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[DUKE NUKEM]

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[JohnCenaFan28]

Poor child, I hope that it'll be OK.

[John]

Ukraine signs gas deal with Russia and EU

Officials said monitors would begin work within hours to oversee gas flows via Ukraine to Europe, cut off last week amid a price dispute between Kiev and Moscow and Russian accusations that Ukraine was "stealing" gas.

"We were able to reach a political agreement aimed at getting out of the deadlock ... Ukraine has accepted all the terms needed for Russia to supply gas," said Czech Prime Minister Mirek Topolanek, representing the EU presidency.

Some experts say it could take something like 36 hours from the time gas starts flowing for capacity to build up in pipelines so that supplies reach consumers in Europe, which relies on Russia for a quarter of its gas needs.

After getting Russia's signature Saturday, Topolanek travelled to Kiev to persuade Ukraine to sign the deal to allow European Union, Ukrainian and Russian observers to monitor gas flows across Ukrainian territory.

The agreement, sealed in the early hours of Sunday, applied only to Russian gas passing through Ukraine for European consumption. Russia and Ukraine have not reached agreement on supplies to Ukraine and they remain cut off.

The deal is designed to assuage Russian fears that Ukraine is siphoning off fuel for its own use. Kiev denies the charge.

Asked when Russian gas supplies would resume, Topolanek told reporters: "According to the agreement, Russia will start supplying gas when the (monitors) have been deployed."

Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko said: "We signed the protocol today to show that Ukraine is not an obstacle for Russian gas sent.

"This protocol envisages also the entry of experts on Russian territory to observe gas supplies from the Russian side."

"As soon as the mechanism of control starts working, we will send the gas to the system. If we see that it is stolen again, we will again cut flows," Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said after talks with Topolanek in Moscow.

EUROPEAN SHIVERS

The dispute, which began when Russia and Ukraine could not agree on this year's gas prices, has led to the worst disruption of Russian gas supplies to Europe.

Eighty percent of Russian gas to Europe is piped through Ukraine.

Eastern and central Europe have borne the brunt of the dispute, which has shut down factories and left tens of thousands of households shivering in sub-zero temperatures without heating. Supplies to 18 countries have been disrupted.

Despite clearing the deal, Putin showed no sign of easing his tough rhetoric on Ukraine.

"Our actions do not aim to worsen but rather to improve the situation in Ukraine, to help Ukraine get rid of crooks and bribe-takers and make its economy more transparent," he said.

Putin said in addition to monitors from Russia, Ukraine and the EU, specialists from European gas firms would join the teams checking flows across Ukraine, something Kiev has opposed.

He said Topolanek had also asked to include specialists from Norway.

Relations between Moscow and Kiev, already tense because of Russian opposition to Ukraine's push to join NATO, have suffered a further sharp downward lurch.

Russia has accused Ukraine of corruption and stealing gas meant for Europe, and Kiev said Russia's actions amounted to blackmail to extract an unjustifiably high price for the gas it sells to Ukraine.

Sources close to the talks, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the agreement signed in Moscow had been tweaked slightly at Russia's request, but had not changed substantially from an earlier draft.

Russia, which cut off supplies to Ukraine on New Year's Day because of the dispute over pricing and debts, has repeatedly said Kiev must pay the going market rate for gas.

Oleh Dubyna, chief executive of Ukrainian state energy company Naftogaz, returned from Moscow Saturday having failed to agree a 2009 gas supply deal in the latest round of talks with Russian gas export monopoly Gazprom.

"Unfortunately the talks with Gazprom have finished with nothing," Dubyna told reporters at Kiev airport on his return. "The talks now have to proceed at a higher level."

Dubyna said Gazprom had again demanded a price of $450 per 1,000 cubic metres of gas, which he said Ukraine could not accept. Naftogaz has previously insisted on a price of $201, up from $179.50 in 2008.

[JohnCenaFan28]

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[John]

Obama-stimulus plan can add and save up to 4 million U.S. jobs

Obama said previously his estimated $800 billion (£525 billion) plan to lift the country out of a yearlong recession would create or save 3 million jobs, but the new analysis showed that number would range between 3 million and 4 million.

"The jobs we create will be in businesses large and small across a wide range of industries," Obama said on his weekly radio and Internet address. "And they'll be the kind of jobs that don't just put people to work in the short term, but position our economy to lead the world in the long-term."

The analysis was submitted by the head of Obama's council of economic advisers, Christina Romer, and Vice President-elect Joe Biden's chief economic adviser, Jared Bernstein.

It came just after official figures showed U.S. employers slashed more than half a million jobs in December, pushing the unemployment rate to 7.2 percent and bringing the number of jobs lost last year to 2.6 million -- the most since 1945.

Obama's top aides visited Capitol Hill on Friday to allay lawmakers' concerns about his proposal, which would combine tax cuts, aid to states and public works projects. He has faced opposition from Republican and Democratic lawmakers over the plan because of its high cost and proposed tax cuts.

Obama said his plan would create nearly 500,000 jobs by investing in clean energy, by committing to double the production of alternative energy in the next three years and by improving the energy efficiency of 2 million American homes.

"These made-in-America jobs building solar panels and wind turbines, developing fuel-efficient cars and new energy technologies pay well, and they can't be outsourced," he said.

Obama repeated his warning a recovery would not happen overnight and that the situation was likely to get worse before getting better.

In excerpts from an interview with ABC News to be broadcast on Sunday, Obama said it would also require personal sacrifice from Americans and scaling back other priorities.

"I want to be realistic here, not everything that we talked about during the campaign are we going to be able to do on the pace we had hoped," he said in a taped interview with ABC's "This Week with George Stephanopoulos."

"Everybody's going to have (to) give," Obama said.

REPAIRING INFRASTRUCTURE

Obama said the report showed the recovery plan would also put nearly 400,000 people back to work repairing infrastructure like crumbling roads, bridges and schools and laying down miles (km) of broadband lines.

"Finally, we won't just create jobs, we'll also provide help for those who've lost theirs, and for states and families who've been hardest-hit by this recession," he said.

"That means bipartisan extensions of unemployment insurance and health care coverage; a $1,000 tax cut for 95 percent of working families; and assistance to help states avoid harmful budget cuts in essential services like police, fire, education and health care."

Obama has not put a price tag on his American Recovery and Reinvestment Plan, but in the report his advisers said they were using a figure of "just slightly over the $775 billion currently under discussion."

Mitch McConnell, the Republican minority leader in the U.S. Senate, said he wanted to make sure the massive proposal actually created jobs.

"We want to make sure it's not just a trillion-dollar spending bill, but something that actually can reach the goal that he has suggested," McConnell said on Saturday.

Although Obama did not mention it in his radio address, the report suggested that tax cuts, especially temporary ones, and fiscal relief to the states were likely to create fewer jobs than direct increases in government purchases.

[JohnCenaFan28]

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[John]

US faulted for poorly managing private security in Iraq

"The department's security operation in Iraq has been highly effective in ensuring the safety of chief of mission personnel," according to the report by the department Office of Inspector General (OIG).

"However, the rapid rise in use and scale of private security contractors has strained the department's ability to effectively manage them," the OIG added.

"The department's management of the security program in Iraq has been undermined by frequent staff turnover, understaffing, increased workload, and the lack of standardized operating policies and procedures," it added.

It said that under the security contract, the embassy in Baghdad's regional security office overseeing logistics is responsible for managing and controlling government-furnished vehicles, arms, communications and other equipment.

The office is directed by a personnel services contractor (PSC) which oversees six Blackwater administrative logistics security specialists, it added.

And OIG said it believes the use of "a PSC to direct -- and Blackwater administrative specialists to carry out" -- the mission of the logistics office to control "government-furnished equipment is a poor management practice."

Such a practice may also violate Federal Acquisition Regulation policy stipulating that contractors not be used to carry out "inherently government functions," it added.

"This arrangement is particularly troubling because Blackwater personnel have inspected their own company," it added.

The report comes as five former Blackwater guards stand trial on charges of killing 14 Iraqi civilians and wounding 18 others by gunfire and grenades in Baghdad in 2007.

[JohnCenaFan28]

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[John]

Prince Harry apologises for "Paki" remark

The video obtained by the News of the World plunges the 24-year-old prince, the third in line to the throne, into fresh controversy four years after he sparked outcry by wearing a Nazi swastika at a fancy dress party.

The newspaper posted the video on its website and said it was made in 2006 when the prince was still an officer cadet.

It begins as he is waiting with his platoon in an airport departure lounge for a flight to a training exercise in Cyprus.

Touring the room with a video camera as his colleagues snooze, he spots an Asian cadet and says: "Anybody else around here?... Ah, our little Paki friend, Ahmed."

The royal family issued an apology, but insisted the prince had used the term without malice.

"Prince Harry fully understands how offensive this term can be, and is extremely sorry for any offence his words might cause," a spokesman said.

"However, on this occasion three years ago, Prince Harry used the term without any malice and as a nickname about a highly popular member of his platoon.

"There is no question that Prince Harry was in any way seeking to insult his friend."

The report said Harry made the "raghead" remark while on the exercise.

Once again he is behind the camera when he spots one of his comrades with camouflage netting over his head and as he looks up at the lens, Harry says: "It's Dan the Man... Fuck me, you look like a raghead."

The royal spokesman said: "Prince Harry used the term 'raghead' to mean Taliban or Iraqi insurgent."

The prince served with the army battling the Taliban in Afghanistan last year but was forced to return home after his security was compromised when a carefully arranged media blackout on his deployment was broken.

Harry, an army lieutenant, is to begin training soon as a combat helicopter pilot.

The Equality and Human Rights Commission, said the racism claims "appear to be disturbing allegations".

"We will be asking the MoD to see the evidence, share that evidence with us and their plans for dealing with it," a spokeswoman said.

"We will then consider what further action might be necessary."

A spokeswoman for the Ministry of Defence said: "Neither the Army nor the Armed Forces tolerates inappropriate behaviour in any shape or form.

"The Army takes all allegations of inappropriate behaviour very seriously and all substantive allegations are investigated.

"We are not aware of any complaint having been made by the individual," the spokeswoman said, referring to "Ahmed".

She added: "Bullying and racism are not endemic in the Armed Forces."

In another clip from the three-minute video, Harry pretends to make a mobile phone call to his grandmother, Queen Elizabeth II.

He says: "Granny, I've got to go. Send my love to the corgis. And grandpa... God Save You... yeah, that's great. See you, bye."

It is not the first time that the youngest son of Prince Charles and the late Princess Diana has been forced to apologise for his actions.

His decision to attend a friend's fancy dress birthday party wearing a swastika armband in 2005 sparked widespread criticism. The publication of photographs of that incident was followed by a swift apology from the royals.

In the past, it emerged he had smoked cannabis as a teenager and he was once involved in a scuffle outside a nightclub with a paparazzi photographer, but in recent years Harry has sought to shake off his 'playboy prince' reputation.

He is heavily involved in a charity in Lesotho to support children orphaned by AIDS which was launched in memory of his mother, and is patron of several other children's charities.

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