"Hundreds" of rebels killed, France to leave Mali from March

GAO, Mali: French-led forces have killed hundreds of Islamists in fighting to reclaim northern Mali and with the rebels' last bastion secured, France said Tuesday it will begin withdrawing its troops from March.

Defence Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said the 26-day military intervention had killed "several hundred" Islamist militants as its air and ground forces chased them from their northern strongholds into remote mountainous terrain in the far northeast, near the Algerian border.

The defence ministry said the Islamists died in French air strikes on vehicles transporting fighters and equipment, and in "direct combat in Konna and Gao", key central and northern towns.

France's sole fatality so far has been a helicopter pilot who was killed at the start of the military operation, while "two or three" soldiers have suffered light injuries, Le Drian said.

Mali said 11 of its troops were killed and 60 wounded after the battle at Konna last month but it has not since released a new death toll.

Le Drian said the Malian army had taken "some prisoners, not many, who will have to answer to Malian courts and to international justice," adding that some of those detained were high-ranking militants.

France expects to begin withdrawing its soldiers from Mali "starting in March, if all goes as planned", French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius told daily newspaper Metro in an interview to be published Wednesday.

Nearly 4,000 French troops are currently deployed in Mali, and the former colonial ruler is keen to hand over the operation to African troops amid warnings the Islamists could now launch a prolonged insurgency.

The French defence ministry said Kidal -- the last town to fall of those seized by Al Qaeda-linked fighters who occupied northern Mali for 10 months -- was now under the control of French forces and some 1,800 Chadian troops.

The rebels have fled to the Adrar des Ifoghas massif around Kidal, a craggy mountain landscape honeycombed with caves, where they are believed to be holding seven French hostages.

An ethnic Tuareg group formerly allied with the Islamists, the Azawad National Liberation Movement (MNLA), meanwhile said it had retaken Menaka, a town previously claimed by French-led forces.

A Malian security source confirmed the Tuareg group was in the town 80 kilometres (50 miles) from the Niger border, which Nigerien troops had taken from Islamist occupiers but then left as they continued their advance.

Tuaregs working against "terrorists"

The MNLA -- which was originally fighting alongside the Islamists but then fell out with them -- earlier said it was working with France against "terrorists" in the region.

"In the framework of anti-terrorist coordination put in place with French forces", the MNLA will provide intelligence on "top terrorist officials" they have arrested, a spokesman said in Burkina Faso.

The group said it was responsible for the arrest on Sunday of two Islamist leaders, Mohamed Moussa Ag Mohamed, the number three in Ansar Dine (Defenders of the Faith), and Oumeini Ould Baba Akhmed of the Movement for Oneness and Jihad in West Africa (MUJAO).

The MNLA launched a rebellion a year ago fighting for an independent state for the desert nomad Tuareg people, who have long felt marginalised by Mali's government.

But, after being chased from their strongholds by the Islamists, they have voiced a willingness to negotiate since France intervened.

With France eager to shed some of the military burden and 8,000 pledged African troops being deployed at a slow trickle, observers have said Paris is likely examining whether the MNLA is a possible partner.

Le Drian said France had "functional relations" with the group in Kidal but that fighting terrorists alongside them was "not our objective".

"As soon as the MNLA declares -- it seems it is doing so -- that it is not terrorist, or secessionist, and that it wants to be part of the internal dialogue in Mali, it will have a place at the table," he said.

In France, President Francois Hollande urged Europe to fight drug trafficking in west Africa, telling the European Parliament that "terrorism feeds on narcotics trafficking".

Analysts say the groups that seized northern Mali depend on drug trafficking, smuggling and kidnapping to arm themselves.

And in Brussels, global players including the United Nations and African Union met to carve out plans for Mali's future once the 26-day-old offensive draws to an end, urging elections -- which Mali's interim government has promised by July 31 -- and a national dialogue.

-AFP/ac

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Why going private is a good thing for Dell

The Dell Inspiron 15z is one of Dell's latest PC offerings.

(Credit:
Sarah Tew/CNET)

In October 2011, I managed to annoy Michael Dell.

It was shortly after Steve Jobs died, and I sat with Dell for a 30-minute talk at the company's home in Round Rock, Texas. I was a reporter for Dow Jones at the time.

The interview had nearly ended, and Dell was on his way out the door when I asked the question, "Michael, is there anything you learned from Steve Jobs and his time at Apple that you can apply to Dell?"

He paused thoughtfully and then said that he'd met Jobs while in college and that it left a big impression on him. I responded that that was great, but what about now? Was Dell trying to emulate Apple in any way or had he gained any insights from Apple's transformation?

Dell clearly didn't like the inquiry. He stopped for a moment, scowled, and then said, "I think we're done here," as he walked out of the room.

I'm still waiting for the answer to my query, and maybe now Dell can find it as a private company, unencumbered by the needs of public investors and the scrutiny of Wall Street.

Clearly, the tables have turned for Dell, and that's why I asked that question. During the dot-com boom, Dell was on top of the PC market, and Apple was still struggling to come back from its near-death moment. Michael Dell famously quipped in late 1997 that all that could be done for then-struggling Apple was to "shut it down and give the money back to shareholders."

It's easy to pass off Dell's predicament as an entertaining case of schadenfreude, but the company isn't a giant on the brink the way Apple was in the mid-1990s. While Dell's fiscal third-quarter net income tumbled 47 percent from the same quarter a year ago to $475 million and its revenue dropped 11 percent to $13.7 billion, it still generated $1.3 billion in cash flow from operations during the period ended Nov. 2. That brought its total cash and investments to $14.2 billion.

Michael Dell at the Web 2.0 Summit in October 2011.

(Credit:
James Martin/CNET)

In short, the glass is half full. Dell remains one of the world's biggest PC makers, though its market share has been falling to Asian rivals such as Lenovo. It's trying to emulate IBM by expanding in business technology like storage and services, but the operations haven't been showing results fast enough for investors.

And in high-growth markets like smartphones and
tablets, Dell's efforts could charitably be described as disappointing, pointing toward an alarming future of shrinking sales in low-growth or no-growth markets.

So how do you get this once-mighty but still huge company back on track? Dell ultimately decided the best way to do it was behind a curtain. Michael Dell and investment firm Silver Lake said today that they're partnering on a $24.4 billion leveraged buyout, and Microsoft is even kicking in a $2 billion loan to help fund the deal.

While going private may unsettle customers right now, it's the right thing to do. The company can do what it needs to without disclosing every move to regulators and public shareholders. For example, it can grow its enterprise business and figure out what it's going to do in mobile.

"I would describe Dell's last few years as in transition but lacking focus," Forrester analyst David Johnson said. "[As a private company], they could be more nimble and able to focus the organization and business faster."

(Note the Forrester analyst is not the David Johnson who previously oversaw Dell's M&A strategy.)

Dell played a key role in the PC revolution, but its traditional products are being left behind in the mobile boom. For Dell, that has meant shifting focus to providing data center technology instead of simply selling PCs. And it has had some success there. While overall fiscal third-quarter results were dismal, revenue in Dell's server and networking business climbed 11 percent from the previous year to $2.32 billion.

But building an enterprise business and attracting new customers to replace consumers takes time. Dell has been expanding its offerings by making acquisitions, such as IT services provider Perot Systems and storage maker Compellent. But pulling all that together into one neat package -- a la IBM Global Services -- takes time.

And going private buys time. Dell apparently will stay the course with its current plans to diversify away from PCs, based on comments Chief Financial Officer Brian Gladden made to several publications today.

In addition, Dell's closer relationship with Microsoft through the software giant's loan could end up being mutually beneficial. Microsoft has been trying to more tightly control the entire device-making process. It not only builds its own tablets now but also has started exerting more say over its partners' products. An even closer relationship between Microsoft and Dell could result in devices with better integration between hardware and software in consumer devices. And it also could ensure Microsoft has a strong partner for its enterprise business.

How Microsoft became a control freak with tablet makers

Of course, there are risks with going private. Instead of quarterly check-ins with investors, Silver Lake could grow frustrated and demand faster improvements. And just because Dell doesn't have to answer to public shareholders doesn't mean its backers won't expect returns on their investments.

In addition, customers may be hesitant to buy many Dell products because they're afraid -- rightly or wrongly -- that Dell won't continue to support what they bought.

"While the company might come out of this transition stronger with a product lineup that better meets the needs of businesses and public sector organizations, there will be uncertainty as to what products and services stay, get [strengthened], or get eliminated," Carter Lusher, chief IT analyst at Ovum, said.

And even if Dell has more time and less scrutiny, the overall tech environment remains very competitive. IBM sure won't be waiting for Dell to figure out its strategy, and neither will HP, Lenovo, Apple, or various other rivals.

More than anything, Dell needs to start innovating, whether it's in PCs, mobile devices, or enterprise offerings. If there's anything Michael Dell should have learned from Jobs and Apple, it's this: It's not enough to simply build me-too products.

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Gay marriage gets OK from British lawmakers

LONDON British lawmakers on Tuesday voted overwhelmingly in favor of a bill to legalize same-sex marriage championed by Prime Minister David Cameron, despite strong opposition from within his Conservative Party.

In a first House of Commons vote, lawmakers voted 400 to 175 in support of the legislation. There was majority support from the left-leaning Labour Party and Liberal Democrats party, but around half of the Conservative lawmakers rejected the proposals or abstained.

The bill will have to go through more detailed parliamentary debates and a vote in the House of Lords, where a vote in favor is likely given the strong support Tuesday. If it becomes law, the proposed bill would enable same-sex couples to get married in both civil and religious ceremonies, provided that the religious institution consents.

The bill would also allow couples who had previously entered into civil partnerships to convert their relationship into a marriage.

Earlier, Cameron - who did not attend a Parliament debate ahead of the vote - said passing the bill is "an important step forward" for Britain.

"I am a strong believer in marriage. It helps people commit to each other and I think it is right that gay people should be able to get married too," he said. "This is, yes, about equality. But it is also about making our society stronger."

Officials have stressed that all religious organizations can decide for themselves if they want to "opt in" to holding gay weddings. However, the Church of England, the country's official faith, is barred from performing such ceremonies.

That provision aims to ensure that the Church, which opposes gay marriage, is protected from legal claims that as the official state religion it must marry anyone who requests it.

Currently same-sex couples only have the option of a civil partnership, which offers the same legal rights and protections on issues such as inheritance, pensions, and child maintenance.

Supporters say that gay relationships should be treated exactly the same way as heterosexual ones, but critics worry that the proposals would change long-standing views about the meaning of marriage. Some Conservatives also fear the proposals would cost the party a significant number of votes in the next election.

"Marriage is the union between a man and a woman, has been historically, remains so. It is Alice in Wonderland territory, Orwellian almost, for any government of any political persuasion to seek to come along and try to re-write the lexicon," Conservative lawmaker Roger Gale said.

If passed, the bill's provisions would come into effect in 2015. They apply only to England and Wales - there are no plans for similar legislation in Northern Ireland. Scotland is considering introducing a similar bill.

CBS Radio's Vicki Barker reports from London that Tony and Barry Drewett-Barlow have been in a civil partnership for seven years. They are devout Christians who want a Christian wedding.

"For Barry and I it's about being able to stand up in front of the altar in our local church and say our vows," Tony said, "not only to each other and in law, but also in the eyes of God -- and that's a really important step."

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Rescued Ala. Boy Watching Cartoons in Hospital

The 5-year-old held hostage in a nearly week-long standoff in Alabama is cheerfully watching Spongebob and posting sticky notes on everyone around him at the hospital as organizers plan a birthday party for him so big it may take place at a high school football stadium.

The boy, identified only as Ethan, is apparently unharmed but is at the hospital for numerous evaluations, authorities said today.

Ethan was rescued by the FBI Monday after they rushed the underground bunker where suspect Jimmy Lee Dykes, 65, was holding him. Dykes was killed in the raid and the boy was taken away from the bunker in an ambulance.

Ethan's thrilled relatives told "Good Morning America" today that he seemed "normal as a child could be" after what he went through and has been happily playing with his toy dinosaur.

"He's happy to be home," Ethan's great uncle Berlin Enfinger told "GMA." "He's very excited and he looks good."

Click here for a psychological look at what's next for Ethan.

Ethan is "running around the hospital room, putting sticky notes on everyone that was in there, eating a turkey sandwich and watching Spongebob," Dale County Schools Superintendent Donny Bynum said at a news conference today.

Ala. Hostage Standoff Over: Kidnapper Dead, Child Safe Watch Video

Alabama Hostage Standoff: Jimmy Lee Dykes Dead Watch Video

Ethan is expected to be released from the hospital later today and head home where he will be greeted by birthday cards from his friends at school. Ethan will celebrate his 6th birthday Wednesday.

When asked about a birthday party for Ethan, Bynum said, "We are still in the planning stages. Our time frame is that we are waiting for Ethan, waiting on that process, but we are going to have it at a school facility, most likely the football stadium at Dale County High School."

He said many "tears of celebration" were shed Monday night when Ethan was reunited with his family.

"If I could, I would do cartwheels all the way down the road," Ethan's aunt Debra Cook told "GMA." "I was ecstatic. Everything just seemed like it was so much clearer. You know, we had all been walking around in a fog and everyone was just excited. There's no words to put how we felt and how relieved we were."

Cook said that Ethan has not yet told them anything about what happened in the bunker and they know very little about Dykes.

What the family does know is that they are overjoyed to have their "little buddy" back.

"He's a special child, 90 miles per hour all the time," Cook said. "[He's] a very, very loving child. When he walks in the room, he just lights it up."

Dykes allegedly shot and killed bus driver Albert Poland Jr., 66, before taking Ethan hostage.

Authorities said today they have not yet spoken to Poland's family since Ethan's rescue, but were planning on visiting them today.

"We know that Ms. Poland is aware and she is celebrating today with us and we did talk to Mr. Poland's son who lives in Hickory, North Carolina," Bynum said. "He called last night and made the comment, 'My dad's last child is home.' So it goes to show what kind of people they are."

A new school bus and new driver were back today on the route where Poland was killed and Ethan was kidnapped.

Officials have remained tight-lipped about the raid, citing the ongoing investigation.

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Iran's Ahmadinejad kissed and scolded in Egypt

CAIRO (Reuters) - Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was both kissed and scolded on Tuesday when he began the first visit to Egypt by an Iranian president since Tehran's 1979 Islamic revolution.

The trip was meant to underline a thaw in relations since Egyptians elected an Islamist head of state, President Mohamed Mursi, last June. But it also highlighted deep theological and geopolitical differences.

Mursi, a member of the Sunni Muslim Brotherhood, kissed Ahmadinejad after he landed at Cairo airport and gave him a red carpet reception with military honors. Ahmadinejad beamed as he shook hands with waiting dignitaries.

But the Shi'ite Iranian leader received a stiff rebuke when he met Egypt's leading Sunni Muslim scholar later at Cairo's historic al-Azhar mosque and university.

Sheikh Ahmed al-Tayeb, head of the 1,000-year-old seat of religious learning, urged Iran to refrain from interfering in Gulf Arab states, to recognize Bahrain as a "sisterly Arab nation" and rejected the extension of Shi'ite Muslim influence in Sunni countries, a statement from al-Azhar said.

Visiting Cairo to attend an Islamic summit that begins on Wednesday, Ahmadinejad told a news conference he hoped his trip would be "a new starting point in relations between us".

However, a senior cleric from the Egyptian seminary, Hassan al-Shafai, who appeared alongside him, said the meeting had degenerated into an exchange of theological differences.

"There ensued some misunderstandings on certain issues that could have an effect on the cultural, political and social climate of both countries," Shafai said.

"The issues were such that the grand sheikh saw that the meeting ... did not serve the desired purpose."

The visit would have been unthinkable during the rule of Hosni Mubarak, the military-backed autocrat who preserved Egypt's peace treaty with Israel during his 30 years in power and deepened ties between Cairo and the West.

"The political geography of the region will change if Iran and Egypt take a unified position on the Palestinian question," Ahmadinejad said in an interview with Al Mayadeen, a Beirut-based TV station, on the eve of his trip.

He said he wanted to visit the Gaza Strip, the Palestinian territory which neighbors Egypt to the east and is run by the Islamist movement Hamas. "If they allow it, I would go to Gaza to visit the people," Ahmadinejad said.

Analysts doubt that the historic changes that brought Mursi to power will result in a full restoration of diplomatic ties between states whose relations were broken off after the conclusion of Egypt's peace treaty with Israel in 1979.

OBSTACLES TO FULL TIES

At the airport the two leaders discussed ways of improving relations and resolving the Syrian crisis "without resorting to military intervention", Egyptian state media reported.

Egypt is concerned by Iran's support for Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, who is trying to crush an uprising inspired by the revolt that swept Mubarak from power two years ago. Egypt's overwhelmingly Sunni Muslim population is broadly supportive of the uprising against Assad's Alawite-led administration.

Egyptian Foreign Minister Mohamed Kamel Amr sought to reassure Gulf Arab allies - that are supporting Cairo's battered state finances and are deeply suspicious of Iran - that Egypt would not jeopardize their security.

"The security of the Gulf states is the security of Egypt," he said in remarks reported by the official MENA news agency.

Mursi wants to preserve ties with the United States, the source of $1.3 billion in aid each year to the influential Egyptian military.

"The restoration of full relations with Iran in this period is difficult, despite the warmth in ties ... because of many problems including the Syrian crisis and Cairo's links with the Gulf states, Israel and the United States," said one former Egyptian diplomat.

Iranian Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi said he was optimistic that ties could grow closer.

"We are gradually improving. We have to be a little bit patient. I'm very hopeful about the expansion of the bilateral relationship," he told Reuters. Asked where he saw room for closer ties, he said: "Trade and economics."

Egypt and Iran have taken opposite courses since the late 1970s. Egypt, under Mubarak's predecessor Anwar Sadat, concluded a peace treaty with Israel in 1979 and became a close ally of the United States and Europe. Iran from 1979 turned into a center of opposition to Western influence in the Middle East.

Symbolically, Iran named a street in Tehran after the Islamist who led the 1981 assassination of Sadat.

Egypt gave asylum and a state funeral to Iran's exiled Shah Reza Pahlavi, who was overthrown in the 1979 Iranian revolution. He is buried in a mosque beside Cairo's mediaeval Citadel alongside his ex-brother-in-law, Egypt's last king, Farouk.

(Additional reporting by Ayman Samir, Marwa Awad and Alexander Diadosz; Writing by Paul Taylor and Tom Perry; Editing by Andrew Roche and Robin Pomeroy)

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IMF, Afghanistan agree path to fresh aid

WASHINGTON: The IMF said Monday it had reached agreement with Afghanistan on the reform path needed to unlock the next aid instalment for the war-ravaged country.

The International Monetary Fund granted Afghanistan a US$133.6 million line of credit in November 2011 to help the country through the withdrawal of foreign military forces in 2014.

But to date the IMF has only disbursed two instalments of about US$18 million each.

Following a two-week mission in Afghanistan, an IMF team reached "understandings" with the Afghan authorities on a reform path to allow fresh aid to be disbursed, the IMF said in a statement.

The disbursement is contingent upon "the implementation of key structural benchmarks for submission of laws to parliament and strengthening banks' capital," the IMF said.

It said the Afghan authorities had agreed on the need to tighten monetary policy, in part to protect the country's international reserves position.

The authorities also saw the need to increase revenues by strengthening customs measures and prepare to implement a value-added tax (VAT) in 2014, the IMF said.

According to the global lender, the Afghan authorities reiterated their commitment to complete "quickly" the winding down of former private bank Kabul Bank, the centre of a scandal that had delayed the original IMF loan for a year.

The bank, once Afghanistan's largest, had to be taken over by the central bank in late 2010 amid accusations that powerful former executives siphoned off more than US$900 million, some of which was used to buy luxury properties in Dubai.

"The economic outlook for Afghanistan is broadly positive," the IMF said, adding that growth and inflation were better than expected in 2012.

The mission will prepare a report for the IMF executive board "following the implementation of the remaining key structural benchmarks," it said.

The board, which represents the Fund's 188 members, decides approval of aid disbursements.

- AFP/jc

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Verizon's HTC M7 could come to life as a Droid DNA refresh

Could Verizon be readying a Droid DNA refresh already?

(Credit:
Sarah Tew/CNET)

Verizon may soon debut a refreshed version of the HTC Droid DNA smartphone, according to newly uncovered details leaked by software developer and HTC insider @LlabTooFeR.

Hardware specifications for a model known as "DLXPLUS" suggest that the nation's largest wireless provider could be readying a device with details that are not unlike the rumored HTC M7.

The hardware list points to an
Android Jelly Bean device with Sense 5.0, a 4.7-inch 1080p display, a 13-megapixel camera, and a quad-core 1.7GHz Snapdragon S4 processor. Said to also have 2GB RAM and 16GB internal storage, the DLXPLUS has all the makings of an M7.

The Droid DNA, for its part, was known by the code name of DLX in the months leading up to its announcement.

Interestingly enough, Verizon is not thought to be one of the carriers getting ready to offer HTC's flagship smartphone. Perhaps Big Red wants some breathing room between the Droid DNA and the next big HTC thing.

Another explanation for this variation is that AT&T, Sprint, and T-Mobile will carry the M7 under a single name, while Verizon bucks the trend with its own version. Logic suggests that the DLXPLUS could be to the Droid DNA what the HTC One X+ is for AT&T's current model. In other words, a beefier, more powerful experience with the same outward appearance. But so soon?

Given just how new the Droid DNA is, I find the scenario of an upcoming M7 competitor potentially confusing to customers. One of the Droid DNA's key selling points is its 5-inch display, something that neither the M7 or DLXPLUS is expected to offer. Will buyers view this as an upgrade if it has a smaller screen? Will Verizon cannibalize sales of the HTC Droid DNA smartphone?

Let's hope that some of this is cleared up come February 19, when HTC takes the stage to unveil its next superphone.

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Crashed bus owner failed one-third of safety inspections

YUCAIPA, Calif. The company linked to a tour bus involved in a deadly crash in Southern California failed more than a third of federal vehicle safety inspections in the last two years.

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Calif. tour bus crash kills at least 8

17 Photos

Tour bus crashes in Calif.

U.S. government records show that buses operated by the firm Scapadas Magicas of National City, Calif., flunked 36 percent of random inspections on their vehicles — in some cases for brake and tire problems.

That's higher than the national average for similar companies — a 21 percent failure rate.

Records also show the company had no crashes in the past two years.

The California company had an overall "satisfactory" rating from the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, but records show three-quarters of similar companies had better safety records.

Lettering on the 1996 bus indicates it was operated by Scapadas Magicas.

At least eight people were killed in Sunday night's crash. More than three dozen people were injured, and at least 17 were still hospitalized, including at least five in critical condition. One is a girl.

The cause of the crash remains under investigation. The National Transportation Safety Board was sending a team to the scene.

CBS Station KCBS reports that the bus, carrying dozens of men, women and children from Tijuana, was on its way back to Mexico Sunday evening after a day in Big Bear when the driver lost control just after 6:30 p.m., about 60 miles east of Los Angeles.

Investigators say the bus flipped and landed on a pickup truck towing a trailer. A black Saturn was also rear-ended.

The crash left State Route 38 littered with body parts and debris, and the bus sideways across both lanes with its windows blown out, front end crushed and part of the roof peeled back like a tin can.

One person in the pickup truck was injured. The fate of the passengers in the car was not clear, but at least two people were in the Saturn, said California Highway Patrol spokesman Mario Lopez.

Investigators will determine if mechanical failure or driver error was to blame. The bus driver, who survived but was injured, told investigators the vehicle had brake problems.

"It appears speed was a factor in this collision," said Lopez.

Crews worked through the night to recover the dead, but one body remained aboard the bus early Monday, said Rocky Shaw, a San Bernardino County coroner's investigator.

Officials hadn't been able to retrieve the body because the front end of the bus was dangling over the edge of the roadside.

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Which Super Bowl Commercial Won the Night?

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North Korea nuclear test would face "firm" U.N. action: South Korea

UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - The U.N. Security Council is united on North Korea's nuclear arms program and will undoubtedly approve tough measures against Pyongyang if it carries out a new atomic test as expected, South Korean U.N. Ambassador Kim Sook said on Monday.

"The North Korean nuclear test seems to be imminent," Kim, who is president of the Security Council this month, told reporters. "Obviously there are very busy activities going on at the (North Korean) nuclear test site, and everybody's watching."

"Everybody is unified and they are firm and resolute," he said. "I would expect very firm and strong measures to be taken ... once they go ahead with such provocation."

(Reporting By Louis Charbonneau; Editing by Sandra Maler)

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