IVORY COAST LEADER UNVEILS GOVT LINEUP ABIDJAN: Ivory Coast’s Alassane Ouattara, who took his oath as president after the electoral commission declared him as the winner in the November 28 presidential run-off, on Sunday announced the new members of his government headed by Guillaume Soro.
XINHUA
Seoul starts live-fire drills amid tensions with N. Korea
SEOUL: South Korea’s military began a major live-fire exercise on Monday amid high tensions on the divided peninsula following North Korea’s deadly bombardment of a border island last month.
The Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said that the five-day series of drills would take place in 29 locations off South Korea, despite the North’s claims that it could trigger a war. It was unclear whether one of the firing drills—near the flashpoint disputed Yellow Sea border—had begun as earlier announced. YTN television said at about
midday that firing had not yet started off Daecheong island. A JCS spokesman said that he had no confirmation of the report. In a shock bombardment of Yeon-
pyeong island on November 23, the North killed two civilians and two Marines and destroyed 29 homes, sending regional tensions soaring. The North maintained that it was retaliating for a South Korean artillery drill, which had lobbed some shells into waters it claims as its territory. Yeonpyeong has been excluded from this week’s drills, which military officials said would involve the Army, Navy and Air Force. Pyongyang on Sunday described the
exercise as an attempt to trigger a war. “The frantic provocations on the part of the puppet group [Seoul government] are rapidly driving the situation on the Korean peninsula to an uncontrollable extreme phase,” the North’s official news agency said. “I don’t dwell on North Korea’s response as it does not deserve even a little consideration,” said the South’s new defense minister Kim Kwan-Jin, who last week vowed to hit back with air strikes against any new attack. The South’s artillery fired back on
November 23 at the North’s artillery units but its response was widely seen as weak and ineffective. More troops and weaponry are being sent to five frontline islands “so that we will be able to respond resolutely to any provocation,” Prime Minister Kim Hwang-Sik said on Monday.
He said that the government would
spend 30 billion won ($26 million) to help Yeonpyeong residents, most of whom fled to the mainland after the shelling. South Korea and the United States last week staged their biggest naval exercise off the peninsula as a warning to the North. The largest US-Japan war games got under way separately on Friday.
worldinbrief
AUSTRALIAN FLOODS STRAND THOUSANDS SYDNEY: Thousands of Australians were stranded and others were evacuated on Monday as floodwaters surged through towns in New South Wales, said officials, who were bracing for more rain.
FRANCE, INDIA SIGN NUCLEAR DEAL NEW DELHI: France firmed up a $9.3-billion deal to sell two nuclear reactors to India on Monday following talks between French President Nicolas Sarkozy and Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.
ISRAEL OVERPOWERS DEADLY BLAZE HAIFA, Israel: Firefighters have overpowered the deadly blaze, which tore through a forest in northern Israel after a four-day battle aided by aircraft from around the world, officials said on Sunday.
IRAN CLAIMS UPPER GROUND IN NUCLEAR TALKS GENEVA: Iran and world powers was set to hold talks on their deepening standoff over the Iranian nuclear program for the first time in 14 months on Monday with Tehran claiming that it has strengthened its hand.
EUROPEAN COLD SNAP BEGINS TO THAW BERLIN: An early cold snap slowly released Europe from its icy grip on Sunday after days of mayhem and dozens of deaths, but floods displaced thousands in the Balkans and chaos still hit Spanish airports.
US, ASIAN ALLIES TO FORGE STRATEGY ON PYONGYANG WASHINGTON, D.C.: The United States will host high-level talks on Monday with allies South Korea and Japan to forge a strategy for dealing with a volatile nuclear-armed North Korea amid allied shows of military force.
NEGOTIATORS RAISE HOPES AT UN CLIMATE TALKS CANCUN, Mexico: Negotiators on climate change were raising their hopes on Monday after signs of modest progress in Mexico, but a dispute over the future of the Kyoto Protocol threatened to derail momentum.
BY EUGENE SHEFFER
B 4
world The Manila Times TUESDAY D ecember 7, 2010
WikiLeaks releases list of global sites ‘vital’ to US
sites around the world that could pose a critical danger to US security if they come under terrorist attack.
W AFP
The newly released diplomatic cable is one of the most explo- sive yet out of many leaked by the whistleblowing website that have heaped embarrassment on Washington and caused anger around the world.
Among other revelations, the latest WikiLeaks document dump showed Australia’s then leader Kevin Rudd warning US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton that force might be needed against China “if everything goes wrong.”
A State Department cable from
February 2009 asked US missions to update a list of infrastructure and key resources worldwide whose loss “could critically impact” the coun- try’s public health, economic life and national security.
It details undersea cables, key communications, ports, mineral resources and firms of strategic importance in countries ranging from Britain to New Zealand, via Africa, the Middle East and China. A Canadian hydroelectric plant is described as a “critical irre- placeable source of power to portions of Northeast US,” while a Siemens factory in Germany does
“essentially irreplaceable pro- duction of key chemicals.” Also listed are European manu- facturers of vaccines for smallpox and rabies, an Italian maker of treatment for snake-bite venom and a German company making treat- ment for plutonium poisoning. According to the diplomatic
cable, the request was designed “to strengthen national preparedness, timely response, and rapid recovery in the event of an attack, natural disaster or other emergency.” Compilation of the list would help “prevent, deter, neutralize or mitigate the effects of deliberate efforts by terrorists to destroy, incapacitate or exploit” sites deemed of “vital” importance to the United States.
Malcolm Rifkind, a former
British defense and foreign sec- retary, lashed out at WikiLeaks for releasing the list.
“This is further evidence that they [WikiLeaks] have been generally irresponsible, bordering on cri- minal. This is the kind of infor- mation terrorists are interested in knowing,” he said, according to British media.
ASHINGTON, D.C.: WikiLeaks has divulged a secret list compiled by Washington of key infrastructure
The site also unveiled the following:
—Saudi Arabia was the key source of funding for radical Islamist groups including al- Qaeda, the Taliban, Lashkar-e- Taiba and Hamas.
—Gulf states Qatar and Kuwait are lax in pursuing locals who donated to the groups, according to the cable dated December 2009. —Qatar is using the Arabic TV
news channel al-Jazeera as a bar- gaining chip in negotiations with other countries, despite the broad- caster’s insistence that it is editorially independent. —Clinton views Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin as a “behind-the-scenes puppeteer” who chafes at his role working alongside President Dmitry Medvedev. Another leak with the potential to infuriate China revealed details of a conversation between Rudd, when he was Australia’s prime minister and Clinton over a Washington lunch in March 2009. Rudd called for “integrating China effectively into the interna- tional community and allowing it to demonstrate greater responsi- bility, all while also preparing to deploy force if everything goes wrong,” the cable stated. Rudd, a Mandarin-speaking former diplomat who is now foreign minister, said on Monday that Australia had a robust relation- ship with China and that he had no intention of contacting Beijing over the cable.
AFP Colombia landslide buries up to 200
MEDELLIN, Colombia: As many as 200 people may have been buried in a landslide on Sunday (Monday in Manila) that swept over 10 houses near Medellin, Colombia’s second largest city, Red Cross relief workers said. “The initial count is that there may
AFP
be 150 to 200 people considered missing. So far, we have rescued three alive,” said Cesar Uruena, a Red Cross operations deputy director. The landslide struck the La Gabriela district of the town of Bello, which is north of Medellin, just after 7 p.m. (3 a.m. in Manila). The city lies 400 kilometers northwest of Bogota, the Colombian capital. “The landslide buried 10 houses; each of these has three stories. Because on Sundays people usually have their family over for lunch, we think that on average there were between 15 and 20 people in each house,” Uruena explained.
2 2
About 300 residents of the neighborhood rushed to search for missing friends and many tried to help rescuers pull away the rubble, bit by twisted bit. Gov. Luis Alfredo Ramos of Antio-
quia was also on the scene of the tragedy. Medellin lies in a valley and many poorer neighborhoods of sometimes precariously built houses are stacked up the moun- tainsides where they are highly vulnerable to heavy weather. Faced with the dire situation, Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos hurried home from the Ibero-American summit in Mar del Plata in Argentina. His government was weighing a state of emergency, hoping to free up more funds for the country’s widespread weather and flood- related damage.
“This is going to cost a lot of 5
25 41 11 44 5 11 1
22 12
22 Series no.07
money,” Santos said, referring to the overall recovery effort. “Unfortunately, this tragedy has just kept growing.” As of last week, the government estimated weather-related damage to cost more than $300 million— before the weekend’s disasters. Colombia has been lashed in
recent weeks by heavy rains that have left at least 176 people dead and 225 injured, as well as 1.5 million people homeless nationwide. And in neighboring Venezuela to the east, driving rains have triggered flooding and cave-ins that have killed 34 people over the past week and left an estimated 90,000 people homeless nationwide, officials said. The nonstop storms were being blamed on atmospheric disturbances from La Niña, a phenomenon in which cooler-than-normal water circulates in the Pacific Ocean around the equator.
AFP 1
DEADLY GRASSLAND FIRE PUT OUT IN CHINA CHENGDU, China: Firefighters on Monday extinguished a blaze that raged for about 24 hours on a plateau grassland in southwest China’s Sichuan Province, leaving 22 dead and four injured. XINHUA
»horoscope
TODAY’S birthday (12/07/10). Opportunities open up for in- creased income and additional education to further your career. Practical effort takes you into new arenas, where you express private thoughts with like-minded indivi- duals. Choose wisely to build a solid future and follow your
passions.To get the advantage, check the day’s rating: 10 is the easiest day, 0 the most challenging. Aries (March 21-April 19) — Today is a 6 — Focus attention on public or social activities. Get out and meet people to take advantage of multiple opportunities. Anticipate career openings. Taurus (April 20-May 20) —
Today is a 9 — Multiple long-distance contacts provide your partner with everything necessary to complete a change. Take off on your own and allow others to work. Gemini (May 21-June 21) —
Today is a 6 — Associates have gathered the financial information needed to make a decision. Work together and the desired changes fall into place effortlessly.
Cancer (June 22-July 22) —
Today is a 7 — Close relationships provide opportunities for practical action. Whether it’s work or play, enthusiasm increases and imagi- nation carries you forward. Leo (July 23-Aug. 22) — Today is a 7 — A new person enters the work- space, bringing new opportunities and possibly some tension. Every- thing works out if you don’t push too hard. Use finesse rather than force. Virgo (Aug. 23-Sept. 22) —
Today is a 6 — A female’s desire for changes inspires everyone to take a chance on creative elements. The pieces come together on a practical level with great results. Libra (Sept. 23-Oct. 22) — Today is an 8 — Healing potential expands now. This could involve yourself or family members. Love and com- passion work wonders. Pour your energy into each act. Scorpio (Oct. 23-Nov. 21) —
Today is a 7 — Dress up your style and message today. Even the most practical concepts can use a bit of marketing. Don’t be afraid to sing your own praises, with compassion. Sagittarius (Nov. 22-Dec. 21) —
Today is a 9 — Pay your own way today. That way, you maintain as many possibilities as possible, while enjoying great company. Stay close to home rather than traveling far. Capricorn (Dec. 22-Jan. 19) —
Today is a 6 — Ideas come together today in unusual ways. What appear to be very different directions actually arrive at the same place. If one fails, try another. Aquarius (Jan. 20-Feb. 18) —
Today is a 6 — Private gatherings take advantage of multiple possibilities. Each group member can pursue an idea independently and then bring it to the table for consensus. Pisces (Feb. 19-March 20) —
Today is a 7 — Pay close attention to the role independent action plays regarding physical well- being. Listen to professionals. Then check with your own body for confirmation. BY TRIBUNE MEDIA SERVICES INC.
CHALLENGEof The Times BY CELSO BINAMIRA-GO BERINGUELA
Solve and arrange five (5) consecutive numbers into the given figures. Every three (3) numbers lying on the two (2) diagonals [forming the multiplication sign; TIMES or X] should have the same totals. Four (4) arrangements are needed. Given as clues is the Common Total (CT) (at the center) and other numbers to help you solve the puzzle.
23 45
54 32
»Sudoku 66
66 13
Series no.06 BY MICHAEL MEPHAM
Complete the grid so each row, column and 3-by-3 box (in bold borders) contains every digit 1 to 9. For strategies on how to solve Sudoku, visit
www.sudoku.org.uk.
Solution to today’s puzzle will be published tomorrow.
42 53
35 24
Solution for yesterdays puzzle.
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