MoD faces new cuts cost review

 army faced the loss of 7,000 jobs by 2015 under the previous regime, the Ministry of defence seeks to find more savings of the armed forces in the next fiscal year.

A study of three months, in July, will consider including staff and equipment programmes could be reduced.

In October last strategic defence and security examine the statements of the plans of scrap HMS Ark Royal and the fleet Harrier and reduce 42 000 and civilian forces.

The MoD said it assessed whether the assumptions made in the past expenditures were still affordable.

Review of last year described the future shape and size of the armed forces of Britain with together in the fall of 8% in four years to defense spending.

The RAF and the Navy will lose every 5,000 jobs, the 7,000 military and civilian personnel of 25,000 MoD. Among other cuts announced was the demolition of the new Nimrod surveillance aircraft.

MoD explains the strategic defence and security review is not reopened, but after completing the planning cycle of its budget for the fiscal year ending in March 2012, has already started to work for the next year.

Continue reading the main story Harrier jump jet spy retiredNimrod plane cancelled5, 000 staff RAF deleted on five years5, 000 cut7, 000 cut25 staff Army Navy, personnel 000 civilians personal MoD but replaced axedTrident 750 m ￡ savings less warheadsTwo saved carrier, but it did not enter Domain MoD explains the new fact study part of the work to ensure it matches its planning assumptions with its regulation of expenses and closes the gap between the two.

A spokesman said: "we have clearly so that the strategic defence and security had made great strides on the 38bn ￡ funding gap, there is still much to do."

Defence of BBC correspondent Caroline Wyatt said potential targets for the reduction of expenses can include last surviving an aircraft carrier, which is due back of a consolidation of the next year, HMS Illustrious, the United Kingdom, and plans for a new fleet of armoured vehicles.

News of the study comes as Defence Secretary Liam Fox prepares to address Parliament later on amendments to the Bill of Armed Forces which will see the principles of the military Covenant — duty of the nation of care staff - written in the law for the first time.

It is understood that measures to improve the well-being of the soldiers in areas such as health, housing and education for the children of the forces is also disclosed.

Pakistan faces tough questions on Ben Laden (Reuters)

WASHINGTON/ABBOTTABAD, Pakistan (Reuters) – Pakistan faced embarrassing questions from the United States on Monday over how al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden was able to hide there in plain view before he was killed by a secret U.S. assault team.

The revelation that bin Laden had been holed up in a compound near Islamabad threatened to exacerbate U.S. tensions with nuclear-armed Pakistan, which had not been told of the raid in advance.

The body of the world's most powerful symbol of Islamist militancy was buried at sea after he was shot in the head and chest by U.S. special forces who were dropped inside his luxury compound by Blackhawk helicopters.

Irate U.S. lawmakers wondered how it was possible for bin Laden to live in a populated area without anyone of authority knowing about it or sanctioning his presence, possibly for years. They said it was time to review the billions in aid the United States provides Pakistan.

"I think we need to talk about that. Our government is in fiscal distress. To make contributions to a country that isn't going to be fully supportive is a problem for many," said Senate Intelligence Committee chair Dianne Feinstein.

The White House acknowledged there was good reason for U.S. lawmakers, already doubtful of Pakistan's cooperation against al Qaeda, to demand to know whether bin Laden had been "hiding in plain sight" and to raise questions about continued U.S. aid to Islamabad.

Bin Laden's hideaway, built in 2005, was about eight times larger than other homes nearby. With its 12- to 18-foot walls topped with barbed wire, internal walls for extra privacy, and access controlled through two security gates, it looked like a strongman's compound.

White House counterterrorism chief John Brennan said it was "inconceivable that bin Laden did not have a support system in the country that allowed him to remain there for an extended period of time."

President Barack Obama was given a standing ovation by Democratic and Republican lawmakers at a White House dinner.

He told the group the operation was a reminder that "there is pride in what this nation stands for and what we can achieve that runs far deeper than party, far deeper than politics."

But the euphoria that drew flag-waving crowds to "Ground Zero" of the September 11, 2001, attack in New York was tempered by calls for vigilance against retaliation by his followers.

Obama planned to travel to New York on Thursday to visit Ground Zero and meet families of September 11 victims.

Bin Laden, 54, was given a sea burial after Muslim funeral rites on a U.S. aircraft carrier, the Carl Vinson. His shrouded body was placed in a weighted bag and eased into the north Arabian Sea, the U.S. military said.

The Obama administration was weighing whether to release a photo of bin Laden's body as proof that he had been killed. There is also a video of the sea burial but it was not clear if it would be released, a U.S. official said.

NIGHT RAID NEAR ISLAMABAD

Americans clamored for details about the secret U.S. military mission.

A small U.S. strike team, dropped by helicopter to bin Laden's hide-out near the Pakistani capital Islamabad under the cover of night, shot the al Qaeda leader to death with a bullet to the head. He did not return fire.

Bin Laden's wife, originally thought killed, was only wounded. Another woman was killed in the raid, along with one of bin Laden's sons, in the tense 40 minutes of fighting. She had not been used as a human shield as first thought.

Television pictures from inside the house showed bloodstains smeared across a floor next to a large bed.

Obama and his staff followed the raid minute-by-minute via a live video feed in the White House situation room, and there was relief when the commandos, including members of the Navy's elite Seals unit, stormed the compound.

"We got him," the president said, according to Brennan, after the mission was accomplished.

National Journal said U.S. authorities used intelligence about the compound to build a replica of it and use it for trial runs in early April.

Mindful of possible suspicion in the Muslim world, a U.S. official said DNA testing showed a "virtually 100 percent" match with the al Qaeda leader. His DNA was matched with that of several relatives, a U.S. official said.

Under bin Laden, al Qaeda militants struck targets from Indonesia to the European capitals of Madrid and London.

But it was the September 11 attacks, in which al Qaeda militants used hijacked planes to strike at economic and military symbols of American might and killed nearly 3,000 people, that helped bin Laden achieve global infamy.

Obama, whose popularity has suffered from continuing U.S. economic woes, will likely see a short-term bounce in his approval ratings. At the same time, he may face more pressure from Americans to speed the planned withdrawal this July of some U.S. forces from Afghanistan.

However, bin Laden's death is unlikely to have any impact on the nearly decade-long war in Afghanistan, where U.S. forces are facing record violence by a resurgent Taliban.

Many analysts see bin Laden's death as largely symbolic since he was no longer believed to have been issuing operational orders to the many autonomous al Qaeda affiliates.

"There are a lot of al Qaeda look-alike cells," said Steve Clemons, a Middle East analyst at the New America Foundation. "Bin Laden was an animating force but there are other ways these groups get oxygen and can remain a threat."

U.S. stocks and oil prices closed modestly lower on Monday as investors concluded Osama bin Laden's death will do little to ease global economic and political risks.

The U.S. dollar erased early gains and the euro hit a 17-month high against the greenback on bets euro-zone interest rates will keep rising to fend off inflation.

BURIED AT SEA, WARNINGS OF REVENGE

Analysts warned that objections from some Muslim clerics to the sea burial could stoke anti-American sentiment. The clerics questioned whether the United States followed proper Islamic tradition, saying Muslims should not be buried at sea unless they died during a voyage.

The United States issued security warnings to Americans worldwide. CIA Director Leon Panetta said al Qaeda would "almost certainly" try to avenge bin Laden's death.

France's President Nicolas Sarkozy hailed the killing as a coup in the fight against terrorism, but he, too, warned it did not spell al Qaeda's demise. British Prime Minister David Cameron said the West should be "particularly vigilant."

Vows to avenge bin Laden's death appeared quickly in Islamist militant forums, a key means by which al Qaeda leaders have passed on information. "God's revenge on you, you Roman dog, God's revenge on you crusaders," one forum member wrote.

It was the biggest national security victory for the president since he took office in early 2009 and will make it difficult for Republicans to portray Democrats as weak on security as he seeks re-election in 2012.

Republicans were eager to express appreciation for the role Obama's predecessor, George W. Bush, played in the search for bin Laden, but Obama supporters saw it another way:

"It took Obama to get Osama," said a tee shirt vendor in Washington selling shirts with that slogan emblazoned on them.

In Saudi Arabia, bin Laden's native land, there was a mood of disbelief and sorrow among many. The Palestinian Islamist group Hamas mourned bin Laden as an "Arab holy warrior."

But many in the Arab world felt his death was long overdue. For many Arabs, inspired by the popular upheavals in Egypt, Libya and elsewhere over the past few months, the news of bin Laden's death had less significance than it once might have.

Yemen power transition deal faces last minute hooking (Reuters)

SANAA (Reuters) - a contract at the end of the Yemen political crisis hit a potential snag Saturday as have doubts on the question of whether President Ali Abdullah Saleh would be personally sign an agreement that he would have left power less than a month.

But the coalition of main opposition in the country said he still hopes rich Gulf States which negotiated the agreement would be able to provide a signature by Saleh, a surviving clever policy who has faced three months of pro-democracy protests seeking his eviction.

"Until now, we still hope that the efforts of the Secretary-General of the Gulf Cooperation Council will succeed in convincing the President to sign," a prominent opposition leader told Reuters, speaking on condition of anonymity.

Saleh, who has held the poor Arabian Peninsula State for 33 years, had been due to sign a contract Saturday to an agreement which, if applied, would make the third Arab leader dismissed a wave of popular uprisings.

But in a last ride minute, an employee of the said Government talks are underway in the party to power that Saleh would be personally sign or let senior officials of his party. Such an approach could throw the entire agreement in doubt.

"There is debate on the issue at this moment," said the official. Other officials already said several times that Saleh would sign on Saturday.

The United States and the neighbouring oil giant Saudi Arabia want the deadlock Yemen resolved to avoid the chaos that could allow wing Yemen of al-Qaeda operate more freely.

Saleh, in principle, accepted the agreement negotiated by its neighbours of the CCG exporters of oil.

Overriding opposition of the Yemen, which includes Islamists and leftists, has also agreed to the agreement, even though the demonstrators rejected the agreement and demand Saleh resign immediately and be brought to justice.

Saleh, long considered an ally of U.S. against wing based at the al-Qaeda Yemen, had already forced mediators to split the two-day signing ceremony and objected to the presence of the Qatari officials.

Prime Minister of the State of the Qatar was the first to publicly declare the agreement of the Gulf seek resignation of the Saleh, and his Al Jazeera satellite television channel was accused by Saleh of incitement to revolt in the Arab worldnow swept by pro-democracy demonstrations.

While the Yemeni leader should sign the Pact Sanaa, Vice President of his party will travel to the Saudi capital Riyadh Sunday official ceremony of signing by the opposition, which warned that additional bloodshed could derail the deal.

VIOLENCE IN THE SOUTH YEMEN

The violence erupted at the front South of the expected signature Yemen when armed men killed two police officers and wounded two others in the city of port of Aden, said State media. Witnesses said that armed men attacked a police station. Shooting also erupted outside a prison nearby.

Shortly after, forces security moved to disperse an anti-government demonstration in the same district, killing two demonstrators and injuring 50 more, said Qassim Jamil, a doctor.

Demonstrators fled the scene, and tanks and armoured vehicles were patrolling the streets, witnesses said. The wounded were taken to hotels nearby for treatment because they could not reach hospitals, said Jamil.

Analysts say the Government, which has tried to contain the separatists in the South and Shi'ite rebels in the North, secessionist fear might try to take advantage of the crisis of leadership of the Yemen to renew boost for separation.

Protesters say they will remain on the streets until that leaves Saleh. They also called for him to be brought to justice for corruption and death of 144 demonstrators estimated killed since the beginning of the gatherings three months ago.

The agreement of the CCG offers Saleh and his entourage, including parents who run branches of the security forces, the immunity from prosecution.

"People want the trial of the murderer!" some anti-Saleh demonstrators shouted protests Friday which ended with a funeral March for 12 killed demonstrators on Wednesday, thousands of transmit their hand to hand wooden coffins to their graves.

Analysts say a window of 30 days for Saleh to resign gives enough time for the disaffected forces of the old guard to incorporate the disorder to the Yemen, where half of the population possesses a firearm and al-Qaeda has taken foot in its mountainous regions.

Should the deal go by, Saleh appoints a Prime Minister of the opposition at the head of a transitional Government, which would create a presidential vote for 60 days after his departure.

Many protestors, wary of the opposition due to its presence in the Government in the past, has urged at the rear of the transaction.

"They lose Saleh does not adhere to the Convention.". If it cannot find a reason to overturn it will trigger a war, "demonstrating Sanaa Abdulsalam Mahmoud said."