WORLD

British travellers set for summer of chaos despite British Airways deal

Aiming to convince senators of the viability of the Barack Obama administration's Afghanistan policy, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton yesterday cited South Korea as a successful "investment" case. "You look at the decades of our investment in South Korea," she said, facing a barrage of questions in a meeting of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee aimed at clarifying Washington's policy and progress in Afghanistan and Pakistan.

A spokesman says the opposition insists that the strongman cannot be involved in any future government, but it may allow him to live out his last years in Libya at an isolated location.

The hacking collective LulzSec has openly denied its involvement in any of the alleged "Ryan Cleary revenge attacks" recently reported in the media.

LulzSec last night broke its silence, claiming responsibility for successful hacks on U.S. Arizona law enforcement, the attack is the latest cyber raid carried out in the name of the group's ongoing Operation Anti-Security campaign.

An earthquake of magnitude 7.2 has struck the Pacific Ocean 172km east of Atka, sending residents of small coastal towns to higher ground as officials issued a tsunami warning in the temblor's wake.

Since the arrest and court appearance of alleged LulzSec hacker Ryan Cleary, despite its claims that he is not a member, LulzSec's Operation Anti-Security hacking rampage has slowed down, with the collective taking on a more aggressive, ominous tone, promising to unveil the results of its first assault this Friday.

Dutch Freedom Party Leader Geert Wilders was acquitted by a court of charges that he made remarks defaming Muslims, ending a three-year prosecution that he described as a bid to restrict his freedom of speech.

The Israeli government insisted that the application, called ThirdIntifada, incited violence against Israel.

China's foreign ministry has said that artist Ai Weiwei cannot leave Beijing without permission, a day after he was freed from police detention.

Upon hearing that British police have charged Ryan Cleary for involvement in numerous cyber attacks and hacks, hacker collective LulzSec has released a fresh barrage of tweets maintaining that the 19-year-old is in no way connected to it.

Last month, when the North Atlantic Treaty Organization declared it would extend the campaign for 90 days, it became clear that an important part of NATO's strategy is based on the hope that Colonel Gaddafi will see the error of his ways and capitulate before his surroundings and his supporters are worn down by the bombings and turn against him.

As Nato insisted there would be no let-up in its air war despite Italian calls for a cessation, Muammar Gaddafi, the Libyan leader, said he did not fear death and defiantly vowed to fight "to the beyond,""We will resist and the battle will continue to the beyond, until you're wiped out. But we will not be finished," Gaddafi said in an audio message broadcast on Libyan television late on Wednesday.

President Obama has ordered 33,000 U.S. troops out of Afghanistan in the next 14 months with 10,000 to be withdrawn by the end of this year. The timetable settled on by the president after a vigorous internal review was faster than sought by some top military commanders but much slower than demanded by many domestic political critics.

Ai Wei Wei is back at home after more than two months in detention. The Chinese activist and artist has been released on bail, after pleading guilty to charges of tax evasion, according to state news agencies.

The Metropolitan Police last night confirmed that the alleged LulzSec hacker Ryan Cleary has been charged with offences contrary to Computer Misuse Act.

Nato warplanes resumed daytime strikes on targets in the Libyan capital Wednesday despite alliance member Italy calling for the "immediate suspension" of hostilities in the North African nation.

Dozens of militants, many of them suspected al Qaeda members, have today escaped a Yemeni prison located in the south-eastern province of Hadramout, by using a tunnel they dug over the past months in what appeared to be a brazen, coordinated jailbreak, according to reports.

Transocean ltd, the owners of the deep water horizon drilling rig that was destroyed by the explosion before the initial Gulf of Mexico oil spill has claimed that the full responsibility for the disaster should be placed on BP's shoulders.

Two years after Neda Agha-Soltan was killed governments in the Middle East are still using brutality, lies and live ammunition to suppress street protests.

First Lady Michelle Obama urged young Africans on Wednesday to fight for women's rights and battle the stigma of AIDS while using her husband's "yes, we can" campaign slogan to try and motivate youth across the continent.

Since suspected LulzSec member Ryan Cleary's arrest the hacker collective has been uncharacteristically quiet and moody, even going so far as to release the names and addresses of two hackers it suspects of leaking its private chat logs to the police.

When the US and Nato invaded Afghanistan in 2001 two reasons were widely advanced. One, the Taliban needed to surrender Bin Laden, and two, the US could not let the Islamist movement treat women so barbarically.

The suspected LulzSec member Ryan Cleary, if found to have taken part in LulzSec's attacks on the U.S., could face up to ten years in jail.

US President Barack Obama is expected to use a prime-time TV address to unveil plans for an initial withdrawal of thousands of US troops from Afghanistan.

Prince Harry and Pippa Middleton closer to romance as Royal couple’s Canadian itinerary is confirmed.

The hacker collective LulzSec has posted the names, addresses of two hackers suspected of leaking its chat logs.

Four months into the conflict and while the battle for Libya is still going strong, various conspiracy theories have by now emerged. After Gaddafi's own theory of Al-Qaeda putting drugs in the people's Nescafe flopped, the idea that Libya could in fact be the theatre for a new cold war attracted quite a lot of attention.

After the cancellation of her whole European tour, speculation is rife that Amy Winehouse may never perform again.