Internet, SMS easy, quick services to send greetings

Wishing New Year was never as easy as it has become now due to the advent of technology where people just pressed a button in order to wish their loved ones the good luck to be followed on coming year.

The internet and mobile phones have fast replaced the tradition of sending post cards and greeting cards, which is why there were just a few shops that bothered to display the cards of Happy New Year.

SMS being the most popular and cheap way of communication was largely adopted by the people where the messages comprising New Year wishes, quotes and poetry was forwarded to the dear and near ones in a large number.

“Its something really convenient to send a good message by a single click rather than purchasing a post card and posting it while spending a good sum of money and time,” said Shams-ul-Hassan.

Hassan said that it was not only the matter of time, but one has to take hassle by purchasing card days before the event and then making it sure that it has been received by the concerned person on time. People started sending new year messages from early morning of December 31, but the process gained momentum after evening where most of the mobile networks got jammed around 12.

“I intended to send New Year wish to all my friend at sharp 12:00 midnight, but to my utter disappointment I could only manage to send it at 1:00 a.m., as I was getting the message of ‘message sending failed’ each time I tried to send it,” said Nooria Ahsan, a student of BBA.

Ms Ahsan said that SMS were the true substitute of post cards and greeting cards rather it was better as it was fast, cheap and reliable.

Besides that people also sent greetings through internet via email and face book. “It is the quickest way to wish besides that it costs nothing,” said Usman Murtaza.

Murtaza said that internet was a convenient way of wishing some occasion as one could easily browse the suitable messages through the various websites and send it to the relevant person. However there are number of people who do not consider the technology as a substitute of fast declining tradition of greeting cards. “The pleasure of receiving some greeting cards was unexplainable, which can’t be achieved by thousands of SMS and emails that we receive on the occasions like new year,” said Ghousia Bangash, a housewife.

She said that the real feel of celebration was only felt when they used to head towards market to buy the greeting cards for the loved ones and would post it and then would wait for the cards to be received by them. “The joy of opening, reading and then decorating these cards was unimaginable,” she argued.

The new year messages that started from December 31 continued till the evening of January 1, which not only included the prayers for the receiver, but also prayers for the stability and progress of Pakistan.LINK

US closes its Yemen embassy after Al-Qaeda threats

SANAA — The American embassy in Yemen closed on Sunday after Al-Qaeda threats to attack US interests, as Britain and the United States vowed to support the impoverished country in its fight against Al-Qaeda.

The move came after US President Barack Obama blamed a Yemen-based Al-Qaeda affiliate for the foiled Christmas Day attack on a US airliner and a day after a visit by the American regional military commander, General David Petraeus.

Al-Qaeda's franchise in Yemen had called on Monday for embassies to be targeted as it claimed responsibility for the thwarted attack on the Detroit-bound Northwest airliner.

"The US Embassy in Sanaa is closed today, January 3, 2010, in response to ongoing threats by Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) to attack American interests in Yemen," said a statement posted on the embassy's website.

On Thursday the US mission sent a warden message to American citizens in the country reminding them of the "continuing threat of terrorist actions and violence against American citizens and interests throughout the world."

AQAP on Monday urged further attacks on Westerners in the Arabian Peninsula.

"We call upon every Muslim who cares about his religion and doctrine to assist in expelling the apostasies from the Arabian Peninsula, by killing every crusader who works at their embassies or other places, declare it an all-out war against every crusader on Mohammad's peninsula on land, air and sea," an AQAP statement said.

Both London and Washington have agreed to fund Yemen's special Counter-Terrorism Unit after Obama on Saturday for the first time singled out the Al-Qaeda franchise in Yemen for the thwarted attack.

The special force had in the past received US training and assistance.

On September 17, 2008, the US embassy was the target of an attack claimed by Al-Qaeda in which 19 people were killed -- seven attackers and 12 others, including Yemeni guards and civilians, one of them an American woman.

Last month the defence ministry newspaper said that a raid north of the capital on December 17 killed four suspects and foiled a plot to bomb the British embassy in Sanaa.

Yemen on Sunday welcomed the British and US decision to fund the special force.

"Any assistance provided to Yemen's counter-terrorism force will be most welcome," a government official who requested anonymity told AFP.

The official also said that Sanaa would need help to modernise its coastguard "in light of the danger coming from Somalia."

Somalia's Shebab insurgents pledged on Friday to send militants across the Gulf of Aden to Yemen to help the Al-Qaeda affiliate behind the failed US airliner bombing.

Obama on Saturday blamed Al-Qaeda's Yemen branch for the attack on the US jet by 23-year-old Nigerian suspect Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab.

"We know that he travelled to Yemen, a country grappling with crushing poverty and deadly insurgencies," Obama said in an address posted on the White House website.

"It appears that he joined an affiliate of Al-Qaeda, and that this group, Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, trained him, equipped him with those explosives and directed him to attack that plane headed for America."

General Petraeus on Saturday personally delivered a message from Obama to Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh on bilateral cooperation against terror groups.

Britain, meanwhile, has called an international meeting on combating extremism in Yemen for London on January 28, in parallel with a conference on Afghanistan drawing senior ministers or leaders from more than 40 nations.

Yemen is the ancestral homeland of Al-Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden.LINK

Pirates seize second UK-flagged cargo ship

Handout

Somali pirates captured the Singaporean chemical tanker M.T Parmoni with 24 crew members aboard in the Gulf of Aden on New Year's Day.

A UK-flagged cargo ship with 25 crew has been seized by pirates off the coast of Somalia.

The Asian Glory was taken 620 miles off the Horn of Africa, the Bulgarian foreign ministry said yesterday. The vessel, which has many Bulgarian crew members, is the second UK-flagged ship hijacked in days, after chemical tanker St James Park was seized on Monday.

British officials said there were no UK nationals on board. The exact time and location of the hijacking are not yet clear. The 13,000-tonne ship was reportedly transporting cars from Singapore to Jeddah in Saudi Arabia.

It is estimated the ship could take up to three days to reach the Somali coast, from where pirates usually hold ransom talks....LINK.

Taliban: CIA Attack Was Retaliation for Drone Strikes

KABUL -- A senior commander connected to the Afghan Taliban and involved with the attack against the CIA that left eight people dead said Saturday that the bombing was retaliation for U.S. drone strikes in the Afghan-Pakistan border region.

"We attacked this base because the team there was organizing drone strikes in Loya Paktia and surrounding area," the commander said, referring to the area around Khost, the city where the U.S. facility was attacked. The commander, a prominent member of the Afghan insurgency, spoke on the condition of anonymity.

The suicide attack, which dealt the biggest loss to the agency in more than 25 years, killed a woman who was the station chief along with six other CIA officers and one private security contractor.

"We attacked on that particular day because we knew the woman who was leading the team" was there, the commander said.

The claims could not be independently verified late Saturday night and the CIA was not available for comment.

Both the Afghan and Pakistani Taliban have claimed responsibility for the attacks. The Pakistani Taliban have claimed responsibility for attacks in the past that Western officials have later rejected.

Some drone strikes had been coordinated from the base, Western officials said. The strikes were to target senior leaders of al Qaeda, the Pakistani Taliban and an Afghan group called the Haqqani Network. The CIA operatives located on Forward Operating Base Chapman, which is near the Pakistani border, were involved in cultivating informants to target insurgent leaders using ground raids and drone strikes.

A number of key leaders of these three groups have been killed by the strikes, which mostly occur on the Pakistani side of the border. Al Qaeda and the leadership of the Haqqani Network are believed to have bases in this area. The strikes have caused considerable anger in the tribal border areas triggered by claims that civilians have also been killed.

U.S. officials maintain that the strikes are necessary to target insurgent leaders who use the border area as a sanctuary.LINK

Battle Over Use of 'Allah' Continues in Malaysia

KUALA LUMPUR -- Malaysia is bracing for a bruising linguistic battle after its government vowed to challenge a court ruling allowing local Roman Catholics to refer to God as Allah.

NAJIB ABDUL RAZAK

The legal tussle is raising tensions between Malaysia's ethnic-Malay Muslim majority, who comprise around 60% of this resource-rich nation's population, and its large ethnic-Chinese and Indian minorities. Muslim groups already are preparing demonstrations against a High Court ruling on New Year's Eve to overturn a three-year-old government ban on the Catholic Church using the Arabic word Allah as a translation for God in its Malay-language newspaper.

Government spokesman Tengku Sharifuddin Tengku Ahmad said Sunday the government will file an appeal against the ruling. Among other things, the verdict potentially upholds the constitutional right of the Church's Herald newspaper to refer to Jesus Christ as the son of Allah -- something that might inflame many Muslims here and set back Prime Minister Najib Razak's efforts to bring Malaysia's different religious groups closer together.

The Arab word Allah has been used by Malay-speaking Christians for centuries, much as it is used by Christians in Arabic-speaking countries or in Indonesia, where, like Malaysia, the concept of a single God was introduced by Arabic-speaking traders. Rev. Lawrence Andrew, editor of the Herald, says there's no other appropriate term for God in Malay.

Many powerful Islamic leaders here disagree, however, and fear some Muslims could be misled by Christians using the word Allah. The say the word should be reserved for Islam alone.

Now the controversy is quickly becoming a lightning rod for dissent against what some minority groups and moderate Muslims see as part of a broader Islamization of Malaysia that could deter investors.

Malaysia was, and many cases still is, a moderate, Muslim-majority nation. Its large Chinese and Indian minorities have encouraged trade links and investment, while multinationals helped create a large technology industry to complement Malaysia's large natural gas and agricultural reserves and propel it into the ranks of the world's top 20 exporters.

Nonetheless, Muslim Shariah courts have spread quickly, encouraged in part by a government eager to co-opt the agenda of radical Muslims who hope to eventually turn Malaysia into Southeast Asia's first Islamic state.

Muslim-oriented lobby groups exert a strong influence over the government. In the last six months, a Shariah court for the first time sentenced a woman who drank beer in a hotel to be caned, while a group of Muslim men near Kuala Lumpur threw a severed cow's head onto the site of a proposed Hindu temple -- a gross act of sacrilege.

"Despite official boasting about the country's diverse population and commitment to pluralism, Islam and the government have essentially merged," says Maznah Mohamad, a Malaysian political scientist at the National University of Singapore.

The New Year's Eve ruling penned by Judge Lau Bee Lian was one of the few times that a secular institution has intervened to block the advance of an increasingly political interpretation of Islam in Malaysia. She ruled that under Malaysian law, Christians have "a constitutional right to use [the word] Allah."

The Herald newspaper filed a lawsuit in 2007 challenging a government ban on it using the word Allah as a translation for God, complaining that the prohibition discriminated against Malay-speaking indigenous tribes who converted to Christianity decades ago. The newspaper has a tiny circulation of about 14,000 and is only available in Catholic Churches, although Muslims have complained that it is possible to look up Malay-language material using the term Allah on the Herald's Web site.

Muslim activists were quick to mobilize as soon as the high court verdict was delivered on Thursday afternoon. The National Union of Malaysian Muslim students urged the government to take the case to the Appeals Court, arguing that Christian missionaries using the word Allah could trick Muslims into leaving their faith, and the influential Malaysian Islamic Youth Movement is planning a large demonstration against the verdict in Kuala Lumpur on Friday.

The Malay-language Utusan Malaysia newspaper, meanwhile, reported that the influential mufti of northern Perak, Harussani Zakaria, called the verdict "an insult to Muslims in this country."

Former Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad said Saturday that authorities should set strict conditions for non-Muslims using the word Allah to avoid to provoking a Muslim backlash.

"What I am afraid of is that the term 'Allah' might be used in such a way that could inflame the anger of Muslims, if [non-Muslims] were to use it on banners or write something might not reflect Islam," the state news agency Bernama reported him as saying.LINK

Report: Egypt opens Rafah crossing at Gaza border for three days

Egypt opened its border with the Gaza Strip on Sunday for a scheduled three-day period, state-run newspapers reported.

Palestinians with travel plans and visas for foreign countries would be allowed out, along with patients in need of medical care, Al-Ahram daily said.

The Rafah border crossing between Egypt and the Gaza Strip has generally been closed since 2007, when infighting between Palestinian factions raged, culminating in the Islamist Hamas movement taking over the territory.

Most recently, on December 23, Egypt opened the border for several hundred patients.

Gaza's only other crossing points lie along its border with Israel, which imposes a tight blockade on the territory.

Egypt's border with the Palestinian territory has been the source of protests recently, as hundreds of international activists marched on Rafah, demanding the authorities open the crossing point.

The Egyptian government eventually allowed 86 members of the group entry into Gaza.

Cairo has also come under increasing criticism for reportedly strengthening a wall along the border, with Palestinians concerned it might affect underground smuggling tunnels used to bring in basic supplies, such as food, but also weapons.LNIK

India hands over 31 fishermen, including three children

NEW DELHI: India on Saturday handed over 31 Pakistani fishermen – including three children – at the Wagha-Atari border.

An Indian official said the authorities brought the fishermen to the border from the Bhuj prison in Gujarat for repatriation. A Pakistan High Commission official arrived at the border from New Delhi with emergency travel permits for the released fishermen. Pakistan released 100 Indian fishermen on December 26. Islamabad has been demanding the release of over 700 Pakistani prisoners and more than 63 fishermen in Indian custody. app.........LINK

Google phone could arrive next week

Google could be preparing to launch its new mobile phone as early as next week, after the company called a press conference at its Californian headquarters.

Speculation has been rife that the company is planning its own branded phone, known as the Nexus One, as it tries to tempt customers and handset manufacturers into using itsAndroid mobile phone software.Earlier this month it confirmed that employees have been testing the device for some time, with reports suggesting that could be ready to launch early in 2010.

But in an announcement sent to journalists today, the company said it would hold a "press gathering" next Tuesday to showcase Android and demonstrate new products - giving the strongest indication yet that the Nexus One's release could be imminent.

"With the launch of the first Android-powered device just over a year ago, we've seen how a powerful, open platform can spur mobile product innovation - and this is just the beginning," it said.

While plenty of Android handsets have hit the market since Google first launched the software two years ago, the manner in which the Nexus One has come together signals a distinct shift in the company's strategy

In the past, Google has worked alongside partners such as Motorola - offering assistance and advice to mobile makers and networks, but not taking a leading role. This time, however, the phone is being manufactured by Taiwanese technology company HTC - with Google overseeing design and development.

Taking a stronger hand in the development of the Nexus One could help it to push its way into a market already crowded with more established rivals such as Apple's iPhone, the BlackBerry and Nokia.

It is not yet known which networks the Nexus One will be made available on, but there are suggestions that Google could sell the handset direct to customers through its website, and the Guardian has previously reported that the company has held talks with a number of operators -including T-Mobile and Vodafone in the UK - about linking up for the launch.

The event appears carefully timed to spoil announcements from its rivals, as it comes on the eve of the annual Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas - where the world's largest technology companies unveil their forthcoming products and plans.

In particular, the timing will prove an irritant to Google's greatest rival,Microsoft, whose chief executive Steve Ballmer is due to give the opening keynote at CES next Wednesday. With only a day between the two announcements, Google may be hoping to pile the pressure on the company it has targeted as its main competitor.

An early January announcement also gives Google several weeks of breathing room before Apple makes its own major product announcement - believed to be a tablet computer - later in the month.LINK

Millions of Shiite Muslims gather in Iraq for Ashura

Thousands of Shiite Muslims gather at the imam Abbas Shrine in the southern holy city of karbal, 110 km from Baghdad overnight on Dec. 27, 2009, for the climax of the Ashura tradition. The 10-day Ashura rituals commemorates the killing of Imam Hussein, a grandson of the Prophet Mohammed, by armies of the caliph Yazid in 680.

Photograph by: Mohammed Sawaf, AFP/Getty Images

KERBALA, Iraq — Millions of Shiite Muslims gathered at shrines and mosques across Iraq on Sunday for the Ashura religious festival while Iraqi forces stood watch against the bloody attacks that have marred past pilgrimages.

Loudspeakers blared traditional Ashura chants across Baghdad and the city of Kerbala, site of the most important shrine where Shi'ites commemorate the slaying of the prophet Mohammad's grandson Hussein in 680 AD.

Saddam Hussein, a Sunni, placed strict limits on the traditional pilgrimage to Kerbala, but since his overthrow in 2003 Ashura has become a show of strength for Iraq's Shiite majority and a prime target of Sunni Islamist insurgents.

Security is especially important ahead of a March 7 national election, with Shiite Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki struggling to defend his claim to having quelled violence in Iraq after a spate of devastating bombings in the capital in recent months.

Some 20,000 members of Iraq's security forces formed cordons around Kerbala, vehicles were banned and 1,000 snipers were perched on the roofs of buildings. Troops stood watch with bomb-sniffing dogs and the wands used to detect explosives.

"It was difficult to get in, but it's better than having bombings and lots of victims," said Mohammed Abu Sajad, a pilgrim at Kerbala.

Pilgrims, most dressed in black, thronged the streets leading to Kerbala's golden-domed shrines of Imam Hussein and Imam Abbas, many beating their chests in mourning and chanting accounts of Hussein's death on the battlefield at Kerbala.

For Shi'ites, Hussein's death symbolises confronting tyranny in the face of overwhelming odds. It is also a reminder of the rift with Sunnis, who do not revere Hussein as Shi'ites do, over the prophet Mohammad's succession.

Years of sectarian warfare after the U.S. invasion almost tore Iraq apart.

Despite the tight security there have been sporadic, mostly small-scale attacks on pilgrims in recent days. One roadside bomb killed four pilgrims and wounded 18 in Tuz Khurmato, north of Baghdad, early on Sunday. Another killed two pilgrims and wounded eight in Baghdad on Saturday.

The vast number of pilgrims streaming into Kerbala on foot from across Iraq makes it very difficult to ensure security during Ashura.

Shiite religious gatherings have been occasions of major bloodshed in the past. In 2005, rumours of a suicide bomb attack during a Shiite festival panicked pilgrims on a bridge, and the resulting stampede killed about 1,000 people and clogged the river below with corpses.

LINK

© Copyright (c) Reuters

Mir Hossein Mousavi's nephew 'killed' in Tehran clashes

At least eight Iranian protesters were reported to have been shot dead in Tehran today — including a nephew of the opposition leader Mir Hossein Mousavi — during the fiercest protests in the capital since the immediate aftermath of June’s hotly disputed presidential election.

The shootings mean that the confrontation between the so-called Green movement and the regime has entered a dangerous and volatile new stage, with the security forces prepared to use lethal force in an increasingly desperate effort to crush a resurgent and emboldened opposition.

A close aide to Mr Mousavi, the former Prime Minister defeated by Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in the June election, said that his 35-year-old nephew, Ali Mousavi, died in a Tehran hospital after being shot in the chest near Enghelab Square. A reliable opposition website,Parlemannews, also reported his death.

Details of the shootings were sparse, but one of the dead was said to be an elderly man and another a young woman, both killed when the security forces opened fire on the huge crowds of protesters that had gathered in central Tehran for the emotionally charged Shia festival of Ashura.

The Iranian state broadcaster said that about 300 people had been arrested during the protests.

A photograph posted on the internet showed a man with blood pouring from head wounds being dragged away by opposition supporters. Two other demonstrators were reportedly wounded. The shootings of the protesters were the first since June 20.

Another opposition website, Rahesabz, said that the security forces opened fire after failing to disperse the crowds with tear gas, charges by baton-wielding officers and warning shots fired into the air.

"Three of our compatriots were martyred and two were injured in clashes. The reporter who was on the scene said these three were directly shot at by military forces," the website reported. It said the shootings clashes occurred near Enghelab street.

Rahesabz said that a fourth protester was later killed near the junctions of Vali Asr and Enghelab streets. "The people are carrying the body of this martyr and are shouting slogans," it said.

However, one opposition website, Jaras, claimed that some police officers were refusing orders to shoot at protesters. "Some of them try to shoot into air when pressured by their commanders," it said.

Ashura commemorates the 7th-century martyrdom of Imam Hossein, the Prophet Mohammed’s grandson, at the hands of the Sunni caliph Yazid.

Today also marks the seventh day since the death of Grand Ayatollah Hussein Ali Montazeri, the opposition’s spiritual leader, which is an important day in Shia mourning tradition.

That coincidence served to heighten passions, and both sides appeared far more aggressive than in other demonstrations of recent months.

The security forces used tear gas, batons, chains as well as live fire while helicopters hovered overhead. Thousands of government supporters staged counter-demonstrations.

During clashes on Saturday, government supporters disrupted a speech that the reformist former President Mohammad Khatami was due to address, and attacked nearby offices used by the family of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomenei, the founder of the Islamic Republic. Leading members of the family support the opposition.

The demonstrators broke through cordons, blocked streets to thwart motorbike charges by basij militiamen, set alight cars and motorbikes belonging to the militia, caught police officers and stripped them of their uniforms and arms, according to opposition websites.

They chanted slogans comparing Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the Supreme Leader, to the caliph Yazid, an act that was unthinkable until recently, and showed how the protests are no longer against the disputed election but the regime itself. “Yazid will be overthrown", "Hussein, Hussein is our slogan. Being a martyr is our pride” and “Khameini is a murderer — his rule is doomed,” they chanted.

Large protests were also said to be taking place in Shiraz, Isfahan and other cities. Last Monday, the holy city of Qom was convulsed by a huge demonstration to commemorate Montazeri. Opposition activists claim that the unrest is spreading both geographically across Iran, and socially to classes that previously supported President Ahmadinejad.

The regime took down much of the mobile phone network, slowed internet services to a crawl, and banned most foreign journalists from Iran, making corroboration very difficult.LINK

Japan unveils record budget to boost economy

TOKYO — Japan unveiled on Friday a record trillion-dollar budget for next year despite growing worries about its debt mountain, seeking to revive an economy hit by its worst downturn in decades.

The move came as a batch of data added to worries that Japan's economic recovery is running out of steam, with the jobless rate rising and deflation continuing to hobble the world's number two economy.

Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama's three-month-old government approved an unprecedented budget worth 92.3 trillion yen (1.0 trillion dollars) for the next financial year starting in April.

It predicted that Asia's biggest economy would grow 1.4 percent next year, marking the first expansion in three years, as it claws back from the worst downturn in decades.

"I will do my best to avoid a double-dip recession," Hatoyama told a news conference.

Hatoyama, who marked his first 100 days in office this week, has moved to slash what his party deems to be wasteful public spending and redirect money to struggling households.

His budget plan will pile further pressure on Japan's ailing public finances. The government will issue new bonds worth a record 44.3 trillion yen to cover the spending plans.

The Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development has warned that Japan's public debt is set to soar to more than 200 percent of gross domestic product by 2011.

"Rising debt is worrisome for Japan," said Okasan Securities equity strategist Hirokazu Fujiki.

"With the new government, only the allocation of resources has changed and that hasn't prevented debt from rising further."

Japan's economy grew in April-June for the first time in five quarters on rebounding exports and government stimulus measures, but stubborn deflation and a weak job market are seen as a threat to the recovery.

The unemployment rate climbed to 5.2 percent in November from 5.1 percent in October, worsening for the first time in four months, the government said.

Core consumer prices fell 1.7 percent in November from a year earlier, the ninth straight month of drops, fanning worries that deflation could jeopardise a fragile recovery from the worst recession in decades.

Last week Japan's central bank said it was a "critical challenge" for Asia's biggest economy to overcome deflation, which hurts companies and encourages consumers to put off purchases.

The economy is still gradually recovering but increasingly appears to be heading for a lull, said Hiroshi Watanabe, an economist at the Daiwa Institute of Research.

"Unemployment has improved rapidly for the past three months (to October) as it emerges from the worst period, but it is likely to stay slightly above five percent in the coming months," he said.

The jobless rate was a record 5.7 percent in July.

Kyohei Morita, chief Japan economist at Barclays Capital, said the jobless rate could rise into the upper five percent range in the April-June quarter next year with retail and other sectors reducing job offers.

Deflation may ease due to an economic expansion and a planned tobacco tax hike, but inflation will not return any time soon, he added.

"It will be at least three years until we see price rises. Japan's economic recovery is not strong enough to break out of deflation," he said.

Japan was stuck in a deflationary spiral for years after its economic bubble burst in the early 1990s, hitting corporate earnings and prompting consumers to put off purchases in the hope of getting a lower price.....LINK

Pope delivers Christmas blessing after fall

Pope Benedict XVI has delivered his annual Christmas Day message before thousands of the faithful at St. Peter's Basilica, the morning after a bizarre incident at the Vatican.

Vatican officials say the holiday schedule will remain unchanged, despite a security breach during the Christmas Eve mass when an apparently disturbed woman jumped over a barrier and tackled the Roman Catholic leader.

The Pope, 82, was knocked to the ground yet unhurt in the incident, but an 87-year-old Vatican diplomat suffered a fractured hip.

The Vatican says it will review its security procedures after the incident.

In his homily Friday morning, the Pope looked a bit unsteady at the beginning, but as he spoke he appeared to gain strength. He urged the world to "wake up" from selfishness and petty affairs, and told people to find time for spiritual matters.

He followed the homily with Christmas greetings in 65 different languages, drawing cheers and chants from the crowd that had gathered below him at St. Peter's Square.

The woman identified in the Christmas Eve security breach is Susanna Maiolo, 25, a Swiss-Italian national with psychiatric problems.

Vatican spokesman the Rev. Federico Lombardi said Maiolo, who was not armed, was taken to a clinic for treatment.

Maiolo was involved in a similar incident at last year's Midnight Mass, Vatican officials said. In that case, Maiolo jumped the barricade but never managed to reach the pope.

In his Christmas Day address, the Pope decried the effects of the world financial crisis, conflicts in the Holy Land and Africa, and the plight of the "tiny flock" of Christians in Iraq.

"At times it is subject to violence and injustice, but it remains determined to make its own contribution to the building of a society opposed to the logic of conflict and the rejection of one's neighbor," he said.

With a report from The Associated Press...LINK

100 released fishermen leave for India

KARACHI—One hundred Indian fishermen released by Pakistani authority have left for India through Wagah border on Friday. Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani, as a humanitarian gesture, ordered to release 100 Indian fishermen who have been in Pakistani custody in Malir District jail, but Indian authorities refused to accept the released fishermen due to which the return of fishermen has been delayed.
Indian authorities are of the view that they are not ready to take back the fishermen at this point of time; hence the process should be postponed. The released fishermen chanted anti-Indian slogans after the authorities refused to receive them. Pakistan Friday released 100 Indian fishermen who had been jailed for three years, as a “goodwill gesture” to India, its South Asian neighbour, officials said. The fishermen were to be released last Wednesday but Pakistani authorities said they had been forced to delay this because New Delhi had failed to make timely travel arrangements for the detainees.LINK

Chinese dissident to appeal jail ruling

AFP

A Beijing court has sentenced leading dissident Liu Xiaobo to 11 years in prison for subversion, prompting the United States to accuse China of persecuting its political opponents.

Rights groups lashed out at what they called a toughening of the political climate in China given the heavy jail term for Liu, 53, a writer who was previously jailed over the 1989 Tiananmen pro-democracy protests.

Liu was tried for "inciting subversion of state power". He was detained a year ago after co-authoring Charter 08, a bold manifesto calling for the reform of China's one-party communist system and the protection of human rights.

His case has generated concern in the West over China's human rights record, especially in the United States, which urged Beijing to "respect the rights of all Chinese citizens to peacefully express their political views".

"We continue to call on the government of China to release him immediately," US embassy official Gregory May told reporters outside the courthouse following sentencing on Friday.

"Persecution of individuals for the peaceful expression of political views is inconsistent with internationally recognised norms of human rights," May said.

The dissident's wife, Liu Xia - who was able to see her husband for the first time since March - told AFP that he has decided to appeal the verdict.

"He will meet with his lawyers Monday and they will prepare the appeal," said Liu, who had not been allowed to attend Wednesday's trial but was present at her husband's sentencing.

"We were able to meet for 10 minutes and we were all smiles when we spoke. I smiled so that he could be calm," she said.

One of Liu's lawyers, Ding Xikui, said they have 10 days to file an appeal.

Police presence at the courthouse was stepped up on Friday, with only the press pack milling around outside the building. A few supporters appeared after the sentencing.

A group of Western diplomats including May, who were denied access to Wednesday's proceedings, tried to attend Friday's hearing but were again refused, according to an AFP reporter at the courthouse.

In a brief dispatch, the state Xinhua news agency reported the sentence but only on its English-language service, saying the court had "strictly followed the legal procedures in this case and fully protected Liu's litigation rights".

Liu's conviction and sentence were strongly condemned by the European Union's presidency and the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).

In Brussels, the EU presidency, currently held by Sweden, condemned the decision to jail Liu as "disproportionate", saying it raised concerns about freedom of speech and right to a fair trial in China.

"The Presidency of the European Union is deeply concerned by the disproportionate sentence against the prominent human rights defender Liu Xiaobo," its statement said.

Liu's sentence threw "an ominous shadow" over Beijing's commitments to human rights, according to Navi Pillay, the UN's human rights commissioner.

"The conviction and extremely harsh sentencing... mark a further severe restriction on the scope of freedom of expression in China," Pillay said in a statement issued in Geneva.

Rights groups said the sentence indicated tough times ahead for political opponents of China's communist rulers.

"This reverses a trend seen over the past decade towards lighter sentences in subversion cases," Nicholas Bequelin, a senior researcher in the Asia division of Human Rights Watch, told AFP.

The Dui Hua Foundation, a group set up to improve human rights by promoting China-US dialogue, said Liu's sentence was the toughest handed down for subversion since the crime was included in China's penal code in 1997.

In Hong Kong, a group of around 50 people protested against the sentence.

Amnesty International expressed concern for the other signatories of Charter 08. According to China Human Rights Defenders, an activist network, more than 10,000 people have signed the petition.

The subversion charge - which one of Liu's lawyers, Shang Baojun, said also related to articles posted on the Internet - is routinely brought against those who voice opposition to China's ruling Communist Party.

Rights activists say China pushes cases such Liu's through the courts during the Western holiday season in a bid to attract less global attention.

In 2007, rights activist Hu Jia was arrested on December 27 and charged with subversion. The year before, prominent human rights lawyer Gao Zhisheng was sentenced just before Christmas to three years in prison for subversion.

"National and international pressure for this famous dissident's release must be redoubled," Paris-based media rights group Reporters without Borders (RSF) said, calling the verdict a "disgrace"...LINK