In 17 many years of war after the 1989 Soviet withdrawal, and 5 many years of Taliban rule, most of the Afghan national museums riches ended up looted and some ended up deliberately destroyed.

But the most beneficial items survived, within a vault deep beneath the presidential palace, because of 5 males – amid them museum director Omar Khan Massoudi.

‘He held his nerve throughout the Talibans rule of Afghanistan and displayed enormous courage in not submitting to their demands and threats to reveal its location,’ says British Afghan skilled and member of parliament Rory Stewart.

‘It was an act of extraordinary courage and he carried out a fantastic service to his region.’

The Kabul national museum is located a couple of kilometres south from the funds, in a region that frequently modified fingers as mujahideen militias vied for influence in the early 1990s.

Every time it had been used, the museum was looted once again. Of your estimated a hundred,000 object on display in 1979, some 70% had gone from the mid-1990s.

A rocket destroyed a 4th Century wall painting in 1993. Priceless merchandise, some looted to buy, modified fingers around the worldwide art market. Other individuals ended up buried in rubble or burned as firewood.

But the legendary Bactrian gold – which specialists feared had been stolen and melted down – had the truth is been packed up, in addition to numerous important objects in the assortment, and moved to a Central Financial institution vault in the Presidential Palace in 1989.

Mr Massoudi was one of 5 males who had keys for the vault. All 5 keys ended up needed to open it – and each and every from the males risked their lives not to hand them about for the militants.

The holders from the keys held their places secret – if a important holder died, it had been agreed, the main element could be handed on for the keepers eldest youngster.

In that way, the priceless artefacts ended up preserved.

‘Mr Massoudi and his workers are unquestionably unsung heroes,’ says exhibition project curator Constance Wyndham.

‘Without his initiative its very unlikely this fantastic assortment could be around these days.’

Ms Wyndham says the Soviet-backed President Mohammad Najibullah, whose federal government fell in 1992, also played a function, however it continues to be unclear exactly how closely he was concerned.

‘All that we do know is always that the selection was created by a committee and President Najibullah ordered the objects to be moved for the presidential palace,’ she mentioned.

Following the ingenuity from the rescue came the bravery that was essential to help keep the hoard secure.

Mr Massoudi and his workers have in the intervening many years remained modest – and somewhat reticent – about their achievement.

But his comments in the museums guidebook give some notion from the hazards of holding the treasure secure from ‘terror, violence, civil war as well as the Taliban’.

In spite of becoming subjected to numerous threats from the Taliban – often at gunpoint – individuals who realized from the secret location gave nothing at all absent.

It was not until finally 2003 that the retailer of 22,000 gold and glass objects ended up exposed.

‘Today with the grace of Allah Almighty, we have succeeded in viewing the central treasure of Afghanistan,’ President Hamid Karzai declared.

By coincidence, the Spaniard could make his debut for the Blues against the side he left on Monday.

The 26-year-old striker has not asked to be left out of the Premier League clash and stated: ‘It is like destiny.’

He admitted: ‘It just isnt ideal but if I have the chance to play, I will do my best and hopefully I can score.’

Torres departure from Anfield, where he spent the very best part of four years, was greeted with anger by several fans, some of whom burnt replica shirts bearing their former heros name.

But the player stressed: ‘I only have very good words about Liverpool. They made me a top player and gave me the chance to play at the top level.

‘I will by no means say anything poor about Liverpool. I have been extremely happy there but now the history is various and I am playing for Chelsea.’

Torres, who scored 81 goals during his spell on Merseyside, risked further annoying fans of his former club when he told Chelsea TV: ‘I am joining a team that is at the top level. There is not an additional level after Chelsea.

‘I am joining with massive names like [John] Terry, [Frank] Lampard, [Didier] Drogba and [Nicolas] Anelka and I may be part of this wonderful team.’

Torres admitted he had not yet met up with the Blues manager Carlo Ancelotti but said: ‘I wanted to join due to the fact Chelsea always have shown a massive respect for me.

‘They genuinely want me and it really is critical whenever you have the support of the men and women in the club, along with the support of the fans who always showed respect to me when I came to Stamford Bridge and at Anfield.

‘Now I am extremely happy to be a Chelsea player.’

Fans of the Stamford Bridge outfit will be relieved not to have Torres lining up against them for once, after he proved to be a thorn in their side with seven goals against them while playing for Liverpool.

The striker added: ‘I have very good memories and poor memories of games against Chelsea. All of the goals are very good memories due to the fact all of them are special.

‘If they are happy also due to the fact I am not going to score any a lot more against them then it really is very good.’

Jenny

President Obama said he thought the brand new, more peaceful, guidelines which also ensure it is less tough to deliver remittances to Cuba will assistance civil society there.

The changes wont finish the decades-old US trade embargo.

The guidelines will be modified to, amongst other issues:

* Enable religious organisation to sponsor religious travel to Cuba beneath a prevalent licence
* Enable accredited institutions of increased education to sponsor travel to Cuba
* Enable any US individual to deliver remittances (as considerably as 500 per quarter) to non-family members in Cuba to assistance personal economic activity
* Enable remittances to become sent to religious institutions in Cuba in assistance of religious routines
* Enable US airports to apply to supply services to licensed charters

Improved contact

In a statement, President Obama said the changes had been aimed at creating ‘people-to-people’ contacts via more academic, cultural and religious exchanges.

The moves follows an easing from the trade embargo in April 2009, once the president ordered curbs on remittances and travel by Cuban-Americans going to family members members members within the island to become peaceful.

But Florida Republican Ileana Ros-Lehtinen said the changes wouldnt support improve the scenario in Cuba.

‘They wont make the Castro regime present respect for human rights, plus they surely wont support the Cuban individuals free by themselves through the despotic tyranny which oppresses them,’ she said. see also

The changes are anticipated to come into force in roughly 3 weeks.

The aircraft, which would make short hops previously mentioned the ambiance, was introduced in 2007 after which virtually right away set on hold due to the world-wide downturn.

But Astrium, Europes most significant room company, says internal improvement operate continues and it will shell out a additional 10m euros (£9m) around the idea in 2011.

‘We keep the investment heading,’ mentioned Astrium CEO François Auque.

‘We carry on to mature the idea, sustaining the minimal group, in purchase that when we find the appropriate partnership were all set and have progressed sufficiently,’ he told reporters on Wednesday with the companys rocket production facility at Les Mureaux just north of Paris.

The Astrium automobile would be in regards to the dimension of a business jet and would take off from a regular runway, using standard aircraft engines to climb to about 12km. It could then ignite a liquid oxygen-methane rocket to push the automobile to about 100km.

At this altitude, the 5 passengers onboard could encounter several minutes of weightlessness before strapping on their own again within their seats for the return flight towards the floor.

Astrium has completed significant operate by now around the Romeo rocket engine that will power the climb to room, and wind tunnel screening has verified the aerodynamic form.

What exactly is at the moment missing may be the investment of a spouse that will transfer the undertaking from idea to manufacturing.

‘As you realize, we had discussions inside the Gulf before there was a transform inside the monetary predicament. Now weve other discussions in other elements of your planet and Im quite optimistic,’ mentioned Mr Auque.

Far more innovative is British billionaire Sir Richard Bransons Virgin Galactic undertaking. This will likely use an American rocket aircraft created by Californias Scaled Composites company to deliver fare-paying passengers on sub-orbital trips.

Enterprise, as this rocket aircraft is acknowledged, is by now built and conducting glide exams. It really is expected Enterprise will fire its rocket motor and make demonstration flights previously mentioned the ambiance later this 12 months.

Mr Auque was speaking with the yearly New Year press conference of your European Aeronautic Defence and Space (EADS) group. Also to possessing the Astrium satellite and rocket worry, EADS also owns the airline producer Airbus.

Federal prosecutors charged Jared Loughner with seeking to assassinate Gabrielle Giffords, forty, and killing two other federal government officials.

Mr Loughner, whos as a result of appear in court, could face the death penalty.

Ms Giffords is in a very crucial affliction following being shot within the head at a public meeting in Tucson.

She had been holding an open-invitation meeting with constituents outdoors a supermarket when a guy holding a gun approached and opened fire.

She was shot from shut array by the gunman, who then began shooting into the crowd.

Amongst the dead were a nine-year-old lady along with a federal judge. A total of 14 men and women were injured, in addition to your 6 who were killed.

Nearby Sheriff Clarence Dupnik said a girl tackled the gunman as he experimented with to reload, snatching a magazine of bullets.

Patricia Maisch, who was waiting to possess her photograph taken using the congresswoman, grabbed the bottom of your suspects weapon to stop him from reloading.

He managed to reload with another magazine, however the gun malfunctioned and two men then restrained him.

‘Somebody said Get the magazine! so I obtained the magazine, and I was capable to secure that,’ Ms Maisch said. ‘Thats what necessary to be performed.’

The sheriff said theyd prevented a much better tragedy.

Police browsing Mr Loughners Tucson home said theyd identified an envelope with messages declaring ‘I planned ahead’, ‘my assassination’, along with the title Giffords.

Up to now, Mr Loughner has been charged only with offences relating to your attack on federal government workers, which is the obligation of federal prosecutors.

They charged him with two counts of first-degree murder for the killings of Federal Judge John Roll and Gabe Zimmerman, an aide of Ms Giffords.

He was also charged with attempted assassination around the shooting of Ms Giffords, and two counts of attempting to murder two other aides.

The justice division said he would appear in court in Phoenix on Monday.

State authorities are anticipated to deliver costs towards him later for attacking non-government workers.

An unidentified guy, whose picture was captured on the security camera shortly prior to the attack and who had been suspected of acting as an accomplice, was cleared on Sunday of any involvement within the attack, Mr Dupnik said.

The guy was a cab driver who walked into the supermarket with Mr Loughner simply because he did not have alter for a 20 note. The shooting occurred just following the two exchanged funds, Mr Dupnik added.

Japan, which shares a maritime border with China, said Beijings military build-up was of worldwide problem.

Japan may also strengthen its missile defences against the menace from a nuclear-armed North Korea.

China has responded saying it is a power for peace and improvement in Asia and threatens no-one.

Chinas Foreign Ministry said no region had the correct to generate irresponsible comments on Chinas improvement.
Flashpoints

The National Defence Programme Guideline continues to be accepted from the cabinet and can form Japans defence coverage for the subsequent 10 a long time.

Japan is transforming its defence coverage in response to your shifting stability of strength in Asia, analysts say.

Defences will likely be scaled down from the north, exactly where they have been deployed since the Cold War to counter prospective threats from your former Soviet Union.

The military concentrate will now be from the south of Japan, nearer to China and distant flashpoint islands near Taiwan.

The pointers say Japan is concerned by Chinas expanding military investing, modernisation of its armed forces, and greater naval assertiveness from the East China and South China seas.

‘These actions, coupled using the lack of transparency on Chinas military and security issues, the pattern can be a problem for the area and the worldwide neighborhood,’ the new pointers say.

Relations involving Japan and China deteriorated sharply in September, immediately after collisions involving a Chinese trawler and Japanese patrol boats near a chain of disputed islands from the East China Sea.
North Korea concerns

The assessment paper outlines a shift in sources from your army to your air power and navy.

Japans submarine fleet will likely be expanded from 16 to 22 and fighter jets upgraded, whilst the amount of tanks will likely be reduce by a third to 400.

North Koreas missile and nuclear programmes were also described as a ‘pressing and serious destabilising factor’.

Pyongyang has fired missiles about Japan and staged nuclear exams lately.

Last month it unveiled a whole new uranium enrichment plant to US experts, and launched an artillery assault on a South Korean island, killing four folks.

In response, Japan says additional Patriot interceptor batteries will likely be deployed across the region, and the number of warships which may shoot down missiles will likely be greater from four to six.

insurance
over 50

Photographs through the scene showed the boat, believed to be carrying Iranians and Iraqis, smashed to pieces.

Witnesses stated they might do small to help since the seas were too rough to approach the vessel.

The boat appeared to be seeking to land at Xmas Island, where Australia has an immigration detention centre.
Engine failed

The BBCs Nick Bryant, in Sydney, says he understands that about 70 people were around the vessel and about 40 were rescued.

Deputy Prime Minister Wayne Swan, standing in for Julia Gillard although she is on holiday, confirmed that many people had died but could not say what number of.

‘A amount of people happen to be rescued, but sadly some bodies happen to be retrieved,’ he stated.

A spokeswoman for that Royal Flying Medical doctor Service stated 30 people were getting handled for injuries and three of them were critically unwell.

Residents of Xmas Island stated they were alerted to your disaster by the seems of screaming through the shore.

‘We threw ropes around the cliffs and we should have thrown inside a few of hundred life-jackets,’ 1 resident was quoted as stating by the West Australian newspaper website.

‘About 15 or 20 people managed to get to the jackets but youll find bodies all around the h2o.

‘There are useless babies, useless women and useless kids inside the h2o. The swell is unbelievably big.’

Another resident, Simon Prince, advised Associated Press: ‘The engine had failed. They were washing backward and ahead quite shut to your cliffs right here, that are jagged limestone cliffs, quite nasty.

‘When the boat hit the cliff there was a sickening crack. Every one of the people on board rushed to your land side, which can be the worst factor they might do.’

Australian media stated residents alerted the police at 0545 (2045 GMT on Tuesday).

Australia Customs released two inflatable boats to rescue survivors.

A person witness, documentary maker Philip Stewart, stated he arrived with the shore about an hour after the boat initial hit the rocks and it was already in pieces.

He stated he noticed about seven survivors but situations were too rough for rescuers to get shut adequate to help.

‘They were waving and shouting and screaming for enable,’ he advised Australias ABC News.

‘They were desperate, by that stage that they had been inside the h2o for an hour already.

‘They hung on for as long as they quite possibly could and each and every among them was finally thrown off to the sea on to your rocks.’

He stated he noticed 1 human being picked up although the other folks drowned.

Australia has seen an increase this year in asylum seekers arriving by boat.

You will discover at this time nearly three,000 people inside the Xmas Island processing centre waiting for officials to rule on their circumstances.

The island is inside the Indian Ocean, about one,200km (750 miles) north-west with the Australian mainland and about 300km south of Indonesia.

Kevin Rudd said the discharge raised inquiries about US safety.

Mr Rudd said he didnt ‘give a damn’ about criticism of him in the cables.

Mr Assange, arrested in the UK around intercourse crime allegations in Sweden, has accused the Australian federal government of ‘disgraceful pandering’ to the US.

Prime Minister Julia Gillard had earlier known as Mr Assanges launch from the cables ‘grossly irresponsible’.

More than the previous two weeks, Wikileaks has released thousands of labeled messages from US envoys around the globe, from greater than 250,000 it continues to be offered.

Washington has known as their publication ‘irresponsible’ and an ‘attack around the worldwide community’.
First class job

In an interview with Reuters information agency, Mr Rudd said: ‘Mr Assange is not himself accountable for your unauthorised launch of 250,000 paperwork from your US diplomatic communications community. The Americans are accountable for that.’

Mr Rudd, the former prime minister who was replaced by Julia Gillard in June, additional: ‘I assume you will find genuine inquiries to be asked in regards to the adequacy of [the US] safety programs along with the stage of entry that people have had to that materials.

‘The core obligation, and consequently authorized liability, goes to these individuals accountable for that first unauthorised launch.’

The White Home has ordered US federal government companies to tighten their handling of labeled paperwork in the wake from the Wikileaks releases.

Mr Rudd was dismissed in one leaked US cable like a ‘mistake-prone control freak’.

In cables printed by the Sydney Morning Herald former US ambassador Robert McCallum said Mr Rudd created ‘snap announcements without having consulting other international locations or inside of the Australian government’.

The US was also angered at what it known as Mr Rudds ‘self-serving and inaccurate leaking’ of a mobile phone call with then US President George W Bush through which Mr Rudd was noted as stating: ‘Stunned to hear Bush say, Whats the G20?’

Mr Rudd shrugged off the criticism, stating: ‘Im positive a lot worse continues to be written about me prior to now and probably a lot worse is going to be written about me in the long run but frankly, mate, I will not care.

Ms Gillard defended Mr Rudd, stating: ‘Hes bringing [his] knowledge to bear for your Australian nation and performing an completely very first class position.’

Mr Assange continues to be extremely important from the Australian governments stance around the launch from the cables.

In an opinion piece in the Australian on Wednesday, Mr Assange accused the Australian federal government of ‘disgraceful pandering’ to the Americans and of putting the powers from the federal government fully in the disposal from the US.

In the piece headlined ‘Dont shoot the messenger for revealing unpleasant truths’, he says: ‘Democratic societies will need a powerful media and Wikileaks is part of that media. The media assists hold federal government honest.’

He provides: ‘The Australian attorney-general is performing every thing he can to assist a US investigation clearly directed at framing Australian citizens and transport them to the US.’

Mr Assange continues to be refused bail by a courtroom in London but has vowed to fight extradition to Sweden.

He denies sexually assaulting two girls in Sweden but was remanded in custody pending a hearing following week.

Mr Assanges lawyer, Mark Stephens, has claimed the costs are ‘politically motivated’.

On a pay a visit to to Serbia on Wednesday, Swedish Foreign Minister Carl Bildt said there had been no make contact with with US authorities in regards to the feasible extradition of Mr Assange from Sweden to the US.

The US has begun a legal investigation and vowed to punish anybody found accountable for illegal leaks.

No-one continues to be charged with passing the diplomatic files to Wikileaks, but suspicion has fallen on US Army private Bradley Manning, an intelligence analyst arrested in Iraq in June and charged around an earlier leak.

The whistle-blowing web site says the freeze incorporates a defence fund and personal assets well worth 31,000 euros.

Wikileaks has revealed countless secret US diplomatic cables, angering the US govt and triggering moves by a number of corporations including PayPal and Amazon to stop their solutions.

At the same time, a warrant for Mr Assanges arrest has reached the uk authorities.

Resources have told the BBC that the European Arrest Warrant for Mr Assange arrived on Monday afternoon.

Swedish prosecutors desire to question Mr Assange in connection with allegations of rape, which he denies.

Hes believed to be in hiding someplace in south-east England. After the police have located him, he will be expected to appear at a magistrates court inside 24 hours, pending extradition to Sweden, says the BBCs security correspondent Frank Gardner.
Setbacks for Wikileaks

Sweden very first issued an arrest warrant for Mr Assange on 18 November nevertheless it was invalidated by a procedural error. A fresh warrant was issued on 2 December.

The move by Switzerlands PostFinance to freeze the Wikileaks accounts may be the hottest setback to hit the whistle-blowing web site given that it commenced publishing the US cables very last week.

In a statement on its web site, PostFinance explained Mr Assange had ‘provided fake facts about his location of residence’ during the account opening practice.

‘(Mr) Assange entered Geneva as his domicile. Upon inspection, this facts was identified to be incorrect.

‘(Mr) Assange wont be able to present proof of residence in Switzerland and therefore wont meet the factors to get a purchaser romantic relationship with PostFinance. Because of this, PostFinance is entitled to shut his account.’

For its part, a Wikileaks statement says it and Mr Assange have misplaced one hundred,000 euros in assets inside a week.

‘Late very last week, the net payment large PayPal froze 60,000 euros of donations for the German charity the Wau Holland Basis, which have been targeted to advertise the sharing of know-how by way of Wikileaks,’ Wikileaks explained inside a statement.
Verging on the criminal

On Monday, Wikileaks released an extensive list of amenities all-around the globe that, according for the hottest leaked cables, the US describes as important to its nationwide security.

The list incorporates pipelines, communication and transport hubs.

Many UK sites are listed, including cable places, satellite sites and BAE Methods crops.

That is probably by far the most controversial document yet from the Wikileaks organisation, says BBC diplomatic correspondent Jonathan Marcus.

Former UK Foreign Secretary Sir Malcolm Rifkind explained WikiLeaks actions have been ‘verging on the criminal’.

He told the BBC: ‘Its not only negligence, its not only stupidity, its one thing which may be of energetic support to terrorist organisations.’

UK Defence Secretary Liam Fox echoed Sir Malcolms remarks, saying: ‘I believe you must ask regarding the motives for those whore behind a few of the WikiLeaks materials. Do they see themselves as some sort of force of anarchy?

‘These are some feedback, these are selective leaks intended to drive a wedge amongst us and the Americans and I dont believe we should tolerate that.’

EveryDNS.internet explained it had terminated services mainly because Wikileaks.org had arrive under huge cyber attacks.

But Wikileaks has by now reappeared using a Swiss net tackle.

Wikileaks has also applied the micro-blogging web page Twitter to urge its fans to redistribute its ‘raw’ internet tackle so it could possibly be viewed at any time.

This numerical online protocol (IP) tackle stays live and available even when net domains – the typical ‘www’ addresses applied to accessibility most web-sites – are unavailable.

Authorities say it can be most likely that Wikileaks has performed specials with numerous web hosting businesses, although several are more likely to again away from coping with the controversial web page inside the mild of current net attacks.

There is also a published listing of mirror web-sites, which Wikileaks hopes will provide constant accessibility towards the web page.

A number of these web-sites have basically copied Wikileaks articles and set it on the distinct net server, while other people are using distinct domain names to stage on the unique articles.

The a lot more of those web-sites you will find, the harder its going to be to shut Wikileaks down, security analyst Paul Mutton instructed the BBC.

In France, Marketplace Minister Eric Besson has known as for a ban of Wikileaks on French servers.

1 of the mirror web-sites, Wikileaks.ch, is at this time hosted on servers in France.
Downtime

In a submit on Twitter, Wikileaks acknowledged that its domain had been ‘killed’ by EveryDNS.internet.

It was not clear how long disruption towards the wikileaks.org web page would last.

In a assertion on its website, EveryDNS.internet explained it had issued a 24-hour termination recognize to Wikileaks which ended at 0300 GMT on 2 December.

It explained the domain wikileaks.org had develop into the goal of ‘multiple distributed denial of service (DDOS) attacks’.

‘These attacks have, and future attacks would, threaten the stability of the EveryDNS.internet infrastructure, which permits accessibility to virtually 500,000 other sites,’ it explained.

‘Any downtime of the wikileaks.org website has resulted from its failure to use a different hosted DNS service provider,’ it added.

Web sites use hosting firms such as EveryDNS.internet to translate their uncooked IP addresses to a a lot more memorable net tackle such as Wikileaks.org.

However the IP tackle of a website will even immediate customers towards the web page.

1 net skilled explained that Wikileaks had managed to re-establish net accessibility by way of a distinct tackle.

‘Users visiting the www.wikileaks.ch website appear to be directed by way of a Swedish website on to a server in France that is now hosting their most important website,’ explained Sebastien Lahtinen, director of web hosting firm NetConnex.

In a surprising twist, the .ch tackle is also hosted by EveryDNS.

‘It seems an odd option offered that they pulled the plug on the .org tackle only a few hrs in the past,’ explained Paul Mutton, a security analyst at online services firm Netcraft. ‘It may very well be that Wikileaks is very pleased to play a cat and mouse sport with them,’ he added.
Death threats

By using a Swiss domain may very well be Wikileaks anticipating the subsequent line of attack – having its IP tackle de-registered, thinks Mr Mutton.

‘Moving to a non-US domain makes sense. Its past domain was registered with a US organization and as such has to do the job inside US laws, with potential for the authorities to lean on it and get it suspended,’ explained Mr Mutton.