itsjohntime

Date: Mon, 18 Jan 2010 05:02:04 -0500

>TOP STORIES as of 1000 GMT -- 18 January, 2010

> EXPLOSIONS, GUNFIRE RING IN HEART OF KABUL
Explosions and gunfire shake Kabul, with the Taliban saying it
was conducting an operation, as Afghan President Hamid Karzai's
Cabinet were to be sworn in.

> RESCUES OFFER HOPE TO HAITIANS
The dead lie in piles on street corners, covered by flimsy
pieces of cardboard boxes. The living crowd tent cities, as many
as 20,000 awaiting food, water and medicine.

> AID REACHING HAITI QUAKE VICTIMS
At least one organization trying to deliver aid to Haiti
continued to be plagued by delays and logistical problems, but
aid was getting to those who need it most, officials said.

> HAITI ORPHANS RUSHED TO HOMES ABROAD
Slashing red tape or ignoring ordinarily required paperwork,
officials in the U.S. and the Netherlands cleared the way for
scores of orphans to leave Haiti.

> BILL CLINTON TO VISIT HAITI ON MONDAY
Getting aid to Haiti right away to save lives is the first goal
of the fund-raising initiative headed by George W. Bush and Bill
Clinton, the two former U.S. presidents say.

> AFTER E-MAIL FROM HAITI, A NIGHTMARE
Peggy Bourland can't eat. When she lies down to sleep, she
fights the urge to go outside and curl up on the cold, hard
ground.

> EX-HUSSEIN LIEUTENANT AZIZ HOSPITALIZED
Tariq Aziz, a top lieutenant of executed Iraqi dictator Saddam
Hussein, remained hospitalized at a U.S. military hospital
Sunday after falling ill in prison, the U.S. command in Iraq
reported.

~~~~~~~~~~~
BUSINESS
~~~~~~~~~~~

> CHINESE PARTNER CRITICIZES YAHOO
Yahoo's Chinese partner issued a scathing criticism of the US
technology company at the weekend, calling it "reckless" for
publicly supporting Google's threat to quit the country in
protest over a wave of Chinese cyberattacks.

> FEARS ON CHINESE INFLATION
China seizes the limelight in the data due to be published this
week, with its economic growth likely to have accelerated amid
mounting concerns about inflationary pressures.

> U.S. TO COMPLAIN OVER CYBER ATTACK
The United States plans to express formal concern to the Chinese
government soon after Google said a cyber attack from China
targeted human rights activists.