Einstein’s 69-yr-old granddaughter wants her due

New York, Feb 7 : The university that owns the lucrative rights to Albert Einstein’s name is refusing to give a dollar to his family.

The late scientist’s granddaughter Evelyn Einstein, who approached the Hebrew University of Jerusalem about sharing the profits it earned, claims that she was ‘rudely blown off’.

“Everyone assumes I''m filthy rich, and they think I have a mental problem because I''m not using my money,” she told the New York Post.

When the iconic genius died in 1955 at age 76, he bequeathed the literary rights in his estate to the Hebrew University.

The school later trademarked Einstein’s name, and last year alone made 10 million dollars from licensing fees.

“I never made any issue of the fact that they were willed the literary estate,” said Evelyn.

“But what does a bobblehead have to do with a literary estate? I was really offended by some of the stuff that was being OK''d,” she added.

The 69-year-old, who is in poor health, said she never knew how much her late grandfather''s name was worth until 2008, when Forbes magazine released its list of highest-earning deceased celebrities. That year, Einstein''s name and likeness raked in 18 million dollars.

“I don''t want to be rich. I don''t want huge amounts of money. I''d like to move into an assisted-living facility that isn''t dangerous,” said Evelyn. (ANI)
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Pakistan has to do more in terror war: US

Washington, Aug 4 : The United States says Pakistan started to take more direct action against terrorist safe havens in its territory after extremists tried to move on to its capital, but unquestionably Pakistan needs to do more.


"If you look at the progress that we have made with Pakistan on safe havens, on confronting terrorists, I think that is a record that they and we can be proud of," White House press secretary Robert Gibbs told reporters Tuesday.


"Does more have to be done? Unquestionable," he said when asked if President Barack Obama now believes that the Pakistani military, intelligence and civilian government will support the US from now on.


"We have tough work ahead in Pakistan and in Afghanistan. And together with our partners, we'll make progress," Gibbs said refuting a reported suggestion by Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari that the Afghanistan war is lost.


"I don't think the President (Obama) would agree with President Zardari's conclusion that the war is lost," he said referring to Zardari's reported remarks to French newspaper Le Monde.


Zardari was quoted as telling Le Monde that "the international community to which Pakistan belongs is losing the war against the Taliban. Above all, it is because we've lost the battle for hearts and minds."


"I don't know why he's come to that conclusion," Gibbs said. "But I think it is safe to say that the actions and the efforts that the coalition, international forces and American forces, have taken over the last several months have very much the hearts and minds of the Afghan people at the forefront.


"The Afghan people know of the brutality of the Taliban, just as the Pakistani people, on the actions that their extremist counterparts were taking in Pakistan last year to move on the capital of Pakistan is why the country of Pakistan started to take more direct action against safe havens," he said.


"So I think that the hearts and minds of those in Afghanistan and Pakistan are obviously a key part of our strategy, as well as what is in the hearts and the minds of the extremists that seek to do Afghans or Pakistanis harm, Gibbs said. (IANS)
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Bosnian man pleads not guilty in New York subway plot

New York, Aug 7 : An immigrant from Bosnia-Herzegovina Friday pleaded not guilty to charges that he planned to bomb a New York subway.

Adis Medunjanin was arraigned before a Federal Court in Brooklyn on a revised indictment that included additional charges by US prosecutors. The charges said Medunjanin, and another suspect, Zarein Ahmedzay, were recruited to receive terrorist training in Pakistan in 2008.

Also appearing before the court was a third suspect Najibullah Zazi, who with Zarein Ahmedzay had pleaded guilty to charges of plotting to bomb the New York subway system.

News reports said that the three suspects in court Friday were classmates at a local Flushing High School in Queens.

Medunjanin was already charged with plotting to use weapons of mass destruction and to commit murder. He was arrested in January for alleged plans to crash into car while driving on the Bronx-Whitestone Bridge as a suicide attack.

Local news reports said Medunjanin's defence lawyers plan to fight the charges.

"The government must prove its case beyond a reasonable doubt," said defence attorney Robert Gottlieb. "So today, we, as everyone witnessed, took a clear step in that process, to see whether or not the government can actually prove, beyond a reasonable doubt by way of evidence, that Mr Medunjanin is guilty of serious charges." (DPA)

Indo-US ties 'defining partnership of 21st century': Senate

Washington, Aug 7 : Noting that President Barack Obama considers India-US relationship as "one of the defining partnerships of the 21st century," the US senate has resolved to foster and advance the strategic partnership between the two nations.

A bipartisan resolution introduced by Republican John Cornyn and co-sponsored by Democrat Christopher Dodd, to mark the 63rd anniversary of India's independence, also celebrated "the contributions of Americans of Indian descent to society in the United States."

Noting that the first state dinner hosted by Obama was held in honour of Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in November 2009, the resolution recalled the two nations "have pursued a strategic partnership based on common interests and shared commitments to freedom, democracy, pluralism, human rights, and the rule of law"

The US and India have undertaken a cooperative effort in the area of civilian nuclear power, which Congress approved through the enactment of the US-India Nuclear Cooperation Approval and Non-Proliferation Enhancement Act, it noted

The strong relationship between the US India is based on mutual trust and respect, enables close collaboration across a broad spectrum of strategic interests, including counter-terrorism, democracy promotion, regional economic development, human rights, and scientific research, the resolution said.

The Senate resolution also acknowledged that since 2001, Indians have comprised the largest foreign student population on college campuses in the US, accounting for approximately 15 per cent of all foreign students in the country.

Noting that there are more than two million Americans of Indian descent in the United States, it acknowledged the lasting contributions to the social and economic fabric of the US made by the Indian Americans.

"Americans of Indian descent continue to enrich all sectors of public life in the United States, including as government, military, and law enforcement officials working to uphold the Constitution of the United States and to protect all people in the United States," it said. (IANS)
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'US on track for Iraq withdrawal'

Washington, Aug 12 : The US military remains on track for ending combat operations in Iraq by the end of this month, the White House said Wednesday after President Barack Obama held a meeting with key advisors.

"Nothing was brought up with the president that would necessitate us needing to turn back," spokesman Robert Gibbs said.

Obama met with Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, Defence Secretary Robert Gates and via videoconference with General Ray Odierno, the top commander of US forces in Iraq.

Obama plans to end the US combat role by the end of August, which would bring the US presence there to about 50,000. All US forces are slated to be out of Iraq by the end of 2011.

Aug 31 will mark a shift of the US role from military to civilian as the US embassy will oversee the training of Iraqi security forces with the help of the remaining soldiers. Other soldiers staying behind will assist with counterterrorism operations.

However, there are concerns in the Obama administration that the congressional cuts in the State Department's budget for Iraq could hinder the effort as the military departs, the Washington Post reported Wednesday.

House and Senate committees have already cut the State Department request of 1.8 billion for operations in Iraq for fiscal 2011, which begins Oct 1. The State Department is trying to restore the funding and has signalled a need for an additional $400 million on top of the initial request.(DPA)
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Kabul denies agreeing to buy all fuel from Iran

KABUL: Afghanistan on Monday dismissed a claim by Tehran that the two countries had reached an agreement for Iran to supply all of its private sector fuel, drawing out a long-running dispute between the neighbours.
Ghulam Mohammad Aylaqi, deputy commerce minister, denied comments made Sunday by Iranian Oil Minister Masoud Mirkazemi that an agreement was made under which the private sector would buy “all its needed products” from Iran.
Aylaqi said Kabul could not afford such a deal with Iran.
“We have offered to buy the (fuel) needs of western and southwestern Afghanistan (from Iran). We have not agreed and will not agree to buy all our supplies from Iran,” Aylaqi said.
He added that it was not viable to buy from Iran for north and east Afghanistan because imports from nearby central Asia and Pakistan were cheaper.
About one third of Afghanistan’s fuel needs, imported from Russia, Turkmenistan and Iraq, transit through Iran.
The transport of the fuel has become a sensitive issue as the Islamic republic has prevented the passage of trucks carrying the supplies to Afghanistan.
Thousands of fuel trucks were left stranded on the Afghan-Iranian border in a dispute between the two sides over fuel earlier this year although the backlog has now been largely cleared.
Tehran has hinted to Kabul that it suspected the fuel in the trucks would be used to supply US and other foreign troops fighting a Taliban insurgency in Afghanistan.
Finance Ministry spokesman Aziz Shams also said Afghanistan could not afford to import all its fuel supplies from Iran.
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320,000 homeless from Sri Lanka floods; toll at 11

COLOMBO: Floods and mudslides in Sri Lanka have forced 320,000 people to flee their homes and killed at least 11.
The Disaster Management Center said Monday the evacuees are being housed in 759 temporary camps after heavy rains last week forced them to flee. In addition to the 11 deaths, three people are missing.
Sri Lanka’s air force and navy were dropping food and rescuing marooned residents, mainly in worst-affected eastern and north-central provinces. Schools in the area are closed through Tuesday.
The center said more than 1 million people were affected by the floods.
Deluges in January caused flooding and mudslides that also affected more than 1 million people.
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New British troops aim to beat Taliban on trust

SALISBURY PLAIN: The next British brigade heading to Afghanistan will enter Helmand Province with a new emphasis on giving locals enough confidence to oust the Taliban from their strongholds.
Ten years and now 350 British military deaths into the mission, their focus will be on improving the lives of ordinary Afghans first and on front-line fighting second, in a clear strategy shift.
Leaders of the 6,500-strong 3 Commando Brigade believe success rests on convincing nervous residents of the long-lawless Helmand that they can place their trust in the democratic governance on offer.
The Royal Marines formation is heading back to Afghanistan in April with memories still fresh of the 33 men it lost when it led British operations in the country in 2009.
The first British brigade to go on a grueling fourth tour, they will take charge in the southern province’s central belt – fighting the insurgency, training up local troops and assisting reconstruction efforts.
“The central pillar of our approach is to focus on the people first and the insurgents second,” Brigadier Ed Davis, who will command the operation, told journalists Thursday as his troops underwent final training.
“If we are going to succeed in Afghanistan, we need to focus on the cause of the insurgency – which is the intimidated, vulnerable, disenfranchised people – and not the symptom, which is the insurgent fighter.
“It is our job to make sure we give them the confidence and the courage to reject the insurgency, accept the offer that the government is giving them and put their hopes for the future in the Afghan state.
“They need tangible evidence that their own security forces will be able to protect them.”
He added: “We’ll be going out there with our eyes wide open: the progress is fragile and it is reversible.”
The brigadier’s troops have had 12 months of general and then mission-specific training before entering final rehearsal manoeuvres on Salisbury Plain in southwest England.
On the bleak grassland home to the famous Stonehenge monument, Chinook and Sea King helicopters sweep down to drop off a platoon outside a replica village.
While the Cold War-era buildings are modeled on Germany and the Afghan troops in the mixed patrol are played by Gurkhas, the civilians are played by genuine Afghans.
So when the troops sit down for a “shura” meeting with the local elders, complete with tea and sweets, the Pashto dialogue is translated for the fresh-faced British officers – but these days they take a back seat to their Afghan counterparts.
Outside, as Afghan women chop carrots and boil rice on a wood fire, Marine Sam Magowan keeps watch.
“For lads like myself it’s the first time out there. It’s a new experience but the training prepares you well,” the 18-year-old said.
“We’re trained to deal with IEDs (improvised explosive devices), mine strikes, suicide bombers, small arms fire, indirect fire, absolutely everything.
“I’m anxious to get out there, do the job and see whatever comes our way.”
Britain wants its troops out of a combat role in Afghanistan by 2015 and is therefore training up local security forces so they can gradually take over.
Defence Secretary Liam Fox visited 3 Commando to see the next deployment’s preparations.
“They’ve got the security mission on the ground to look after but they’re going to be in a very different political environment when the shift in Afghan policy is going to move to the political arena,” he told AFP.
“The security improvement that we want will not be won by the military alone.”
A critical part of the effort is the 200-strong Helmand Provincial Reconstruction Team, headed by Foreign Office diplomat Michael O’Neill.
He said progress in building up the infrastructure of a functioning state had taken off in 2010, with governors now in 10 of the 14 Helmand districts and an increasing numbers of judges across the province.
“The challenge in 2011 is to consolidate and deepen that because it is still fragile,” he told AFP, 24 hours after leaving Helmand’s capital Lashkar Gah.
“The most important part is building the confidence and trust of the Afghan people in their own government.
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International reaction to Egypt’s dilemma

Passengers crowd the departure area at the Cairo International airport as Egyptians across the nation take to the streets calling on the resignation of their long-term president Hosni Mubarak. At the same time, EU demands reform in Egypt and moves to open a new chapter in ties with Tunisia. China urged a return to order in Egypt as soon as possible without openly taking sides in the unrest threatening Hosni Mubarak’s regime. In Lebanon, Seoul and South-East Asia, demonstrators gathered to show solidarity with protestors in Egypt.

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Egypt violence seems to backfire on Mubarak

CAIRO: Violence against Egyptian protesters by Hosni Mubarak loyalists appeared to backfire on Wednesday, drawing criticism from the United States, which hardened its stance on the president’s political future.
The activists who have staged unprecedented protests against Mubarak said the rough tactics had also hardened their resolve.
The extent of their determination will become clear on Friday, when the protesters have called another mass rally to demand the 82-year old president step down.
Scenes of men claiming loyalty to Mubarak armed with sticks and knives might also have undermined some of the sympathy the president generated during his televised address on Tuesday, when he announced he would not seek re-election in September.
But public relations appeared to be of no importance to whoever was behind the violence: reporters were also attacked, including foreigners, in what the Committee to Protect Journalists said was an effort at “blanket censorship”.
By nightfall, the protesters were still holding their ground in Tahrir Square, scene of Wednesday’s violence and the hub for the anti-Mubarak protests over the last week.
Whether they stay or leave might not matter that much.
The anti-Mubarak protest movement has generated great momentum over the last nine days. Were the protesters to leave the square, they would likely be able to regroup for Friday, harnessing the social media that allowed them to organise.
“If they’re attacked as they were today, by armed young men, then there’s the potential for real instability,” said Elijah Zarwan, a senior Cairo-based analyst with International Crisis Group. “I fear it could be a harbinger of further unrest.”
In Washington, a vital ally for Egypt, a senior US official, speaking privately, shared the assessment of protesters and witnesses in Cairo that someone loyal to Mubarak had unleashed gangs of armed men to intimidate the protesters.
“UNCLE MUBARAK”
In London, British Prime Minister David Cameron also took seriously the idea that the government was behind the violence.
“If it turns out that the regime in any way has been sponsoring or tolerating this violence, that would be completely and utterly unacceptable. These are despicable scenes that we’re seeing,” Cameron told reporters.
Speaking after a day of violence in which at least three Egyptians were killed and 1,500 wounded, White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said the United States wanted an immediate start to some form of unspecified transition. “Now means now,” he said.
US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton told Omar Suleiman, appointed deputy president by Mubarak this week, that a transition has to begin now.
In his speech on Tuesday, Mubarak, ruler for three decades, offered concessions including promises of constitutional reform.
That was not good enough for the protesters, who are seeking his immediate exit and deep change in the way the autocratic Arab state is governed. More than a million people demonstrated across the country on Tuesday.
In an effort to counter the anti-Mubarak tide, loyalists had staged peaceful protests across Cairo earlier in the day, focusing on his promises of reform. In one, children with “Uncle Mubarak” daubed on their cheeks waved the Egyptian colours.
Yet by mid-afternoon, scenes of men on horses and camels, armed with whips and sticks, charging the protesters in Tahrir Square dominated live coverage by Arab satellite networks.
Journalists were among those attacked by Mubarak loyalists on Wednesday, the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists said.
“What happened has cast a very negative shadow on the Mubarak government. It tarnishes his image abroad,” said Mustapha Kamel al-Sayyid, a political scientist.
Hassan Nafaa, a political scientist and leading opposition figure, said the violence was a “stupid, desperate move by the ruling National Democratic Party and state apparatus”.
“This will not put an end to the protests,” he said. “This is not a Tahrir Square revolution, it is a general uprising.”
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CAIRO: The balance between the two sides in the Egyptian crisis is at a delicate juncture and it is still too early to see how the confrontation will end.
Here is a summary of the sources of strength of the two sides:
THE PROTEST MOVEMENT
* The protesters have the numbers, for the moment. The movement brought more than one million people onto the streets last Tuesday and its rally in central Cairo on Friday was almost as well attended. The protests have also been massive in provincial cities and towns, especially Alexandria, Suez and the textile town of Mahalla in the Nile Delta. Rallies in favour of Mubarak have been much smaller. They started later and have already started to diminish. But some Egyptians say the government has made enough concessions and the protests should end. Many say they are tired of the disruption and losses the protests have caused.
* The opposition has widespread international sympathy, enhanced by the reputation it has earned for non-violence. A crucial phase in the battle for public opinion came when Mubarak supporters attacked the protesters on Wednesday and tried to expel them from the square with rocks, petrol bombs and gunshots. The protesters are searched for weapons when they enter Tahrir Square and have to defend themselves with whatever they can find there.
* The protesters have a promise from the army that it will not shoot them. Although the army’s role has been mysterious and ambiguous, most do at least trust the army to keep that promise.
* Foreign governments, the United Nations and international rights groups have upheld their right to demonstrate peacefully and is watching the Egyptian government’s behaviour carefully.
Any attempt to disperse the Tahrir Square protests by force would lead to condemnation and international isolation.
* The opposition has the momentum, again for the moment. Mubarak and others in government have made a succession of concessions and gestures, the most important of which was Mubarak’s announcement that he will not stand for re-election when his current term runs out in September. The core protesters have held fast to the demand that Mubarak must leave.
MUBARAK AND HIS GROUP
* Mubarak is supreme commander of the armed forces, which has more than 450,000 men and a vast arsenal of weapons. But so far the army has done little to help his cause, other than to protect government buildings. It has sometimes restricted access to Tahrir Square but not in a way that severely hampers the protest movement’s activities. The army has urged the protesters to go home but the protesters has ignored it. No outsiders can readily judge whether the army command might at some stage press Mubarak to give up and resign.
* The police forces, especially the Central Security riot police force, are in serious disarray after withdrawing from the streets on Jan. 28. Vice President Omar Suleiman has said it will take months to restore their capabilities. But if the confrontation drags on, some police units could return as a force in Mubarak’s favour.
* Mubarak remains president of the ruling National Democratic Party (NDP) but the party is immensely unpopular and many of its offices have been ransacked or burned. In practice, the party is not a very significant asset.
* Mubarak still controls the state media, which have proved one of his most loyal tools, broadcasting a stream of propaganda in his favour. But many Egyptians now have access to a wide range of satellite television channels that the government cannot control. The Qatari channel Al Jazeera played an important part in keeping Egyptians informed but the government has now made it more difficult to receive.
* The popular uprising has alarmed many Egyptians, including some prosperous middle-class people, those who benefited from the old system and some Coptic Christians who fear the inclusion of the Muslim Brotherhood in political life. But those people are unlikely to come out in the streets for the moment.
* Mubarak has support and sympathy from right-wing leaders in countries such as Israel, Italy and Saudi Arabia. On Saturday the United States shifted its position significantly, saying that Mubarak should stay on for some time to supervise political change — not very different from Mubarak’s position. But foreign connections are a political liability for both sides.
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Egyptian turmoil helping to lift oil, food prices

WASHINGTON: The standoff in Egypt and uncertainty about where it will lead is causing global economic jitters. It’s already pushing up the price of oil and food, and there’s no telling how long the turmoil will last.
The big worry is that popular uprisings and revolution will spread to Egypt’s rich autocratic neighbors who control much of the world’s oil supply.
How far will anti-government movements go? Will oil supplies be disrupted? Will the US see its influence in the region decline and that of Iran and other fundamental Islamic regimes surge?
Right now, these are open questions. But there’s no question that the crisis has created new risks for still shaky world economies and put a cloud over world financial markets.
Instability in the Middle East, if prolonged, could jeopardize fragile recoveries in the United States and Europe. It could limit job creation and fuel inflation.
‘‘If the turmoil is contained largely to Egypt, then the broader economic fallout will be marginal,’’ said Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody’s Analytics. ‘‘Now, obviously, if it spills out of Egypt to other parts of the Middle East, the concern goes to a whole other darker level.’’
‘‘It is certainly now on my radar screen,’’ he said.
The situation remains tense after more than 10 days of street demonstrations as protesters demanding President Hosni Mubarak’s immediate resignation continue to skirmish with pro-Mubarak loyalists in the center of Cairo.
Such protests earlier brought down the government of Tunisia and have already spread in more modest ways to include Yemen and Jordan.
‘‘The real worry, I think is if these protests continue indefinitely and there isn’t more reassurance about stability in Egypt and in the broader region,’’ said Shadi Hamid, a researcher on Gulf affairs at the Brookings Institution’s Doha Center in Qatar. ‘‘We’re going to see a continued decline in the regional economy and that will, of course, have an effect on the US economy.’’
Hamid suggested the Obama administration’s position of first supporting Mubarak and then upping the pressure on him to leave immediately was not helping the situation. ‘‘There is a real danger here that the Obama administration will be remembered asresisting change,’’ he said.
President Barack Obama said Friday he hoped Mubarak would focus on his legacy as Egypt’s leader for nearly three decades and ‘‘end up making the right decision’’ to step down. But Obama stopped short of calling on Mubarak to leave immediately.
Mubarak has said he will not run for re-election when his term expires in September, but that hasn’t satisfied protesters.
Although demonstrations at week’s end were more subdued than on Thursday, when the clashes were violent and hundreds were injured, the unrest already has had an impact on energy prices in the United States.
The average price for a gallon of regular gasoline in the U.S. was $3.12 on Friday — up 2.4 cents just in the past week. Analysts expect prices to stay above $3 a gallon — the highest since 2008 — and likely go even higher until the conflict in Egypt is resolved and tensions are eased in neighboring countries.
Oil prices have hovered at around $90 a barrel over the past week, with some analysts predicting the Egyptian crisis will lead to $100 per barrel prices sooner rather than later.
Traders worry the unrest might spread to oil-producing countries in the region and even affect shipments through the Suez Canal. Egypt is not a major oil producer, but it controls the canal and a nearby pipeline that together carry about 2 million barrels of oil a day from the Middle East to customers in Europe and the United States.
Several large Egyptian refineries near the canal have been the site of recent protests.
So far, traffic through the canal has been unimpeded. But it’s high on everybody’s worry list. It was blockaded by the Egyptian military for eight years after the 1967 war with Israel and shut briefly during the Suez crisis of 1956.
‘‘I think the major fear regarding the Suez Canal revolves around the power vacuum that’s being created by this uprising,’’ said Jeff Sica, president of SicaWealth Management in New Jersey. ‘‘The prospect for the Suez Canal being controlled by an unfriendly regime would further devastate the economy.’’
The likelihood of the canal being shut or blockaded seems remote. It is a huge source of revenue for Egypt that the government will not want to lose, no matter who is in charge. Still, just the possibility could spook financial markets if tensions escalate.
Meanwhile, rising food prices helped fuel the popular uprising in Egypt, where most of the population is poor. And the turmoil there and unrest in Somalia and other Arab nations now appears to be driving food prices even higher.
Some nations in the region, including Saudi Arabia and Algeria, have indicated they may begin increasing their stockpiles of wheat and other grains.
http://www.dawn.com/2011/02/05/egyptian-turmoil-helping-to-lift-oil-food-prices.html