President Barack Obama won NATO backing on Saturday for his new approach

STRASBOURG (Reuters) - President Barack Obama won NATO backing on Saturday for his new approach to Afghanistan but his European allies stopped short of offering long-term troop deployments for the war effort.

Leaders of the 28-nation military alliance pledged at a summit to send 3,000 more troops on short-term assignments to boost security for August 20 elections in Afghanistan, and some 2,000 more personnel to train Afghan security forces.

They also promised to send 300 paramilitary police trainers and provide $600 million to finance the Afghan army and civilian assistance, Obama said.

NATO Secretary-General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer said allies were united in support for the strategy championed by Obama, who favors a regional approach to Afghanistan with a stepped-up civilian effort and training of Afghan security forces.

He said more than 10 countries announced new contributions.

"We will be supporting the elections; we will be improving training for the Afghan soldiers," he told a news conference. "Many allies have stepped up to the plate this morning and the concrete results of this summit are very, very good indeed."

Obama, who has sought to use his popularity in Europe to wring concessions from allies, said he was pleased by the pledges and that "a substantial step forward" had been taken.

But he added: "We will need more resources and a sustained effort to achieve our ultimate goals."

Source: uk.reuters.com

President Barack Obama won NATO backing on Saturday for his new approach

Experts See Early Activity From The Conficker software Worm

MENLO PARK, Calif. — Members of an informal global alliance of computer security specialists who have been trying to eradicate a malicious software program known as Conficker said Tuesday that they were seeing early attempts by the program to communicate with a control server. The researchers said they were uncertain if it had been successful.

The Conficker software, which has spread aggressively around the globe since October and is designed to lash together infected machines into a powerful computer known as a botnet, has touched off widespread concern.

Computer security researchers who have examined a recent version of the program, called Conficker C, have said it was set to try to download commands from a server at an unknown Internet location on Wednesday. There was no certainty about the intent of the program, which could be used to send e-mail spam, distribute malicious software or generate a potentially devastating “denial of service” attack on Web sites or networks.

The choice of April Fool’s Day by the program’s authors, who are unknown, has led to speculation that the program might be a hoax. But a variety of computer security executives and law enforcement officials have pointed out that the program, which has spread to at least 12 million computers, could inflict genuine harm. Consensus among security specialists on Tuesday was that it was likely to take several days before the program’s intent could be determined.

A group of computer security specialists has tried to make it impossible for Conficker’s authors to download instructions to infected computers. While they were doing so, the authors began distributing the C version of the program. It was intended to begin contacting 50,000 Internet domains on Wednesday.

In response, the researchers have created a system that will allow them to trap all of the attempted botnet communications. That has involved a global effort, including monitoring the domains of 110 countries.

A spokeswoman for the Conficker Cabal, a security working group organized by Microsoft and other computer security companies, said on Tuesday that the group had no new information to report about the activity of the malicious program.

“All we are saying is ‘patch and clean, patch and clean,’ ” said Nicole Miller, a Microsoft spokeswoman, referring to the process of disinfecting and protecting machines infected by the software, which targets Windows-based computers.

Separately, I.B.M. said that Mark Yason, a company researcher, had decoded Conficker’s internal communication protocol. The company said that will make it easier for security teams to detect and interrupt the program’s activities.

Earlier this year Microsoft offered a $250,000 reward for information leading to the arrest of Conficker’s author or authors.

News Source: nytimes.com

Experts See Early Activity From The Conficker software Worm

No more tax cuts, Gordon Brown warned

Queen Elizabeth II greets Governor of the Bank of England Mervyn King

Britain cannot afford further tax cuts or public spending rises in next month’s Budget because of the state of government finances, Gordon Brown has been told by the Bank of England.

In a highly unusual intervention, the Bank’s Governor, Mervyn King, said that the Government must be “cautious” as Britain faces “very large fiscal deficits”.

The warning is likely to anger the Prime Minister, who yesterday called on other countries to deliver “the biggest financial stimulus the world has ever seen”.

However, the Treasury is thought to agree privately with Mr King’s assessment that further British intervention is unaffordable.

Mr Brown is understood to be considering another multi-billion-pound fiscal stimulus package of tax cuts and spending rises in the Budget.

Mr King’s warning undermines not only Mr Brown’s plans but also the foundations of the G20 summit that the Prime Minister is hosting in London next week, since the meeting is broadly regarded as a platform for world leaders to agree to spend extra billions on averting a global depression.

Many suspect that Mr Brown will use the summit as an opportunity to present a generous package of tax breaks for savers, particularly pensioners.

These plans may be in jeopardy if the Treasury heeds the Governor’s warning.

It is rare for any leading public official — let alone the Governor of the Bank of England — to deliver such a public warning over the country’s finances in the run-up to the Budget. However, appearing before the Treasury select committee yesterday, Mr King gave warning of the dangers of borrowing any more.

“I’m sure the Government will want to be cautious in this respect,” Mr King said. “There is no doubt we are facing very large fiscal deficits over the next two to three years.

“Given how big those deficits are, I think it would be sensible to be cautious about going further in using discretionary measures to expand the size of those deficits.

“The level of the fiscal position in the UK is not one that would say: 'Well, why don’t we just engage in another significant round of fiscal expansion?’ ”

Immediately after the hearing at the House of Commons, Mr King was invited to Buckingham Palace for a private audience with the Queen. The meeting, at Her Majesty’s request, represented the first time she has met the incumbent Bank Governor.

Following Mr King’s comments, No 10 aides insisted that a further fiscal stimulus package was still on the agenda and had not been ruled out. An official said the Government would do “whatever it takes to create the growth and jobs we need”.

Yesterday, in a speech to the European Parliament just hours after Mr King’s appearance before MPs, the Prime Minister called on countries attending the G20 summit to borrow and spend unprecedented amounts.

He said: “We can together deliver the biggest financial stimulus the world has ever seen, the biggest cut in interest rates, the biggest reform of the international financial system, the first international principles governing banking remuneration, the first comprehensive action against tax havens and for the first time in a world crisis, new help for the poor.”

There are growing fears that the Government may be over-extending the public finances in response to the recession.

Some fear the combined cost of banking bail-outs alongside economic measures could cause Britain to lose its top-level credit rating, raising the prospect of having to call on the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for help.

Alistair Darling, the Chancellor, announced a £20 billion fiscal stimulus package last year. However, this included a cut in VAT which many retailers have indicated is not boosting the economy.

Stephen Byers, the former cabinet minister, called on Mr Brown yesterday to ditch the VAT cut, questioning “whether it has run its course”.

The Conservatives are already being forced to scale back their tax-cutting plans. They have also urged Mr Brown to show restraint.

George Osborne, the shadow chancellor, said: “This is hugely significant, as it completely vindicates the big decision taken by David Cameron and myself on the economy, and it leaves Gordon Brown’s political plans for the G20 and the Budget in tatters.”

The IMF has warned that Britain is facing the biggest government deficit in the Western world even before it has pledged any extra cash to be spent on the recession. It said the shortfall in its books will hit a record 11 per cent of gross domestic product — some £150 billion — next year, far greater than any other Western nation.

Vince Cable, the Liberal Democrat Treasury spokesman, said: “The Government has lost all credibility when it comes to fiscal stimuli since it wasted £12.5 billion on an ineffective temporary VAT cut.”

Mr Brown was yesterday embarking on a global diplomatic mission to garner support ahead of next week’s summit at the ExCel centre in London.

In a speech to the European Parliament, the Prime Minister said that Europe was “uniquely placed” to lead international negotiations on solving the economic crisis a

News Source :telegraph.co.uk

No more tax cuts, Gordon Brown warned