US envoy to UN accused of having unauthorized contacts with Zardari

WASHINGTON: US ambassador to the UN Zalmay Khalilzad has reportedly been pulled up by US State Department officials for unauthorized establishing contacts with PPP Co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari.

A senior US official is to be believed, Khalilzad talked to Zardari over phone several times a week for the past month until he was confronted about the unauthorized contacts, a US daily reported.

Khalilzad had been advised to stop speaking freely to Zardari, and that it was not clear whether he would face any disciplinary action, added the official.

According to other officials, he also had plans to meet Zardari during a vacation in Dubai, but that was cancelled after US Assistant Secretary of State for South Asia Richard A. Boucher learnt about the move from none other than Zardari himself.

Then, Boucher is learnt to have sent a personal email to Khalizad telling him that his conduct was unanthorised. Can I ask what sort of 'advice and help' you are providing? Boucher wrote in an angry e-mail message to Khalilzad. What sort of channel is this? Governmental, private, personnel? the daily quoted Boucher as telling the US envoy at the UN in the email.

The copies of the message were sent to others at the highest levels of the State Department, added the paper.


SOurce:: http://www.geo.tv/8-26-2008/23536.htm

Update on the latest from the Olympics

U.S. remains unbeaten

BEIJING (AP) - The U.S. softball team remained unbeaten today with a 9-0, five-inning win over China. The Americans scored all of their runs with two outs in the first inning and the duo of Cat Osterman and Jennie Finch took over from there. They combined to pitch a one-hitter.

Kelly Kretschman of Indian Harbor Beach, Florida, led the U.S. attack, going 2-3 with a three-run home run.

The U.S. ends preliminary play with seven wins in as many games. Up next the semifinals which start Wednesday.

American team advances to semifinals

BEIJING (AP) - The team of Todd Rogers and Phil Dalhausser has advanced to the semifinals of men's beach volleyball. Rogers and Dalhausser qualified with a 21-13, 25-23 win over a team from Germany.

The semifinals will take place Wednesday.

Bolt looks for more gold

BEIJING (AP) - Jamaica's Usain (YOO'-sayn) Bolt has begun his quest for a second gold medal of the games. Bolt, who broke the world record in the 100, was back on the track this morning for the first qualifying heat of the 200 meters.

Among those that qualified for tonight's second round of qualifying were Americans Walter Dix, Wallace Spearman and Shawn Crawford.

In the men's 110 hurdles, American Terrence Trammell suffered what he calls, "a freakish occurrence." During his heat he suffered an injury to his left leg and he limped off the track. The 2-time Olympic silver medalist says he'll be back to try it one more time in the 2012 Olympics in London.

American team looks for win number five

BEIJING (AP) - The U.S. men's basketball team is back in action today with its final preliminary game against Germany. The American stars will face a friend in this evening's outing as the German club features Dirk Nowitzki (noh-VIHT'-skee) of the Dallas Mavericks.

The Americans enter the game unbeaten in four outings, with wins over China, Angola, Greece and Spain.

The win over Spain was the most impressive as it came against the world champions. The final was 119-82.

U.S. looks for spot in gold medal game

BEIJING (AP) - The Olympic soccer tournament has moved to Beijing for the semifinals and finals. The American women's team has a date today with Japan with the winner moving on to the gold medal match. The winner will take on the winner of the Brazil-Germany contest.

U.S. team has final prelim

BEIJING (AP) - The U.S. men's volleyball team has its final Group A preliminary match tonight. The Americans are facing Japan. The U.S. has a record of 3-1 entering the contest.

U.S. to face host team

BEIJING (AP) - As led by manager Davey Johnson, the U.S. baseball team has a date today with the team from China. The American club has split its first four games in Beijing. The team has two preliminary games remaining after the contest with China.

U.S. stays on top

BEIJING (AP) - A check of the leaderboard shows the U.S. on top with 65 medals. China is next with 61 while Australia has 33. Broken down, the U.S. has 19 gold, 21 silver and 25 bronze while the Chinese have a game's high 35 gold with 13 silver and 13 bronze.

Copyright 2008 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

U.S. wins gold, silver in women’s all-around

BEIJING - Nastia Liukin of the United States won the gold medal in women’s gymnastics Friday, beating teammate and friend Shawn Johnson.

Liukin, whose father was a double gold medalist for the Soviet Union 20 years ago, finished with 63.325 points, more than a half-point ahead of Johnson, the reigning world champion. Johnson finished with 62.725. Yang Yilin of China won the bronze medal.

Liukin and Johnson have been friendly rivals the last two years, with Johnson winning almost everything. But Liukin came through when it counted, and is now an Olympic champion.

This is the first time the United States has claimed the gold and silver in the women's all-around.

Swimming
American swimmer Michael Phelps blew away the competition in the 200-meter IM on Friday, leading in all four legs to finish in a world-record time of 1 minute, 54.23 seconds to win his sixth gold of the Beijing Olympics.

Laszlo Cseh of Hungary took the silver in 1:56.52, his third runner-up finish to Phelps in these games. Phelps’ teammate Ryan Lochte earned the bronze in 1:56.53, just 29 minutes after he upset defending champion Aaron Peirsol, also of the United States, to win the 200 back in yet another world-record time. Peirsol earned the silver.

In a surprise win, U.S. swimmer Rebecca Soni claimed the gold medal in the 200-meter breaststroke in a world-record time of 2:20.22.

Just minutes after winning the 200 meter, Phelps qualified second-fastest for the 100-meter butterfly.

Beach volleyball
Misty May-Treanor and Kerri Walsh won their 105th straight match when they took down Belgium's Liesbet Van Breedam and Liesbeth Mouha 24-22, 21-10 to advance to the quarterfinals.

The Associated Press and NBCOlympics.com contributed to this report.

Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com

McCain says U.S. needs 'economic surge'

(CNN) -- Sen. John McCain on Wednesday used language primarily associated with the Iraq war to describe the U.S. financial woes, saying the country needs an "economic surge" to boost the job market.

The move put the economy -- an issue McCain has admitted is not his stronghold -- in the context of foreign policy, an area that's considered one of his strengths.

Speaking in Jackson, Ohio, the senator from Arizona said the surge has worked in Iraq so it's time for one at home.

"What we need today is an economic surge. The surge has succeeded in Iraq militarily -- now we need an economic surge to keep jobs here at home and create new ones," McCain said, referring to the additional 30,000 troops sent to Iraq in 2007. Watch McCain call for an economic surge »

"We need to reduce the tax burden on businesses that choose to make their home in the United States of America, we need to open new markets to U.S. products, and we need to reduce the cost of health care, and we need to stop the out of control spending in Washington that's putting our debt on the backs of our children."

McCain frequently has pointed to his unwavering support for the surge as a sign that he would be a better commander in chief than Sen. Barack Obama.


Source: www.cnn.com

Obama calls for tapping into strategic oil reserves

(CNN) -- Barack Obama on Monday called for tapping into strategic oil reserves as part of his plan to provide relief from high gas prices.

Obama has previously said he was opposed to using the strategic reserves, but on Monday he proposed selling 70 million barrels of oil from the reserves in order to lower gas prices.

Speaking before a crowd in Lansing, Michigan, the senator from Illinois said the country's "addiction to oil ... is one of the most dangerous and urgent threats this nation has ever faced."

Obama unveiled his energy plan, which includes a windfall profits tax on big oil corporations that would be used to provide a $1,000 rebate to people struggling with high energy costs.

"You won't hear me say this too often, but I couldn't agree more with the explanation that Sen. McCain offered a few weeks ago. He said, 'Our dangerous dependence on foreign oil has been 30 years in the making, and was caused by the failure of politicians in Washington to think long term about the future of the country,' " Obama said.

"What Sen. McCain neglected to mention was that during those 30 years, he was in Washington for 26 of them. And in all that time, he did little to reduce our dependence on foreign oil," Obama said.

The Democratic presidential candidate said he wants to eliminate the need for oil from the Middle East and Venezuela within 10 years.

"To do this, we will invest $150 billion over the next decade ... and leverage billions more in private capital to build a new energy economy that harnesses American energy and creates 5 million new American jobs," he said.

Obama outlined three steps he'd take to meet that goal:


Build fuel-efficient cars and have one million 150 mile-per-gallon plug-in hybrids on the roads within six years


Require that 10 percent of the country's energy come from renewable sources by the end of his first term


Call on businesses, government and the American people to meet the goal of reducing the demand for electricity 15 percent by the end of the next decade.

"So there is a real choice in this election -- a choice about what kind of future we want for this country and this planet," Obama said.

McCain on Monday said Obama's "misguided policies would result in higher energy costs to American families and businesses and increase dependence on foreign oil."

One of the differences between McCain and Obama on energy is that McCain is in favor of exploring options for offshore drilling.