Prince Harry falls head-first from his horse during charity polo match, and hurls his mallet in disgust

Harry is furious after his fall He hurls his mallet in disgust... then stomps off the field.Horseman: Harry managed to avoid serious injury by rolling as he hit the ground, but appears to be nursing his shoulder

Crash landing: The Prince takes a breather after falling off his horse on to the hard ground

The Prince was raising money for his Sentebale charity which helps Aids orphans in Lesotho

Royal tumble: Prince Harry is thrown from his horse during a charity polo match in Barbados

Thrown: Harry comes off the horse as it stumbles to the floor and rolls as he makes contact with the ground

Heir-raising: Fortunately it is only Harry's pride that is damaged and his team go on to win the match

Going to ground: Harry's horse loses its footing during a sharp turn as he swings his mallet at the ball

This is the moment Prince Harry took a heart-stopping, head-first tumble from his polo pony during a charity match in the Caribbean yesterday.

The third in line to the throne was thrown from his mount as he attempted a sharp turn close to the goal mouth, causing the animal to lose its footing and slide across the ground in a cloud of dust and grass.

Fortunately the 25-year-old prince managed to dive forwards and execute an athletic roll, breaking the impact of his fall on the rock-hard field in Barbados.


Seconds later he picked himself up unharmed but was clearly upset at the blunder as he threw his mallet to the ground in disgust, ripped off his helmet and punched it. The pony was unhurt.

Harry's team went on to win the inaugural Sentebale Polo Cup, with the prince scoring one of their six goals.
But the moment evoked memories of the incident in which his father, Prince Charles, was knocked unconscious while playing the game and swallowed his tongue.

He was taken to hospital suffering concussion after the 2001 accident.

Speaking about the fall afterwards, Harry said: 'I'm a bit sore but it was all for a good cause so it was worthwhile in the end.

'Basically the horse slipped from underneath me, which does happen occasionally and is a but unfortunate.
'It probably looks very dramatic because I was trying to throw myself clear of the horse. I'm a bit sore but the horse is ok though.'

The Prince explained that he hadn't thrown down his mallet in anger at getting thrown but was furious that he may have lost Sentebale a sizeable donation.

He explained: 'The reason why I was throwing my mallet down was because I met this nice businessman at dinner last night who offered me $50,000 for Sentebale if I fell off my horse today.

'His wife turned round and said 'that's a bit harsh, you should give him $100,000 if he stays on.' And he agreed to seal the deal on that.

'So when I fell off, I threw down my mallet and shouted: "What a waste of $100,000!" I was furious with myself.

'Fortunately this extremely generous gentleman has already been in touch and told us that it was the clear that the horse fell over, rather than I fell off it, so he was happy to honour the $100,000. What a star!

'It's been an exhausting trip - I feel like I have been here a month not two days - but absolutely rewarding.
'Everyone from our local supporters to the Barbados government have bent over backwards to make this work for Sentebale. People have dug so deep in their pockets.

'It looks like we may have raised £500,000 for the vulnerable children of Lesotho, so I couldn't be more pleased.

'We are going to try to take the Sentebale Cup around the world but will definitely be coming back to Barbados as we have started it here and the island has such a special place in our hearts.'

Harry was playing at the exclusive Apes Hill Polo Club in Barbados to raise money for Sentebale, the charity he co-founded in memory of his late mother to help vulnerable Aids orphans in the African kingdom of Lesotho.

The 1,200 ticket match was a complete sell out and is expected to raise more than £100,000. Harry hopes to make the Sentebale Polo Cup an annual event.

Lesotho is one of the world's poorest nations and has been devastated by an HIV pandemic.

One third of its 1.8 million population is infected with HIV or Aids and 40 per cent of children are orphans as a result. Average life expectancy is just 40 years.

Harry visited the country during his gap year and was immensely moved by its plight.

In a speech to mark the occasion yesterday he told supporters: 'It seems to be one of life's cruellest ironies that when natural disaster strikes - whether it be earthquake in Haiti or years of drought and ravaging by HIV AIDS in Lesotho, it is always the most vulnerable, the most defenceless, the children, who are left exposed and needing the most help.

'We are making a real difference in Lesotho but it is not straight-forward.

'The problems are complex and our work, inevitably, is not without its issues. But we are there for the long term.'

During his visit to the island, Harry also did his bit to raise funds for the victims of the Haiti earthquake, by strutting his stuff at a Calyso concert after challenging donors to raise thousands to get him on his feet.

The royal joined revellers at a massive open air charity concert being broadcast live across the Caribbean on Saturday night when he made the impromptu offer to dance on stage in front of millions of viewers if they donated 5,000 Barbados dollars (£1,560) in the next 25 minutes.

The dare was announced by a compere to the cheering audience in the grounds of Farley Hill national park and a telephone number flashed on screen for viewers at home.

With moments to spare, the money came through and Harry, who was wearing a Haiti We Care t-shirt, blushed and groaned as he walked towards the floodlight stage.

'I can't believe I have let myself in for this. I think I'll just crowd dive instead,' he joked (after taking a quick sip of rum for Dutch courage).

He proved true to his word, however, and to loud whoops from the crowd, he walked through the throng and took his place centre stage.

Thankfully, he did not disgrace himself.

In fact the third in line to the throne displayed a surprising amount of rhythm as he jived to a pulsating calypso beat provided by singer Red Plastic Bag, real name Stedson Wiltshire, winner of last year's Barbados Calypso King title.

Afterwards the prince, who also made an undisclosed personal donation to the Haiti relief effort, quipped: 'There goes my credibility.'

Harry had hoped to visit to the disaster zone at the end of his Barbados visit but the trip has been postponed until later in the year.

It has been a packed weekend for the prince, who has conducted a series of engagements on only his second official foreign visit, including visiting a local children's hospital and attending a garden party for youngsters.

Last night he flew back to England to continue with his training as an Army Air Corps helicopter pilot.

He was told last week that he has passed the latest stage of his gruelling year-long course and hopes to progress to the Lynx aircraft later this year, possibly returning to Afghanistan in two years time.

Before he did, however, he couldn't resist a revenge dig at his elder brother, Prince William, who last week jokingly referred to Harry as 'the other ginger one' in a speech during his own tour of Australia.

Chatting to George Browne, 83, a former corporal in the Southern Caribbean Regiment who recalled meeting one of the brothers in 1995, Harry quipped: 'If it was William, he was already bald aged 12.

U.S. deploys land and sea-based missile shield in the Gulf to deter attack from Iran

 

Deterrent: The U.S. has installed Patriots in four countries in the Gulf which are capable of shooting down incoming missiles

The U.S. has retaliated to what it sees as Iran's growing missile threat by deploying a land and sea-based missile shield to protect American allies in the Gulf, officials said.

Barack Obama is dispatching land-based Patriot defensive missile installations in Kuwait, Qatar, UAE and Bahrain, as well as keeping two U.S. Navy ships with missile defence systems in and around the Mediterranean.

Officials said the move is aimed at deterring an attack by Iran, but it is likely to dramatically increase tensions between the U.S. and Iran after negotiations failed to persuade Tehran to open its nuclear installations to international controls.
A senior administration official told the New York Times: 'Our first goal is to deter the Iranians. A second is to reassure the Arab states, so they don't feel they have to go nuclear themselves.

'But there is certainly an element of calming the Israelis as well.'

General David Petraeus, head of U.S. Central Command responsible for military operations across the Middle East, said this month that eight Patriot missile batteries had been stationed in four Gulf countries, which he did not identify.

The build-up began under the Bush administration, but has expanded under President Obama, who is pushing for a new round of sanctions against Iran over its nuclear enrichment programme.

Officials said the expansion was meant to increase the protection for U.S. forces and key allies in the Gulf.

Washington is also concerned with the threat of action from Israel, which has said it will not let Tehran come close to building a nuclear missile if diplomacy fails.

Admiral Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said last month the Pentagon must have military options ready to counter Iran should Mr Obama call for them.

A spokesman for Mr Mullen said: 'The chairman has made it clear many times that he remains concerned about the ballistic missile threat posed by Iran, but it would be inappropriate to discuss any mitigation or defence measures we might have in place to deter/defeat that threat.'

President Obama announced a revised missile defence system last year, which included the deployment of Aegis ships equipped with missile interceptors to help defend Europe and U.S. forces against Iranian rockets.

The Pentagon said it planned to keep three ships at any given time in and around the Mediterranean and the North Sea to protect areas of interest, with the possibility of sending additional ships to the region as needed.

The Obama administration said the decision to change plans was based mainly on technological developments and a shift in intelligence assessments to meet short and medium-range missile threats posed by Iran.

Pentagon officials said deploying ships with SM-3 interceptors, made by Raytheon Co, would provide the flexibility to move U.S. missile defense capabilities as may be needed.

Ships with Aegis interceptor systems are capable of blowing up ballistic missiles above the atmosphere. The system can track over 100 targets, military officials said.

U.S. arms sales to Gulf allies have risen sharply in recent years, underscoring concerns about Iran.

In the past two years, Saudi Arabia has bought $17bn (£11billion) worth of weapons from the U.S., including Patriot batteries.

Obama under fire as he gets set to unveil record $1.56trillion budget deficit

Unprecedented deficit: Barack Obama, shown here with Vice President Joe Biden at the University of Tampa in Florida last week, is set to unveil his budget today

President Barack Obama is set to unveil a record-braking $1.56trillion budget deficit today as part of his $3.83trillion plan for the fiscal year.

Mr Obama's plan, which he will reveal this afternoon, is to pour more money into the fight against high unemployment, boost taxes on the wealthy and freeze spending for a wide swath of government programs.

The deficit for this year would surge to a record-breaking $1.56trillion, topping last year's then unprecedented $1.41trillion gap.

The astonishing numbers have led to a blame game being played in Washington.
But administration officials are wasting no time in hitting back.

Democrats have argued that Mr Obama inherited a deficit that was already topping $1trillion when he took office, thanks to his Republican predecessor, George W. Bush.

Given the severity of the economic downturn, the president had to spend billions of dollars stabilizing the financial system and jump-starting growth, they claim.

Even with Mr Obama's cost-cutting measures, such as a drastic three-year budget freeze on a variety of programs outside of the military and homeland security, the deficit would remain above $1trillion in 2011.

The president also plans to increase taxes on energy producers and families making more than $250,000.

Echoing the pledge in his State of the Union address to make job creation his top priority, Mr Obama put forward a budget that included a $100billion jobs measure.

The money is earmarked to provide tax breaks to encourage businesses to boost hiring, as well as increased government spending on infrastructure and energy projects.

He called for fast congressional action to speed relief to millions left unemployed in the worst recession since the 1930s.

Mr Obama's job proposals would push government spending in 2010 to $3.72trillion, up 5.7 per cent from last year.

His blueprint for the 2011 budget year, which begins October 1, would increase spending further to $3.83trillion, three per cent higher than projected for this year.

Much of the spending surge over the past two years reflects the cost of the $787billion economic stimulus measure that Congress passed in February 2009 to deal with the worst economic downturn since the Great Depression.

The surge in the deficits reflects not only the increased spending but also a big drop in tax revenues, reflecting the 7.2million people who have lost jobs since the recession began and weaker corporate tax receipts.


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Obama scraps Nasa Moon mission in favour of private 'space taxis'

The Falcon 1 rocket was created by company Space X, founded by PayPal co-founder Elon Musk. It launched a satellite into orbit. Private companies such as this could take over launching astronauts into space from Nasa

Farewell Orion? The Contellation space programme looks set to be scrapped. There had been plans to use the Orion module to ferry astronauts to the ISS, like in this artist's impression

Shuttle Atlantis crew member Randolph Bresnik works on the space station. New plans call for commercial firms to resupply the station.

Astronaut Buzz Aldrin is pictured on the Moon in 1969. It seems certain that Nasa's plan to return Man to the moon by 2020 will be scrapped

American dreams of putting another man on the Moon were dashed last night as President Obama announced a spending freeze to help combat a £1trillion U.S. budget deficit.

Nasa's plan to launch a series of new manned Moon missions was one of 120 government-funded programmes to be shelved.

The Constellation Project, started by former President George W Bush, was supposed to restore America's reputation as a pioneer in human exploration and anticipated landings on Mars by the middle of the century.

It envisaged new rockets and a new crewship called Orion to put astronauts on the lunar surface by 2020. Nasa had already spent $9.1 billion (£5billion) on the programme. The space agency will have to spend a further $2.5bn to close it completely.
But the White House said Constellation was too much like the 1960s Apollo mission and would require large budget increases just to get astronauts back on the moon by 2030.

The writing was on the wall for the space revival after Nasa announced last autumn that 'no plan compatible with the 2010 budget profile permitted human exploration to continue in any meaningful way'.
The Obama administration is hoping that private enterprise will step in to fund the Moon mission.

However, one congressman said the plan was a 'death march' for human space flight.

Unveiling his budget for next year, the president blamed the record debt on inheriting two costly wars and a financial crisis he was forced to combat with hundreds of billions of taxpayer cash.

Mr Obama said the U.S. must stop spending cash 'like Monopoly money' if it is going to bridge the growing budget gap.

He insisted his budget, which includes tax rises for the wealthy, will cut into the deficit over the next decade.
We simply cannot continue to spend as if deficits don't have consequences, as if waste doesn't matter, as if the hard-earned tax dollars of the American people can be treated like Monopoly money,' he said yesterday.

'We won't be able to bring down this deficit overnight,' he added, saying the budget included boosts for education and job creation programmes.

The projected deficit amounts to almost 11 per cent of America's gross domestic product, nearly four times the annual deficit that economists generally consider sustainable.

Republican critics seized on the grim forecast. Senator Judd Gregg, who sits on the Senate Budget Committee, said the U.S. was sinking into a 'quagmire' of debt.

President Obama outlined a dramatic new mission for NASA on Monday, getting the agency out of the rocket-launching business in favor of an aggressive expansion of research and development that would steer the agency away from the launch pad and instead put its engineers in the laboratory, where they would design futuristic vehicles capable of going beyond the moon.

As expected, his budget plan would cancel NASA's Constellation program and its goal of returning astronauts to the moon by 2020. The troubled rocket program, crippled by funding shortfalls and technical problems, ultimately would cost taxpayers at least $11.5 billion as it is, including $2.5 billion to terminate it.

Instead of pursuing Constellation, NASA would pay for commercial rocket companies to resupply the International Space Station over the next decade while its own workers develop new engines and rockets that NASA officials hope will enable a vast expansion of its future manned-space efforts.

"Imagine trips to Mars that take weeks instead of nearly a year, people fanning out across the inner solar system, exploring the moon, asteroids and Mars nearly simultaneously in a steady stream of firsts," said NASA Administrator Charlie Bolden.

It would be a decade or more, however, before NASA again sends astronauts beyond low-Earth orbit, a prospect that is certain to draw strong opposition from NASA's defenders in Congress.

One, Sen. Richard C. Shelby (R-Ala.), called the budget a "death march" for American spaceflight.

Bolden said ending Constellation was necessary to ensure NASA had the money to spend nearly $11 billion over the next five years on new technologies, including $3.1 billion to develop heavy-lift rockets that could carry new spacecraft beyond Earth orbit.

Currently, he said, the 5-year-old Constellation program is burning through billions of dollars and falling further behind schedule. The program couldn't get American astronauts back to the moon until at least 2028, he said.

"So as much as we would not like it to be the case . . . the truth is that we were not on a path to get back to the moon's surface," Bolden said.

"And as we focused so much of our effort and funding on just getting to the moon, we were neglecting investments . . . required to go beyond."

Obama's plan calls for NASA to get $19 billion in 2011 -- about $300 million more than this year's budget -- with small annual increases after that.

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U.S. seeks calm as China fumes over Taiwan arms-US urges China against sanctions amid Taiwan spat

Paramilitary policemen practise during a daily training session at the Forbidden City in Beijing, February 1, 2010.




Taiwan's President Ma Ying-jeou (L) speaks to Taiwan's top negotiator on China policy, Straits Exchange Foundation Chairman P.K. Chiang, during an International Democrat Union (IDU) meeting in Taipei, February 1, 2010.


Paramilitary policemen practise during a daily training session at the Forbidden City in Beijing, February 1, 2010.



A child runs past a torpedo on display outside the Taiwan Armed Forces Museum in Taipei, January 30, 2010.




U.S. Assistant Defense Secretary for Asian and Pacific Security Affairs Wallace Gregson speaks during a forum hosted by the Japan Institute of International Affairs in Tokyo, February 1, 2010. The United States intends to meet its obligation to ensure Taiwan's self-defence capabilities, Gregson said on Monda

Chinese state media blasted the United States on Monday for a planned $6.4 billion arms package for Taiwan but U.S. officials said they hoped the flap would be temporary and not derail cooperation.

The arms sales, the latest by the United States but the first by the Obama administration, has added to a litany of strains between the world's biggest and third-biggest economies, including the value of China's currency, trade protectionism, Internet freedoms and Tibet.

The official China Daily said U.S. weapons sales to the self-ruled island, which China claims as its own, "inevitably cast a long shadow on Sino-U.S. relations."

"China's response, no matter how vehement, is justified. No country worthy of respect can sit idle while its national security is endangered and core interests damaged," the English-language newspaper said in an editorial.

White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said the U.S.-China relationship was important and "I don't think that either country can afford to simply walk away from the other."

Gibbs said any sanctions against the companies involved in the arms sales, a move threatened by China for the first time, would not be warranted.

The United States switched diplomatic recognition from Taipei to Beijing in 1979, recognizing "one China," and says it wants the two sides to settle their differences peacefully. The United States remains Taiwan's biggest backer and is obliged by the 1979 Taiwan Relations Act to help in the island's defense

.

State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley said the arms sale decision reflected "long-standing commitments to provide for Taiwan's defensive needs."

"We will, as always, pursue our interests but we will do it in a way that we think allows for positive and cooperative relations with China," he told reporters.

U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates defended the arms sale, telling reporters he hoped China's decision to protest by curtailing bilateral military contacts would be temporary and that he still planned to visit China later this year.

"Stability is enhanced by contact between our military and a greater understanding of each other's strategies, so I hope that if there is a downturn, that it will be a temporary one and that we can get back to strengthening this relationship," Gates said.

MISSILE BUILDUP CONCERNS

The Pentagon's 2010 Ballistic Missile Defense Review Report to Congress, published on Monday, said the United States was concerned and closely monitoring China's missile buildup and increasingly advanced capabilities in the Pacific region.

"One regional trend that particularly concerns the United States is the growing imbalance of power across the Taiwan Strait in China's favor," the report said.

The report said U.S. defense policymakers "remain committed to a relationship that is positive, cooperative, and comprehensive and do not believe a hostile or adversarial relationship with China is by any means inevitable."

Beijing considers Taiwan a breakaway province that must accept eventual unification, by force if necessary. China's ruling Communist Party controls the country's media and uses them at sensitive times to amplify its message.

Venting intense anger over the arms sales, Chinese Internet users called for a boycott of top U.S. exporter and plane-maker Boeing Co and other companies supplying parts.

China has for years opposed U.S. defense sales to Taiwan, which has been separated from mainland rule since 1949 and was a Japanese colony from 1895 to 1945.

But for the first time, Beijing sought to pressure the United States by threatening to formally punish companies whose arms are involved in the arms package, which was announced on Friday.

"China has no room whatever for compromise on this issue," said a commentary in the Liberation Army Daily, the mouthpiece of the country's military, adding that Chinese armed forces were ready for "resolute struggle" over Taiwan.

"It is entirely reasonable to impose corresponding sanctions on U.S. companies involved in arms sales to Taiwan."

U.S. arms exporters declined to comment on the Chinese threat and White House spokesman Gibbs said: "I don't think those (sanctions) would be warranted."

Walter Lohman, director of Asian studies at the Heritage

Foundation, said China's response was "mostly noise" and probably designed to deter Washington from considering selling F-16 advanced fighter jets to Taiwan.

"Partly what they're doing now is trying to scare us off the F-16 sale, by making a big deal out of this one," he said.

CHINESE FACE LIMITED OPTIONS

Chinese shares appeared unmoved but trading in offshore one-year dollar/yuan non-deliverable forwards (NDFs) implied slightly slower appreciation for the yuan over the next 12 months.

Dealers said the NDFs shift was mainly driven by the dollar's global strength but the Sino-U.S. tension contributed.

China's top leaders, President Hu Jintao and Premier Wen Jiabao, have not publicly commented on what they have said is their nation's topmost issue, suggesting they want to keep some leeway in dealing with Washington.

Despite Beijing's strident words, options for punishing the United States were limited, said Drew Thompson, director of China Studies at the Nixon Center, a thinktank in Washington.

"They don't have a lot of leverage, and that's a source of frustration for them," he said. "It's hard to picture what they could do that's anything other than symbolic."

Sanctions on Boeing could give its rival, Airbus, more leverage in negotiations with Chinese buyers, Thompson said.

U.S. officials have said Taiwan, which lags China in the balance of military power, needs updated weapons to give it more sway with Beijing, which Taiwan says has more than 1,400 short- and mid-range missiles aimed at the island.

Beijing would postpone or partially halt some military contacts with the United States, including visits planned for this year such as Gates's trip, Xinhua news agency said.

China also said the dispute will damage cooperation with the United States over international issues. Washington has sought stronger Chinese support over several hotspots, chiefly the nuclear ambitions of Iran and North Korea.

"It's difficult to take what are global problems and use them as a tool to vent frustration over a bilateral issue," Thompson said of China's options. "They risk isolating themselves pretty badly."


The $6.4 bln sale has outraged Beijing




US President Barack Obama came in for criticism last year for not meeting with Tibetan spiritual leader, The Dalai Lama



Taiwanese soldiers man US-made anti-tank missiles during a military event in the island's capital, Taipei

White House has warned China against sanctioning US firms

US urge China against sanction
The United States has urged China not to slap sanctions on US companies selling arms to Taiwan, as the firms tried to stay out of President Barack Obama's biggest row yet with Beijing.
The Obama administration defended the arms sale Monday as preserving the military balance between Taiwan and fast-growing China, which reacted furiously to a US announcement it was selling the 6.4 billion dollars in weapons.
Beijing has always strongly opposed US sales to Taiwan, which it considers a Chinese territory awaiting reunification. But in a new step, China pledged Saturday to punish the US companies involved in the deal. Related article: China furious at US 'arrogance' on Taiwan
White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said that Chinese sanctions "would not be warranted."
Gibbs said that Obama had spoken to Chinese leaders when he visited Beijing in November about the question of arms sales to Taiwan, and other issues.
"We've always said that we want the type of relationship where we're working together on important issues of mutual concern," Gibbs said.
"But when we have disagreements... we'll voice those disagreements out in the open, in public."
State Department spokesman Philip Crowley said the sale was consistent with longstanding US policy of only recognizing Beijing but of providing Taiwan with weapons to ward off a potential invasion.
"We think these defensive arms will contribute to security and stability across the Taiwan Strait," Crowley said.
"We regret the fact that they have suggested they will impose sanctions on US companies involved in the sale of these defensive articles."
Obama has tried to pursue wide-ranging cooperation with China, saying that the world's largest developed and developing economies can work together on issues from climate change to the North Korean and Iranian nuclear disputes.
But relations have hit a rough patch on a range of disputes including Google's revelations last month that China had been hacking into accounts of the company and human rights activists.
Another row may be fast approaching as Tibet's exiled spiritual leader the Dalai Lama is visiting the United States in late February.
Obama came under intense criticism at home last year for not meeting with the Dalai Lama so as not to sour the mood before the president's trip to China.
The US side agreed that Obama would meet later with the Dalai Lama, who is widely respected in the United States but vilified by China.
US companies involved in the Taiwan deal all declined to comment other than to say that the issue concerned governments and not individual firms.
An official at one company noted that China did not reveal details about the sanctions, making it difficult to gauge the impact.
US defense contractors sell little to China, which has been under a US and EU arms embargo since its bloody 1989 crackdown on pro-democracy protesters in Tiananmen Square.
But Boeing Co. -- whose McDonnell Douglas unit was given a 37 million-dollar contract for 12 Harpoon missiles to Taiwan -- is an aerospace giant which counts China as one of its largest markets.
Nonetheless, Boeing shares closed up 1.82 percent on the New York Stock Exchange, outpacing the benchmark Dow index, after Obama's budget proposal outlined new business for the company with NASA.
Boeing has deep ties with the aviation industry in China, which could stand to lose if it sanctioned the aviation giant.
Three Chinese companies are under contract to produce key parts of Boeing's emblematic 787 Dreamliner, which took to the skies in December after a more than two-year delay.
Aviation expert Richard Aboulafia, vice president for analysis at Teal Group, said that with past arms sales to Taiwan, "it's usually been this little dance of expressing disapproval over a few months and then things return to normal."
"But you never know when there could be a tipping point," he said. "If somehow Europe stays squeaky clean and the US has this tension over Taiwan and Tibet and cyber freedom and climate change, then there may be a shift to the European aerospace companies."
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Israeli officers get 'slap on wrist' for white phosphorus use in Gaza

UN officials say that the use of white phosphorus caused millions of dollars in damage and could have led to a 'great loss of life'

Brigadier General Eyal Eisenberg is one of two senior Israeli officers to be reprimanded for the use of white phosphorus in Gaza

Muhammad Nabih Ahmed, 17, who sustained severe injuries from white phosphorus in Gaza




Israel has reprimanded two senior army officers who were responsible for firing white phosphorus artillery shells at a UN compound during last year’s offensive in Gaza.

In the first admission of any wrongdoing the Israeli military found that Brigadier-General Eyal Eisenberg and Colonel Ilan Malka were guilty “of exceeding their authority in a manner that jeopardised the lives of others”.

The Israeli report was in response to a damning UN investigation into the Gaza war, which concluded that both Israel and Hamas, the Palestinian group, had committed war crimes and possible crimes against humanity and which called on both sides to investigate the conduct of their forces.

An Israeli defence official said that its internal investigation could lead to further disciplinary action against soldiers involved in the 22-day offensive. The two officers disciplined yesterday were served a mild reprimand and had a “note” placed in their personal files noting their involvement. One defence official described the punishment as a “slap on the wrist.”

The Times first revealed that Israeli artillery was firing white phosphorus rounds into the heavily populated Palestinian enclave.

The reports were at first denied by the Israel Defence Forces (IDF), which admitted later that the munitions had been used to provide smoke and tracer illumination during the incursion. International law prohibits the use of white phosphorus in heavily populated civilian areas, but allows it in open areas to be used as cover for troops. The incident in the IDF report occurred on January 15 when General Eisenberg and Colonel Malka were responsible for bombarding the UN compound. During the incident, near the Tel al-Hawa neighbourhood south of Gaza City, Israeli forces from the Givati unit were exchanging fire with Hamas fighters.

Hamas held a position with a commanding view of advancing Israeli troops, with the UN’s headquarters directly between the two forces. The artillery attack by 155mm cannon, which took place while more than 700 Palestinian civilians were taking refuge inside, set light to a warehouse storing millions of dollars’ worth of aid for more than a million Gazans and destroyed tonnes of food and supplies.

A high-ranking UN official told The Times that half a dozen unexploded IDF shells were found in the UN compound and their serial numbers were traced to US factories. “The burning down of the UN compound in Gaza is massively symbolic,” said Chris Gunness, a UN spokesman.

Human rights groups have accused Israel of violating the rules of warfare in Gaza.

Although white phosphorus is not mentioned in the officers’ reprimands, the Israeli report reveals elsewhere that the munitions were in use. The shells disperse hundreds of pieces of felt soaked in the incendiary chemical, which continues to burn for as long as it is exposed to oxygen.

The IDF report said: “The primary rationale for deploying smoke screening munitions containing white phosphorus was to produce a smokescreen to protect Israeli forces from the Hamas anti-tank crews operating adjacent to the UNRWA headquarters. Such a smokescreen has proven an effective response to the anti-tank threat, since it effectively blocks the enemy’s field of view . . . The smokescreen created during the fighting in Tel al-Hawa was effective in achieving its military objective.” It concluded: “In the absence of the smokescreen, the fight would have continued in this area, and the IDF would have had to use reactive fire to engage anti-tank units, with the likelihood of greater civilian harm.”

UN officials argue that the use of white phosphorus caused millions of dollars in damage and could have led to a “great loss of life”.


Israel and white phosphorus

January 5 2009: The Times reveals that Israel is using the controversial munition

January 8 2009: The Times publishes pictures of white phosphorus shells ready for use by the IDF, and reveals that civilians are suffering horrific burns

January 12 2009: Pressure on Israel increases as doctors reveal they are treating 50 injured by white phosphorus in a single incident

January 15 2009: UN headquarters in Gaza is hit / Human Rights Watch condemns use of white phosphorus

January 20 2009: Mahmoud, 14, blinded in both eyes by phosphorus

January 24 2009: IDF admits for the first time that white phosphorus was used in Gaza/Amnesty accuses both Hamas and IDF of war crimes

April 23 2009: Israel inaccurately claims it stopped using white phosphorus on January 7 because of the Times report

September 16 2009: Goldstone report accuses Israel of war crimes and of reckless use of phosphorus in Gaza

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Ten American Christians arrested in Haiti trying to take 33 orphans out of the country

Haitian authorities have questioned a group of 10 Americans who are accused of illegally trying to smuggle 33 children out of earthquake-shattered Haiti.

A prosecutor met with the Baptist church group at police headquarters in Port-au-Prince, where they have been held since they were arrested on Friday trying to cross into the Dominican Republic with a busload of children.

The Baptist missionaries deny charges that they were engaged in child trafficking and insist they were only trying to help vulnerable children left orphaned by the quake.
Haitian authorities said the five men and five women had no paperwork authorising them to take the children, who are aged between two months and 12 years.

The group, from the Idaho-based charity New Life Children's Refuge, were stopped at Malpasse, Haiti's main border crossing, after police conducted a search of their bus.

Officers said they were arrested because they did not have proof that the youngsters - many of whom were sick and dehydrated - were orphans.

The case could be diplomatically sensitive at a time when the U.S. is spearheading a huge relief effort to help hundreds of thousands of victims of the quake.

Yesterday, the U.S. military resumed medical evacuation flights of critically-injured victims to America, ending a five-day suspension caused by a dispute over where to treat patients and who would pay for their care.
Prime Minister of Haiti Max Bellerive said yesterday he was outraged by the group's 'illegal trafficking of children' in a country long afflicted by the problem.

But some parents say they would part with their children if it would mean a better life.

Adonis Helman, 44, one of some 20 Haitian parents interviewed at a tent camp yesterday said: 'Some parents I know have already given their children to foreigners.'

'I've been thinking how I will choose which one I may give - probably my youngest.'

The arrests will renew concerns about child abduction, which has blighted Haiti for years. Even before the 7.0 earthquake struck on January 12, killing as many as 200,000, around 2,000 youngsters were believed to be being taken from the streets each year.

Aid groups say 500,000 children have either been made homeless or are in orphanages following the quake, and that rumours of child trafficking are circulating. In response, Haiti’s government has imposed strict controls on adoptions amid fears traffickers could exploit the current chaos.
Although hundreds of children have been flown to the U.S. to meet new parents, most were already in the process of being adopted before the disaster.

The 33 children, aged between 2 months to 12 years, have been taken to an orphanage run by Austrian-based SOS Children’s Villages, which is trying to find their parents or close relatives.

A spokesman said: ‘One child, an eight-year-old, said she thought she was going to some sort of summer camp in the Dominican Republic.

'She was crying, and saying, "I am not an orphan. I still have my parents".'

Yves Cristalin, Haiti’s social affairs minister, said: ‘This is totally illegal. It is an abduction, not an adoption. What is important is that a child needs to have authorisation to leave the country.’

Deb Barry, a protection expert at Save the Children, which wants a moratorium on new adoptions said: 'The instinct to swoop in and rescue children may be a natural impulse but it cannot be the solution for the tens of thousands of children left vulnerable by the Haiti earthquake.'

'The possibility of a child being scooped up and mistakenly labelled an orphan in the chaotic aftermath of the disaster is incredibly high.'
But Laura Silsby, the group’s leader, insisted that they had done nothing wrong.

At a police station next to the airport in the capital Port-au-Prince, she said: ‘We came here to help and we know God will reveal the truth.

‘I was going to come back and do the paperwork. They accuse us of children trafficking. This is something I would never do. We were not trying to do something wrong - we had permission from the Dominican Republic government to bring the children to an orphanage we have there.

‘We have a Baptist minister here in Port-au-Prince whose orphanage totally collapsed and he asked us to take the children.’

Sean Lankford, whose wife and daughter are among those arrested, said the group had rented hotel rooms to house the children until an orphanage could be built.

‘It really is shocking because it really is a rescue mission for these children,’ he added.

‘They’re really hoping to save their lives.’
The charity is buying land to build a home for up to 150 orphans and provide a place for adoptive parents who want to take the children back to the U.S, he said.

Clint Henry, pastor of the Central Valley Baptist Church in Meridian, Idaho, which founded the group, said: ‘I know that there has been illegal activity down there and it’s unfortunate that we would be associated with that.

‘I don’t know what to say but God is in control and he’s got it figured out and we’re trusting him. It probably comes down to paperwork and we believed that we had done everything we needed to do.’

Max Beauvoir, head of Haiti's Voodoo Priest's Association, which represents thousands of priests and priestesses, said: 'There are many who come here with religious ideas that belong more in the time of the inquisition.

'These types of people believe they need to save our souls and our bodies from ourselves. We need compassion, not proselytising now, and we need aid - not just aid going to people of the Christian faith.'

Two-thirds of Haiti's 9 million population are said to practice Voodoo, a melange of beliefs from parts of west Africa and Catholicism.

A Haitian judge is expected to hear the case today to decide whether to bring charges against the group.

Relief workers in Haiti have begun to hand out women-only food coupons to ensure the most vulnerable receive aid supplies.

They said young men often force their way to the front of queues and even overpower women and children to get the best aid.

The UN World Food Program coupons can be exchanged at 16 sites and give a family 25kg (55lbs) of rice, which lasts a fortnight.











Held: The group of missionaries insist they have done nothing wrong, despite having no paperwork allowing them to take the children out of the country

 Questioned: Three of the women arrested for alleged child trafficking answer questions at police headquarters in Port-au-Prince


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Held: Looters are detained at an electric appliance shop in Port-au-Prince. One man was shot dead

 Arrested: More than 50 people looted an electrical appliance shop here on Friday. U.S. soldiers and Haiti policemen detained them after a gun battle



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Desperate: A crowd gathers hoping to receive food distributed by U.S. Army 82nd Airborne soldiers in the Cite Soleil neighbourhood in Port-au-Prince yesterday

Abducted? Some of the children suspected to have been taken by the charity

Arrested: Eight of the accused, including leader Laura Silsby, second from right, at police headquarters in Port-au-Prince

In ruins: A man balances a coffin on his head in Port-au-Prince as he passes a collapsed building

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Female suicide bomber kills Shia pilgrims in Iraq

Targeted: Muslim Shiite pilgrims leave Baghdad on their way to the holy city of Karbala today. At least 41 people have died after a female suicide bomber blew herself up among the crowd of pilgrims

An Iraqi soldier stands guard as Muslim Shiite pilgrims pass through Baghdad on their way to the holy city of Karbala today

The Shia pilgrims were marking Arbaaen, the end of 40 days of mourning for the death of Prophet Muhammad's grandson

A woman has blown herself up in north-east Baghdad, killing more than 40 people and injuring about 100 others.

Most of the casualties are believed to be Shia pilgrims, who were making the journey to Karbala, 80km south of the Iraqi capital.

In recent years the pilgrimage has been the target of similar attacks, blamed on Sunni extremists.


A female suicide bomber laden with explosives blew herself up in Baghdad today, killing at least 54 people and wounding 117.

The woman detonated her bomb among a crowd of Shi'ite pilgrims on the outskirts of the Iraqi capital, security officials said.

Thousands of Shi'ite Muslims had flooded the streets for the start of an arduous trek to the southern city of Karbala, 80 km (50 miles) southwest of Baghdad, for the religious rite of Arbain.

A Interior Ministry source and a police official said the attack was on a tent where pilgrims are given food and drink.

Arbain marks 40 days of mourning for Hussein, the Prophet Mohammad's grandson, who died in a 7th Century battle at Karbala.

Hundreds of thousands of pilgrims, beating their heads and chests in ritual mourning, pour into the city for the rite. Many walk from hundreds of miles away.

Arbain was once suppressed like other Shi'ite gatherings under Saddam.

Tens of thousands of troops and police have been deployed to protect pilgrims and also around the revered Imam Hussein shrine in Karbala.

But suspected Sunni Islamist extremists, who view Shi'ite Muslims as apostates, still manage to get through.

Iraq is trying to leave years of bombings, killings and sectarian slaughter behind as it moves to cement security gains made in the last two years and revamp an oil sector that gives Iraq nearly all of its revenues.

The attack took place as the nation geared up for a March election when Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki's government was expected to run on improved security and trumpet a series of oil deals that may vault Iraq into the world's top three crude exporters. It now the number 11 producer.

More attacks are likely during the Arbain religious period and before the election as suspected Sunni Islamist groups try to undermine Maliki's Shi'ite-led government.

Millions of Shi'ites from Iraq, Iran, Bahrain and other nations have defied the threat of suicide bombings since the 2003 U.S.-led invasion toppled the Sunni-led government of Saddam Hussein to visit Iraq's Shi'ite holy sites.



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Slaving for the Commonwealth Games: The child labourers put to work building a stadium in India's capital

At an age when children in this country are either at home playing or starting out in school these youngsters in India are putting in a day's work on a building site.

Struggling to hold up shovels which are as tall as them, they are helping to build drainage works in front of the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium in New Dehli in time for the Commonwealth Games which takes place this autumn.

They shovel stones into baskets which are then carried away by other children as their parents work nearby on the same construction project.
Parents who bring their children to work on the site have been promised extra bonuses such as money for bread and milk for their children, on top of their normal pay.

Children and parents also receive an additional meal if both of them work on the site.

The Games are due to be held in the Indian capital from October 3-14, but concerns remain over construction of its sporting and transport infrastructure.

The sheer scale of the project has drawn an enormous population of migrant workers from all over India.

And now it seems children have also been drafted in to get the stadium and its surrounding area finished on time.

This week the High Court of Delhi has sought a response from the Government over the alleged failure to provide all the benefits of labour laws to workers involved in construction work for the coming Commonwealth Games.
Workers are being paid below the minimum wage in order to complete these projects whilst also being forced to live and work under sub-standard conditions.

The Commonwealth Games Federation has repeatedly expressed concern about the slow pace of work for the Games, which will involve 6,000 athletes drawn from the former British Empire competing in 17 sports.

Federation president Mike Fennell said in December he was distressed by a report by the CGF evaluation commission that two major venues would not be ready until June, barely three months before the opening ceremony.

The commission said that work on the Nehru stadium, where the opening and closing ceremonies and the athletics programme will be held, and the swimming complex, was way behind schedule.



A girl drags a basket of stones at a drainage site near the Commonwealth Games stadium, which is due to open in October

At an age when children in this country are either at home playing or starting out in school these youngsters in India are putting in a day's work on a building site

The Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium goes up in New Delhi ahead of the October 2010 Commonwealth Games

The Commonwealth Games Federation has repeatedly expressed concern about the slow pace of work for the Games, which will involve 6,000 athletes drawn from the former British Empire

Parents who bring their children to work on the site have been promised extra bonuses such as bread and milk, on top of their normal pay

A boy struggles to hold up a shovel which is nearly the same size as him. He and the children around him are working alongside their parents at a construction project near the Commonwealth Games stadium

Skeletal and terrified: British yacht couple reveal cruelty of their Somali pirate captors

Her face is gaunt and drawn, her frame skeletal and weak.

The shocking effects of captivity are all too clear in this picture of Rachel Chandler, who has been held by Somali pirates for the last three months.

The image was taken by a French news agency that was allowed to accompany a doctor who examined Mrs Chandler and her husband Paul, who are being held separately.

The strain on 56-year-old Mrs Chandler’s face is clearly visible as she sits with her dress hanging loosely from her thin shoulders.

Yesterday she renewed her plea for urgent help, saying: ‘We have not much time left and are being badly treated. Please help us – these people are not treating us well.’

She went on: ‘I’m old, I’m 56, and my husband is 60 years old. We need to be together because we have not much time left. These people are treating us so cruelly.’

This is only the second time Mrs Chandler, an economist, has been seen since she and her husband were kidnapped in October at gunpoint as they sailed in their yacht towards Tanzania.

The last time was in November, when a video taken by the kidnappers – who are demanding a £1.9million ransom – was shown on Channel 4.
They have made other pleas for help in desperate phone calls, most recently on January 21, but the physical deterioration in yesterday’s new images are clear.

The Somalian doctor who examined Mrs Chandler said she was suffering a heavy ‘mental’ toll as well, which was manifested in ‘insomnia’.

Surgeon Mohamed Helmi Hangul, who spent three weeks securing permission to visit the couple, said: 'She's very confused, she's always asking about her husband - "Where's my husband, where's my husband?" - and she seems completely disorientated.'

'If I was with my husband I would feel a lot better,' Mrs Chandler told the medic.

'It's because I am not with my husband that I am feeling so lonely and desperate and finding it difficult to sleep.

'I need to be with Paul. We are husband and wife. We have always been together and we look after one another.'Mr Chandler also appeared gaunt in the video taken last Thursday but released last night.

His ribs could be seen as he lifted his shirt to be checked by the doctor, who reported he had a cough and a fever.

In the video, filmed by the AFP photographer, Mr Chandler, a retired quantity surveyor, called on the British Government to intervene.

'I just want to say please to my government, get me and my wife out of here. We are innocent we have done nothing wrong.
We have no money and can’t pay a ransom. We just need the Government to help, anyone who can get us out of here.

‘Day after day and this is 98 days of solitary confinement, no exercise. I don’t know what to do.’

Mr Chandler finally pleaded: ‘Will somebody please help? The government or somebody else.’
Dr Hangul added he had not been allowed to bring any drugs with him but left a prescription-with the pirates.

‘I gave them some advice and told them, “Your hostages can die. All you want is money so treat them well, let them reunite”,’ he said.

Mrs Chandler’s brother, Stephen Collett, was too distressed to comment last night.

A family friend said: ‘This is a highly distressing time for the family. They know the stakes are high and they are in an impossible position.

'The pirates want an unaffordable ransom and the Government won’t pay it.’

There has been sporadic communication with the Chandlers since they were captured, although this was the first time a journalist had been able to meet them.
Eleven days ago Mr Chandler spoke to ITV news, explaining their captives had ‘set a deadline of three or four days’, after which they expected to them to ‘kill us and abandon us in the desert’.

In a separate call, Mrs Chandler said she had been hit with an object she believed was a gun.

A gang member told the Daily Mail last month that the couple, from Tunbridge Wells, Kent, would be shot by the end of February if they were not paid a $3million ransom.

The Chandlers are being held in rugged areas between the coastal village of Elhur and the small inland town of Amara but are moved every 48 hours.

Foreign Secretary David Miliband has already insisted the Government will not become involved in any ransom payments.

A Foreign Office spokesman last night said: ‘We are doing everything we can to help secure their release.

'We remain in regular contact with the family and are providing support. We call for the safe and swift release of Paul and Rachel.'


How events unfolded after the Chandlers were captured aboard their yacht

One of the Somali pirate crews that operate off the country's coast and regularly attack shipping. This particular group seized 29 ships in 2008 and earned £6million in ransom money

Mr Chandler is examined by the doctor who visited with the video journalist: He and his wife are being held in separate locations in rugged countryside between the coastal village of Elhur and the small town of Amara

Mr Chandler, 60, pleaded for help and said conditions they were being held in were 'difficult'

Mrs Chandler being examined by the Somali doctor Abdi Mohamed Helmi.Disorientated: Rachel Chandler looked frail and weak in the video footage. She and her husband have been held for three months

With guns pointed at their backs, Paul and Rachel Chandler are forced to beg for mercy in a video released by their Somali kidnappers three months ago

The Chandlers looking healthy in Kerala, India - the couple were on a round-the-world trip when captured by pirates

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Obama budget would end program to return astronauts to moon

President Barack Obama wants to end the nation's troubled program to return astronauts to the moon, but NASA officials indicated Monday that any change was unlikely to mean cutbacks at the Goddard Space Flight Center in Maryland.

Obama's $3.8 trillion budget for fiscal 2011, which forecasts a record deficit, includes provisions for increased spending designed to improve the Chesapeake Bay watershed, a 1.4 percent annual pay increase for federal workers and an array of tax and education initiatives that would affect Maryland and the rest of the country, if Congress approves them.

The budget, for example, calls for an additional $25.5 billion nationwide to support state Medicaid programs, helping recession-battered states provide health care to the poor.

The president is requesting more than $800 million in new construction money for military and civilian projects in Maryland, including $219 million for a utility plant at the National Security Agency, which has struggled with inadequate electric power capacity, and $119.6 million for Aberdeen Proving Ground.

Officials of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, briefing reporters on one of the most contentious budget items, sought to deflect anger, including from key members of Congress, about ending the $49 billion Constellation human spaceflight program.

They emphasized a small overall budget increase that Obama is requesting for NASA, while playing down the impact of ending Constellation, which is over budget and behind schedule. It has already cost $9 billion and would need $2.5 billion more to phase it out under Obama’s plan.

Ending the lunar landing program would mean the loss of thousands of jobs at NASA installations in Florida and Alabama, and perhaps elsewhere.

"The truth is, we were not on a sustainable path to get back to the moon's surface," said NASA Administrator Charles F. Bolden Jr., a former space shuttle astronaut, who said he agreed with the president's decision.

Further details, including the budget for Goddard, are expected to be made public Tuesday. Deputy Administrator Lori Garver said some NASA employees who worked on the moon landing program would be reassigned to jobs where they already have expertise, adding that NASA's existing centers, which include Goddard, would "continue to really thrive."

Human spaceflight represents a relatively small part of the work at Goddard, which employs nearly 12,000 federal workers and contractors, officials said. They noted that Obama's plan to boost spending by more than $300 million for scientific research in global climate change and upgrading ground support for the International Space Station would play to Goddard's strengths as a center for Earth science and orbital communications.

Obama budget director Peter Orszag said the spending blueprint for NASA was designed to redirect spending toward "advanced robotics, research and development, [to] find those new technologies that will actually allow us to go further in space and not just repeat what we've already done" by landing more U.S. astronauts on the moon.

Congressional reaction ranged from caution to outrage, raising questions about whether the plan to kill the program would be approved.

Democratic Sen. Barbara A. Mikulski of Maryland, an influential lawmaker on NASA issues, urged the administration to consult widely with members of Congress.

"I am concerned by any abrupt or disruptive changes to the human spaceflight program," Mikulski said in a statement that stopped short of endorsing or opposing Obama's plan.

The leading Republican on the appropriations panel, Alabama Sen. Richard C. Shelby, whose state would be hit particularly hard, promised to fight the administration proposal. He called Obama's decision the start of a "death march for the future of U.S. human spaceflight."

Other budget initiatives brought only positive comments from Maryland's Democratic lawmakers.

Rep. Steny H. Hoyer of Southern Maryland, the House majority leader, said he was "pleased" that Obama decided to give civilian employees the same cost-of-living increase as members of the military, a change from last year.

Orszag, director of the president's Office of Management and Budget, defended the size of the salary increase at a time of double-digit national unemployment by saying that "to a lot of Americans, [a 1.4 percent raise] sounds pretty good." The increase "is lower than it's been in the past because inflation is lower than it's been in the past."

A variety of programs designed to improve water quality in the Chesapeake Bay would receive additional funding in a year in which Obama wants to hold overall nonsecurity spending flat.

The Clean Water revolving fund, an anti-pollution program that helps local governments upgrade sewage treatment systems, would get a major increase that could mean $387 million in additional funds for bay watershed states.

In addition, the Chesapeake Bay program, a federal-state partnership that has largely failed thus far in its mission to restore the bay, would get a $12.9 million increase, to $63 million. Obama is requesting $72 million for a separate conservation program designed to reduce farm runoff into the bay, up from $44 million in 2010.

Doug Siglin, federal affairs director for the Chesapeake Bay Foundation, called the increases a "significant" commitment of new federal spending for the bay when "times are tough."

Obama is proposing to increase the size of the federal work force by several hundred thousand in the next few years, building on recent increases at the departments of Defense, Homeland Security and Veterans Affairs. Much of the beefed-up staffing would be in offices that monitor federal acquisitions and other routine transactions, in an effort to cut down on fraud.

A spokesman for Gov. Martin O’Malley said the Democrat was "thankful" for the president's additional funding for state Medicaid programs. Obama is asking Congress to extend the current emergency aid to the states through June 2011.

Republican Rep. Roscoe G. Bartlett of Frederick, in a statement, said he would have preferred a more tightfisted approach to spending. But he added that "proposing a little bit of budget restraint in the future is better than the dangerously bloated and unsustainable budget that the president and the Democratic congressional majority approved last year."

White House fact sheets, tailored to each state, promoted the supposed benefits of the president's budget, while carefully avoiding mention of cuts, spending freezes or proposals for user fees or higher taxes that would pinch many Americans.

The administration touted Obama's proposed extension of a stimulus tax cut, which it said would help 2.1 million Maryland families. There was no mention of Obama's proposed tax increase on families earning at least $250,000, or how many in Maryland that might affect.

More details of the president's spending plan will be released in coming days and weeks, including programs such as Army Corps of Engineers harbor dredging, that have a direct impact on Baltimore and the state.

Obama is proposing to eliminate six agricultural research projects, totaling $3 million, in Beltsville, but includes $13 million for new research at the facility.

The president’s 2011 budget, which attempts to start reining in the growth of federal spending, reflects a different political reality. With elections looming, the president chose to limit some of the fights that he, and his predecessors, have picked with Congress.

Last year, for example, Obama tried to save $400 million by eliminating the State Criminal Alien Assistance Program, which subsidizes state and local governments for the cost of jailing illegal immigrants accused of committing crimes. Two years ago, when Republican President George W. Bush tried to end the program, key Democrats, including Mikulski and Rep. C.A. "Dutch" Ruppersberger of Baltimore County, fought him; they avoided openly criticizing Obama, but the program survived.

The president's 2010 budget criticized the Justice Department program, which can be used for "extraneous items and services," including bonuses and consultants.

The money could be better spent protecting the borders and quickly deporting illegal immigrants who commit crimes in the U.S., White House officials said last year.

But the program survived Obama's effort to kill it. This time, he is asking Congress to spend $330 million on it, with the proviso that reimbursements for state and local governments be limited to the actual cost of housing illegal immigrants and other detainees.


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