Federal prosecutors said they will file fresh charges against Sri Lankan-born hedge fund operator Raj Rajaratnam alleging he made at least $36 million from the biggest insider trading case in US history, double what was previously thought.
Travellers from 14 nations, including Pakistan, Afghanistan, Nigeria and Saudi Arabia flying into the United States will face additional screening starting Monday, US officials have said. The heightened security procedures include full body pat downs before boarding, checking of carry on baggage, and random checks on US bound flights.
A United States federal judge on Friday dismissed criminal charges against five guards of Blackwater security firm, who were accused of killing 17 civilians in Baghdad in an incident that sparked widespread criticism of the army's use of private contractors. US district judge Ricardo Urbina threw out the case not on merit but on the way the prosecutors had handled it by wrongly using defendants' 'statements compelled under a threat of job loss'.
The United Nations has announced the relocation of some of its foreign workers among its staff from Pakistan, a move prompted by some recent terrorist attacks on them in the country.
No headway was made in climate talks with the US and China refusing to budge from their positions on emission cuts as negotiators struggled on Friday to strike a face-saving deal to tackle global warming.
The draft of a potential declaration at the climate summit in Copenhagen was almost ready, diplomats said on Friday, even as India and other developing nations suspected the overnight negotiation was an eyewash and the document prepared was a rehash of the earlier Danish text.
The developing countries fear that the mysterious draft prepared by Denmark would be sprung upon hours before the high-level segment of climate talks begins, making it difficult for any world leader to oppose.
The developing countries fear that the mysterious draft prepared by Denmark would be sprung upon hours before the high-level segment of climate talks begins, making it difficult for any world leader to oppose.
The overall climate negotiations are moving under two tracks -- the first track is LCA under Bali Action Plan that requires parties to produce a legally binding treaty before the first commitment period of the Kyoto Protocol ends in 2012.
With three days left to seal a deal at Copenhagen, climate change champion Al Gore has called on developed and developing countries to reach "compromises" on their key differences for the sake of future generations.
With hopes for a far-reaching deal on climate change receding, India is making a strong pitch for extending the Kyoto Protocol beyond 2012 and commitments that legally bind developed countries to reduce emissions.
The climate innovation centres are aimed at identifying and developing local technology requirements and also for facilitating dissemination of current technologies.
Admitting that India and other emerging economies' stand was considerably different from the 43 countries in the Alliance of Small Island States, Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh said that India had no major differences with the United States. He noted that India was not having a major standoff with the United States but the real differences existed between the China and the developed world as well as the between European Union and the United States.
India on Sunday made it clear that it was opposed to any amendment to the Kyoto Protocol as the 12-day climate talks headed into the second week where environment ministers would seek to give a political push to the negotiations that were in disarray.
After tough negotiations, the first official draft at the climate meet in Copenhagen has been firmed up which says that developing nations shall take appropriate mitigation actions with the support of finance and technology from the developed world, a key demand advocated by India.
US chief negotiator Todd Stern, who arrived in Copenhagen on Wednesday, said the US is committed to getting the 'strongest political agreement' at Copenhagen for which 'a real commitment from China' was a major necessity.
India on Tuesday favoured a legally binding climate change agreement from the developed countries, saying a political pact will not be 'enforceable', even as it asserted that its voluntary reduction of carbon emission intensity was not announced under pressure.
A top US delegate at Copenhagen summit denied the possibility that hacked e-mails had made the case for sceptics stronger and said the incident would not affect the fate of climate change bill in the American Senate.
India decided to cut down its carbon emission intensity by 20-25 per cent by 2020 in the run up to the Copenhagen summit, shortly after a similar declaration by China.
Attacking the so-called 'climategate' affair as a bid to undermine the capability of his organisation, Rajendra Pachauri said at the opening ceremony that those who had hacked into the e-mails of top climate scientists were out to discredit the scientific assessment made of threats to the climate.
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