Swine flu toll reaches 14,142: WHO

The death toll from the swine flu pandemic has risen to at least 14,142, up 588 from a week ago, the World Health Organisation (WHO) said on Friday.

Announcing its latest data on the spread of A(H1N1) virus, the UN health body said North Africa, South Asia and limited areas of Eastern Europe were now seeing the most intense transmission of the virus.

The pandemic in the northern hemisphere peaked between late October and late November, WHO said.

Since the virus first appeared in Mexico last year, the Americas have recorded the greatest number of fatalities, with at least 7,094 deaths.

At least 3,099 have died in Europe and at least 2,877 in the east Asia and Pacific region, WHO said.

Microsoft icon Bill Gates starts tweeting

Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates started tweeting on Tuesday.

Gates bid the Twitter community a “Hello World” around midday, and then followed that message with three more lauding efforts to raise aid funds for earthquake-devastated Haiti.

The recently-retired Microsoft legend’s Twitter page bore a blue check-mark icon used to verify identities of famous people using the wildly popular microblogging service.

As sundown neared in the Pacific state of Washington where Gates lives, he had logged four tweets and signed on to “follow” messages at 40 other Twitter accounts including those of Microsoft and its new Bing search engine.

Twitter users that Gates was tracking ranged from Queen Rania Al-Abdullah of Jordan and US President Barack Obama to actress Ashley Tisdale, actor Ashton Kutcher, and CERN European Organization for Nuclear Research.

Gates was also following tweets from prestigious TED conferences known for mind-bending themes and humanitarian missions.

“I’d like to welcome @billgates to the twitterverse,” tweeted Kutcher, who had 4,396,936 followers at the microblogging services as of late Tuesday.

Slightly more than 61,000 people signed on to follow Gates on his opening day tweeting.

The number of people following Gates rose steadily as word of his arrival among the “twitterati” ricocheted with increasing speed in “retweets” through the day.

“Welcome to the club,” tweeted US television celebrity Ryan Seacrest of the popular “American Idol” program.

Twitter, fueled by smartphones and online bursts of 140 characters, soared to lofty heights over the past year and the number of users reportedly topped 40 million by the end of 2009.

Twitter is said to have spurned takeover offers worth hundreds of millions of dollars from Google and Facebook and its influence as a communications and news-breaking tool has been validated in a number of ways.

In June, the State Department asked Twitter to delay scheduled maintenance on the service because it was being used by protestors angered by the results of Iran’s disputed presidential election.

More recently, Google and Microsoft began integrating Twitter messages into their respective search engines, a new feature described as real-time search.

1. Bill Gates’ Twitter page

Clijsters and Kuznetsova march on in Melbourne

Kim Clijsters showed nerves of steel on Wednesday to come through a tough test and make the Australian Open third round alongside Svetlana Kuznetsova. Other top names also showed their mettle, including Caroline Wozniacki, Vera Zvonareva, Victoria Azarenka and Li Na, who all made the second round as organisers cleared rain-delayed matches held over from Tuesday.

Clijsters only conceded four games against her first round oppenent but she was given a more thorough examination by Thai veteran Tamarine Tanasugarn. The 26-year-old Belgian, who won the lead-up Brisbane International, eventually triumphed 6-3, 6-3, but it was harder than the score suggested for the 15th seed, now back full time after a break to start a family.

Tiger Woods at sex addiction rehab clinic

Tiger Woods is receiving treatment for sexual addiction at a sex rehabilitation clinic in Hattiesburg, Mississippi according to two television stations and an author on the topic.

Television stations WJTV and WLBT reported, citing unnamed sources, that Woods was at the Pine Grove Behavioral Health and Addiction Services center, where security is tight and dark tarps have been placed upon wire fences.

Benoit Denizet-Lewis, who wrote a book on sex addiction, wrote in a blog entry that Woods was receiving treatment at the sex-rehab facility, where he spent time while working on the book regarding sexually compulsive behavoir.

Clinic officials have refused to confirm Woods is there to the television stations. ESPN also reported officials would not confirm Woods is a patient.

Woods has admitted infidelity to wife Elin and more than a dozen women have claimed to have had affairs with the world’s top golfer, a scandal touched off when Woods drove his vehicle into a hydrant and a tree nearly two months ago. Woods, who became a punch line for comedians in December, has said he is taking an indefinite leave from golf to sort out his personal life, giving no hint as to when he might return. The US PGA Tour’s third event of 2010 starts Wednesday.

US drone attacks kill 5 terrorists in SWaziristan

SOUTH WAZIRISTAN: At least five terrorists have been killed and several others injured in US drone attacks, SAMAA reported Tuesday. According to the sources, the hideouts of terrorists were hit in Data Khel. AGENCIES ADD: A suspected U.S. drone aircraft fired two missiles into Pakistan’s North Waziristan region on the Afghan border on Tuesday, killing three militants, Pakistani intelligence officials said.

The drone targeted a house in a village, 35 km (22 miles) west of Miranshah, the main town in North Waziristan, a region known as a hotbed of Taliban and al Qaeda militants.

PAK RENEWS CALL FOR AN END TO US DRONE STRIKES

Pakistan has renewed calls for an end to U.S. drone aircraft strikes, an issue that could strain ties as the CIA hunts down Muslim militants after one of the deadliest attacks in its history in neighbouring Afghanistan.

Pakistan officially objects to the operations against suspected al Qaeda and Taliban militants along its border with Afghanistan, saying they violate its sovereignty.

And Islamabad has pushed Washington to provide it with the drones to allow it to carry out its own attacks on Taliban insurgents, a move that could ease widespread anti-American sentiment in Pakistan.

Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani reiterated Pakistan’s concerns over the drone strikes in talks with a delegation of visiting U.S. senators headed by John McCain.

“He reiterated his government’s disappointment over the continuing drone attacks and persisting reluctance of the U.S. to share drone technology with Pakistan to enable it to take on the terror centres in its border areas itself,” said Pakistan’s official APP news agency.

The senators met Gilani on Friday and also held talks with President Asif Ali Zardari and army chief Ashfaq Kiyani after visiting Afghanistan, where U.S. and other Western troops face a raging Afghan Taliban insurgency.

Speaking to reporters on Friday, McCain defended the drone strikes, saying they are “one of many tools that we must use to try to defeat a very determined and terrible enemy”.

The United States has stepped up its attacks with the pilotless drone aircraft attacks in Pakistan since a double agent blew himself up at a U.S. base in Afghanistan on Dec. 30, killing seven CIA agents.

U.S. officials say the strikes are carried out under an agreement with Islamabad that allows Pakistani leaders to criticise them in public. Pakistan denies any such agreement.

Need to clear country of arms: Rehman Malik

There is a need to take action at the national level to clear the country of arms,” Federal Interior Minister Rehman Malik said in his statement during the meeting of the Committee of National Assembly on interior affairs on Tuesday.

Rehman Malik hinted that if the number of arms continues to increase in the country and if there’s a civil war then it would eventually be difficult to control the situation in the end.

He further indicated that the ban on arms’ licenses would continue after December 31, 2009. About 12,000 to 15,000 fake arms’ licenses have been issued in the past. He said that he has received the initial report about fake licenses.

PML-N leader, Saad Rafiq, has also asked to end the parliamentarians’ quota of arms’ licenses.

Speaking to the media after the meeting, Rehman Malik told that the Sihala Training Centre has been closed. Americans would be given another place for the purpose of training, he said.

Australia and France would also be giving training to the Pakistani policemen, he said.

Kieron Pollard, Shane Bond attract maximum bids

Kieron Pollard and Shane Bond were the biggest buys at the third IPL auction in Mumbai, each fetching the maximum possible bid of $750,000 before the bids went into tie-breaker, but the biggest surprise was the fact that not a single Pakistan player was signed up by any of the franchises.

Most of Pakistan’s World Twenty20-winning team was up for auction – including Shahid Afridi, the captain, Mohammad Aamer, Umar Gul and Umar Akmal – but they failed to fetch bids. The blackout was strange given that the names had been placed on the auction list by franchises expressing an interest in the players.

“The franchises had the option to pick any player. If you look, they [Pakistan players] were not the only ones not picked,” Lalit Modi said. “There were other players, too, who were not picked in the auction.”

Wyclef Jean breaks into tears over Haiti’s situation

Haitian-born musician Wyclef Jean made an emotional plea in New York on Monday, calling on the international community to enable the evacuation of his homeland’s earthquake-ravaged capital.

Tears streamed down his face as he looked into the camera, speaking directly to his countrymen.

“I want all Haitian people to listen to this. I do not cry for myself, I cry for all the Haitian people,” Jean said, speaking in French Creole.

Jean said residents should be evacuated to tent cities outside Port-au-Prince to allow for aid to reach them and so cleanup could begin in earnest.

He called on the international community for help in building encampments.

“We need to migrate at least 2 million people,” Jean said, promising to draw on his status as one of Haiti’s favourite sons to aid in such an effort.

“I give you my word, if I tell them to go, they will go. But they need somewhere to go to,” Jean said.

The musician made the plea for an evacuation at the behest of Haitian Prime Minister Jean-Max Bellerive and President Rene Preval, said Hugh Locke, the president of The Wyclef Jean Foundation Inc.

The organisation, also known as the Yele Haiti Foundation, has drawn fire in recent days as groups that vet charities raised doubts about its accounting practices and ability to function in a nation devastated by last week’s earthquake.

Jean gave an impassioned defence of the organisation, which has received more than 2 (m) million US dollars in donations in just a few days.

“I, myself, have put a million dollars inside my own foundation, so not only I denounce all of that, I’m disgusted by that,” the musician said in a video message.

An Associated Press review of tax returns and independent audits provided by Jean’s foundation showed that it was closely intertwined with Jean’s businesses.

Among the mistakes by the young organisation, Locke said, was the decision to buy 250-thousand US dollars of airtime from Telemax S.A., a for-profit TV station in Haiti that is majority-owned by Jean and another foundation board member.

Locke said that Yele believed it was getting a good price for airtime in a nation where many are illiterate and rely on the TV for information.

The decision would be handled differently now, he said.

The foundation plans to send donated supplies to Haiti on a plane provided by FedEx on Saturday.

It is still deciding how donated funds will be spent, considering such options as mobile schools for refugee camps and security forces to escort supplies, Locke said.

Fog and cold weather paralyze Punjab

Schedule for air and rail traffic was affected in Central Punjab due to thick fog whereas people are advised to keep their headlights open on the motorway.  Traffic flow has been affected in Faisalabad, Multan, Bahawalpur, Sialkot and other cities of Punjab due to thick fog. However, traffic on motorway is open so far.

The motorway authorities have advised drivers to keep their headlight open and keep the speed low.  The fog has also disrupted flight schedule from Allama Iqbal International Airport. The Railway authorities have said that trains are running as per schedule.

Meanwhile, plains of Punjab are experiencing extreme cold weather. The Meteorology department has stated that the fog will continue for next few days.  The consumption of gas has increased due to cold weather and fog and load shedding of gas has been intensified.

Apple tablet computer expected at January 27 event

Apple has announced it would show off its “latest creation” in San Francisco later this month, an event expected to feature the unveiling of a long-awaited tablet computer. “Please join Apple on January 27 for a Special Event,” said a typically cryptic email invitation to journalists from the company behind the Macintosh computer, the iPod and the iPhone. “Come see our latest creation,” said the invitation, which featured colorful blobs of paint surrounding the Apple logo.

The California-based company did not supply any further details about the invitation-only event to be held at 10:00 am Pacific time (1800 GMT) at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts Theater in San Francisco. Apple used the same venue in September for an iPod event featuring the first public appearance by Steve Jobs after nearly six months of medical leave during which the Apple chief executive underwent a liver transplant.