UK’s Prince Harry fighting in Afghanistan

LONDON, England (CNN) — The UK’s Prince Harry has been serving on the frontline in Afghanistan and seen combat, the UK Ministry of Defense confirmed Thursday.

He was deployed 10 weeks ago and his fellow soldiers were sworn to secrecy.

The prince’s status is currently being reviewed, the Ministry of Defense said.

Harry is third in line to the British throne and serves with the Blues and Royals.

His main role has been as a member of a group called Joint Tactical Air Control, or JTAC.

As far as I’m concerned I’m out here as a normal JTAC on the ground and not as Prince Harry he said.

In a recent interview with CNN correspondent Paula Newton, Prince Harry said, At the end of the day I like to sort of be a normal person, and for once I think this is about as normal as I’m ever going to get.

British Prime Minister Gordon Brown said: The whole of Britain will be proud of the outstanding service he is giving. For the last 10 weeks, he has joined the thousands of members of the British Armed Forces who have served with such distinction in difficult circumstances in Afghanistan since 2001.

In a pre-deployment interview with the British Press Association, he said: If I’m wanted, if I’m needed, then I will serve my country as I signed up to do.

The head of the British Army, Chief of the General Staff Sir Richard Dannatt, said Harry’s deployment had been kept secret after striking an agreement with the media. Watch Prince Harry on the front lines in Afghanistan

British and international media — including CNN — had agreed not to report Harry’s deployment because of security concerns for him and his unit. The military confirmed the operation after a U.S. Web site broke the news blackout.

Dannatt said: What the last two months have shown is that it is perfectly possible for Prince Harry to be employed just the same as other Army officers of his rank and experience. Watch how a top secret operation deployed Prince Harry

His conduct on operations in Afghanistan has been exemplary. He has been fully involved in operations and has run the same risks as everyone else in his Battlegroup.

In common with all of his generation in the army today, he is a credit to the nation.

Dannatt added that he and senior commanders will now be reviewing Harry’s deployment.

Last year, the military ruled Harry could not be sent to Iraq because publicity about the deployment could put him and his unit at risk.
UK’s Prince Harry fighting in Afghanistan – found here.

Bush: We’re in a slowdown

(CNN) — President Bush on Thursday said he does not think the country is headed into a recession, but admitted it is in a slowdown.

When asked if he was concerned about the economy having an effect on Republican John McCain’s presidential campaign, Bush said, I’m concerned about the economy because I’m concerned about working Americans, concerned about people who want to put money on the table and save for their kids’ education.

We’ve acted robustly and now it’s time to see if this program will really work, he said, referring to the economic stimulus bill he recently signed into law.

The government hopes the measure, which will send most Americans tax rebate checks by May, will either prevent a recession or make one relatively brief.

The package also includes tax breaks for equipment purchases by businesses, as well as payments to disabled veterans and some senior citizens.

When asked what advice he would give to the average person facing the prospect of gas prices hitting $4 per gallon, Bush stopped the reporter and said, What did you just say? You’re predicting $4 a gallon gas?

That’s interesting. I hadn’t heard that, he said at the Thursday news conference.

Bush said Congress must make tax cuts permanent because of economic uncertainty.

Bush also urged Congress to vote on an update to the terrorist surveillance bill, which allows the intelligence community to conduct surveillance on foreigners without a warrant.

A temporary update to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act expired more than a week ago.

The law expired, the threat to America didn’t expire, the president told reporters.

Bush has been pressing Congress to pass a permanent update, arguing that its delayed passage hurts national security.

The Senate passed a bill, but members of the House have taken issue with a provision in the Senate version that grants retroactive immunity from prosecution for telecommunications companies that assisted the government in its surveillance program.

Critics said the program violated the law, and phone and Internet companies face as many as 40 lawsuits related to their participation. The House has balked at passing the immunity measure.

Bush defended telecommunications companies that helped U.S. officials monitor terrorist communications, saying it is patently unfair for the companies to be sued by opponents of the program.

You can’t expect phone companies to participate if they feel like they’re going to be sued, he said. Watch Bush urge Congress to move ahead with FISA

The program is critical to national security, he said.

It’s in our interest because we want to know who’s calling who, Bush said.

Democrats have said that the existing 1978 law gives the government all the authority it needs to carry out surveillance and that passage of the final bill can wait until the House and Senate reconcile their differences.

Both the House and Senate versions of the bill would allow U.S. intelligence to tap into phone and Internet traffic overseas without obtaining a judge’s warrant, even if the calls were routed through communications centers in the United States.

The president also repeated his objection to sitting down with leaders of countries such as Iran and Cuba, nations accused of abusing human rights and stifling democracy.

The move has been an issue between Democratic presidential hopefuls Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama.

It is extremely counterproductive, sends chilling messages to our allies. … It would be a mistake, Bush said. Having your picture taken with someone like Raul (Castro) lends the status of our country to him. Castro, brother of Fidel, is the new president of Cuba.

Bush said he intends to meet with China’s president during a trip to Beijing to see the summer Olympic Games, which begin in August.

The Bush administration has accused China, a major U.S. trade partner, of human rights abuses. Bush didn’t elaborate on what issues he might bring up.

When asked if Obama’s recent comments about Iraq were naive, the president was quick to shoot down the question.

I believe Sen. Obama better stay focused on his campaign with Sen. Clinton, neither of whom has secured their party’s nomination yet, he said, adding that the Republican nomination has not been decided either.

The president, who recently returned from a trip to Africa, also asked lawmakers to pass a bill that reauthorizes his emergency plan of AIDS relief.

He urged the American people to be generous and compassionate in supporting programs to treat AIDS, and said he’s pleased that a House committee has passed a bill reauthorizing the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, known as PEPFAR.

The plan has provided $15 billion since the president unveiled it in 2003. The new House proposal would greatly increase that amount.

During negotiations, House leaders reached an agreement with Bush on Wednesday to temper abstinence messages in promoting the program. The Senate is crafting its own proposal.

The president said Congress must act to approve the full funding requested for U.S. troops in Iraq.

It seems that no matter what happens in Iraq, opponents of the war have one answer: retreat, Bush said. Watch Bush describe his strategy in Iraq

When things were going badly in Iraq a year ago, they called for withdrawal. Then we changed our strategy, launched the surge, and turned the situation around.

Bush praised the success of the surge of American troops, saying it has decreased violence, including American casualties.

The president ordered nearly 30,000 additional troops to Iraq in January 2007 to help pacify Baghdad and the surrounding provinces.

The Bush administration has touted a reduction in the sectarian violence that wracked Baghdad throughout 2006 — and an accompanying drop in the U.S. death toll — as signs of the surge’s success.

Thousands of extremists have also been killed, since the United States sent more troops, Bush said.
Bush: We’re in a slowdown – found here.

Kenya’s rival politicians strike power sharing deal

NAIROBI, Kenya (CNN) — Kenya’s rival politicians have agreed to form a coalition government after weeks of wrangling on how to end the country’s deadly postelection crisis, mediator Kofi Annan said.

President Mwai Kibaki and opposition leader Raila Odinga had been negotiating for weeks about sharing power following the disputed elections in late December.

Annan, who had been leading the mediation effort, told reporters at a press conference: We have come to an understanding on the coalition government.

The Associated Press reported that Mr Annan offered no further details, saying: All I can say is that we do have an agreement.

Annan’s announcement came after crisis talks with Kibaki and Odinga that were also attended by African Union chief Jakaya Kikwete, the president of Tanzania.

The two leaders are expected to sign a document formalising the deal later in the afternoon.

Odinga and Kibaki have been at odds since facing off in a December 27 election that international monitors describe as flawed. Kibaki claimed victory and took the oath of office despite reported irregularities. Violence that followed has killed at least 1,000 and displaced 300,000.

Former U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan had been overseeing talks between the two sides meant to bridge the divide, but he suspended those talks on Tuesday.

On Wednesday, Odinga told reporters that his supporters would not take to the streets — for now — in the kind of mass action that has previously led to violence.

We will delay mass action until further notice, he said.

The deal comes after Annan met privately with Kibaki and Odinga.

It is a crisis situation that we are trying to manage, and we need to understand the urgency and the need for speed, Annan said Tuesday. I trust the two leaders understand this and will work with me expeditiously to resolve the crisis the country is in. Time is of the essence.

Kibaki’s win in the December voting was immediately called into question with election observers from the European Union saying they doubted the legitimacy of the count. Analysts said it was probable that both of the main parties had been involved in electoral fraud.

The fighting that followed the vote broke down along tribal lines. Members of Kibaki’s Kikuyu tribe and the Luos, the tribe of Odinga, have been in the middle of the ethnic clashes.

More than 270,000 displaced Kenyans remain in 200 camps; 12,000 others are being looked after in Ugandan camps and estimated half million overall are in need of emergency shelter, water, food and medical care, according to John Holmes, U.N. under-secretary-general for humanitarian affairs, who briefed the U.N. Security Council on Monday.

Holmes visited the region earlier this month.

Common threads among all the displaced groups were their urgent need for safety and security, particularly for women and children, with some disturbing accounts of continuing abuses in and around camps, he said in a written statement.

I heard dreadful stories of murder, of rape and burning, he added. The ethnic basis of much of what happened was tragically clear.
Kenya’s rival politicians strike power sharing deal – found here.

Son of Samsung chairman questioned in probe

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — The son of the chief of powerful Samsung Group appeared for questioning Thursday by special prosecutors investigating allegations of corruption at the huge conglomerate.

I know there are a lot of concerns about me and Samsung, Lee Jae-yong, son of Samsung Group Chairman Lee Kun-hee, told reporters upon arrival for questioning in live footage broadcast by cable news channel YTN.

Yonhap news agency and other media reported earlier that the younger Lee, an executive at Samsung Electronics — the conglomerate’s flagship — was to be queried about alleged shady dealings involving the group’s corporate structure.

Special prosecutors could not immediately be reached.

A Samsung Group spokesman, Yim Jun-seok, said he had no other details on what subjects Lee was to be questioned.
Son of Samsung chairman questioned in probe – found here.

Airstrike hits Gaza ministry building

JERUSALEM (CNN) — At least three Israeli missiles hit the Palestinian Interior Ministry in Gaza early Thursday, hours after Palestinian militants fired more than 40 Qassam rockets into southern Israel.

One of those rockets struck near a college, killing one person, according to the Israeli military and emergency medical services. The Palestinian rockets are a near daily occurrence but have only occasionally injured or killed people.

The strike at the ministry injured several people, according to Palestinian sources. Another rocket hit the building several minutes later, the sources said. A six-month-old child was struck by shrapnel and killed, the sources said.

The ministry strike was part of a series of Israeli airstrikes on Gaza in retaliation for the rocket attack. They included one outside Gaza City that killed two children, Palestinian medical sources said.

The Israeli military confirmed eight airstrikes in Gaza. The targets were rocket manufacturing and launching sites and a headquarters building, the Israelis said. Palestinian sources said two militants were killed.

The continuing violence came as an opinion poll in a leading Israeli paper suggested most Israelis think their government should negotiate with Hamas — the militants in control of Gaza — for a cease-fire and the release of a captured soldier.

The poll, conducted by the newspaper Haaretz and the polling company Dialog, found 64 percent of Israelis in favor of talks.

It now appears that this opinion is gaining traction in the wider public, which until recently vehemently rejected such negotiations, according to the newspaper.

According to the findings, Israelis are fed up with seven years of Qassam rockets falling on Sderot and the communities near Gaza, as well as the fact that [Gilad] Shalit has been held captive for more than a year and a half, the newspaper said.

Shalit was 19 when he was captured June 25, 2006, by Palestinian militants who tunneled into Israel and attacked an army outpost near the Gaza-Israel-Egypt border.

Apart from the one death and one injury Wednesday by Palestinian rockets that hit Sapir College, near Sderot, no other injuries were reported from the rockets.

Another Israeli airstrike — targeting a rocket cell in northern Gaza — killed one civilian and injured three others just outside Jebalya, Palestinian medical and security sources said.

Five Hamas members were killed in an earlier airstrike in Gaza, the sources said.

The Israeli military confirmed it carried out the airstrikes in northern Gaza, but offered no details.

Earlier this month, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert resisted pressure to launch a broader military operation against Palestinian militants in Gaza after a rocket attack seriously wounded an 8-year-old boy in Sderot. The boy’s leg was amputated.

Instead, Israel retaliated with troops carrying out airstrikes in Gaza against Hamas targets.

Olmert has vowed not to slacken against the ongoing attacks on Israel, which he described as an almost daily war.

We will continue to struggle in order to reduce to nil the threat that is upsetting the quality of life of residents of the south, he said.

As part of that struggle, Olmert said, Israel will continue its military operations and its blockade of materials that could serve the terrorist organizations, including energy.

Israel has allowed some fuel and medical supplies into Gaza, but has kept the border crossings closed except to meet emergency humanitarian needs. The block on food, fuel and medicine has led to long lines at stores and left hospitals without heat.

Human rights groups have protested against the blockade, accusing Israel of collectively punishing civilians along with the territory’s Hamas leadership.

On Monday, thousands of people formed a human chain along Gaza’s roads in a Hamas-led protest over the blockade. Hamas does not recognize Israel’s right to exist, and Israel and the United States consider it a terrorist organization.

This may not always be loved but it is an important part of counterterrorist activity, Olmert said.

He also said the Israeli government is building 13 new schools in Sderot and surrounding areas that will be reinforced to protect them from the salvo of rockets.

It is part of a $14 million plan approved by the Knesset in January.

The poll figures were obtained in a Haaretz-Dialog poll conducted Tuesday under the supervision of Professor Camil Fuchs of Tel Aviv University.
Airstrike hits Gaza ministry building – found here.

Son of Samsung chairman questioned in probe

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — The son of the chief of powerful Samsung Group appeared for questioning Thursday by special prosecutors investigating allegations of corruption at the huge conglomerate.

I know there are a lot of concerns about me and Samsung, Lee Jae-yong, son of Samsung Group Chairman Lee Kun-hee, told reporters upon arrival for questioning in live footage broadcast by cable news channel YTN.

Yonhap news agency and other media reported earlier that the younger Lee, an executive at Samsung Electronics — the conglomerate’s flagship — was to be queried about alleged shady dealings involving the group’s corporate structure.

Special prosecutors could not immediately be reached.

A Samsung Group spokesman, Yim Jun-seok, said he had no other details on what subjects Lee was to be questioned.
Son of Samsung chairman questioned in probe – found here.

Son of Samsung chairman questioned in probe

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — The son of the chief of powerful Samsung Group appeared for questioning Thursday by special prosecutors investigating allegations of corruption at the huge conglomerate.

I know there are a lot of concerns about me and Samsung, Lee Jae-yong, son of Samsung Group Chairman Lee Kun-hee, told reporters upon arrival for questioning in live footage broadcast by cable news channel YTN.

Yonhap news agency and other media reported earlier that the younger Lee, an executive at Samsung Electronics — the conglomerate’s flagship — was to be queried about alleged shady dealings involving the group’s corporate structure.

Special prosecutors could not immediately be reached.

A Samsung Group spokesman, Yim Jun-seok, said he had no other details on what subjects Lee was to be questioned.
Son of Samsung chairman questioned in probe – found here.