing police vehicle in the main city of the province, police said. A bomb planted on a bicycle near Ghazni police headquarters injured 13.

In the South of volatile forces the Governor of the province of Kandahar, the birthplace of the Taliban, thousands of security ordered on high alert, with police and Afghan soldiers manning checkpoints at each roundabout in Kandahar city.

Gunmen on a motorcycle killed an Afghan soldier in Kandahar. In Logar Province, South of Kabul, were two members of a Community police unit killed by a roadside bomb, police officials said.

Military commanders expect a spike in violence with the onset of spring and summer "fighting season", although the usual winter lull was not seen as u. S-led forces pressed their attacks against the insurgents, especially in the southern heartland of the Taliban.

Suppressing violence has taken on even greater importance this year, with a gradual withdrawal of foreign combat troops set to begin in July as part of a transfer to Afghan security forces. That withdrawal is set to be completed by the end of 2014.

Senior military officials say recent intelligence reports give the fresh campaign of violence would last about a week and be mounted by the Taliban, supported by the al-Qaeda-linked Haqqani network and other insurgents.

Security is increased at military bases and Government buildings throughout the country, while in Kabul extra police at checkpoints known as "the ring of steel" are stationed.

The Taliban said on Saturday the objectives of their attacks would foreign troops, senior officials of the Government of President Hamid Karzai, also companies work for the NATO-led ISAF International Security Assistance Force ().

Washington and ISAF commanders believe that they breach against a growing rebellion have been made since last year were 30,000 extra u.s. troops sent to Afghanistan.

Afghanistan attacks very hit record levels in 2010, with civilian and military victims of the worst since u. s.-backed Afghan forces the Taliban Government was overthrown in late 2001.

The United Nations has some of its staff in Afghanistan moved after receiving what is being said credible threat of increasing attacks in various locations across the country.

The United Nations is several times the target. Seven foreign staff were killed last month when demonstrators overran a UN compound in the North.

De Mistura said indiscriminate use of bombs by the Taliban in cities and elsewhere had caused huge numbers of victims among the civilian population, while air raid by the NATO-led force had also caused many deaths.

The number of civilians killed in Afghanistan in 2010 rose 15 percent from the previous year to 2,777, according to figures from un with responsible for about three quarters of the insurgents. "Afghan citizens have paid the price of war for too long," said de Mistura.

(Additional reporting by Ismail Sameem in KANDAHAR; Written by Paul Tait; Edit by Andrew Marshall)

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Israel stops Palestinians cash to go after Hamas

Israel's Finance Minister Yuval Steinitz holds a press conference in Jerusalem, February 23, 2010.

Credit: Reuters/Ronen ZvulunBy Ori Lewis

JERUSALEM | Sun may 1, 2011 8: 31 am EDT

Jerusalem (Reuters)-Israel has suspended tax transfers to the Palestinians, the Minister of finance said on Sunday, for fear of the money will be used to finance Hamas after President Mahmoud Abbas struck a deal with the Islamists.

The Palestinian Authority (PA), led by U.S.-backed Abbas, asked of foreign powers to prevent Israel blocking transfers, allowing up to 70% of the income. A senior Palestinian official said Israel, by its action, had "a war started."

Israeli Finance Minister Yuval Steinitz said he had suspended a routine transfer of 300 million shekels (88 million dollars) in customs and other charges which Israel on behalf of the Palestinians under interim peace deals collects.

Steinitz said in an interview on Israel Army Radio, which feared the money for the funding of Hamas, an Islamic militant group that runs the Gaza Strip and whose Charter calls for the destruction of the Jewish State.

Israel had threatened sanctions last week in response to Abbas surprise announcement of a Hamas unit which provides for the formation of an interim Government and elections later this year.

Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad said the PA was "in contact with all international parties and influential forces to stop Israel from taking these measures," the official WAFA news agency reported.

"Threats ... will not stop us to close our reconciliation process. It is our policy and we must work harder to finish our divisions as soon as possible, "added Fayyad.

The PA is also heavily dependent on donor support, including the United States, who said that future assistance will depend on the shape of a new Palestinian Government, expects to be formed under the agreement unit.

ISRAELI OPPOSITION

In public comments, the Israeli Cabinet, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu confirmed his opposition to the unity pact and said that the reconciliation "all those in the world," Middle East want peace to worry.

"Peace is possible only with those who live in peace with us, and not with those who want to try to destroy us," said Netanyahu, who came to Britain and France later this week for talks with their leaders.

Palestinian leaders have been invited by Egypt to Cairo for a three-day ceremony begins on Monday, which will end with the signing of the agreement of the unit, Palestinian officials said.

Abbas spokesman Nabil Abu Rdainah said it could take up to six weeks to form a new Government. He said that it would be made up of Independents with no connection Abbas the Fatah movement, or Hamas, and foreign States should have no reason to boycott it.

Hamas is shunned by the West about his refusal to recognize Israel, renounce violence and accept the interim peace agreements.

U.S.-backed Israeli-Palestinian negotiations on a permanent peace agreement were revived in September but quickly fizzled after Netanyahu refused to extend a limited moratorium on building in Jewish settlements in the West Bank, territory Palestinians want as part of a future State.

Abbas has said he would return to negotiations unless construction in settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, areas Israel in a 1967 war caught, was stopped. Netanyahu has said that is an unacceptable condition for negotiations.

Tax transfers make the PA, which uses limited self-rule in the West Bank, with $ 1 billion to $ 1.4 billion per year. Saeb Erekat, a senior Palestinian official, said that by withholding the money, "Israel has a war began even before the formation of the Government."

Steinitz noted that Israel tax revenue in the past, during a Palestinian uprising that began in 2000 had held back.

(Additional reporting by Ali Sawafta and Tom Perry in Ramallah, writing by Dan Williams and Ori Lewis; editing by Mark Trevelyan)

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Yemen since Saleh teeters transition deal fails to sign

The soldiers of the army is waiting for a barrier blocking a demonstration demanding the ouster of Yemen President Ali Abdullah Salehin the southern city of Taiz 1 May 2011.

Credit: Reuters/Khaled Mohammed Ghobari and Mohamed AbdullahBy Sudam

SANAA | Sun 1 May 2011, 7: 47 am EDT

SANAA (Reuters)-A Wave-mediated deal to relieve Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh of power wobbled on the verge of collapse on Sunday after he refused to sign, raising the threat of increasing instability in the State of the Arabian peninsula.

The pact would have made Saleh, a wise political survivor who has been in power for 33 years, the third ruler ousted by a wave of pro-democratic popular uprisings sweeping the Arab world. He had the result of the deal on Saturday to sign it.

Yemen opposition, furious about the last change of heart, said that she considered rising pressure on the President step aside after three months of street protests demanding his ouster.

"We are studying the options of escalations and waiting for a U.S.-European stance on Saleh's refusal to sign," said a senior opposition leader Reuters, declining to be named because no formal decision had been taken.

A Gulf source said a formal signing ceremony in Riyadh on Sunday in which the opposition due to seal the deal was signed after Saleh in Sanaa was postponed. Download source package gave no word on whether or when it may be rescheduled.

The United States and neighbouring oil giant Saudi Arabia, the Yemen standoff resolved to avert from the chaos that a Yemen wing of al Qaeda a greater threat to the region could make.

Gulf Arab foreign ministers were to meet to discuss the crisis. But the opposition said it would not travel to Riyadh on Sunday to the talks, saying that there was no reason to attend.

Gulf Cooperation Council mediators told opposition Yemen on Saturday as leader of his party would sign but had refused to sign in his capacity as President as required by the deal. The GCC Secretary General, who for the signing in Sanaa, Yemen left without securing Saleh signature.

STILL HOPEFUL

But Yemen opposition said it still hoped that Gulf States Saleh would extract the signature. Both Saleh and the opposition, including both Islamists and leftists, had in principle accepted the deal.

"The case is now with the Gulf States. If they can convince Saleh, that would be good, "said Mohammed Basindwa, an opposition figure tipped as a possible interim Prime Minister, late on Saturday.

If it is brought back on the table, it would be a deal, Saleh appoint a Minister-president of the opposition at the head of a transitional Government, which would be a presidential election for 60 days after he shows. It would also grant immunity from prosecution to Saleh, his family and aides.

Protesters say they will continue on the streets to Saleh leaves. They also called for him to be tried for corruption and the death of the estimated 144 demonstrators.

In further violence, gunmen launched attacks with rocket-propelled grenades and gunfire on Sunday against a building in the southern province of Abyan governorate, three Government soldiers guarding the site, killing and wounding four others, a local official said. He blamed the attack on al-Qaeda.

Violence is also recently broken out in southern Yemen, where analysts say the Government, which has tried to contain separatists in the South and Shi'ite rebels in the North, fears separatists trying to take advantage of Yemen of leadership crisis to renew a push for separation.

Analysts say that a 30-day window for Saleh to resign would be enough time to disgruntled forces of the old guard to stir problems in Yemen, where half the population owns a gun and al-Qaeda has gained a foothold in the mountainous regions.

(Additional reporting by Mohammed Mukhashaf in Aden; writing by Cynthia Johnston; editing by Mark Heinrich)

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Americans favor Republicans poll: budget handling

The employee departs U.S. Capitol, 8 April 2011.

Credit: Reuters/Kevin LamarqueBy David Morgan

WASHINGTON | Thu Apr 29, 2010 4: 49 pm EDT

WASHINGTON (Reuters)-U.s. Congressional Republicans would do a better job than Democrats in dealing with the budget of the UNITED STATES, according to a poll released Friday shows part of President Barack Obama at a disadvantage as legislators near another showdown on federal spending.

The poll findings underscore the challenge facing Obama as seeking public support for his proposals to address the growing US budget deficit--an issue that could play a key role in the efforts of the President to win re-election in 2012.

The USA Today/Gallup survey 1013 US adults examined whether Americans have more confidence in the ability of Republicans or Democrats in Congress to deal with six major issues facing the country.

Federal budget was the only issue, in which respondents clearly preferred one over the other party, with 48 percent favors Republicans and Democrats 36 percent.

The poll found that Americans would prefer Republicans by smaller margins for four other topics: Afghanistan, the US economy, immigration and jobs. Democrats hold a small advantage in handling health care, found in the vote.

The poll, conducted April 20-23, had a 4 percentage-point margin of error.

The federal budget deficit is forecast to hit $ 1.4 trillion in the current financial year ending on 30 September.

Congress receives combat budget again next week, when lawmakers return from their annual spring break, with a disclosure involves Federal expenditure during the financial year 2012 starts on 1 October.

Republicans this spring used the threat of a Government shutdown to win concessions on tax cuts and spending 2011 from Obama's fellow Democrats.

A battle of the first line will be over an impending vote to raise the Federal debt ceiling 14.3 trillion, which Republicans will be used as a lever for precise new reductions in expenditure.

Analysts say failure to raise the debt limit could have devastating consequences for global economic markets and the economic future of America. The United States will reach the ceiling by mid-May, but the Treasury Department says it can avoid the default until 8 July.

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Microsoft stock tumbles after Windows sales dip

Sam McDermott plays a Fable III PC game "at the Microsoft booth at the 2011 International Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas, Nevada, January 9, 2011.

Credit: Reuters/Steve Marcus

SEATTLE | Fri 29 april 2011 6: 33 pm EDT

SEATTLE (Reuters)-Microsoft Corp shares fell as much as 5 percent on Friday, a day after the software company a dip in sales of its Windows operating system reported.

the world's second-largest tech company behind Apple Inc. met Wall Street earnings estimate and beat on the total sales in its earnings report on Thursday.

But investors were busy with lower personal computer sales nag Windows, Xbox sales bringing down profit margins and losses in online business.

Microsoft shares closed 3 percent at $ 25.92 on Nasdaq after a late-day rally. Earlier in the they hit a low of $ 25.36, had a decrease of 5 percent that would have been the largest one-day percentage decline since July 2009, the shares closed at that level.

The shares ended around the level they were on Monday, before a run-up to quarterly figures. The stock was sharply after chip maker Intel Corp forecast earnings above Wall Street estimates, feeding optimism that a dip in sales last quarter PC a long-term trend has not indicated.

"Everyone, including myself, hit the table on the Intel trade," said analyst Colin Gillis BGC Partners. "And it just doesn't happen."

PC sales fell 1% last quarter, according to research firm Gartner [ID: nN13301394]. Microsoft's results show that, although it said business question was surpassing the weak consumer demand for PCs.

The stock is down 16 percent in the last 12 months, compared with a 16 percent gain in the Nasdaq.

"There were two catalysts for the sharp fall of Microsoft," said Joe Cusick, senior market analyst at Chicago-based firm online brokerage optionsXpress. "One, the stock broke through the 200-day moving average of $ 26.08, and UBS lowered their target price for the stock."

UBS analyst Brent Thill on Friday that its price target on Microsoft $ 32 from $ 35 cut, citing the long-term threat of the tablets to the traditional PC business.

"Even though they had good earnings, the PC market and there is still uncertainty about whether or not Microsoft with the growing Tablet and handheld devices from the likes of Samsung and Motorola can compete," said Cusick.

Options traders, many of whom bets on Microsoft shares jump earlier in the week--maybe as a hedge placed the possession of the stock in the case of a fall--moved to a more critical mode.

"There is nothing too rosy in Microsoft options trading on Friday, compared with some of the bullish trade we saw for revenue," said Caitlin Duffy, equity options analyst in the Interactive Brokers Group in Greenwich, Connecticut.

"For the most part, we see sell call options in the short term," she said, indicating traders are looking to get rid of their rights to the shares to buy.

Microsoft analysts generally kept their belief that Microsoft a rough patch in PC sales will survive. 25 of 35 analysts surveyed by Star Mine recommend buying the stock. Only says sell.

As a result of the decline of Microsoft's it is close to be overshadowed by old enemy IBM in terms of market value. Apple, which Microsoft struck last year, is the most valuable U.s. 321 billion dollar tech company, Microsoft is second 225 billion dollars and IBM is third 207 billion dollars.

(Reporting by Bill Rigby and Doris Frankel. Edit by Robert MacMillan, Bernard Orr)

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Pope John Paul beatified before the huge crowd

A view of the crowd in Saint Peter's Square during the beatification mass for Pope John Paul II led by Pope Benedict XVI in the Vatican, may 1, 2011.

Credit: Reuters/Stefano RellandiniBy Philip Pullella and Catherine Hornby

VATICAN CITY | Sun 1 May 2011, 6: 51 am EDT

Vatican City (Reuters)-the late Pope John Paul moved during a joyful ceremony that more than a million people, the largest crowd since his funeral in Rome six years ago, pulled off a major step closer to sainthood on Sunday.

"From now on Pope John Paul is called ' blessed '", Pope Benedict, wear brilliant white and gold robes, solemnly proclaimed in Latin, establishing that its predecessor would feast day October 22, the day of the inauguration of John Paul's history-making pontificate in 1978.

The cheers of the crowd was a carpet with a smiling John Paul revealed seconds after Benedict read the proclamation.

St Peter's Square was jam-packed and the crowd stretched as far back as the Tiber River, more than half a kilometre (550 meters) away. The crowd of followers, many with national flags and singing songs, had moved to the Vatican area from all directions, from before dawn to get a place good for the mass.

Police estimated the crowd at more than one million people. Many camped during the night on the square, which was decorated with posters of the late Pope and one of his most famous statements, "don't be afraid!"

In his sermon, Benedict noted that the late Pope, whom he praised as "the strength of a titan" have had and who gave millions of people "the power to believe" thousands of times, crowds had blessed from his window overlooking the same square.

"Bless us now," said Benedict.

Many of the participants were from John Paul's native Poland. Dozens of red and white Polish flags above the crowd and a cheer bobbed did when a group of Poland a large banner read released "thank you, God", which balloons.

"We were at the funeral and we had to be here to see beatified him," said Janusc Skibinski, 40, who drove 29 hours with his family from their home near the border with Belarus.

A place of honor was reserved for Sister Marie Simon-Pierre Normand, French nun who suffered from Parkinson's disease but whose inexplicable cure is attributed to John Paul's speech to God to perform a miracle, giving the grounds for his beatification.

After the proclamation, Normand ceased to be a silver reliquary with a vial of blood taken from the Pope in the last few days of his life in case it was needed for a transfusion.

The Vatican will have to write another wonder John Paul's intercession after the beatification in order for him to be declared a Saint.

The Pope was beatified on the day the church celebrates the feast of divine mercy, which this year fell on May 1, coinciding with the main workers accommodation in the Communist world. The timing was ironic, given the role of the Polish Pope in the fall of communism in his homeland and in Eastern Europe.

DELEGATIONS FROM ALL OVER THE WORLD

Some 90 official delegations from around the world, including members of five European royal families and 16 heads of State, attended the beatification.

They included the Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe, who has been widely criticized for human rights violations in his country. Mugabe is banned from traveling to the European Union, but the Vatican--a sovereign State--is not a member of the block.

Pope John Paul on Friday, the coffin was excavated from the crypts below St Peter's Basilica and will be posted for the main altar. It will continue and the Basilica remains open until all visitors who want to view have done.

It will then be moved to a new crypt under an altar in a side chapel in the vicinity of Michelangelo's statue of the Pietà. The marble slab which covered his first Cemetery will be sent to Poland.

John Paul's beatification has set a new speed record for modern times, rather than six years and one month after his death on 2 April 2005.

While the overwhelming majority of Catholics welcome, there are a minority, with some saying that it happened too fast.

Liberals in the Church say that John Paul with theological dissidents who wanted to help the poor, particularly in Latin America was too harsh. Some say he is ultimately responsible for sexual abuse scandals that have rocked the Catholic Church, because they occurred or came to light when he was responsible.

Ultra-Conservatives say he was too open to other religions and that he is the liturgy "infected" by local cultures, such as the African dances, on his travels abroad are allowed.

(Edit by Mark Trevelyan)

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Sony to resume of some services of PlayStation

A woman runs on a floor advertisement for Sony Corp's PlayStation 3 game console in an electronic shop in Tokyo, April 27, 2011.

Credit: Reuters/Yuriko NakaoBy Isabel Reynolds

TOKYO | Sun 1 May 2011, 7: 06 am EDT

TOKYO (Reuters)-Sony said it would some services on the PlayStation Network this week resume and offer incentives to customers to try to prevent them turning to competitors after the theft of personal information belonging to 78 million user accounts.

Sony executives apologized for the violation of the large amounts of data at a press conference in Tokyo on Sunday, the first public comments by senior management to the crisis.

"We deeply apologize for causing great unrest and effort to our users," said Kazuo Hirai, Sony's number 2 and the frontrunner to succeed CEO Howard Stringer, bowing deeply three times during a lengthy press conference. Stringer was not at the event.

Many Playstation users around the world had been irked by the fact that the first warning of one of the largest Internet security burglary ever came a week after Sony a problem with the network on April 19, found.

The warning that user credit card information might be stolen also came just hours after Sony unveiled its first tablet computers at an event where executives made no mention of the Playstation violation.

Sun News led to thousands of comments on the official PlayStation fan page on Facebook, some of them from users who said they'd switch over to Microsoft's Xbox Live games network.

Sony said it would offer some free content, including 30 days of free membership to a premium service to existing users and in some regions credit card renewal fees.

It said compensation would only be paid if user damage. Sony has not work except to say that there is no evidence that credit card data was actually stolen. It has confirmed that the theft of names and addresses.

Since the violation, safety is improved on Sony's computer systems, the company said, adding that improve the level of data protection and encryption would be implemented. The u.s. Federal Bureau of Investigation had asked to probe the violation, Sony said.

"The negative impact on Sony is probably in the short term, but the industry as a whole will suffer a longer-term impact," said Kazutaka Oshima, President of Rakuten Investment Management.

"I think this will have an effect on Amazon and other e-commerce companies. Sony can had some security problems, but I don't think they had a particularly large hole. "

Peppered with questions about allegations that Sony was slow to inform users of the intrusion, a grim-faced Hirai said the company wanted first of all to know what kind of information can be stolen.

Hirai said he had known about the infiltration when he first tablet computers from Sony unveiled on 26 April.

"We made the announcement as soon as we can, which turned out to be the day after the launch," said Hirai, executive vice president of Sony.

The violation would be a big setback for Sony. Although video game hardware and software sales worldwide are down, the PlayStation Network is a key initiative for the electronics company, which an analyst estimates brings in about $ 500 million in annual revenue.

Hirai said Sony could not yet the effect on the profit, but at this point saw no effect on the launch timing for its new handheld games-device or tablets.

"This criminal act against our network had a significant impact not only on our consumers but our whole industry. Of course these illegal attacks point to the widespread problem with cyber-security, "Hirai said in a separate statement.

"Furthermore, the organisation has worked around the clock to these services back on line and do only after we had higher levels of security verified about our networks."

The incident has led to legal action and investigation by the authorities in North America and Europe, home to almost 90% of the users of the network, which allows gamers to download software and compete with other members.

Sony shares tumbled 4.5 percent on Thursday. Markets were closed on Friday.

It is unclear whether the Hirai explanation will convince users that the network is safe and investors that Sony's strategy of exploiting synergies between hardware and content via online services, which he has expanded with movies and music, is manageable.

Hirai told the news conference that Sony would continue to build its network-related companies as a key strategy for the company. Hirai was appointed the position of the No. 2 in March after a leading role in the development of the network.

Sony is the latest Japanese company to come under fire for disclosure is not bad news quickly.

Tokyo Electric Power Co. was criticized for covered how the nuclear crisis following the earthquake of 11 March. Last year, Toyota Motor Corp. was slammed for less than candid about problems about a massive vehicle recall.

(Additional reporting by Taiga Uranaka, Chikako Mogi and Mari Saito, editing by Anshuman Daga, Nathan Layne and Dean Yates)

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