A recap of the past week’s news features Twitter worms, attacks on Microsofts ASP.NET vulnerability and discussions of U.S. cyber-policy. – A cross-site scripting vulnerability impacted as many as 500,000
Twitter users and led a busy week of security news.
The bug was exploited by worms that spread throughout the microblogging
service and affected users ranging from the wife of former British Prime
Minister Gordon Brown to White…
1912: Alan Turing, who will go on to become one of the 20th century’s greatest mathematicians, computer scientists and philosophers, is born.
Turing is probably best known to Wired readers as the inventor of the “Turing test,” a way of measuring a computer’s ability to simulate intelligent human conversation.
But he’s more significant as one of [...]
LONDON – No British political party has been able to secure an outright majority in the House of Commons and there will now be a frantic period of negotiations between the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats to decide the shape of the next government.
The general election has led to the first hung parliament since 1974, with the Conservatives bagging 306 seats to become the biggest party in the 650-member House, but could not win an overall majority – 326 seats – and face power-sharing talks after falling short of an overall majority, final vote results showed Friday.
Although the Conservatives have won the most seats, the largest party does not automatically have the right to try to form an administration.
The Labour party won 258 seats and the Liberal Democrats 57, after the last result from all constituencies contested in elections on Thursday was announced.
By winning 57 seats, the Liberal Democrats have made it impossible for the Conservatives to win the 326 seats they need to govern alone.
Northern IrelandÂ’s Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) won eight; the Scottish National Party (SNP) six; Sinn Fein five; the Welsh Plaid Cymru three; Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP) three in Northern Ireland, with one each for Greens and the Alliance Party, the latter in Belfast. One seat has been won by another candidate.
One seat has yet to be decided: an election will be held for the constituency of Thirsk and Malton in northeast England on May 27, after one of the candidates fighting it died during the election campaign.
Under Britain’s election rules, Labour Prime Minister Gordon Brown has the right to attempt to form a coalition first, but he accepted Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg’s decision to talk with Cameron first. Cameron and Clegg would be “entitled to take as much time as they feel necessary,” Brown said, while offering to talk to the Lib Dems if they failed.
“Clearly should the discussions between Cameron and Clegg come to nothing then I would of course be prepared to discuss with Clegg the areas where there may be some measure of agreement between our two parties,” he said.
Until Brown and Cameron’s statements, the centre-left prime minister’s key allies said Labour, which has ruled since 1997, would try to cling to power through a deal with the centrist Lib Dems. But Clegg said the Conservatives, as the largest party in the new parliament, had the “first right to seek to govern”.
In a statement in Westminster, Conservative’s leader David Cameron held out a “big, open and comprehensive offer” to the Liberal Democrats to work together in government.
He acknowledged that there would have to be reform of the electoral system and he proposed the creation of an all-party committee of inquiry to look at the issue. It was not immediately clear whether CameronÂ’s offer would involve a formal coalition with Liberal Democrats ministers in a cabinet.
As a major carrot to attract Lib Dems support, Cameron offered an all-party committee of inquiry on political and electoral reform to look at the possibility of changing WestminsterÂ’s first-past-the-post voting system. But he stopped short of promising the immediate legislation on a referendum on voting reform offered by Prime Minister Gordon Brown less than an hour earlier.
Cameron stressed that it was essential that the parties were able to offer leadership to the country: “Britain voted for change yesterday, but it also voted for a new politics, it did not vote for party political bickering, grandstanding and point-scoring.
“Our country’s problems are too serious, they are too urgent for that. So we must all rise to this occasion, we must show leadership.”
Cameron outlined the areas of policy agreement between the Conservatives and Lib Dems, which he said offered “a strong basis for a strong government”.
At the same time he stressed that – unlike the Lib Dems – the Tories remained “completely convinced” that the new government would have to start cutting BritainÂ’s record 163 billion pounds deficit this year. “This has been more than confirmed by recent events in other European countries, recent instability in the markets and recent conversations that we have had both with the Treasury and the Bank of England,” he said.
AFP adds: Britain could yet face fresh election within months, despite the start of talks between Conservatives and Liberal Democrats on a possible power-sharing deal in a hung parliament, experts warned.
David CameronÂ’s centre-right Tories and Nick CleggÂ’s centrist Liberal Democrats could struggle to find common ground since they strongly disagree on issues including Europe, defence and immigration, analysts said.
If the two parties fail to reach agreement, the Liberal Democrats could still make a pact with Prime Minister Gordon BrownÂ’s Labour party, which lost its overall majority in ThursdayÂ’s general election.
“Either way there’s going to be an election again soon, probably before the end of the year,” Victoria Honeyman, a politics lecturer at Leeds University, told AFP.
Monitoring Desk adds: Following a chaotic general election result, political horse-trading aimed at cobbling together BritainÂ’s first coalition government for decades has begun, reported Christian Science Monitor.
The political landscape is a mess after no one party emerged with enough seats to form a majority in Parliament. The ball, however, appears to be in the court of David Cameron, the British Conservative leader whose party won the most votes but fell short of the majority that only a few months ago was considered to be within his grasp.
Nick Clegg, whose centrist Liberal Democrats failed to shatter the Labour and Tory duopoly on power, said that the Conservatives had the first right to seek to govern after winning the biggest mandate in terms of votes and seats.
Before potentially approaching Mr CleggÂ’s party for support, however, the Tories may seek woo Northern IrelandÂ’s Democratic Unionist Party.
Meanwhile, donÂ’t write off Gordon Brown, who has returned to Downing Street from his home constituency in Scotland. His party defied predictions that were made as late as last week that it was headed for an electoral wipeout.
London, May 7 : British Prime Minister Gordon Brown made a bold bid to cling to power early Friday even though the opposition Conservatives could emerge as the biggest party from the general election, according to exit polls.
Speaking after his re-election in his constituency in Scotland, Brown said it was his duty to secure strong [...]
Prime Minister Gordon Brown announced Tuesday that a general election will be held in Britain May 6 in what analysts believe could be one of the closest and most unpredictable contests in modern British politics.
Brown, 59, will be seeking an unprecedented fourth term for the ruling Labour Party which has been in power since 1997. [...]
Britain’s general election will be held on May 6, Prime Minister Gordon Brown announced on Tuesday. Brown, 59, will be seeking an unprecedented fourth term for the ruling Labour Party in the poll. But he faces a stark challenge from the Conservatives, who hope to return to power under David Cameron after 13 years in opposition.
Actress Reese Witherspoon is set to assume the role of a real life judge for a pioneering women’’s awards ceremony.
The Oscar-winner/campaigner will oversee the nominations and winners of Empowering Women’’s Awards that will honour victims of domestic violence.
“Domestic violence affects one in four women in the U.K. and many are suffering in silence. It’’s [...]
This is an open letter to the economics, finance and banking communities. I don’t have any dog in the fight, other than to figure out and then publicize what is best for the greatest number of people. People I greatly respect advocate for federal-leve…
Supermodel Naomi Campbell is said to be planning a humanitarian mission to Haiti in an effort to see where the money from her Fashion for Relief charity is being invested.
Campbell, 39, revealed she would be travelling to earthquake hit Haiti next month with White Ribbon, a philanthropic group founded by Sarah Brown, wife of British [...]
Actress Kim Cattrall has revealed she spoke to “someone†in British Prime Minister Gordon Brown’s administration to help understand her role in new film ‘The Ghost’.
The film is based on Robert Harris’’s book that gives an unflattering account of former British Prime Minister Tony Blair.
The story revolves around an unsuspecting writer who ghosts the autobiography [...]
Supermodel Naomi Campbell has bagged the Outstanding Contribution gong at the Elle Style awards.
British Prime Minister Gordon Brown’s wife Sarah honoured the 39-year-old catwalk queen for her 25-year career and her work as global patron of The White Ribbon Alliance (WRA), which promotes safe pregnancy.
Sarah introduced Campbell at the central London ceremony as “a woman [...]
Britain’s prime minister, Gordon Brown, has the fight of his life on his hands
GORDON BROWN is anything but idle these days. On February 22nd, extolling the merits of Britain to representatives of 250 big companies at a Global Investment Conference in London, he was the perfect economic statesman. Two days earlier, speaking to the party faithful in Coventry, he was a gloves-off political streetfighter as, in effect, he launched the Labour Party’s general-election campaign with the slogan “A future fair for all”. Whichever version is the real Mr Brown these days, the next couple of months (an election is due by June 3rd and expected on May 6th) will be testing ones.
In an interview with The Economist on February 22nd, Mr Brown touched on four main themes. The recent recession, he said, was “the first crisis of globalisation”, and required global solutions. The financial crisis of 2008-09 was “a huge turning point…The world has had to recognise its interdependence…” The question is whether the G20 will have sufficient momentum to deal with the outstanding problems, especially the regulation of global finance. On climate change, financial stability, nuclear weapons, terrorism, we need to be capable of “pushing for and delivering global solutions”. As to Europe’s role in this, the prime minister is concerned about its sluggish economic growth and ageing population. “Europe’s got to get a growth strategy,” he says. …
British Prime Minister Gordon Brown insisted he had never hit anyone as media allegations that he had intimidated his staff overshadowed his pre-election “Operation Fightback”. Brown admitted to a few solid tackles on the rugby pitch in his youth and throwing newspapers on the floor but said
‘America’’s Got Talent’ judge Piers Morgan will soon interview the British Prime-Minister Gordon Brown.
The leader will be asked questions on his professional and personal lives in the special episode of Morgan’s ‘Life Stories’ talk show.
“I”ve been trying to secure a Life Stories with the Prime Minister since the series was first devised as he is [...]
As attacks against Indians continued unabated in Australia, External Affairs Minister S M Krishna on Thursday met his Australian counterpart Stephen Smith for the second time in two days and is understood to have conveyed displeasure over the assaults.
Krishna met Smith in London on the sidelines of the conference on Afghanistan hosted by British Prime [...]
LONDON (Agencies) – World powers welcomed Afghanistan’s plan Thursday to take responsibility for its security within five years and persuade moderate Taliban fighters to renounce violence with a promise of a new start through jobs, according to a final communique issued after a major conference in London.
“Conference participants welcomed the government of Afghanistan’s stated goal of the ANSF (Afghan National Security Forces) taking the lead and conducting the majority of operations in the insecure areas of Afghanistan within three years, and taking responsibility for physical security within five years,” it said.
The statement described the persuasion as an offer to give “an honourable place in society to those willing to renounce violence, participate in the free and open society and respect the principles that are enshrined in the Afghan constitution, cut ties with Al-Qaeda and other terrorist groups, and pursue their political goals peacefully”.
Participants of London conference also committed to establish a peace and reintegration trust fund to finance the Afghan reintegration project. British Foreign Secretary David Miliband said 140 million dollars was pledged for the first year on Thursday.
On the transfer of responsibility for security from international to Afghan forces (the ANSF), the communique said both sides were committed to making this happen “as rapidly as possible”.
“This is with a view to a number of provinces transitioning to ANSF lead, providing conditions are met, by late 2010/early 2011, with ISAF moving to a supporting role within those provinces,” it said.
The communique welcomed the Afghan government’s stated goal of conducting the majority of operations in the insecure areas of Afghanistan within three years “and taking responsibility for physical security within five years”.
International forces committed to support the Afghan security forces with the goal of boosting them to about 300,000 by October 2011.
International aid delivered through the Afghan government will be increased to 50 percent in two years, but only if Kabul acts to fight corruption and improve governance, world powers agreed Thursday.
The final communique from an international conference in London “supported” the Afghan government’s request that donors increase the proportion of aid they deliver through the government budget from about one-third currently to half.
“But this support is conditional on the government’s progress in further strengthening public financial management systems, reducing corruption, improving budget execution, developing a financial strategy and government capacity towards the goal,” it said.
Outside experts will be invited for an independent “monitoring and evaluation mission” within three months to audit the scale of corruption in Afghanistan, the statement said.
Earlier, Afghan President Hamid Karzai urged Western partners to help him woo moderate Taliban insurgents at the conference Thursday in London.
He presented a six-point framework aimed at ensuring peace and development of his war-torn country.
Addressing the 70-nation conference, Karzai said Afghanistan and its Western supporters must “reach out to all of our countrymen, especially our disenchanted brothers who are not part of Al-Qaeda”.
The moot was co-hosted by the UK, United Nations and the Afghan government. Pakistan is represented at the conference by Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi.
He said when more powers are transferred to Afghan forces, the international community can focus more on rebuilding the countryÂ’s economy and institutions.
However, the Afghan President was critical of mounting civilian casualties through night time raids by the international forces and demanded that they be not only curtailed but conducted by the Afghan forces.
Speaking about the national sovereignty, Karzai said the Afghan government wants to take charge of all the detention centres now currently under the control of international forces.
British Prime Minister Gordon Brown said the conference marked “the beginning of the transition process” under which responsibility for security will gradually be transferred from international to Afghan control.
Brown added that a district-by-district, province-by-province handover would start later this year and warned Al-Qaeda militants in Afghanistan.
“To those insurgents who refuse to accept the conditions for reintegration we have no choice but to pursue them militarily,” Brown said and added: “We will defeat you.”
Meanwhile, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said on Thursday it was necessary to engage with enemies in order to bring peace to Afghanistan.
She had been asked about Afghan government plans to invite the Taliban to a council of elders to discuss reconciliation.
“You have to be willing to engage with your enemies” if you expect to end an insurgency, she told a news conference. She did not directly address the question about the council which will be for Afghans only and which the United States will not attend.
Hillary stressed that Afghans and extremists needed to understand that the handover of security responsibilities was “not an exit strategy”.
Brown announced the international fund, believed to be worth 500 million dollars, to back a reintegration plan to give jobs to Taliban fighters who are prepared to renounce Al-Qaeda.
The United States, Germany and Japan are among nations that have voiced support for the Afghan-led plan.
Karzai said he would establish a national council for peace, reconciliation and reintegration and call a “peace jirga,” or traditional gathering of Afghans. He reiterated a call for Saudi King Abdullah to play a role.
“We hope His Majesty (Saudi) King Abdullah bin Abdul-Aziz will kindly play a prominent role to guide and assist the peace process,” he said.
He also said that Afghanistan needed the support of its neighbours, particularly Pakistan, to secure peace.
“We ask all neighbours, particularly Pakistan, to support our peace and reconciliation endeavours,” he added. “We are looking forward to the international community supporting this.
Karzai’s spokesman Elmi said a date had not yet been set for the meeting. If the Taliban want to attend, “they are most welcome,” he said.
If they did not, the peace “jirga”-the name for a traditional Afghan assembly of elders-would still go ahead and focus on how to bring insurgents into talks and end the conflict, Elmi said.
“The elders of Afghan society will talk about how to bring in the Taliban, what is the way forward,” Elmi said.
“We are inviting all people who are accepting the Afghan constitution, those who want to cut their relations with terrorism, those who are not international terrorists,” he said.
Karzai told the conference he would establish a national council for peace, reconciliation and reintegration, and then call the jirga.
KarzaiÂ’s plan is to offer militants jobs and a guarantee that they would not be arrested by Afghan or international security forces in exchange for their agreement to stop fighting.
What the Afghan people want is “Afghan leadership, Afghan ownership,” said Karzai. “Peace and security in the world is inextricably linked to peace and security in Afghanistan,” he said.
It reiterated a demand for “invading forces” – its term for foreign troops – to withdraw as a condition for any talks.
United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon who also spoke on the occasion pledged the world bodyÂ’s complete support in ensuring peace and development of Afghanistan.
Iran was the most notable absentee from the conference, with Britain accusing Tehran of missing an opportunity to play a constructive role.
Around 100 protestors targeted the opening of ThursdayÂ’s conference at Lancaster House in central London also attended by US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and US Special Envoy for Pakistan and Afghanistan Richard Holbrooke.
About 110,000 international troops now are in Afghanistan, and their numbers are set to rise, and Karzai told BBC radio earlier Thursday that his country would need international help for years to come.
“With regard to training and equipping the Afghan security forces, five to 10 years will be enough,” Karzai said.
“With regard to sustaining them until Afghanistan is financially able to provide for our forces, the time will be extended to 10 to 15 years.”
Afghan Defence Minister Abdul Rahim Wardak told the meeting that Afghanistan was committed to taking the lead but its lack of security manpower was still a “critical obstacle”.
It would be a “strategic mistake” for international forces to leave the country too early, he said..
NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen urged leaders at the conference to match the “sacrifice” of foreign soldiers in the war-torn country with clear plans for its future.
Our monitoring desk adds: The Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi told the BBC that the Afghan government would benefit from involving moderate elements of the Taliban in Afghanistan.
Qureshi said the militant group represented some of AfghanistanÂ’s large Pashtun community and had to be taken into consideration.
A “wedge” could be driven between moderates and hardliners, he said.
Qureshi argued that most Pakistanis had turned against the extremism of the countryÂ’s home-grown Taliban.
Speaking in London Qureshi said the Pashtuns were AfghanistanÂ’s largest ethnic community and could not be ignored.
“Get them into the mainstream, give them a respectable share in power, it will add to stability,” he told the BBC World Service.
He rejected the suggestion that giving the Taliban a role in Kabul might encourage the Pakistani TalibanÂ’s militant campaign.
“I think it will create a wedge between the hard core and the moderates,” he said.
“We in Pakistan have carried out our own national effort. Today in Pakistan people are convinced that this element which wants to Talibanise Pakistan is not in line with the overwhelming majority of people in Pakistan.”
While talking to The Guardian Qureshi said Pakistan is ready to mediate in reconciliation talks between the Western Alliance and Taliban, if the country is “asked to do so”.
Qureshi said Pakistan is uniquely placed to help in talks, which he said may aid in facilitating reintegration of the strife-torn nation. “Pakistan is perhaps better placed than any other country in the world to support Afghan reintegration and reconciliation. Why? We speak the same language, we have common tribes, a common religion, we have a commonality of history, culture and tradition,” Qureshi said.
“But it (Pakistani mediation) depends on whether we are asked to do so. If asked, the government of Pakistan would be happy to facilitate,” he was quoted as saying by British newspaper ‘The Guardian’.
Meanwhile, Saudi ArabiaÂ’s foreign minister said on Thursday The Taliban must deny sanctuary to Osama bin Laden before Saudi Arabia will agree to act as a mediator in any Afghan peace deal,.
Prince Saud al-Faisal was responding to Afghan President Hamid Karzai who had called on Saudi Arabia, which has hosted talks between Afghan government and Taliban representatives in the past, to help bring peace to Afghanistan.
“Unless the Taliban give up the issue of sanctuary (to bin Laden) I don’t think the negotiations with them will be possible or feasible to achieve anything,” Prince Saud told reporters on the sidelines of a London conference.
“We have two conditions for Saudi Arabia’s involvement: that the request comes officially from Afghanistan and the Taliban has to prove its intentions in coming to the negotiations by cutting their relations with the terrorists and proving it,” he said.
“By keeping their contacts with bin Laden they won’t be coming to any negotiations with a positive attitude.
London, Jan.27 (ANI): Indian External Affairs Minister S M Krishna, who is currently in London to attend a one-day conference on Afghanistan, has said he is looking forward to the summit and is keen to cement New Delhi’s relationship with the rest of the international community.
Interacting with reporters here before the meeting, Krishna and British [...]
British Prime Minister Gordon Brown is due to give evidence to an inquiry into the Iraq war, prior to the general election in a few months’ time, according to media reports.
The BBC and other media said late Thursday they had learned that Brown had agreed to testify, despite the panel’s earlier ruling that he should [...]
Britain has laid claims to Nobel laureates Amartya Sen, an Indian citizen, and Venkatraman Ramakrishnan, an American of Indian origin.
The two were among “British Nobel Prize winners” who were hosted by Prime Minister Gordon Brown and his wife for a dinner at their 10 Downing Street residence, the British leader’s office said.
Guests at the dinner [...]
US special envoy to Afghanistan and Pakistan Richard Holbrooke Monday strongly condemned a wave of suicide blasts in the heart of the Afghan capital, saying it was the handiwork of “ruthless Taliban” and extremist groups operating in the border area between Afghanistan and Pakistan.
“Well, it’s not surprising that the Taliban do this sort of thing. [...]
