Musharraf might agree to quit power: Biden

NEW YORK: US Senate Foreign Relations Committee Joseph Biden said that Musharraf would quit the office peacefully.

"I had the impression that he is prepared to retire to being president, which is largely a ceremonial role," but that his withdrawal "will depend on how the coalition government is formed and how he is treated personally," Biden said in a function.

Biden, who heads the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, was in Pakistan recently along with Senators John Kerry and Chuck Hagel to monitor the elections.

He said that NATO forces failure in Afghanistan could put Nato’s future in jeopardy.

16 More Years (at least) of Brin, Page, and Schmidt at Google

A brief interview with Fortune Magazine reveals that Google co-founders Sergey Brin and Larry Page, along with CEO Eric Schmidt, made a pact shortly before the company’s 2004 IPO to stay at the company for at least 20 years. That means that we’ve got at least 16 years left with the trio leading what is currently the world’s biggest search engine.

It also means that they are firmly committed to seeing through Google’s many initiatives outside of search, such as wireless, print advertising, Google Knol, and countless other projects currently sitting in Google Labs.

So, what will the company look like in 2024 when the top Googlers start thinking about retirement? Pontificate in the comments.

[Source: Mashable]

India players ordered to behave

Harbhajan is free to play for the rest of India's tour

The Indian cricket board has told its players to behave themselves following the row involving Harbhajan Singh.

On Tuesday, Harbhajan had a charge of racially abusing Australia's Andrew Symonds downgraded to abusive language by the International Cricket Council.

"We have told the players not to get into altercations," said Indian cricket board secretary Niranjan Shah.

India play Australia in a Twenty20 match on Friday ahead of a one-day series, which also includes Sri Lanka.

Spinner Harbhajan had been found guilty of calling Symonds, Australia's only mixed-race player, a "monkey" during the second Test in Sydney this month.

However, Tuesday's appeal hearing ruled there was not enough evidence to convict Harbhajan of racial abuse, but instead charged him with using abusive language.

Harbhajan pleaded guilty and consequently escaped a three-match suspension but he was fined half his match fee.

New Zealand judge Justice John Hansen, who considered the appeal, indicated that even if Harbhajan's accusers had proved he had made the racist remark, a ban would not have been upheld.

Hansen felt Symonds' sledging of Harbhajan had effectively removed his right to be offended.

Shah now expects the matter to be finished and is confident the controversy will not affect future India-Australia cricketing ties.

"I don't think this will have any repercussions for the future," he said.

"So many such incidents have happened in the past, there have been heated exchanges in the middle and teams have gone on from there."

Canada PM issues Afghan ultimatum

Nato and Afghanistan want Canadian troops to stay on

Canada has told US President George W Bush that it will withdraw its troops from Afghanistan next year unless Nato deploys more soldiers there.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper is demanding that a further 1,000 Nato troops be sent to Kandahar province where Canada's 2,500 troops are based.

Canada's current mission in Afghanistan is set to expire in February 2009.

Seventy-eight Canadian soldiers and one diplomat have been killed in Afghanistan since 2002.

An independent report into Canada's mission issued last week recommended that Canadian troops remain in Afghanistan indefinitely.

However, it also said that Canada should pull out if it did not get the support it needs.

'Additional resources'

A spokeswoman for Mr Harper said the prime minister had told Mr Bush that "unless Canada was able to meet the conditions specified by the [report] of additional combat troops and equipment from Nato allies, Canada's mission in Afghanistan will not be extended".

White House press secretary Tony Fratto said that in reply, the president had "noted the deployment of 3,200 additional US marines to Afghanistan".

We hope Canada will find a way to extend the mission James Appathurai Nato spokesman

It is not clear if the additional US troops meet Canada's requirements for more troops in Kandahar.

Nato spokesman James Appathurai said the alliance would discuss Canada's demand at a meeting next month, and would try to find the additional troops.

"Nato thinks Canada is doing a very important and valuable job in Kandahar. We hope Canada will find a way to extend the mission," he said.

There was a long-standing request to Nato countries to provide additional resources, he added.

Canadian troops are engaged in counter-insurgency operations against the Taleban, alongside mainly British, US and Dutch troops.

Mr Harper has always supported extending Canada's military mission.

To do so beyond the 2009 deadline would require the approval of parliament.

But the Liberals and other opposition parties all want Canada's direct combat role to come to an end.

Mauritania gunmen target embassy

Unidentified gunmen have opened fire on the Israeli embassy in the Mauritanian capital, Nouakchott, wounding at least one person, officials have said.

The Israeli ambassador said the wounded man was a Mauritanian who lived nearby, and that no embassy staff had been hurt in the overnight shooting in the city.

Witnesses said the six attackers had traded fire with embassy guards before shouting "God is great" as they fled.