SUICIDE ATTACK KILLS 15 IN PAKISTAN PESHAWAR, Pakistan: At least 15 people were killed on Wednesday as a suicide bomber blew himself up in a marketplace in northwestern Pakistan, police said. Over 20 others were injured in the crowded Tirah bazaar in Kohat, a city located 60 kilometers south of Peshawar.
XINHUA
world The Manila Times THURSDAY
ASHINGTON, D.C.: The United States on Tuesday (Wednesday in Manila) suspended its efforts
“After a considerable effort, we
to persuade Israel to renew a freeze on Jewish settlement building in the West Bank, throwing the Palestinian-Israeli peace talks into deeper disarray.
President Barack Obama pre-
sided over the relaunch of direct negotiations in Washington in September, only to see them bog down within weeks when an Israeli settlement moratorium expired and the Palestinians refused to come back to the table.
The White House and the State Department disclosed on Tuesday
that weeks of efforts to broker a new settlement freeze and resuscitate the peace talks had gone nowhere. “We have been pursuing a morato- rium as a means to create conditions for a return to meaningful and sustained negotiations,” State De- partment spokesman Philip Crowley told reporters in a televised press briefing in New York City.
have concluded that this does not create a firm basis to work toward our shared goal of a framework agreement,” Crowley said. In Ramallah, a Palestinian offi- cial reacted to the US announce- ment by accusing the right-wing go- vernment of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of wrecking chances for peace. “By refusing to give a clear
answer to the United States, Israel has refused to freeze settlement building and to give a chance to peace in the region,” the official said, requesting anonymity. Crowley promised continued efforts to try and unblock the Middle East peace process and said that Israeli and Palestinian nego-
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D ecember 9, 2010
tiators would visit Washington next week to work toward that end. He indicated that the two sides
would engage indirectly with each other rather than directly in talks brokered by US officials. The spokesman’s remarks suggest
ISTANBUL TALKS SET TO FOCUS ON COMMON POINTS GENEVA: Iran’s negotiator with the Group 5+1 and Secretary of Supreme National Security Council Saeed Jalili said on Tuesday that the issues of
upcoming nuclear talks in Istanbul next month will include common points like nuclear disarmament and access to peaceful nuclear energy. IRNA
US drops demand for settlements freeze W
that Palestinian-Israeli peace talks have returned to the point where they were in May when US envoy George Mitchell began shuttling between the two sides in so-called “proximity,” or indirect negotiations. Crowley said that there “may well be a change in tactics” as the United States still believes that there must “be some kind of direct negotiation” to make progress on the core issues. The core issues are Israel’s security, the borders of a future Palestinian state, the fate of Palestinian refugees and the
Cancer claims Elizabeth Edwards British court denies bail for Assange
WASHINGTON, D.C.: Elizabeth Edwards, the high-profile wife of former Democratic vice presiden- tial candidate John Edwards, died of cancer at 61 in her home in North Carolina on Tuesday (Wednesday in Manila), a family friend told Agence France-Presse. The lawyer, author and health
■ Elizabeth Edwards
care campaigner inspired Americans as she battled cancer while serving as a top advisor on her husband’s subsequent 2008 campaign, all the while secretly grappling with his marital infidelity. On Monday Edwards said that she
had stopped treatment for cancer after doctors informed her that any further therapy would be useless. President Barack Obama offered his condolences, hailing Edwards as a “tenacious advocate for fixing our health care system and fighting poverty.” “Through all that she endured, Elizabeth revealed a kind of fortitude and grace that will long remain a source of inspiration,” he said in a statement. Edwards had first noticed a lump on her breast during the 2004 campaign but kept the news a secret until it ended with George W. Bush defeating her husband and Democratic presiden- tial candidate John Kerry. She received surgery and
treatment for the disease over the next few months and the cancer went into remission before surfacing again in 2007, when her husband was mounting another campaign for the White House. The two insisted that they would
press ahead in spite of the disease, and Edwards went on to serve as a top political advisor and spokesman for her husband, particularly on the hot- button issue of health care reform.
Americans only learned later
that her husband had cheated on her with a campaign filmmaker while he was preparing his second White House run and that she had learned of the affair years earlier, while being treated for cancer. John Edwards, a North Carolina
senator before he joined the presidential ticket in 2004, went public with the long-rumored affair in August 2008 and in January of this year admitted to fathering a child with the filmmaker. Edwards said that her husband
had told her of the affair in 2006 and that she viewed it as a painful but private issue. She went on to write about her struggle with cancer and her husband’s infidelity in the bestselling 2009 memoir Resil- ience: Reflections on the Burdens and Gifts of Facing Life’s Adversities. The couple were no strangers to
tragedy. In 1996, their 16-year-old son Wade was killed in a car accident, and she had recounted her grief in an earlier memoir. US media outlets said that
Edwards’s family had gathered around her in her final hours, including her husband, who had moved back to help care for her. She is survived by three children, two under the age of 13.
BY EUGENE SHEFFER
LONDON: WikiLeaks chief Julian Assange was refused bail on Tuesday by a British judge over alleged sex crimes in Sweden, dealing a fresh blow to the website which vowed to stay online and reveal more secrets. The elusive 39-year-old Australian said that he would fight an ex- tradition request by Swedish au- thorities as he appeared in a London court just hours after he emerged from a month in hiding and sur- rendered to police. Filmmaker Ken Loach, socialite Jemima Khan and campaigning journalist John Pilger each offered to put up part of his bail but a judge in London refused, saying a court would review the situation at a hearing on December 14. “I am satisfied that there are substantial grounds to believe that if granted bail, he would fail to surrender,” district Judge Howard Riddle said at the City of Westmins- ter Magistrates’ Court. The judge said that the Swedish
arrest warrant contains “extremely serious allegations” and that Assange had the “means and ability to abscond
if he wants to.”
The court heard that Assange is accused of unlawfully coercing and sexually molesting a woman on August 14 and of deliberately molesting her on August 18. A fourth allegation claims that Assange had sex with a second woman on August 17 while she was asleep at her Stockholm home and without using a condom. The WikiLeaks founder, who has denied the allegations, appeared calm as he appeared in court. Wearing a navy blue suit and a white shirt without a tie, he spoke to confirm his name and address in Australia. British police said earlier that officers had arrested Assange on a European warrant “by appointment at a London police station” at 05:30 p.m. (Manila Time).
WikiLeaks criticized the court decision to hold Assange as “bizarre,” and said that it would continue to release documents from a cache of 250,000 confidential US diplomatic cables that it started to publish on November 28. “Let down by the UK justice system’s
worldinbrief
MILITARY CHIEFS TACKLE N. KOREA THREAT SEOUL: US and South Korean military chiefs held talks on Wednesday on ways to deter North Korea without triggering a war, as a firing drill by the North briefly rattled Seoul’s financial markets.
HONG KONG LOWERS BIRD-FLU ALERT HONG KONG: Hong Kong on Wednesday lowered its public health warning on bird flu, less than a month after the densely packed city announced its first human case of the illness since 2003.
AFP
INDIA ON ALERT AFTER BOMB BLAST LUCKNOW, India: India was on high alert on Wednesday
1 4 11
after a bomb exploded in Varanasi, one of its holiest cities and top tourist destinations, killing a 1-year-old girl and wounding dozens of people.
SHANGHAI TEENS ARE WORLD’S SMARTEST PARIS: Teenagers from the Chinese city of Shanghai have the best education in the world, according to a major interna- tional study of standards in in maths, science and literacy released on Tuesday.
BLOOD TEST COULD DETECT HEART DISEASE WASHINGTON, D.C.: An improved version of a common emergency room blood test could be used to detect heart disease in apparently healthy patients, according to a US study published on Tuesday (Wednesday in Manila). AFP
1
bizarre decision to refuse bail to Julian Assange. But Cablegate releases con- tinue as planned,” it said on Twitter. Assange’s lawyer Mark Stephens told journalists outside the court that the allegations were “politically motivated,” adding that he expected a “viral campaign” on the Internet on his client’s behalf.
Loach, Khan—former wife of
Pakistan cricket great Imran Khan and one-time girlfriend of film star Hugh Grant—and Pilger each offered 20,000 pounds (23,600 euros, $31,400) toward bail. Three more donors offered 120,000 pounds between them. Australian-born Pilger said that the case against Assange was “a travesty,” adding: “This is a man who has made some very serious enemies for the best reasons.” However, Swedish prosecutor Marianne Ny said on Tuesday that her investigation “has nothing to do with WikiLeaks.”
The prosecutor’s office, however, came under cyber attack by members of the “cyber hacktivist” group called “Anonymous,” in the latest salvo by his online supporters.
»horoscope
status of the holy city of Jerusalem, which both sides claim as their capital. At the high-profile relaunch of talks in September after a 20- month hiatus, Netanyahu and Palestinian leader Mahmud Abbas both vowed to seek agreement on the core issues within a year. The two leaders were supposed to
meet every two weeks subsequently, but their direct talks ran aground at the end of September after the expiry of a 10-month Israeli ban on settlement building in the West Bank. The Palestinians say they will not negotiate while Jewish settlers build on land they want for a future state. Abbas is insisting not only on a settle- ment freeze in the West Bank, but also in east Jerusalem, which Palestinians want for their capital.
AFP
TODAY’S birthday (12/09/10). Move career and finances forward with innovation and creativity this year. You won’t revolutionize anything if you don’t take the first step. Make major changes by challenging old beliefs, and then motivate siblings and friends to share the journey. Look from another
view.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 — The girls in the group have a plan and are taking the lead. Even though it may cramp some- one’s style, the ideas are solid with productive results. Taurus (April 20-May 20) — Today is an 8 — If you find yourself in the spotlight today, you don’t need a script. You’ve given the subject plenty of thought already. Speak from the heart. Gemini (May 21-June 21) —
Today is a 6 — The girls are champing at the bit to gain independence in their work. Practical considerations require teamwork before solo projects can move forward. Cancer (June 22-July 22) —
Today is a 6 — The desire for independence leads an associate in a stubborn direction. Before despairing (or resisting), suggest creative ways to share an intention. Leo (July 23-Aug. 22) — Today is a 6 — Get back in gear early to complete work on schedule. A female associate has identified a critical problem. More than one solution presents itself as you work through it. Virgo (Aug. 23-Sept. 22) — Today is a 7 — You want to take off, but you’re stuck working out practical matters. Research reveals hidden solutions. Then creative efforts yield results. Libra (Sept. 23-Oct. 22) — Today is a 6 — Although you want to pursue your own interests alone today, you face the need to handle another person’s problems as well. Clarify logic before beginning. Scorpio (Oct. 23-Nov. 21) —
Today is a 6 — A favorite person stays close by to help with a household challenge. Delegate responsibilities early, and keep an eye on progress to maintain momentum. Sagittarius (Nov. 22-Dec. 21) —
AFP
Today is a 9 — Independent thoughts guide every action today. Less is more, where force is concerned. Relax and finesse it for quicker results. Evaluate progress later.
Capricorn (Dec. 22-Jan. 19) —
Today is a 6 — You think you want more independence. Actually, practical effort in a team gets you further. Once today’s work is done, you can take off on your own. Aquarius (Jan. 20-Feb. 18) —
Today is a 5 — Someone tests your public image by asking you to pull off the impossible. You find a way to get it done with flair, on time and polished. Anything’s possible. Pisces (Feb. 19-March 20) —
Today is a 6 — Research creates a solid platform for group discussion. You want to get out early, so keep the conversation concise. Something entirely new could result. BY TRIBUNE MEDIA SERVICES INC.
3 CHALLENGEof The Times BY CELSO BINAMIRA-GO BERINGUELA
25 41 11 44 21 11
Series no.09
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.
68 79
10 25
97 86
10 »Sudoku
89 67
10 Series no.08 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.
76 98
10
Solution for yesterdays puzzle.
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