In 17 decades of war right after the 1989 Soviet withdrawal, and five decades of Taliban rule, almost all of the Afghan countrywide museums riches were looted and a few were deliberately destroyed.

However the most important products survived, in a very vault deep beneath the presidential palace, thanks to five guys – amongst them museum director Omar Khan Massoudi.

‘He kept his nerve during the Talibans rule of Afghanistan and displayed tremendous courage in not submitting to their demands and threats to reveal its place,’ says British Afghan professional and member of parliament Rory Stewart.

‘It was an act of extraordinary courage and he performed an amazing company to his region.’

The Kabul countrywide museum is located some kilometres south of the cash, in an area that repeatedly altered palms as mujahideen militias vied for affect within the early 1990s.

Each time it had been taken, the museum was looted again. With the believed one 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 products, some looted to purchase, altered palms around the worldwide artwork marketplace. Other people were buried in rubble or burned as firewood.

However the legendary Bactrian gold – which authorities feared had been stolen and melted down – had in reality been packed up, as well as numerous essential objects from the assortment, and moved to a Central Financial institution vault within the Presidential Palace in 1989.

Mr Massoudi was one of five guys who had keys to the vault. All five keys were necessary to open it – and each and every of the guys risked their lives not to hand them above to the militants.

The holders of the keys kept their locations key – if a essential holder died, it had been agreed, the true secret will be handed on to the keepers eldest child.

In that way, the priceless artefacts were preserved.

‘Mr Massoudi and his workers are without doubt unsung heroes,’ says exhibition undertaking curator Constance Wyndham.

‘Without his initiative its highly unlikely this wonderful assortment will be around today.’

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

‘All that we do know is the determination was manufactured by a committee and President Najibullah ordered the objects to get moved to the presidential palace,’ she mentioned.

Soon after the ingenuity of the rescue arrived the bravery which was required to help keep the hoard secure.

Mr Massoudi and his workers have within the intervening decades remained modest – and relatively reticent – about their achievement.

But his remarks within the museums guidebook give some concept of the hazards of retaining the treasure secure from ‘terror, violence, civil war along with the Taliban’.

Regardless of becoming subjected to various threats from the Taliban – often at gunpoint – those who knew of the key place gave absolutely nothing away.

It had been not until eventually 2003 the keep of 22,000 gold and glass objects were exposed.

‘Today with all 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 perfect but if I have the chance to play, I will do my very best and hopefully I can score.’

Torres departure from Anfield, where he spent the most effective component of four years, was greeted with anger by numerous fans, some of whom burnt replica shirts bearing their former heros name.

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

‘I will never say anything poor about Liverpool. I have been extremely happy there but now the history is different and I am playing for Chelsea.’

Torres, who scored 81 objectives 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. Theres not yet another level after Chelsea.

‘I am joining with large names like [John] Terry, [Frank] Lampard, [Didier] Drogba and [Nicolas] Anelka and I can be component of this excellent team.’

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

‘They really want me and it really is critical whenever you have the support of the people in the club, and 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 objectives against them whilst playing for Liverpool.

The striker added: ‘I have good memories and poor memories of games against Chelsea. All the objectives are good memories because all of them are special.

‘If theyre happy also because I am not going to score any much more against them then it really is good.’

Jenny

President Obama mentioned he thought the new, more peaceful, rules which also make it easier to deliver remittances to Cuba will assistance civil society there.

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

The rules will be modified to, amongst other troubles:

* Allow religious organisation to sponsor religious journey to Cuba under a basic licence
* Allow accredited institutions of more substantial training to sponsor journey to Cuba
* Allow any US individual to deliver remittances (up to 500 per quarter) to non-family members in Cuba to assistance personal economic activity
* Allow remittances to be sent to religious institutions in Cuba in assistance of religious actions
* Allow US airports to apply to provide services to licensed charters

Improved contact

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

The moves follows an easing with all the trade embargo in April 2009, once the president ordered curbs on remittances and journey by Cuban-Americans visiting loved ones members around the island to be peaceful.

But Florida Republican Ileana Ros-Lehtinen mentioned the alterations would not support improve the scenario in Cuba.

‘They wont make the Castro regime display respect for human rights, and they unquestionably will not support the Cuban folks totally free by themselves from the despotic tyranny which oppresses them,’ she mentioned. see also

The alterations are expected to come into force in roughly three weeks.

The aircraft, which would make short hops above the atmosphere, was announced in 2007 and then practically quickly place on hold due to the world-wide downturn.

But Astrium, Europes greatest space firm, says internal development function continues and it will invest a more 10m euros (£9m) to the idea in 2011.

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

‘We carry on to mature the idea, sustaining the minimal staff, in purchase that when we locate the pertinent partnership were all set and have progressed sufficiently,’ he instructed reporters on Wednesday in the companys rocket manufacturing facility at Les Mureaux just north of Paris.

The Astrium motor vehicle can be about the size of a business jet and would get off from a normal runway, using regular aircraft engines to climb to about 12km. It would then ignite a liquid oxygen-methane rocket to push the motor vehicle to about 100km.

At this altitude, the 5 passengers onboard could encounter a couple of minutes of weightlessness ahead of strapping on their own back within their seats for that return flight towards the ground.

Astrium has completed significant function already to the Romeo rocket engine that might power the climb to space, and wind tunnel screening has established the aerodynamic shape.

What is at present missing could be the investment of a companion that might transfer the undertaking from idea to manufacturing.

‘As you know, we had discussions from the Gulf ahead of there was a transform from the economic situation. Now weve other discussions in other parts of the globe and Im very optimistic,’ said Mr Auque.

Considerably more advanced is British billionaire Sir Richard Bransons Virgin Galactic undertaking. This may use an American rocket aircraft formulated by Californias Scaled Composites firm to deliver fare-paying passengers on sub-orbital trips.

Enterprise, as this rocket aircraft is recognized, is already constructed and conducting glide assessments. It truly is expected Enterprise will fire its rocket motor and make demonstration flights above the atmosphere later this yr.

Mr Auque was talking in the annual New Yr press conference of the European Aeronautic Defence and Space (EADS) group. Furthermore to owning the Astrium satellite and rocket worry, EADS also owns the airline producer Airbus.

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

Mr Loughner, whos on account of appear in court, could deal with the death penalty.

Ms Giffords is in a critical condition soon after getting 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 man holding a gun approached and opened fire.

She was shot from shut assortment by the gunman, who then began shooting to the crowd.

Amongst the dead had been a nine-year-old lady and also a federal judge. A total of 14 men and women had been injured, also towards the six who had been killed.

Local Sheriff Clarence Dupnik mentioned a woman tackled the gunman as he attempted to reload, snatching a magazine of bullets.

Patricia Maisch, who was waiting to get her photograph taken with the congresswoman, grabbed the bottom in the suspects weapon to stop him from reloading.

He managed to reload with an additional magazine, however the gun malfunctioned and two guys then restrained him.

‘Somebody mentioned Get the magazine! so I got the magazine, and I was capable to secure that,’ Ms Maisch mentioned. ‘Thats what needed to become accomplished.’

The sheriff mentioned theyd prevented a very much larger tragedy.

Police searching Mr Loughners Tucson property mentioned theyd observed an envelope with messages declaring ‘I planned ahead’, ‘my assassination’, plus the title Giffords.

Thus far, Mr Loughner continues to be charged only with offences relating towards the assault on government employees, which can be the obligation of federal prosecutors.

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

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

The justice department mentioned he would appear in court in Phoenix on Monday.

State authorities are expected to convey charges from him later for attacking non-government employees.

An unidentified man, whose image was captured on a safety camera shortly just before the assault and who had been suspected of acting as an accomplice, was cleared on Sunday of any involvement within the assault, Mr Dupnik mentioned.

The man was a cab driver who walked to the supermarket with Mr Loughner because he did not have adjust to get a 20 be aware. The shooting occurred just soon after the two exchanged funds, Mr Dupnik added.

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

Japan will also strengthen its missile defences towards the risk from a nuclear-armed North Korea.

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

Chinas Overseas Ministry mentioned no country had the appropriate to generate irresponsible comments on Chinas enhancement.
Flashpoints

The Nationwide Defence Programme Guideline has become accredited from the cabinet and can form Japans defence coverage for that subsequent ten years.

Japan is altering its defence coverage in response to the shifting balance of power in Asia, analysts say.

Defences might be scaled down in the north, where theyve been deployed for the reason that Cold War to counter potential threats through the former Soviet Union.

The military concentrate will now be in the south of Japan, closer to China and distant flashpoint islands close to Taiwan.

The suggestions say Japan is concerned by Chinas increasing military shelling out, modernisation of its armed forces, and increased naval assertiveness in the East China and South China seas.

‘These actions, coupled with all the lack of transparency on Chinas military and protection concerns, the trend is often a concern for that region and also the international neighborhood,’ the new suggestions say.

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

The evaluate paper outlines a shift in sources through the army to the air force and navy.

Japans submarine fleet might be expanded from 16 to 22 and fighter jets upgraded, even though the amount of tanks might be cut by a 3rd to 400.

North Koreas missile and nuclear programmes have been also described as being a ‘pressing and critical destabilising factor’.

Pyongyang has fired missiles around Japan and staged nuclear assessments in recent years.

Very last month it unveiled a fresh uranium enrichment plant to US authorities, and released an artillery attack on a South Korean island, killing four men and women.

In response, Japan says a lot more Patriot interceptor batteries might be deployed throughout the country, and also the number of warships which may shoot down missiles might be increased from four to six.

actually
insurance

Pics from your scene confirmed the boat, believed to become carrying Iranians and Iraqis, smashed to items.

Witnesses explained they could do minor to help as the seas had been too rough to method the vessel.

The boat appeared to become 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 today had been around the vessel and about 40 had been rescued.

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

‘A number of people today have been rescued, but sadly some bodies have been retrieved,’ he explained.

A spokeswoman for that Royal Flying Doctor Service explained 30 people today had been getting handled for injuries and three of them had been critically sick.

Residents of Xmas Island explained they had been alerted on the catastrophe by the seems of screaming from your shore.

‘We threw ropes over the cliffs and we must have thrown inside a couple of hundred life-jackets,’ 1 resident was quoted as stating by the West Australian newspaper internet site.

‘About 15 or 20 people today managed to get to the jackets but you will discover bodies all over the h2o.

‘There are dead babies, dead ladies and dead youngsters from the h2o. The swell is unbelievably large.’

A different resident, Simon Prince, informed Affiliated Press: ‘The engine had failed. They had been washing backward and ahead really near on the cliffs here, which are jagged limestone cliffs, really nasty.

‘When the boat hit the cliff there was a sickening crack. Each of the people today on board rushed on the land aspect, which is the worst factor they could do.’

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

Australia Customs launched two inflatable boats to rescue survivors.

1 witness, documentary maker Philip Stewart, explained he arrived on the shore about an hour immediately after the boat 1st hit the rocks and it was already in items.

He explained he saw about 7 survivors but problems had been too rough for rescuers to get near plenty of to help.

‘They had been waving and shouting and screaming for help,’ he informed Australias ABC News.

‘They had been desperate, by that stage theyd been from the h2o for an hour already.

‘They hung on for as long as they possibly could and every single considered one of them was at some point thrown off to the sea on on the rocks.’

He explained he saw 1 particular person picked up whilst the other folks drowned.

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

You will find at present pretty much three,000 people today from the Xmas Island processing centre awaiting officials to rule on their situations.

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

Kevin Rudd stated the release raised concerns about US protection.

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

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

Prime Minister Julia Gillard had earlier called Mr Assanges launch of your cables ‘grossly irresponsible’.

About the previous two weeks, Wikileaks has released thousands of categorized messages from US envoys about the entire world, from more than 250,000 it continues to be offered.

Washington has called their publication ‘irresponsible’ and an ‘attack on the international community’.
First course job

In an interview with Reuters information agency, Mr Rudd stated: ‘Mr Assange isnt himself accountable for your unauthorised launch of 250,000 documents from the US diplomatic communications community. The Americans are accountable for that.’

Mr Rudd, the former prime minister who was changed by Julia Gillard in June, additional: ‘I feel there are actual concerns to be asked regarding the adequacy of [the US] protection systems and the degree of access that people have had to that content.

‘The core accountability, and consequently authorized legal responsibility, goes to these folks accountable for that initial unauthorised launch.’

The White House has ordered US federal government businesses to tighten their handling of categorized documents inside the wake of your Wikileaks releases.

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

In cables printed by the Sydney Morning Herald former US ambassador Robert McCallum stated Mr Rudd produced ‘snap announcements without having consulting other countries or inside the Australian government’.

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

Mr Rudd shrugged off the criticism, stating: ‘Im certain considerably worse continues to be published about me up to now and probably considerably worse is going to be published about me inside the long term but frankly, mate, I do not care.

Ms Gillard defended Mr Rudd, stating: ‘Hes bringing [his] experience to bear for your Australian nation and undertaking an definitely first course job.’

Mr Assange continues to be hugely vital of your Australian governments stance on the launch of your cables.

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

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

He adds: ‘The Australian attorney-general is undertaking every thing he can to assist a US investigation clearly directed at framing Australian citizens and shipping them to your US.’

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

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

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

On a check out to Serbia on Wednesday, Swedish International Minister Carl Bildt stated there had been no contact with US authorities regarding the achievable extradition of Mr Assange from Sweden to your US.

The US has begun a felony investigation and vowed to punish everyone discovered 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 about an earlier leak.

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

Wikileaks has revealed countless secret US diplomatic cables, angering the US federal government and triggering moves by quite a few companies like PayPal and Amazon to end their companies.

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

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

Swedish prosecutors would like to query Mr Assange in connection with allegations of rape, which he denies.

He is believed to be in hiding someplace in south-east England. As soon as the police have positioned him, he could be anticipated to seem at a magistrates court inside 24 hrs, pending extradition to Sweden, says the BBCs security correspondent Frank Gardner.
Setbacks for Wikileaks

Sweden initially issued an arrest warrant for Mr Assange on 18 November nevertheless it was invalidated by a procedural error. A brand new warrant was issued on two December.

The transfer by Switzerlands PostFinance to freeze the Wikileaks accounts is the hottest setback to hit the whistle-blowing web site considering it started publishing the US cables final week.

Inside a assertion on its web site, PostFinance stated Mr Assange had ‘provided fake data about his put of residence’ through the account opening method.

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

‘(Mr) Assange can not supply proof of residence in Switzerland and thus doesnt meet the factors to get a purchaser partnership with PostFinance. Because of this, PostFinance is entitled to shut his account.’

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

‘Late final week, the web payment large PayPal froze 60,000 euros of donations for the German charity the Wau Holland Basis, which were targeted to promote the sharing of knowledge through Wikileaks,’ Wikileaks stated inside a assertion.
Verging on the criminal

On Monday, Wikileaks released an intensive list of facilities all-around the globe that, in accordance for the hottest leaked cables, the US describes as crucial to its nationwide security.

The list contains pipelines, communication and transport hubs.

Various UK websites are listed, like cable places, satellite websites and BAE Programs plants.

It is probably by far the most controversial document however from your Wikileaks organisation, says BBC diplomatic correspondent Jonathan Marcus.

Former UK Foreign Secretary Sir Malcolm Rifkind stated WikiLeaks actions were ‘verging on the criminal’.

He advised the BBC: ‘Its not just negligence, it is not just stupidity, its some thing which can be of lively help to terrorist organisations.’

UK Defence Secretary Liam Fox echoed Sir Malcolms remarks, declaring: ‘I think you must ask concerning the motives for all those that are behind a number of the WikiLeaks material. Do they see themselves as some type of power of anarchy?

‘These are some comments, these are selective leaks designed to drive a wedge involving us plus the Americans and I do not think we really should tolerate that.’

EveryDNS.internet stated it had terminated providers mainly because Wikileaks.org had arrive below huge cyber attacks.

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

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

This numerical internet protocol (IP) tackle stays stay and available even when net domains – the ordinary ‘www’ addresses utilized to accessibility most web-sites – are unavailable.

Industry experts say it truly is likely that Wikileaks has carried out specials with a lot of internet hosting corporations, though quite a few are more likely to back away from dealing with the controversial web-site inside the mild of latest net attacks.

There may be also a printed checklist of mirror web-sites, which Wikileaks hopes will offer frequent accessibility towards the web-site.

Several of these web-sites have simply copied Wikileaks content and put it on the unique net server, although others are using unique domain names to point on the unique content.

The extra of these web-sites you will discover, the more difficult its going to be to shut Wikileaks down, safety analyst Paul Mutton informed the BBC.

In France, Market Minister Eric Besson has known as to get a ban of Wikileaks on French servers.

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

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

It was not clear how prolonged disruption towards the wikileaks.org web-site would last.

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

It stated the domain wikileaks.org had become the goal of ‘multiple distributed denial of service (DDOS) attacks’.

‘These attacks have, and long term attacks would, threaten the stability in the EveryDNS.internet infrastructure, which permits accessibility to almost 500,000 other websites,’ it stated.

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

Internet websites use internet hosting firms such as EveryDNS.internet to translate their raw IP addresses to a extra memorable net tackle such as Wikileaks.org.

But the IP tackle of an internet site will even immediate users towards the web-site.

One net professional explained that Wikileaks had managed to re-establish net accessibility through a unique tackle.

‘Users browsing the www.wikileaks.ch website appear to be directed through a Swedish website on to a server in France that is now internet hosting their major website,’ explained Sebastien Lahtinen, director of internet hosting agency NetConnex.

Inside a shocking twist, the .ch tackle is also hosted by EveryDNS.

‘It seems an odd decision given that they pulled the plug on the .org tackle only a few hours in the past,’ stated Paul Mutton, a safety analyst at internet providers agency Netcraft. ‘It could possibly be that Wikileaks is quite happy to play a cat and mouse game with them,’ he added.
Death threats

By using a Swiss domain could possibly be Wikileaks anticipating the following line of assault – getting its IP tackle de-registered, thinks Mr Mutton.

‘Moving to a non-US domain is sensible. Its earlier domain was registered using a US organization and as such has to do the job within US legal guidelines, with prospective for the authorities to lean on it and get it suspended,’ stated Mr Mutton.