‘March of a million’ to test Mubarak today

CAIRO: A sea of protesters flooded downtown Cairo on Monday, brushing aside concessions by President Hosni Mubarak and vowing to topple his regime with strikes and million-strong marches in the capital and Alexandria.

In what is seen as a sop to the protesters, a new cabinet line-up was announced in which widely hated interior minister Habib al-Adly and the previous finance and culture ministers were axed. But protesters massed in downtown Cairo vowed they would only be satisfied when Mubarak quits, and promised to step up their efforts to bring down his creaking regime.

Organisers announced an indefinite general strike and said Tuesday would see a "march of a million" in the capital after a week of revolt in which at least 125 people have been killed. Another march was called in Alexandria, after national train services were cancelled in an apparent bid to stymie protests. Tens of thousands of protesters carpeted Cairo's Tahrir Square, the epicentre of demands for an end to the corruption, deprivation and police oppression indelibly associated with Mubarak's 30-year rule. "We will stay in the square, until the coward leaves," the crowd chanted.

The army has positioned tanks around the area and was checking identity papers but letting protesters in. Civilian popular committee members were also checking papers to make sure no plainclothes police get in. "We are looking for police trouble makers. They want to come in and break our unity," said a popular committee member.

Faced with the prospect of untold numbers trying to converge on the capital, authorities stopped all train traffic with immediate effect on Monday afternoon. State-owned national carrier EgyptAir said it was cancelling all domestic and international flights. Egypt ordered riot police back onto the streets nationwide two days after they virtually disappeared and the army was deployed to deal with the revolt, but few were visible.

TOI

As chaos reigns, foreigners advised to leave Egypt

CAIRO: Foreign governments stepped up their warnings Sunday about travel to Egypt, with several urging their citizens to evacuate as soon as possible amid uncertainty over where the Arab nation is headed after nearly a week of mass protests.

The fears of foreign tourists mirrored those of many Egyptians. Dozens with the means to do so rented jets or hopped aboard their own planes in a mad dash that did little to boost confidence in the future of a country long viewed as a pillar of stability in a restive region. Those leaving included businessmen and celebrities.

The United States, Canada, Switzerland, Turkey and the Netherlands issued advisories encouraging nationals already in Egypt to leave and telling those who planned trips there to reconsider. The US embassy in Cairo said it was making arrangements to transport Americans who want to leave to "safehaven locations in Europe." Flights would begin Monday.

Assistant US secretary of state Janice Jacobs said it will take several flights in the coming days to accommodate all Americans who want to leave.

Jacobs, who is in charge of consular affairs, said the US may also send planes to other cities in Egypt, such as Luxor, if there are a number of Americans stranded there. Americans taking the charter will be billed for the flight and must make their own travel arrangements home from Europe.

Canadian foreign affairs minister Lawrence Cannon said its charter flights will begin as early as Monday to fly Canadians who wish to leave to locations in Europe.

A growing number of countries _ including China, Australia, France, Germany, Belgium, Sweden, Finland, Russia and Poland _ warned against travel to most, if not all, of Egypt. Arab nations, including Iraq, either sent in jets or offered to do so.

"If I had a visa to anywhere, I'd join them. But that's not going to happen," said Mohammed Khaled, a 28-year-old Egyptian doctor. "Right now, I'd settle for a gun, but I can't even find one of those."

Surging lawlessness on the streets after the much-reviled police essentially melted away prompted neighbors to form armed patrols. But crowds of men armed with shovels, sticks, clubs, chains, guns and even whips did little to project an image of stability.

Compounding the problem was a continued Internet outage after the government cut off service Friday to undercut protesters' ability to organize demonstrations against President Hosni Mubarak.

US embassy officials said they were unable to send text message alerts _ which have been blocked nationwide since late Thursday _ complicating efforts to distribute advisories.

The unrest is sure to affect Egypt's vital tourism sector, at least in the short-run. Tourism accounts for about 5 percent to 6 percent of GDP, making it one of the top four sources of foreign revenue.

But the unrest also threatens to unravel an economy that officials had proudly pointed to one of the few to withstand the global financial meltdown.

International oil companies and other Western firms began to weigh evacuating their employees' families _ a move that may be mirrored by international schools catering to those workers.

BP PLC spokesman Robert Wine said the company, which has operated in Egypt for 40 years, is "working on what we need to do, and whether we need to bring the families out."

Others weren't waiting for formal orders. "We left behind a country with no order or security whatsoever," Mehmet Buyukocak, who worked in Egypt for six years, told Turkish news channel NTV upon arriving in Istanbul. "People do as they wish. ... The army does not interfere _ they are just watching."

"Even if Mubarak resigns, it will be chaos taking his place," he said, adding that there are other Turks who said they will remain in Egypt. "I pray God helps them all."

Even before the images of lawlessness, tourists were thronging to Cairo's airport as Mubarak faced the gravest challenge in his 30-year rule.

Many came without reservations, only to find a growing number of flights canceled, delayed or suspended. National carrier EgyptAir canceled or delayed 25 flights Sunday because of crew shortages.

The crowds swelled as passengers landed in Cairo after a 4 pm curfew began.

The airport took on the appearance of a marble-floored refugee camp. Airport officials said some travelers who had been there for several days came down with diarrhea, and were treated by doctors.

A growing number of Arab countries arranged for additional flights on larger jets to evacuate their citizens, as did a few other nations, including Azerbaijan and Turkey.

Iraq, which has endured more than seven years of its own chaos, offered to fly out any of its citizens who wanted to go. "It will be free of charge," transportation ministry spokesman Aqeel Hadi Kawthar said.

Egyptian pop star Amr Diab, whose hits include "Rag'een" or "Returning," jetted off to London with his family aboard his private plane, said an airport official, speaking on condition of anonymity because she was not authorized to brief the media.

Several other celebrities and businessmen also left, raising to at least 64 the number of private planes to take off in the past two days.

The impact on the Red Sea resorts, favored by Europeans, was still negligible. Some travel companies said those destinations remained unaffected, even though some governments, such as Poland, expanded their travel advisories to include those areas.

For some prospective visitors, it wasn't worth the risk. Tulin Sezer, a 39-year-old math teacher from Berlin, said she and her two friends had just decided to cancel their trip to the resort of Sharm el-Sheikh.

"It just doesn't feel right to go on vacation in Egypt if the people who live there are not happy," Sezer said. "If people are dying, it is weird to go there as a tourist."

TOI

Myanmar's parliament opens under tight security

Myanmar opened its first parliament in more then two decades Monday, an event greeted with cautious optimism by opposition lawmakers despite the military's tight management of the event.

The military and its allies hold more than 80 percent of the seats in both houses of parliament, ensuring that the army can exercise control over the wheels of power, as it has since a 1962 coup deposed the last legitimately elected legislature. A single-party parliament under the late dictator Gen. Ne Win was abolished in 1988 after the army crushed a pro-democracy uprising.

The 440-seat lower house and 224-seat upper house were opened simultaneously at 8:55 a.m. (0225 GMT) in a massive new building in Naypyitaw, the remote city to which the capital was moved from Yangon in 2005. The 14 regional parliaments, whose members were also elected last November, were to open at the same time.

Roads leading to the parliament building were sealed off with roadblocks manned by armed police. Delegates wearing traditional attire — women in long-sleeved jackets — and representatives of ethnic minorities in the garb of their respective groups were bused from state guest houses to the site. Each bus was checked for bombs as they entered the compound.

Reporters, diplomats and the public at large were barred from witnessing the proceedings inside.

Delegates are not allowed to carry cameras, mobile phones, computers, tape recorders and other electronic devices into the parliament compound. They will be allowed freedom of expression — unless their words endanger national security or the unity of the country. Any protest staged within parliament is punishable by up to two years in prison.

There appeared to be little popular interest in parliament's opening. Last November's election left a widespread perception the junta cheated to ensure a victory by its proxies.

However, members of the small opposition bloc took an upbeat approach.

"Now that parliament has convened, we have taken a step toward Myanmar's democratic change," said Thein Nyunt, an elected representative and former leader of the National Democratic Force, a party formed by breakaway members of pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi's political party.

Nobel laureate Suu Kyi and her National League for Democracy party boycotted last November's polls, claiming the process was unfair and undemocratic. The party was consequently dissolved under a new election law.

The NLD won a landslide victory in the last general election in 1990 but was not allowed to take power when the army barred parliament from convening.

Despite the heavy pro-military majority, which can push through or block any legislation and constitutional amendments on their own, there was muted hope that the new legislature will be a step, however small, toward a more democratic country.

"We are a minority in the parliament but we hope to make our voices heard and will ask for our rights," said Sai Hla Kyaw, a lawmaker from the Shan Nationalities Development Party, which won a combined 21 seats in both houses.

Dr. Khin Shwe, a business tycoon and elected upper house representative of the junta-backed Union Solidarity and Development Party, was rosy about the future.

"The military government has achieved peace and stability in the country and now we will have to work for the development of the country. I believe there will be economic development under the new parliamentary system," he said.

Lawmakers will first elect a chairman from among their members to supervise the parliament session, and will later elect a speaker and deputy speaker for each house.

However, the elected representatives are not sure when the country's new president and vice presidents will be elected.

Obama presses Mubarak for transition to democracy

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama on Sunday urged an "orderly transition" to democracy in Egypt, stopping short of calling on President Hosni Mubarak to step down but signaling that his days may be numbered.

Seeking to ratchet up pressure on Mubarak, Obama consulted with the leaders of Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Israel and Britain on the need for an Egyptian government responsive to its people.

The Obama administration's blunt words marked the furthest Washington has distanced itself from Mubarak, a key U.S. ally of 30 years who has been severely weakened by six days of mass protest aimed at ending his long autocratic rule.

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton also kept up Washington's delicate balancing act, trying to avoid abandoning Mubarak altogether while supporting protesters who seek broader political rights and demand his ouster.

Making the rounds the Sunday U.S. news shows, Clinton said Mubarak must ensure coming elections are free and fair and live up to his promises of reform, and that the process should be carried out to prevent a power vacuum that could be filled by extremists.

While Clinton repeatedly dodged questions about whether Mubarak should resign due to the political upheaval, she appeared to suggest the U.S. administration's patience with him was wearing thin and added to pressure on him to loosen -- if not eventually relinquish -- his grip on power.

"We want to see an orderly transition so that no one fills a void, that there not be a void, that there be a well thought out plan that will bring about a democratic participatory government," Clinton told "Fox News Sunday" on the sixth day of mass protests against Mubarak's rule.

Echoing Clinton's language, the White House said Obama spoke over the weekend to Saudi King Abdullah, Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and British Prime Minister David Cameron'

"The president reiterated his focus on opposing violence and calling for restraint; supporting universal rights, including the right to peaceful assembly, association and speech; and supporting an orderly transition to a government that is responsive to the aspirations of the Egyptian people," the White House said.

A senior administration official said the feeling among Obama's national security aides was that Mubarak's time had passed, but that it was up to the Egyptian people to decide their future. Obama believed the United States could not insert itself into the situation because any such move could backfire, the official added.

RISK OF POWER VACUUM

Clinton also alluded to concerns about who might follow Mubarak. U.S. officials have privately voiced fears that radical Muslims could take power. "We also don't want to see some takeover that would lead not to democracy, but to oppression," she said.

Even as Washington has taken a more assertive stance, Clinton signaled the administration was not ready to use its most tangible leverage with Cairo -- the $1.5 billion in annual U.S. aid, the vast majority of which is for the military.

"There is no discussion as of this time about cutting off aid," she told ABC's "This Week," though she quickly added "we always are looking (at) and reviewing our aid."

The U.S. administration was caught off guard by the political upheaval that has rocked the Middle East in recent days, from Egypt to Tunisia to Lebanon to Yemen, and is now scrambling to craft a sound strategy.

Egypt's crisis poses a dilemma for the United States. Mubarak, 82, has been a close partner of Washington for decades and has cited the danger of Islamic militancy as, at least in part, a justification for his long grasp on power.

Egypt plays an important role in Middle East peacemaking -- it was the first of only two Arab states to have signed a peace treaty with Israel -- and is also seen by Washington as a crucial counterweight to Iran's regional clout. But human rights groups have accused successive U.S. administrations of being too tolerant of Egyptian rights abuses.

From the U.S. perspective, the worst-case scenario in Egypt's crisis would be the rise of an Islamist government potentially aligned with Iran. But so far there has been no sign of Muslim fundamentalism driving the protest movement.

While Clinton insisted there were "no easy answers" to the Egypt crisis, Senator John McCain, a leading Republican voice on foreign policy, urged Obama to "get a little bit more out ahead" of the unfolding developments.

"Lay out a scenario of what we think the Egyptian people should have every right to expect," McCain said, such as Mubarak turning over his government to a caretaker leader and not running again for president. "We've got to be on the right side of history here," McCain told CNN.

Egyptian opposition figure Mohammed Elbaradei told CNN: "It's better for President Obama not to appear that he is the last one to say to President Mubarak 'It's time for you to go'."

ELECTIONS AS CRITICAL JUNCTURE

Clinton cited Egypt's presidential elections, set for September, as a critical juncture. Her insistence that the vote be "free and fair" could be seen as a message to Mubarak that Washington will not accept him seeking re-election, or trying to anoint his son Gamal as his successor.

Clinton's praise for the Egyptian army's restraint -- in contrast to a harsh police crackdown last week -- showed the administration was hedging its bets on the military, considered the key to Mubarak's fate.

Her response to Mubarak's government shake-up was only lukewarm. She said on ABC that Mubarak's appointment of intelligence chief and confidant Omar Suleiman as vice president marked the "bare beginning" of political reform.

Clinton acknowledged that Mubarak had been an important partner over the years in Israeli-Palestinian peacemaking and the fight against terrorism. But she declined to repeat her earlier comments that his government was stable and refused to be drawn out on whether he should remain in power.

"This is going to be up to the Egyptian people," she told CNN. "We're not advocating any specific outcome. We are advocating that the government, the representatives of the civil society, the political opposition and activists begin a dialogue to chart a course."

Nelson Mandela returns home, 'breathing on his own'

Johannesburg, Jan 29 (ANI): Former South African President Nelson Mandela, who was successfully treated for breathing difficulties during a two-day stay in hospital, has been discharged and is breathing on his own.

Mandela returned to his home in Houghton on Friday for home-based care of a respiratory infection.

South Africa's Surgeon General Lieutenant General Vejaynand Ramlakan said the icon had suffered an acute respiratory infection, but he was now sufficiently well to be treated at home, ending prolonged uncertainty about his health.

"He has been discharged. Dr Mandela is in high spirits. For a 92-year-old, he surprises us on a daily basis with his powers of recovery," said Dr. Vejaynand Ramlakan.

Mandela's admission had brought an outpouring of good wishes for a speedy recovery, and criticism over information black-out on his condition.

In a briefing on his condition at the hospital, Deputy President Kgalema Motlanthe said: "Madiba is well... and that should reassure all of us that there is no need for us to panic, there is no need for us to fear for Madiba's health."

Earlier, Ramlakan told the briefing that Mandela had received treatment and had responded very well, News24 reports.

The convoy, which led him from the hospital, included the department of defence and military veterans, which is responsible for the well being of former presidents, and bodyguards. (ANI)

Obama cautions Mubarak not to use force against protesters

Washington, Jan.29 (ANI): US President Barack Obama has put his embattled Egyptian counterpart leader, Hosni Mubarak, on notice that he should not use his soldiers and police in a bloody crackdown on opposition protesters.

Addressing the nation from the White House, Obama said that he had spoken with Mubarak and had told him "to refrain from any violence against peaceful protesters" and to turn a "moment of volatility" into a "moment of promise."

Declaring that the protesters have universal rights, the New York Times quoted Obama, as saying that the "The United States will continue to stand up for the rights of the Egyptian people."

Obama's brief remarks came as a blunt reply to Mubarak, who spoke to his own people just one hour before and mixed conciliation with defiance as he dismissed his government, but vowed to stay in office to stabilize Egypt.

The Obama administration has moved from tentative support to distancing itself from Mubarak, its staunchest Arab ally, saying it would review the 1.5 billion dollar in American aid and warning him that he must confront the grievances of his people.

Obama said that Mubarak's promise of expanding democracy and economic opportunity needed to be enforced with meaning and responsibility.

He called on Mubarak to open a dialogue with the demonstrators, though he did not go as far as to urge free and fair elections.

Illustrating the delicate balance that the administration faces with Egypt, Obama referred to the joint projects of the two countries. He also urged the demonstrators to "express themselves peacefully."

Egypt is the fourth-largest recipient of American foreign aid, after Afghanistan, Pakistan and Israel, and just ahead of Iraq.

It is also a critical partner on issues like the Israel-Palestinian peace process and a bulwark against Islamic extremism in the Arab world. (ANI)

Pakistan seeks India's help on use of EVMs

NEW DELHI: Questions may have been raised by some sections about the use of Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) but Pakistan and other neighbouring countries are keen to have them.

Pakistan, which is "actively considering" introduction of EVMs for elections, has requested India to send a team of technical hands to demonstrate how these machines function, the Election Commission said in a release. Accordingly, a team from Bharat Electronics Ltd (BEL) and Electronics Corporation of India Ltd (ECIL), which manufacture EVMs, will go to Pakistan next month to give a demonstration.

The request by the Pakistan Election Commission came during the Indian Election Commission's diamond jubilee celebrations here last week.

Pakistan's Chief Election Commissioner Justice Hamid Ali Mirza expressed the desire for a close collaboration between the two commissions. Chief Election Commissioner S Y Quraishi assured his Pakistani counterpart India's support on sharing the expertise.

Nepal, which has already introduced EVMs with Indian support, has sought more EVMs. Nepalese Chief Election Commissioner Neel Kantha Upreti urged for early signing of an MoU with EC and wanted India's help in drafting electoral laws, the release said.

Not only neighbours but far off countries like Ethiopia also wanted the support of EC in introducing EVMs and in automation of its electoral rolls. The Election Commission of Thailand requested signing of an MoU with the EC and participation of its in the training Institute, IIDEM, proposed to be set up by EC.

Read more: Pakistan seeks India's help on use of EVMs - The Times of India http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Pakistan-seeks-Indias-help-on-use-of-EVMs-/articleshow/7381025.cms#ixzz1COdJISjt

Suicide bomber kills 42 police recruits in Iraq

BAGHDAD: The death toll from a suicide bomb attack on Iraqi police recruits in former dictator Saddam Hussein's hometown rose to 42 on Tuesday, with more than 100 people wounded, a provincial official said.

"Who else would it be but al-Qaida, who keep on slaughtering us," said Ahmed Abdul-Jabbar, deputy governor of Salahuddin province. "They are the terrorists."

Read more: Suicide bomber kills 42 police recruits in Iraq - The Times of India http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/middle-east/Suicide-bomber-kills-42-police-recruits-in-Iraq/articleshow/7310850.cms#ixzz1BNx81k90

Assange says WikiLeaks has "insurance files" ready to nail Murdoch

London, Jan 13(ANI): Julian Assange, the founder of the WikiLeaks website, has said that the whistle-blower website possesses classified documents which can expose Australian-born American media magnate Rupert Murdoch and his company News Corporation, the world's third-largest media conglomerate.

"There are 504 US embassy cables on one broadcasting organization and there are cables on Murdoch and News Corp," CBS News quoted Assange, as saying.

Assange revealed this during an interview with British left-wing weekly political magazine 'the New Statesman'.

The interview comes at a time when Assange has repeatedly expressed paranoia about either being assassinated or arrested by the U.S. government.

During the interview he also claimed that he has "insurance files" ready to be released on a moment's notice.

The WikiLeaks founder also said that China, and not the U.S., is his primary "technological enemy".

"China is the worst offender. China has aggressive and sophisticated interception technology that places itself between every reader inside China and every information source outside China," Assange said.

"We've been fighting a running battle to make sure we can get information through, and there are now all sorts of ways Chinese readers can get on to our site," he added. (ANI)

JuD head Hafiz Saeed wants Pak Govt to defend him in US court in Mumbai attack case

Lahore, Jan 13(ANI): Jamaatud Dawa (JuD) chief Hafiz Muhammad Saeed has moved the Lahore High Court seeking direction for the Pakistan Government to defend him, ISI chiefs and others before a US court, which has issued summons to them in connection with the 2008 Mumbai terror attacks.

Saeed, his operational commander Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi, DG ISI Lt Gen Ahmed Shuja Pasha, his predecessor Lt Gen (r) Nadeem Taj, Major Ali and Major Iqbal are among those who have been summoned for appearing before the court in a case filed by an injured US citizen and the heirs of four others, who were killed in the terror strike on November 26, 2008.

Petitioner's counsel AK Dogar stated that Rabbi Gavriel Noah Holtzberg and his wife Rivka were killed in a terrorist attack at the Chhabad House in Mumbai, and their son, Moshe, who survived the attack, along with other people, had moved a US court against his client Saeed and others.

He said the complainant accused them of providing material support for the Mumbai terror attacks and demanded damages. Dogar stated that Hafiz Saeed was the head of the Jamaatud Dawa, which was a charity organisation and had no links with the Lashkar-e-Tayyeba (LeT).

The Pakistan Government had detained him in 2009, and a full bench of the LHC had ordered his release, Dogar added.

Noting that on December 31, the Pakistan Government had announced to defend ISI head Lt Gen Pasha, he maintained that Saeed was also a Pakistani, and had the same rights as any other citizen of the country.

In response to the summons, a reply had already been sent to the US court, rejecting the jurisdiction of American courts, as international law did not allow an exercise of jurisdiction over any person and property of other states, he added. (ANI)

Hundreds killed in Brazil floods, mudslides

TERESOPOLIS (Brazil): Devastating mudslides and floods have killed nearly 270 people in the mountainous area near Rio de Janeiro, Brazilian officials said, warning that the death toll was likely to rise.

Rescue operations in the area north of Rio known as the Serrana were suspended late yesterday because of darkness and dangerous conditions.

Entire neighbourhoods in the municipalities of Nova Friburgo, Teresopolis and Petropolis were swept away by rivers of mud and tumbling rocks.

At least three firemen were killed when they were engulfed in tons of mud as they tried to carry a rescue.

The full extent of the devastation however was unknown because communication and access to the stricken zone was made difficult after roads and bridges were destroyed, and telephone service was cut in some areas.

Officials said the disaster was the worst ever to befall the Serrana, a soaring, lush area that used to be a getaway for 19th-century Brazilian nobility and which is now a tourist spot especially for Rio residents during the current southern hemisphere summer.

"It's a huge catastrophe, a major disaster," the mayor of the worst-hit town of Teresopolis, Jorge Mario Sedlacek, told the GloboNews television station.

His town counted at least 130 deaths, according to information released by area firefighters late Wednesday.

Rio state deputy governor Luiz Fernando Pezao told the G1 news website that another 107 people died in nearby Nova Friburgo, including the firemen killed.

Petropolis, in the same region, suffered at least 30 deaths, most in the nearby district of Itaipava, though officials warned that the toll was expected to rise when rescue workers reach remote hamlets.

The Wednesday death toll reached at least 267, not including at least 13 people killed earlier in the week by the same storm in Sao Paulo.

At least as much rain water as the region usually sees in two or three weeks hit the Serrana before dawn on Wednesday, as residents were sleeping in their homes.

The downpour triggered mudslides and caused rivers to overflow, carrying away cars, homes and people.

Meteorologists blamed the extraordinary precipitation on a cold front that intensified the already heavy wet season southeast Brazil experiences every summer.

That cold front moved through Sao Paulo early in the week before moving on to Rio de Janeiro state.

More rain was forecast in the coming days.

Read more: Hundreds killed in Brazil floods, mudslides - The Times of India http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/rest-of-world/Hundreds-killed-in-Brazil-floods-mudslides/articleshow/7275704.cms#ixzz1Aucjq5AJ

WikiLeaks founder Assange back in court

LONDON: The founder of secret-spilling website WikiLeaks was back in court on Tuesday as part of his fight to avoid being extradited to Sweden, where he's wanted on sex crimes allegations.

Julian Assange, 39, was driven to London's high-security Belmarsh Magistrates' Court Tuesday, accompanied by his lawyer Mark Stephens. The hearing there was expected to be largely procedural, setting the time for a second, full extradition hearing due next month and to manage other aspects of the case.

The rape and molestation accusations against Assange stem from his encounter with two women during a trip to Sweden taken over the summer, just as his website was garnering global attention with its huge leaks of classified US material.

The Swedish case has divided world opinion. Assange and his supporters say it is being prosecuted for political reasons, something denied by Swedish authorities and Assange's alleged victims, who insist it has nothing to do with WikiLeaks.

Assange, wearing a navy suit and a blue tie, posed for photographs outside the court Tuesday but said nothing before entering the building.

Earlier Tuesday, his organization released a statement decrying the death threats made against the Australian computer expert, drawing a link between his experience and that of Democratic Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords, who was shot in the head in an Arizona gun massacre which has touched off a nationwide debate over the toxic tone of US political discourse.

WikiLeaks said its staff has been subject to ``unprecedented violent rhetoric by US prominent media personalities,'' naming former vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin as one of the many pundits and politicians who have called for Assange to be hunted down like a terrorist.

American officials are still working on building a case against WikiLeaks, which has released hundreds of thousands of secret US intelligence files on Iraq and Afghanistan, as well hundreds of US State Department cables.

Read more: WikiLeaks founder Assange back in court - The Times of India http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/uk/WikiLeaks-founder-Assange-back-in-court/articleshow/7259578.cms#ixzz1Aj0DeNtc

Oimyakon in Russia records minus 61.2 degrees Celsius

VLADIVOSTOK: Air temperatures of minus 61.2 degrees Celsius were reported last night in the settlement of Oimyakon in Russia's republic of Yakutia, known as the cold pole.

Daytime temperatures here rose to minus 53.9 degree Celsius. An intense spell of cold weather will stay in Oimyakon with a population of 500 for several days more, according to weather forecasts.

Heavy frosts were reported in neighbouring settlements as well. Thus, air temperatures in the settlement of Ust-Nera, the Oimyakov district administrative centre, were minus 54.7 degrees Celsius. Ust-Nera's population is 8,500 people. The city of Yakutsk is "lucky" to have much "warmer" air temperatures of 35.7 degrees below zero.

The record low air temperatures of minus 67.7 degrees Celsius were registered in Oimyakon in 1933. In the 21st century, the lowest temperature was 64.5 degrees below zero. It was registered in 2002.

Read more: Oimyakon in Russia records minus 61.2 degrees Celsius - The Times of India http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/rest-of-world/Oimyakon-in-Russia-records-minus-612-degrees-Celsius/articleshow/7241535.cms#ixzz1ARY5WaYY