Michael Jackson family says concert plans too much for him

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – Michael Jackson's father said the King of Pop was not ready to perform 50 shows in London, in a TV interview that aired the day the singer was scheduled to start his long-awaited comeback.

Joe Jackson told ABC News that his son told him that he only agreed to perform 10 shows in London, but that the concert promoter booked more shows to bring the total to 50.

"I was worried about his health, because all the shows that I'm seeing, no artist can do that many shows back to back like that," Joe Jackson told ABC News in an interview broadcast on Monday. "So I knew Michael couldn't do all those shows without some rests in between."

In a statement, Randy Phillips, president and chief executive of concert promoter AEG Live, acknowledged on Monday that the number of shows was originally lower, but said Jackson had agreed to perform more.

"Our original agreement with Michael Jackson called for 31 shows," Phillips said.

US officials eye North Korea in cyber attack

WASHINGTON – U.S. authorities on Wednesday eyed North Korea as the origin of the widespread cyber attack that overwhelmed government Web sites in the United States and South Korea, although they warned it would be difficult to definitively identify the attackers quickly.

The powerful attack that targeted dozens of government and private sites underscored how unevenly prepared the U.S. government is to block such multipronged assaults.

While Treasury Department and Federal Trade Commission Web sites were shut down by the software attack, which lasted for days over the holiday weekend, others such as the Pentagon and the White House were able to fend it off with little disruption.

The North Korea link, described by three officials, more firmly connected the U.S. attacks to another wave of cyber assaults that hit government agencies Tuesday in South Korea. The officials said that while Internet addresses have been traced to North Korea, that does not necessarily mean the attack involved the Pyongyang government.

City wins injunction in Christie Pits dispute

City wins injunction in Christie Pits dispute

Iraq reviews oil tenders after foreign snub

BAGHDAD (AFP) — Iraq's cabinet was reviewing on Wednesday new bids from foreign energy firms to develop the country's oil and gas reserves, a day after being widely snubbed by companies unhappy over the terms on offer.

"Ministers are meeting and discussing the issue," an official in Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki's office said after a deal was struck on Tuesday to develop only one of six oil fields up for tender.

In the five other cases, and with two gas fields, companies balked because Iraq was offering far less per barrel of oil or oil equivalent produced than they considered acceptable.

But oil ministry spokesman Assem Jihad said "the top two consortiums for each field have made new proposals, and the cabinet will study them and decide what to do."

Service contracts offered by Baghdad are based on companies accepting a fixed fee for the oil or gas extracted rather than an equity stake.

Not always worth it to pay to dump

Not always worth it to pay to dump

Obama, Brown speak on climate change, economy

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama on Friday spoke with British Prime Minister Gordon Brown to discuss climate change and the global economic recovery.

Obama spoke with his counterpart by telephone as part of their ongoing consultations. The pair also spoke about food security, Iran and progress on Middle East peace, according to the White House.

Obama also praised Brown's speech on climate change Friday as making a contribution to the debate "at this critical time."

Obama said he looks forward to working with Brown and other leaders at the Major Economies Forum on Climate and Energy meeting in L'Aquila, Italy, next month.

Jobs' health prospects 'excellent': hospital

WASHINGTON (AFP) — The Tennessee hospital where Apple chief executive Steve Jobs received a recent liver transplant has confirmed having performed the procedure, and said the outlook for his health is "excellent."

"Mr Jobs is now recovering well and has an excellent prognosis," said James Eason, program director at Methodist University Hospital Transplant Institute and chief of transplantation.

He said in a statement released Tuesday that the announcement was being made "with the patient's permission."

Jobs' liver transplant was performed at the hospital, in partnership with the University of Tennessee in Memphis, the statement said.

Eason also tried to lay to rest speculation that the iconic Apple chief benefited from preferential treatment in getting his donor liver.

Russian president in Egypt to boost Mideast clout

CAIRO (AFP) — Russian President Dmitry Medvedev began a visit to Egypt on Tuesday to sign a strategic cooperation pact with Cairo as Moscow seeks to boost its diplomatic clout in the Middle East.

Russia's economic and trade ties and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict are expected to be high on the agenda when he meets Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak in Cairo, the first stop on a four-nation Africa tour.

"The signing of an agreement on a strategic partnership between Russia and Egypt will become the central event of the Cairo summit," the Kremlin said in a statement.

Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Abul Gheit told a economic magazine that the deal would "mark a relaunch of bilateral relations" in several areas of cooperation.

In an apparent effort to underscore the significance of Russia's ties with the Arab world, Medvedev is also set to address the Arab League and meet its chief Amr Mussa.

Great white sharks hunt just like Hannibal Lecter

WASHINGTON (AP) — Great white sharks have some things in common with human serial killers, a new study says: They don't attack at random, but stalk specific victims, lurking out of sight.

The sharks hang back and observe from a not-too-close, not-too-far base, hunt strategically, and learn from previous attempts, according to a study being published online Monday in the Journal of Zoology. Researchers used a serial killer profiling method to figure out just how the fearsome ocean predator hunts, something that's been hard to observe beneath the surface.

"There's some strategy going on," said study co-author Neil Hammerschlag, a shark researcher at the University of Miami who observed 340 great white shark attacks on seals off an island in South Africa. "It's more than sharks lurking at the water waiting to go after them."

The sharks feeding at Seal Island could have just hovered right where the seals congregated if they were random killers-of-opportunity, Hammerschlag said. But they weren't.

7 militants killed by Pakistan citizens' militia

ISLAMABAD (AP) — A citizens' militia trying to drive out the Taliban killed seven militants in a two-hour clash in Pakistan's troubled northwest, police said Sunday, as the president claimed the entire country backs the battle against the extremists.

Ejaz Ahmed, police chief in the Upper Dir region, said another militant was wounded in the fighting late Saturday night near the village of Patrak, about four miles (seven kilometers) east of Dir Khas, the region's main town and district headquarters.

Several civilian militias, known as lashkars, have emerged in Upper Dir since a suicide bombing on a mosque two weeks ago that was blamed on the Taliban killed at least 33 people. The militias carry out patrols and have been pursuing remnants of Taliban who had tried to expand their influence into the area.

Ahmed said scores of militants have been trapped and killed by the militias in several villages, with police cutting off escape routes. The Taliban who were killed Saturday had been trying to flee when they came across the militiamen and opened fire, he said.

Brother-in-law offers flowers at Suu Kyi demo in London

LONDON (AFP) — Myanmar democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi's brother-in-law offered a symbolic gift of flowers for her Friday, at a protest marking her 64th birthday at the country's embassy in London.

Anthony Aris, brother of Suu Kyi's late husband Michael who died in 1999, said he wanted the embassy to send the bougainvillea to his imprisoned sister-in-law.

"This is her favourite flower," he told reporters, as between 300 and 400 demonstrators gathered outside the central London diplomatic mission.

"She normally wears it in her hair. I will not do that. But I will present them to the embassy, and ask them to air freight them to her in prison," he said before trying to leave the blooms.

When staff refused to answer the door, he tucked them behind the building's name plaque.

Speaking to AFP he cast doubt on the incident which triggered the current legal action against Suu Kyi.

Sri Lanka growth slows to 1.5% in first quarter

COLOMBO (AFP) — Economic expansion in war-battered Sri Lanka fell to 1.5 percent during the first quarter of this year, as the global recession hurt exports, official data showed Wednesday.

The slowdown contrasted with 6.2 percent growth in the first quarter of 2008, though hopes of long-term development have risen since the government's defeat of Tamil rebels last month after decades of conflict.

"The global turmoil has directly or indirectly affected the local economy," the head of the government's statistics office Suranjana Vidyaratne said.

The growth rate was the lowest in Sri Lanka since 2003, with the industries sector, which includes key shipments of garments, growing by only 1.9 percent against 6.0 percent in the same period in 2008.

Service industries, which include telecom, banking and shipping, grew by 1.0 percent compared with 6.4 percent in the same quarter last year.

Pakistan FM seeks aid to combat Taliban spread

ISLAMABAD (AFP) — Pakistan's foreign minister has called for more international aid to combat Islamic extremists, saying in an interview published Monday that the Taliban could otherwise move into India and the Gulf.

The warning from Shah Mehmood Qureshi, in an interview with the Financial Times, comes two days before the first summit of European Union and Pakistan leaders in Brussels, at which aid for Islamabad will likely top the agenda.

He called for 2.5 billion dollars alone in emergency relief and reconstruction aid for the northwest, where troops have been locked in heavy combat with Taliban militants since late April.

Qureshi's comments come as Pakistan expands its anti-Taliban offensive in the northwest to the lawless tribal areas bordering Afghanistan, where the United States says militants are planning attacks on Western targets.

"They (Islamic militants) have a global agenda, they have a regional agenda, they are not confined to Pakistan. They could go into the Gulf, they could go into India, they can go anywhere," Qureshi said.

Australia probes A330 blaze after forced landing

SYDNEY (AFP) — An Australian flight has been forced to make an emergency landing on a remote Pacific island, just days after an Air France tragedy involving the same model of Airbus plane, officials have said.

The budget flight from Japan put down on Guam after a fire broke out in the cockpit, company officials said.

Smoke and then flames were seen near a cockpit window about four hours into Jetstar flight JQ20 from Osaka to Australia's Gold Coast, prompting flight crew to scramble to douse the fire before landing on Guam.

Nobody was hurt among the 203 mostly Japanese passengers and crew travelling on the Airbus A330-200, which touched down at about 2:20 am (1620 GMT Wednesday) and they were sent to nearby hotels.

The incident involves the same model of aircraft as the June 1 Air France disaster when all 228 on board an A330 flying from Brazil were killed after a mystery accident over the Atlantic.

US plane with bathroom fire diverts to Halifax

WASHINGTON (AP) — An American Airlines Boeing 767-300 en route from New York City to Europe was diverted Tuesday to a Canadian airport after a fire was reported in a bathroom.

Officials for the airline and the Federal Aviation Administration said Flight 64 landed safely at 7:15 p.m. EDT at an airport in Halifax, Canada, after the pilot declared an emergency due to smoke in the mid-cabin.

The plane had departed from John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York at 5:55 p.m. EDT bound for Zurich.

American Airlines spokeswoman Mary Frances Fagan said there were 194 passengers and 12 crew members aboard.

Halifax Stanfield International Airport spokesman Peter Spurway said the smoke was traced to a fan motor in the bathroom.