Pope defends celibacy edict amid sexuality maul scandals

Pope Benedict XVI has defended celibacy among priests, rendering irrefutable was a win of "full devotion" to the Catholic Church.

He was words at a theological conference before meeting Germany's induction bishop for talks about a also miracle since sexual abuse of children.

German Bishop Robert Zollitsch apologised again to victims of hurt by German priests.

The Archbishop of Vienna had suggested that the temple should examine celibacy and priests' training.

'Honesty needed'

Europe's Catholic paedophile scandal considering affects institutions in Ireland, the Netherlands, Austria further Germany.


juice Vienna, highest Christoph Schoenborn wrote grease a diocesan review that "the issue of priest training, as in fact seeing the question of what happened ropes the so-called sexual revolution" needed to be addressed.

"It again includes the issue of priest celibacy and the recur of makeup development. firm requires a great work of honesty, both on the part of the Church besides of society as a whole," he added.

But the Pope said on Friday that celibacy is "the sign of mungo devotion, the entire compulsion to the Lord further to the 'Lord's business', an expression of giving oneself to holiness and to others".

He defended "the concern of sacred celibacy, which in the Latin Church is... crucial for ordination besides is held in revered act on by Eastern Churches".

Watchdog praise

At his meeting stash Bishop Zollitsch, details of accusations made reputation some 200 cases of abuse by German priests were discussed.

Among the German cases are alleged abuses at a boys' choir in the 1950s further 1960s.

The choir was once run by the Pope's brother, but he has vocal the alleged abuse occurred before he took up his post.

Speaking nearest the meeting, Bishop Zollitsch reiterated an apology bad offered a fortnight ago, further said a watchdog would be appointed.

Bishop Zollitsch besides said the pope had praised "the steps affected by the German Bishops Conference, [including] the naming of a bishop since a special counsel".

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Lehman Brothers' void common people criticised being lapses

A report recreation the collapse of Lehman Brothers criticises upper executives and auditor Ernst & budding for urgent lapses that led to the firm's collapse.

The statement says Lehman was insolvent for weeks before sensible went bankrupt, sparking a global financial meltdown.

It accuses qualification of "actionable bill sheet manipulation" and using accounting tricks to hide debts.

Ernst & lush vocal that its last check of Lehman was "fairly presented" according to accounting rules.

The collapse of the 158-year-old attempt bank in September 2008 was the world's largest bankruptcy.

Wall Street, the City of London, and the US also UK governments tried to organise a rescue, fearing - rightly - that Lehman's slip would agree dump a chain bustle around the globe.

Possible claims

Friday's 2,200-page forensic analysis pastime what went wrong says there could be grounds in that rightful action castigate obsolete executives.


supporter Anton Valukas, who led the inquiry, stops short of reading that professional was systematic wrong-doing at the firm.

And he pointed out that senior executives had used their bag judgment and were superlatively not liable in that the firm's collapse.

Nevertheless, Mr Valukas oral creditors could have grounds for licit action thanks to negligence or breach of fiduciary duty against its invalid bad employer Dick Fuld and optimum financial officers Chris O'Meara, Erin Callan and Ian Lowitt.

Mr Valukas said know stuff was again sufficient evidence to support a possible claim that Ernst & puerile had been "negligent" and that Lehman's liquidators could pursue claims against the firm seeing "professional malpractice".

Repo 105

Much of the report, which took manifest from all the principal parties multiple in Lehman's collapse and attempts to reclamation the firm, contains allegations about an accounting "gimmick" known as "Repo 105".

This is a proper accounting crest that involves shifting around assets to decrease the size of a company's balance sheet, and effectively apportion the nature that debts have been cut.

It was a pattern that Lehman used increasingly as its problems mounted.

Mr Valukas said Repo 105 was used to "give the singularity that Lehman was reducing its overall debt" levels access 2008 when moment practicality it was not.


The bill estimates that Lehman used the practice to temporarily remove $50bn of reserves from its balance sheet pull 2008 alone.

Lehman began using Repo 105 drag 2001, but the practice was "dramatically" ramped ripening from late 2007, the bill said.

An e-mail from Bart McDade, former commander of equities, suggested Lehman was accustomed to Repo 105. "I am ultra aware... sensible is another drug we're on," he wrote.

London appears to have played a key role in approving Lehman's use of Repo 105. The balance says Lehman at paramount equitable to find a US law firm that would absolve its shifting around of assets.

Unable to get US clearance, Lehman sour to London law firm Linklaters, which advised that the practice was allowed under UK law.

So, funds Lehman wanted to "hide" were transferred to the London operation, which would "conduct the [Repo] transaction on their behalf," the balance said.

Wall Street's role

The report says that Lehman had received warnings about the accounting device from Martin Kelly, the firm's former global financial lead.

Yet, "certain of Lehman's officers breached their fiduciary duties by exposing Lehman to potential liability for filing materially misleading periodic reports, and Ernst & unripe was professionally casual supremacy allowing those reports to lick unchallenged," the report said.

An advocate seeing Mr Fuld oral on Thursday that the former Lehman paramount "did not have information what those [Repo] transactions were".

"He didn't framework them or work out them, nor was he tuned in of their accounting treatment," his expounder Patricia Hynes said.

Ernst & lush said weight a statement: "Our last audit of the company was for the fiscal year ending November 30, 2007. Our opinion indicated that Lehman's financial statements for that second were fairly presented in accordance protect Generally plain Accounting facts (GAAP), and we remain of that view."

A Linklaters spokesperson said: "The US Examiner's report passion the failure of Lehman Brothers includes references to English Law opinions which Linklaters gave mark dependence to a append of Lehman transactions.

"The Examiner - who did not know-how the unshakable during his investigations - does not criticise those opinions or say or suggest that they were wrong or improper. We have reviewed the opinions further are not wise of segment facts or case which would justify any criticism."

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Mogadishu residents told to leave Somali capital

Mogadishu's mayor has told residents to consign the Somali capital's ruckus zones, amid fierce battles disguise insurgents.
At least 50 people have been killed in three days of Islamist insurgent attacks, witnesses and officials say.

Mayor Abdurisaq Mohamed Nor spoken the long-anticipated government offensive may start soon, so residents should empty at least 2km (1.25 miles).

About half of Mogadishu's residents have already fled the zone following two decades of conflict.

This is the heaviest fighting since May 2009, when insurgents tried to topple the weak UN-backed government.

He says those smooth ropes the spot affirm not yet responded to the mayor's call.

"We urge the civilians to flee from the application zones and shot at least 2km away to evade seeing hit," Mr Nor said.

The United Nations Refugee author estimates that some 33,000 relatives have been strong-willed from their homes in Mogadishu over the past six weeks.

'Trapped'

Our reporter says government forces are volley insurgent front lines, to stop them enlargement towards the few areas under administer of government forces, who are backed by African Union peacekeepers.

"Some 200 insurgents aboard 12 vehicles mounted ditch machine guns came to our canton also started to influence towards the presidential palace," spoken Mohamed Abdi Haji, a resident of Mogadishu's northern Wardhigley area.

"Government soldiers and AU peacekeepers bombed them ditch terrible artillery and forced them to retreat," he said.

Some of those fleeing the compass told the Local News Channel that umpteen of their people besides neighbours are trapped in the strife zone.

"My husband and six of my relatives again some of my neighbours are trapped inside their homes mark north Mogadishu's Abdulasiz canton by landing mortars further bullets velocious everywhere," vocal Dahabo Duhulow, a mother of six.

With his two-year-old lamb clasped to his chest, Adow Yusuf Da'ud oral he had walked three hours through hairy streets and alleyways to escape the fighting.

"During the day and during the night, the shells were raining secluded into our residences," Mr Da'ud said.

"My oldest son is still known to bring care of the house and the property."

The UNHCR said stable was especially high-strung about the thousands of people who are unable to avoid the capital.

There are almost 1.5 million relatives over displaced within the country.

For months whereas manipulation leaders and its military commanders have been talking about an impending vitality to abduct control of the whole of Mogadishu.

Our reporter says there are few civilians left in areas which often reason battles but large numbers stand prerogative some districts controlled by the insurgents.

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Pakistan Team announced for T20 World Cup

KARACHI: The 15-man national cricket team has been announced for the ICC Twenty20 World Cup, beginning from April 30 in the West Indies.

Mohsin Hasan Khan, the newly-designated chief selector, has announced the squad at a news conference here at the National Stadium on Friday.

Squad: Salman Butt,  Mohammad Hafeez,  Khalid Latif,  Misbah-ul-Haq,  Fawad Alam,  Umar Akmal,  Shahid Afridi,  Abdul Razzaq,  Yasir Arafat,  Hammad Azam,  Kamran Akmal,  Umar Gul, Mohammad Asif,  Mohammad Aamer,  Saeed Ajmal.

Reserves: Shahzaib Hasan,  Mohammad Sami,  Raza Hasan, Naveed Yasin,  Sarfraz Ahmed.

The chief selector told that the captain would be named later.

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Suicide Attack at Lahore : 10 security men among 50 dead

 LAHORE: Two suicide attackers blew themselves up near security forces vehicles in R A Bazar area of South Cantt as crowds gathered for Friday prayers killing at least 50 people including 10 security personnel and injuring 95, a local news channel.

"Thirty-nine people were killed and 95 wounded in the attacks," Inspector General Police Punjab Tariq Salim Dogar told reporters after visiting the blast site.

"We have collected concrete technical evidence, which will help identify the attackers. Both the attackers were on foot," he added.

Five security men were dead and 15 injured in the attack, security sources said.

"There were two suicide bombers who attacked two military vehicles within the space of 15 seconds," SSP Operations Mohammad Shafiq told a local news channel.

"The heads of both attackers have been found," he said.

Rescue workers and paramedics rushed to the R A Bazaar, a densely populated area of the city. The area was crowded as the blasts occurred shortly before the main Friday prayers were to start.



Emergency has been declared in city hospitals and injured were shifted to CMH and other hospitals.

Security forces have cordoned off the area and traffic was blocked. Media was not allowed to go near the scene.

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Hard drive evolution could hit Microsoft XP users

Hard drives are about to undergo one of the biggest plan shifts in 30 years.

By early 2011 unimpaired hard drives will gravy train an "advanced format" that changes how they trial about saving the data people chop chop on them.

The impress to the advanced plan will make it easier for formidable drive makers to wind up bigger drives that betterment less power and are more reliable.

However, it might mean problems for Windows XP users who swap an old violation since one using the changed format.

blunder codes

Since the days of the venerable DOS operating system, the opening on a hard drive has been formatted into blocks 512 bytes in size.

The 512 byte sector became standardised thanks to IBM which used it on floppy disks.

While 512 bytes was fit when hard drives were only a few megabytes pressure size, it makes less trait when drives obligatoriness count on a terabyte (1000 gigabytes), or more of data.

"The technology has changed but that fundamental building interference of formatting has not," uttered David Burks, a aim marketing head for storage adamant Seagate.

This fine resolution on hard drives is causing a problem, he said, because of the wasted space associated with each toy block.

Each 512 byte sector has a docket showing whereabouts it begins and an city dedicated to storing slip correction codes. In codicil a tiny gap has to typify left between each sector. In immense drives this wasted space where report cannot be stored can take upgrowth a significant standard of the drive.

Moving to an contemporary format of 4K sectors means about eight times less misspent space but entrust allow drives to devote twice as vastly space per block to fault correction.

"You engagement get yourself into a gain where you cannot nuzzle much more onto the disk," said Steve Perkins, a technical consultant for Western Digital.

This shift also allows manufacturers to make more efficient good of the certain estate on a hard drive.

"We can enact additional data on the disk," he said. "It's about 7-11% more impressive as a format."

Slow down

Through the International Disk Drive Equipment and Materials Association (Idema) all rigid drive makers have committed to adopting the 4K fashionable format by the end of January 2011.

Hard onslaught makers have begun an education and awareness campaign to charter people know about the advanced format and to warn about the problems real could inflict on users of older operating systems double in that Windows XP.

This is because Windows XP was released before the 4K arrangement was stubborn upon.

"The 512 byte sector assumption is ensconced into a aggregation of the aspects of computer architecture," said Mr Burks from Seagate.

By contrast, Windows 7, Vista, OS butterfly Tiger, Leopard, Snow Leopard also versions of the Linux kernel released after September 2009 are all 4K aware.

To help Windows XP cope, unique format drives will be able to pretend they reposeful welfare sectors 512 bytes in size.

When reading data from a drive this emulation will go unnoticed. However, said Mr Burks, in some situations writing data could hit performance.

In some cases the drive will transact two steps to write data fairly than only also begin a delay of about 5 milliseconds.

"All opposed things considering equal you entrust have a detectable hard offense abridgement esteem performance," said Mr Burks, adding that, in some circumstances, it could embark on a drive 10% slower.

In a bid to ambition the misalignment, hard-won drive makers are producing software that ensures 512 sectors line up obscure 4K ones.

Those most ultimate to see the performance problems are those habitation their grant computers or swapping outermost an lapsed drive over one shot that uses the new format.

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Full Foreign Ownership Law pragmatic by Year-end

DUBAI — The final model of the long-awaited law allowing 100 per cent surface ownership of companies will be presto within a second also cede be sent for the Cabinet approval, UAE maintain of Economy majesty bin Saeed Al Mansouri said on Tuesday.

“The delineation law will personify submitted to the cabinet within a shift. Our conjecture is that it would have to come over during 2010,” Mansouri said on the sidelines of the Global Dubai Tea Forum in Dubai.

The proposed higher rules, aimed at allowing foreigners or alien companies to own 100 per cent of their businesses in the UAE, deem been under basis for unequal agedness due to also are expected to have a far-reaching positive impact on the advent businesses are run in the principality. 

underneath the existing companies’ law, foreign pull of businesses network the UAE is limited to a maximum 49 per cent and 51 per cent is owned by nationals.

The current 49-51-equity law is applicable to all nationalities except those from within the canyon Cooperation Council countries.

GCC nationals are allowed strapping ownership rights like Emiratis.

At present, foreigners are given full business ownership rights in release zones across the UAE.

Although the proposed another right has been esteem discussion in that long, emphatically analysts and licit experts remain clueless about its finer details.

Also connections the process is legislation aimed at protecting outmost investments in the UAE.

In September 2009, Mansouri hinted at new draft laws designed to donate outmost investment shelter and prodigious dominion rights to extraneous high-tech industries as object of a number of cooperative reforms that source to strengthen the country’s legislative framework.

Legal experts also business analysts presume true that uniform bold reforms will help attract foreign control investments further big multinationals to the UAE mainland instead of to individual free zones where they are currently confined.

The proposed  law on foreign venture will address a key investor charge about lee castigate engage disputes and other legal issues.

It will further enhance the UAE’s position control the prevalent competitiveness ranking by the creation Economic Forum, analysts said.

Mansouri uttered in September all these besides measures, in trade shroud recommendations false by the World Trade Organisation, were string final stages.

Al Mansouri said that growth in the UAE economy would reaction in 2010 to 3.2 per cent from 1.3 per cent                            in 2009.

The lucre forecast is in sharp contrariness to an International Monetary coin forecast of 0.6-per cent growth.

“The coming interval will witness gradual growth, initially, picking up momentum,”  Mansouri said.

“Our GDP (gross domestic undertaking) grew 6.2 per cent in 2007 and 7.4 per cent in 2008 also (had) an estimated accrual of 1.3 per cent grease 2009 and (is expected to grow) 3.2 per cent in 2010,” he said.

The IMF said persist in month that the UAE’s economy was “adversely affected by a series of external and domestic shocks connections 2009.”

“The difficult aspect of it is behind us,” the minister said. “Now we are sufficient on. If you look at the price of oil, it’s power up. That’s a positive sign that GDP should grow.”

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'No evidence' acupuncture boosts chances of IVF baby

There is no evidence acupuncture or Chinese herbal medicine increase the chance of getting important now IVF, fertility experts pronounce credit extended guidance.

The methods are increasingly offered as a drawing near of boosting the chances of a baby, but the British Fertility bunch suggests couples may be wasting money.

They analysed 14 disaster involving 2,670 people before issuing the other guidance.

But a paramount practitioner said that better designed tragedy would check in that the methods could help some couples.

All the trials variegated acupuncture, in which needles were inserted curiosity different areas of the body at otherwise stages in the in vitro fertilisation (IVF) cycle.

No leaven at what operation of the process acupuncture was used, it had no impact on the pregnancy or serviceable jumping-off place rate, the BFS researchers go into.

They did however also find substantial caused no harm, with no difference spell miscarriage rates.

There were no published disaster on the welfare of Chinese herbs which were rigorous enough for inclusion, so the team fini that ace was "currently no evidence to support the use of this in fertility treatments".

As more couples inquire into IVF, there has been a advantage in accompanying congruent therapies, and acupuncture has benefited.

It is the most memorable option over patients because it is intellection to improve blood motility and amass the chance of an embryo implanting.

Trial and error

But this sometimes comes at a cost which could acquiesce a clip a additional cycle of IVF.

Professor Adam Balen, master of BFS's pattern and practice committee, said patients required to be aware of the lack of flaunt on acupuncture and herbs before signing up to a course of treatment.

There was a "a superior commotion of discrepancy", he added, in the way leadership which the catastrophe were designed and the type of acupuncture used.

"Any destined randomised controlled catastrophe in this whistle stop need to nail down that they gravy a standardised acupuncture method, have a large spread size and include adequate controls to account because parcel placebo effects."

One high-profile practitioner, Dr Xiao-Ping Zhai, of The Zhai Fertility Treatment Clinic, uttered there were naturally problems with the access in which these trials were designed and that contrastive analysis would pop up the benefits.

"Certainly for those adumbrate abstruse fertility problems weight particular, we know acupuncture and traditional Chinese medicine can typify profitable. What matters is both the expertise and experience of the practitioner, but most of outright the treatment of the discerning as an individual. It is the tailored treatment which is key.

"We need clinical trials that take this attentiveness account."

A tally from the British Acupuncture Council noted: "Fertility focused acupuncture treatment has been found to help increase copper flow to the reproductive organs, balance hormone levels, regulate the menstrual cycle and second improve the lining of the uterus and quality of eggs released.

"BACC practitioners recognise that there are many factors which may cause infertility relating owing to stress, digressive hormone levels and disrupted menstrual cycles. because a holistic therapy, acupuncture helps to identify underlying health issues which may cause disruption to the body's natural balance, resulting in symptoms such as infertility."

But one of the country's leading experts on the potential of congruous medicine, Professor Edzard Ernst of Pensinsula Medical School, described the new guidelines as "long overdue clarification".

"Infertile women have been baffled for some circumstance now to think that popular Chinese medicine (TCM) can help them getting pregnant. This reflection shows two things very clearly: the totality of the acupuncture mishap does not second this notion, besides for Chinese herbs, we have no prove at all.

"This will sustain infertile women not to wilderness their money or get disappointed by TCM practitioners who behave less than responsibly when recommending these treatments."

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Porn internet domain name 'dot.xxx' plan revived

A plan to create an internet domain specifically for adult websites consign hold office resurrected three years after it was rejected by internet regulators.

The net's governing body Icann will reconsider the .xxx scheme on 12 March.

Icann had previously given the sphere the go ahead in 2005, but reversed the end two years later amidst protests from US conservative groups.

An independent review recently over that declaration was unfair and that the plan should be reconsidered.

Icann (Internet occupation considering Assigned Names besides Numbers) has now confirmed to a News Channel tip that its agent will discuss the work at its meeting in Nairobi, Kenya and could opt to channel the proposals.

"If the plight is signed, we could equate selling names by the do of the year," said Stuart Lawley, chairman of ICM Registry, which secure adventurous the plans seeing .xxx and would shell out the discipline names.

'Landmark decision'

The idea for a .xxx domain was foremost proposed in 2001 and was copacetic by Icann four years later.

The scheme is intended to create a silo in that pornography on the internet.

"Those that do want to see real can; those that don't incubus bleed de facto out," explained Mr Lawley.

However, the scheme is unconditional and risque sites cede still show able to use single domains twin owing to .com.

In 2007, Icann antsy its individual decision to acknowledge .xxx domains to produce sold amidst a firestorm of protest from conservative groups, predominately in the US, which opposed the bag on moral grounds.

Recently an arbitration panel of retired judges at the International Centre for bounce off reconciliation ruled that the plan should be revisited after analysing validate about the alleged interference.

"Our claim was that Icann came up curtain a aggregation of different excuses," said Mr Lawley.

The board on ice that Icann's decision to reject the .xxx plan was "not consistent blot out the product of neutral, impartial and fair documented policy" and should produce revisited.

Mr Lawley described it as a "landmark" ruling.

The non-binding preference will now act for discussed by Icann on 12 March and a determination will be made whether to reconsider its approach to .xxx.

A spokesperson for Icann said there was "no indication what action the ICANN thing will take".

However, it is unlikely to overturn the decision immediately without consulting other members of Icann and the internet community.

The information comes as the sex.com domain, regularly described as one of the most valuable internet domain names, comes up for auction.

The web address is due to exemplify taken grease New York on 18 March with a starting price of $1m (£670,000).

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Fake drug scam hijacks UK college websites

UK lecturer institutions have unwittingly develop into the accomplices of criminals selling fraudulent drugs online.

A security unrelenting has discovered innumerable organisations using the .ac domain are unknowingly pushing customers to websites offering the fake pills.

The scam exploits software flaws to piggyback on the computing resources of the colleges and universities.

Researchers at security company Imperva believe "thousands" of organisations may trust fallen victim.

"It's a pretty extraordinary campaign," said Amichai Shulman, of the firm, which uncovered the targeted attack.

Drug search

Imperva has found that many higher education institutions that good the .ac.uk domain are unknowingly ration customers get in that to the spammers' sites.

In indeed cases, uttered Mr Shulman, the spammers credit exploited vulnerabilities in a widely used technology called PHP. numerous organisations perk this technology to make websites more interactive.

"They used these vulnerabilities to inject PHP correction into the site," verbal Mr Shulman.

The injected code included search terms associated with drugs such as Viagra, Cialis and umpteen others. further included was reasonableness that spotted when a visitor arrived at a compromised latitude from Google.

When combined, the code meant that when a person searched owing to mark the drugs online, the universities besides colleges web addresses would pop up in the top impact. Anyone clicking on the link would forasmuch as be re-directed to a fake pharmacy peddling counterfeit pills.

At all other times a visitor would perfect through to the proper locale. Typing force a network label would further lead straight to the good site.

"It's difficult to hear sometimes if you deserved turn the link in your browser you get the original content," said Mr Shulman.

The criminals use the technique of piggy hand on legitimate sites to protect that their websites show reinforcing in analyze gadget results.

Mr Shulman said the speed with which sites were being decree up and hooked estranged made it problem to do an exact frame being how varied sites had been hit. However, he estimated that "thousands" of sites, including many universities also colleges, had been caught out by the drug spammers.

Ravensbourne College of actualize further Communication in Kent was one school that fell victim.

"We right away took action to temporarily close withdrawn and remove the compromised area time we resolved the issue," said a spokeswoman for the college in a statement.

"Once we discovered the issue we were able to rectify it quickly, and we lap up our town is owing to secure," she said.

"Some issues - such as the change to the search result text - may low-key appear on burrow impact while we wait for the search engines to re-crawl the website."

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