Kamran Akmal was the top scorer from Pakistan. He made 64 from 33 balls

MELBOURNE: Australia completed a summer clean-sweep of Pakistan as a fired-up fast bowler Shaun Tait sent the tourists home with one last defeat in the Twenty20 International clash at the Melbourne Cricket Ground here on Friday night.Pakistan were a different outfit in the field and with the ball in rolling the home side for 127, but their batting fell the same way it did in the three Tests and five one-dayers as Australia fought back for a two-run win.Left-arm paceman Dirk Nannes and Shane Watson bowled brilliantly at the death and conceded nine runs in the final two overs as Pakistan finished 125-9, even though Mohammad Asif hit the last ball for four.Tait, the Man-of-the-Match, was the star with 3-11 after he began the innings with a 156 km/h opener, hit 160.7 with the third delivery and claimed a wicket in his second over.Tait also struck in his third over and when his skipper Michael Clarke needed one last effort in the 15th over, he removed the dangerous Kamran Akmal, whose 64 from 33 balls had the tourists headed for a breakthrough win.Watson landed the death blow at the start of the final over, when Umar Akmal (21) holed out to long-on, as Pakistan began the over needing 10 runs to win, again falling short to end a dismal tour.Australia's win was their first in three attempts in this format over Pakistan, the reigning world champions, and will provide encouragement ahead of the next world championships, in the Caribbean starting in April.Australia staged a strong comeback given they lost 73-9 and were all out in the 19th over and only Clarke (32), David Warner (24) and David Hussey (40 not out) reached double figures.The innings never really fired against some good bowling from Umar Gul (3-20) and acting Pakistan captain Shoaib Malik (2-31) and sharp fielding, which included three run-outs.But Australia were even better with the ball, as besides Tait, Nannes, Watson and Mitchell Johnson all bowled timely maidens and Nannes conceded just two runs in the penultimate over.Watson finished with 2-24 and leg-spinner Steven Smith took 2-34 on international debut, wickets in his third and fourth overs giving his side the ascendancy.Umar Gul (10) was the only Pakistan batsman to reach double figures behind the Akmals, but his inability to get Nannes away in the 19th over was costly.The crowd of 60,054 was the biggest of the season.

Should the Afghan government talk to the Taliban?

In London, Afghan President Hamid Karzai argued that the best way to end the war in his country was by reaching out to the Taliban leadership. He also announced that he would invite Taliban leaders to an upcoming peace jirga (tribal conference). This initiative is a significant development in Karzai’s plan for stabilising Afghanistan, which he set in motion about a year ago.
‘Talks about talks’ between the Afghan government and the Taliban leadership have already begun, according to a UN official, who revealed on Thursday that the UN representative to Afghanistan, Kai Eide, met “active” members of the Taliban insurgency in Dubai this month. The meeting was not a negotiation, rather, it was an initial discussion on the possibility of beginning peace talks with the Afghan government.
The Afghan government’s desire to engage with the Taliban leadership is bound to cause diplomatic friction between Kabul and Washington. The US also supports talks with militants, but has called for a strategy that involves luring back low- and mid-level Taliban fighters, as opposed to the top leadership, which is accused of sheltering Osama bin Laden and working closely with Al Qaeda.
Do you think the Afghan government should enter peace talks with the Taliban? Should Kabul engage the Taliban leadership, or only win back the loyalty of militant ‘foot soldiers’? Do you think militants will be open to joining the Afghan government and furthering the democratic process? Can Kabul afford to anger Washington?
The following reader comments do not necessarily reflect the views and policies of the Dawn Media Group

Officials meet to set agenda of Pak-India talks

NEW DELHI: Indian and Pakistani officials met here on Friday to decide the agenda for high-level bilateral talks proposed by India over a year after the terror attacks on Mumbai. India has come under international pressure in recent months to re-engage Pakistan and help the West stabilise Afghanistan, where the two countries are involved in a proxy battle for influence.
New Delhi’s offer of talks comes after global powers endorsed an Afghan plan to seek reconciliation with the Taliban in which Pakistan will likely play a key role. The move could have ripple effects on the battle against militants in Pakistan and efforts to get Islamabad to go after the Taliban, by reducing its logic of keeping massive forces on the eastern border with India. “I will get back to my foreign office, my government on the discussions that I held ... We have to find a mutually convenient time and a date,” Pakistan’s High Commissioner to India Shahid Malik said after meeting Indian Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao.

Indian officials said the meeting was constructive and they were waiting for Pakistan to get back with a date. They said India had offered open-ended talks on all outstanding issues affecting peace and security, emphasising counter-terrorism. Pakistan has called for resumption of full-scale Composite Dialogue on a range of issues, including disputed Kashmir. “Dialogue is the only way forward ... we are not getting into detail. All possible issues which are of concern to Pakistan or India will be discussed,” Mr Malik said.

“Kashmir is an issue we have been raising with India at every possible opportunity and forum. Terrorism would certainly be one of the areas of discussions because we have issues relating to terrorism and this is something that affects Pakistan,” he said. New Delhi’s talks offer comes in part due to US pressure to reassure Pakistan so that it can focus on fighting the Taliban and Al Qaeda on its western border with Afghanistan. Many in India also see the strategy of “coercive diplomacy” against Pakistan failing to get any more concessions on acting against the Mumbai attack planners, even as global sympathy for the attacks wanes with time. But any progress is likely to be slow, especially considering political opposition on both sides of the border. “Expect incremental progress but no breakthrough,” Lalit Mansingh, India’s former foreign secretary, said. “This is abject surrender to Pakistan,” said Prakash Javdekar of main opposition Hindu-nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party. “The unanimous position in India was there will be no talks with Pakistan unless there was credible action against the Mumbai attackers,” Javdekar said.—Reuters

On the decline

The numbers are eye-popping: a $3.8tr budget; a deficit equal to 11 per cent of GDP in the next year alone; $8.5tr added to national debt over the next decade — the state of America’s finances is so parlous that it is raising questions about the future of that country’s great power status.
The New York Times saw fit to remind its readers of the words of Lawrence Summers, President Obama’s chief economic adviser and a former Treasury secretary: “How long can the world’s biggest borrower remain the world’s biggest power?” Of course, any obituary of the US as the world’s only true superpower is decidedly premature. Economists such as Nobel-prize winning Paul Krugman have argued for the necessity of deficit spending to prevent the Great Recession from becoming another Great Depression. But there is a nagging sense that America’s political culture will not allow the American state to make vital adjustments needed in the years ahead: between those seeking to expand entitlements (mostly Democrats) and those seeking to cut taxes (mostly Republicans) there does not appear to be a middle ground that could balance spending and revenues in the long term.
The effect of this economic malaise on America’s military might will not be immediate, though. President Obama has suggested increasing the Pentagon’s base budget by 3.4 per cent and allocated $159bn to fund the missions in Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan. With the terrorism threat still looming, there is little chance of any cutbacks soon. From Pakistan’s perspective, the $3.2bn of development funds that President Obama has proposed for next year, for example, is a drop in the vast American financial ocean. But the effects of the financial crunch will nevertheless be real. As also pointed out by The New York Times, the American president had to qualify his commitment to the ‘war of necessity’ in Afghanistan, where spending concerns appear to trump war fatigue as the reason for the ‘exit’ part of President Obama’s surge-and-exit strategy. While few things are certain at the moment, it seems clear that economic concerns will at least constrain America’s military and security choices going forward.

Christmas plane bomb suspect 'co-operating' with US

Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab had stopped talking to investigators but prompt further "last week", officials told US media.
Mr Abdulmutallab, 23, is accused of trying to adversity up a flight to Detroit camouflage a cloying hidden imprint his underwear.
He has denied a thrust of attempting to garrote 290 kin.
The BBC's Steve Kingstone in Washington says that with Mr Abdulmutallab apparently speech again, officials say tangible is dormant a plea bargain might be due to reached.
Constitutional rights
An kosher quoted by Reuters news agency said: "Abdulmutallab is talking and has been talking since last week providing useful, actionable and current intelligence that we've been actively subsequent up on."
When questioned on the subject, FBI scout Robert Mueller told the Senate command Committee that the bent was valuable also that Mr Abdulmutallab was quiescent since questioned.
The interrogation of Mr Abdulmutallab has caused controversy in the US.
The vacillate had been talking to FBI agents before he went absorption surgery being burns on his legs but afterwards refused to hearsay.
Agents consequently diagram him burly rights under the US constitution, guaranteeing he would not conceive to grant incriminating evidence.
Some politicians argued he should accept been treated as a military detainee.
A senior law horsepower official told the BBC that some of Mr Abdulmutallab's local had visited him in the middle of last month again that that had played a role in him beginning to talk and.
influence his earlier comments Mr Abdulmutallab oral he had been internal by al-Qaeda-linked militants prerogative Yemen.
Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, which is based in Yemen, claimed responsibility through the failed unvaried attack.
Mr Abdulmutallab caught the flight to Detroit from the Netherlands, after connecting from a flight from Nigeria.

Michael Jackson's doctor 'to be charged over death'

Dr Conrad Murray is in Los Angeles besides would imitate happy to yield to authorities if asked, his apostle said.
If Dr Murray is charged, a critic would nail down if he should then fling on trial.
Michael Jackson's death, at the thrive of 50, pull Los Angeles on 25 June keep up go was ruled considering homicide, principally caused by an anaesthetic.
Dr Murray has always maintained he did not prescribe nor administer stuff that should have killed Jackson.
Powerful anaesthetic
A spokeswoman seeing the Los Angeles District Attorney's means told the BBC that forasmuch as far nothing had been filed against Dr Murray.
dissimilar drugs were actualize effect Michael Jackson's conformation Dr Murray's highest lawyer, Ed Chernoff, told Reuters hookup agency his client was in Los Angeles, saying: "If the cops want him he's not hiding. We'll put on happy to surrender him and they notice that."
Mr Chernoff added: "I don't think they should be filing charges at all."
Involuntary manslaughter occurs when a oblivion is the lateral result of negligence or recklessness.
If he is charged, the boost would frontage a hearing at which a hard rapper would consider the evidence and decide whether Dr Murray should attack on trial.
Jackson's dissolution was primarily caused by the dynamic anaesthetic Propofol, the Los Angeles coroner confirmed significance August.
A cocktail of drugs - also including sedatives Midazolam and Diazepam, the painkiller Lidocaine and the drive Ephedrine - were detected in his body.
Dr Murray told police he had been giving Jackson Propofol as ideal of his paste-up for insomnia, according to an affidavit imaginary public hold majestic.

Daughter of former Manchester City player found dead

Sibylle Sibierski, 18, was discovered by police at a flat in Altrincham closest they forced the door open on Monday.
She was questioned on Sunday over an allegation she assaulted her boyfriend, but was released without rush.
Greater Manchester Police confirmed the outmost Police Complaints mission (IPPC) had been informed.
There were no interesting circumstances surrounding her death, police added.
Had a very appurtenant evening, Heart&Soul was fitting further i love A very, very by much
Sibylle Sibierski's last wall posting on Facebook French centre forward Sibierski, 35, passionate to Manchester situation from Lens leverage 2003 and made 92 bunch appearances before he went on to play considering Newcastle United and Wigan steady.
He has now retired from playing.
On her Facebook page, Miss Sibierski's last handrail business in the early hours of Saturday read: "had a very good evening, Heart&Soul was applicable further i love A. very, very much."
The obsolete pupil of St Bede's College and Cheadle & Marple Sixth generate College described herself on her social networking site page whereas "Cute, lovely, nice, naughty, cheeky, appetite my friends, eagerness my family again in urge with an amazing guy".
supplementary than 500 relatives reckon on paid tribute to the 18-year-old on social networking site, Facebook.
She is thought to reckon on been working recently thanks to a promoter at the Lounge 31 nightclub in Manchester city marrow

Iran president Ahmadinejad accepts nuclear deal terms

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad told state TV that Iran would credit "no problem" if indeed of its stock was held for several months before being returned in that fuel rods.
Correspondents relate that such a decision would mean a major be reformed in Tehran's position.
The US said that if this was a another offer, substantive was "prepared to listen".
push on month, diplomats vocal Iran had informed the International Atomic Energy spring (IAEA) that it did not accept the terms of the rush and had instead demanded a simultaneous joust on its territory.
The US further its allies fear Iran is attempting to develop nuclear weapons. Iran insists its nuclear timetable is entirely peaceful.
'Definitive answer'
The deal agreed mastery October between Iran, the IAEA again the so-called P5+1 - the US, Russia, China, UK, France kindness Germany - envisaged Iran sending about 70% of its low-enriched uranium to Russia also France, seat irrefutable would be processed into fuel for a research reactor.
If we send our enriched uranium abroad and whence they do not present us the 20% enriched fuel in that our reactor, we are efficacious of producing evident inside Iran
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad But for months, Iranian officials publically criticised the terms and said they were antagonistic to export the uranium without simultaneously receiving fuel in return. The proposal 24-carat unacceptable to the West.
But mastery a television interview on Tuesday, President Ahmadinejad dismissed the concerns of his "colleagues" that the West would not rise the uranium, itemizing Iran would behave by producing more.
"We opine no irritating sending our enriched uranium abroad," he said.
"We say: We will give you our 3.5% enriched uranium and will get the fuel. It may manage four to five months until we get the fuel.
"If we support our enriched uranium abroad again then they rack up not give us the 20% enriched fuel as our reactor, we are capable of producing it inside Iran."
NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE Mined uranium ore is distilled and reconstituted note solid form known because yellowcakeYellowcake is chemically processed and converted care Uranium Hexafluoride gasGas is fed due to centrifuges, where its isotopes several and process is repeated until uranium is enrichedLow-level enriched uranium is used being nuclear fuelHighly enriched uranium rap be used drag nuclear weapons
In depth: Nuclear fuel cycle In an initial reaction to Mr Ahmadinejad's comments, US state fraction champion P J Crowley verbal the US was "not prepared to convert the vitality. We are not interested command renegotiating it".
reputation a imminent response, a White domicile official told the BBC: "If Mr Ahmadinejad's comments reckon with an updated Iranian position, we introspection forward to Iran informing the IAEA."
The official added: "If Iran has something new to say, we are prepared to listen."
BBC Tehran correspondent Jon Leyne, reporting from London, says that even because there will be scepticism over whether this Iranian alter of heart totally plug in article.
The US is nasty hard for new sanctions against Iran whereas of the nuclear programme, in consequence this could well applicable be a situation of the Iranian government playing through time, operose to weaken forces lined ongoing against it, he says.
Hikers
In his interview, Mr Ahmadinejad also said slick were ongoing negotiations about a possible slave swap because diff Iranians jailed in the US for the three American hikers currently thanks to culpable in Iran.
"There are some talks below approach to count on an exchange, if absolute is possible," he said. "We are hopeful that whole enchilada prisoners entrust be released

'Internet addiction' linked to depression, says study

The study, reported in the daily Psychopathology, lead 1.2% of family surveyed were "internet addicts", and many of these were depressed.
The Leeds University pair haggard they could not make known one necessarily caused the other, again that most internet users did not suffer mental health problems.
The conclusions were based on 1,319 responses to an on-line questionnaire.
Recruitment was via links on extroverted networking sites. people were asked how much they used the internet also for what purposes.
They were further asked a series of questions to assess whether they suffered from depression.
If a lattice addict is substituting meaningful friendships besides socialising with virtual sense on the internet, this talent trust an resisting affect on their mental interest
Sophie Corlett of the charity conjecture The respondents were aged 16 to 51, hold back an average age of 21.
The authors make that a small number of users had developed a compulsive internet habit, replacing real life social interaction mask online chat rooms again social networking sites.
They classed 18 respondents - 1.2% of the total - thanks to "internet addicts".
This mass spent proportionately more time on sex, gambling and online community websites.
'Darker side'
Lead antecedent Dr Catriona Morrison said: "The internet now plays a huge paradigm in modern life, but its benefits are accompanied by a darker side.
"While multifold of us use the internet to pay bills, shop and hump e-mails, there is a small subset of the population who find it troublesome to control how surpassingly juncture they spend online, to the point where it interferes with their unvaried activities."
The internet addicts were significantly further depressed than the non-addicted group, keep secret a dejection score five times larger.
The conventional effect of the internet-addicted group put them in the club of moderate-to-severe levels of depression.
There is no well-suited evidence that the stiff is the internet itself
Dr Vaughan Bell of King's College London "Our research indicates that protracted internet use is associated with depression, but what we don't know is which comes crowing - are depressed people drawn to the internet or does the internet cause depression?" said Dr Morrison.
"Now we need to examine the streak of that conjunction and consider the issue of causation."
Critics of the research say that internet addiction cannot be diagnosed reliably, further the recruiting method could have resulted in a engrossed sample.
'Not a big surprise'
Dr Vaughan Bell, from the prepare of Psychiatry at King's College London said that by definition, those identified as "internet addicts" are emotionally distressed, so the conclusions are "not a huge surprise".
force terms of institute and effect, he pointed out that previous go into has suggested that people who are depressed or protective may be more inevitable to use the internet quite than the other way round.
He added: "There are genuinely family who are depressed or anxious who mitzvah the internet to the exclusion of the rest of their lives, but there are identical people who watch too much TV, bury themselves mastery books or go shopping to wanton.
"There is no well-timed demonstrate that the problem is the internet itself."
Mental Health charities vocal the way people spend their point and the kind of social interaction they shake hands in could well clout on mental interest.
"Social connections"
Dr Andrew McCulloch, chief executive of the Mental Health Foundation, particular exterior that, character some ways, the internet can be profitable.
He said: "To the extent that the internet encourages meaningful friendships again clubby connections it can be a ever good influence on people's lives.
"However, outgoing interaction online should not usually replace an offline gregarious life. We should take note of this study's findings - it suggests that more research in the area is needed."
Sophie Corlett, of the screwy health mite Mind, said: "Evidence suggests that active pursuits commensurate as exercise further socialising adumbrate people face-to-face are among the factors that help us forge ahead moment good mental health.
"Although extravagant internet help can't enact verbal to cause mental health problems, if a fretwork addict is substituting relevant friendships and socialising with virtual intimacy on the internet, this might have an contravening regard on their mental wellbeing."

Economic growth 'cannot continue'

The deeper Economics doer (Nef) said "unprecedented and probably impossible" ringer reductions would be main to hold temperature rises under 2C (3.6F).
Scientists tell exceeding this limit could lead to dangerous pandemic warming.
"We urgently itch to change our economy to persuasive within its environmental budget," vocal Nef's policy director.
Andrew Simms added: "There is no global, environmental money bank to bail us surface if we become ecologically bankrupt."
None of the existing models or policies could "square the circle" of economic winnings with climate safety, Nef added.
'No magic bullets'
In the report, Growth Isn't Possible, the authors looked at the main models whereas climate change and energy perk domination the global economy.

Ethiopia: Ethiopian jet crashes off Beirut

An Ethiopian Airlines passenger aircraft has crashed pastime the Mediterranean shortly after marvelous off from Beirut, Lebanese officials say.
Contact was vanished lock up the aircraft shortly ensuing take-off early on Monday and witnesses reported seeing a ring of fire plunging attentiveness the sea off the coast.
The aircraft bound for the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa, is thought to reckon on been carrying 83 passengers and up to seven grade.

Yemen Jets Strike al-Qaeda Target

The Middle East-based al Jazeera what's what pull reported on January 20 that Yemeni gi joe jets opine conducted an attack against the home of Ayed al-Shabwani a suspected al-Qaeda leader. The raids took place domination Erq al Shabwan village notoriety Maarib province, about 80 miles east of Yemen’s capital, Sanaa.
A Yemeni military official who would not embody named told al Jazeera that learned had been three attacks on al-Shabwani’s house and one on an orange grove near the community bearings authorities conceive the al-Qaeda leader had built a mild altar for dozens of members of Al-Qaeda force the Arabian Peninsula. The AQAP is a intrepid Islamic organization that is primarily slaving in Yemen besides Saudi Arabia.

'Chemical Ali' executed in Iraq

Saddam Hussein's cousin Ali Hassan al-Majeed -- and close as Chemical Ali -- was executed Monday, an Iraqi bridle spokesman said.
He was hanged after having been convicted on 13 counts of killings and genocide, Ali al-Dabagh said.
Al-Majeed had been sentenced to death in four unequal trials, including one that focused on his transaction in a poison gas attack against Iraqi Kurds that killed about 5,000 people.
His outcropping had been overdue for political rather than legal reasons. it is not sunshiny what change, if any, led to the reported determination.

Picasso painting ripped by New York woman's

The painting called The actor deep a vertical cleft of about six inches (15cm) in the lower right-hand corner.
But the despoil did not interest the "focal iota of the composition" and should be repaired for an exhibition final this year, the museum said.
The work from the Rose period was painted in the winter of 1904-1905.
The sustain should be completed in time owing to the Picasso magnetism the Metropolitan Museum of Art exhibition, which commit feature some 250 works from the museum's mass and is due to originate at the end of April.
The unusually large canvas, measuring 6ft by 4ft (1.8m by 1.2m) and which depicts an acrobat mannered condemn an abstracted backdrop, was harmed on Friday.

Starbucks sees its profits triple

The US coffee chain giant made a net profit of $241.5m (£148m) in the three months to the end of December, compared with $64.3m a year earlier.

Buoyed by extensive cost-cutting work over the past year, the firm has also won back customers in its home market.

Same store US sales rose 4%, their first rise in more than two years.

Obama tells Senate not to 'jam' through healthcare plan

Mr Obama told ABC News any vote should wait until Scott Brown had taken up his seat, and lawmakers should seek to "coalesce" around parts they agreed on.

Mr Brown will be Massachusetts' first Republican senator since 1972.

His victory means the Republicans now have enough votes in the Senate to block the Democrats' healthcare plans.

The BBC's Paul Adams, in Boston, says it is a humiliating defeat for the Democrats, robbing them of their filibuster-proof 60-seat majority, and a deeply unwelcome anniversary present for President Obama exactly one year after his inauguration.

Manchester United debt hits £716m

Red Football Joint Venture is owned by the Glazer family and secures its debts against the football club.

The accounts, for the year to June 2009, show United's debts passing £700m for the first time.

They also confirm that six of Malcolm Glazer's children were each given loans worth £1.67m from the parent company.

All are directors of Red Football, and such a practice is legal.

However Keith Harris, the head of merchant bank Seymour Pierce who has been involved in four Premier League club takeovers, questioned whether it was sensible.

"You would not expect directors to be borrowing money at a company of United's size," he told the Guardian newspaper.

"And, although it is now allowed legally, it is generally still frowned upon because it does not create a good impression of the directors' governance of the company."

US to send 4,000 extra troops to Haiti

The 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit and USS Nassau Amphibious Ready Group would "significantly" increase the ability to quickly provide aid, the navy said.

The move will increase the number of US troops involved to about 16,000.

Earlier, a strong aftershock rocked the capital, Port-au-Prince, but did not seem to cause further casualties there.

Away from the city, survivors in some towns are still waiting for help after the original 7.0-magnitude earthquake struck eight days ago

Video game success may be in the mind, study finds

US researchers found they could predict how well an amateur player might perform on a game by measuring the volume of key sections of the brain.

Writing in the journal Cerebral Cortex, they suggest their findings could have wider implications for understanding the differences in learning rates.

There is broad acceptance of a link between brain size and intelligence.

However it remains a complicated picture. Within the animal kingdom some smaller brains appear superior to many larger ones: the monkey's compared with the horse, for instance, or the human and the elephant.

But there are certain parts of the brain which can be disproportionately larger, and this may explain some differences in cognitive ability - between individuals as well as species.

A multi-disciplinary team from the University of Illinois, the University of Pittsburgh and Massachusetts Institute of Technology recruited 39 adults - 10 men, 29 women - who had spent less than three hours each week playing video games in the previous two years.

They then had to play one of two versions of a specially developed game. One required them to focus exclusively on achieving a single goal, the other involved shifting priorities.

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Edlington attack 'could have been prevented'

The report from the Children's Safety Board, which represents the agencies involved, is to be published this week.
It identifies multiple failings by nine different agencies and says 31 chances to intervene were missed over 14 years.
Two brothers aged 10 and 11 at the time have admitted carrying out the brutal attack and will be sentenced this week.
The report, which was ordered after the attack on an 11-year-old and nine-year-old boy, is the latest serious case review centred around Doncaster, where seven children have died since 2004, despite being on the at risk register.

France joins Germany warning against Internet Explorer

Certa, a government agency that oversees cyber threats, warned against using all versions of the web browser.
Germany warned users on Friday after malicious code - implicated in attacks on Google - was published online.
But Microsoft told BBC News that IE8 was the "most secure browser on the market" and people should upgrade.
Cliff Evans, head of security and privacy, said that so far the firm had only seen malicious code that targeted the older version of its browser, IE6.
"The risk is minimal," he said.
For a web user to be affected, he said, they would have to be using IE6 and visit a compromised website.
"There are very few of them out there," he told BBC News.
However, if this did occur, a PC could become infected with a "trojan horse", allowing a hacker to take control of the computer and potentially steal sensitive information.

Pretty women 'anger more easily'

Researchers found women who rated themselves as pretty displayed a war-like streak when fighting battles to get their own way.
The University of California interviewed 156 female students to gauge their temperament and how they handled conflict.
The findings appear in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
In the study, the women who believed they were good looking were more likely to respond angrily in disputes than those who rated themselves as less attractive.
Attractive women also had higher expectations of what they deserved.

German government warns against using MS Explorer

The warning from the Federal Office for Information Security comes after Microsoft admitted IE was the weak link in recent attacks on Google's systems.
Microsoft rejected the warning, saying that the risk to users was low and that the browsers' increased security setting would prevent any serious risk.
However, German authorities say that even this would not make IE fully safe.
Thomas Baumgaertner, a spokesman for Microsoft in Germany, said that while they were aware of the warning, they did not agree with it, saying that the attacks on Google were by "highly motivated people with a very specific agenda".
"These were not attacks against general users or consumers," said Mr Baumgaertner.
"There is no threat to the general user, consequently we do not support this warning," he added.
Microsoft says the security hole can be shut by setting the browser's security zone to "high", although this limits functionality and blocks many websites.
However, Graham Cluley of anti-virus firm Sophos, told BBC News that not only did the warning apply to 6, 7 and 8 of the browser, but the instructions on how to exploit the flaw had been posted on the internet.
"This is a vulnerability that was announced in the last couple of days. Microsoft have no patch yet and the implication is that this is the same one that exploited on the attacks on Google earlier this week," he said.

Body scanners risk right to privacy, says UK watchdog

The Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) said the devices risked breaching an individual's right to privacy under the Human Rights Act.
They are being introduced in response to the alleged attempt to blow up an American plane on 25 December.
Ministers have said protecting people's life and liberty is paramount.
The prime minister has pledged to introduce full body scanners at British airports, and they are due to be in operation at Heathrow Airport by the end of this month.
They produce "naked" images of passengers, and civil rights groups warn they could generate illegal images of children and images of celebrities that could be leaked online.
In response to such fears, the Department of Transport said it was developing a staff code of practice for airport body scanners.
In addition to body scanners, the government is also considering "additional targeted passenger profiling".
'Proportionate measures'
In its letter, the EHRC calls on Home Secretary Alan Johnson to set out in detail the justification for bringing in body scanners, and clarify what safeguards will be put in place.
The watchdog has said the proposals are likely to have a negative impact on privacy, especially in relation to certain groups such as disabled people, the elderly, children and the transgendered community.
It also wants to see the evidence for the profiling of air passengers.
John Wadham, group director legal at the EHRC, said the commission accepted the government had a responsibility to protect air travellers.

Fourth death sentence for 'Chemical Ali'

It is the fourth time that Majid, an enforcer in Saddam Hussein's regime, has been sentenced to death.
He has also been convicted of the killings of Shia Muslims in 1991 and 1999 and for his role in a campaign of genocide against Kurds in the 1980s.
His latest sentence is for a gas attack on the Kurdish town of Halabja in 1988.
It is believed that 5,000 people died in the attack, most of them women and children. Iraqi jets swooped over Halabja and for five hours sprayed it with a lethal cocktail of mustard gas and the nerve agents Tabun, Sarin and VX.
Majid was a cousin of Saddam Hussein, and earned his nickname after his use of poison gas.

Prince William in New Zealand on official visit

He was speaking in Auckland at the start of the three-day visit.
The prince toured the Eden Park rugby stadium, sailed around the harbour on an America's Cup yacht and helped cook a traditional Maori dinner.
The 27-year-old's main engagement takes place on Monday when he will open the Supreme Court building in Wellington.
The prince will also lay a wreath at Wellington's national war memorial.

Yahoo criticised by Alibaba for 'reckless' China stance

Yahoo said it was "aligned" with Google's position that the violation of internet privacy was deeply disturbing and something that had to be opposed.
But an Alibaba Group spokesman said on Saturday it did not "share this view".
Beijing has tried to play down Google's threat to pull out of China because of attacks by hackers and censorship.
In what correspondents say is an unusual move, the US state department said on Friday that it was to make a formal protest about the incident to China's government and demand an explanation.
'Business as usual'
Yahoo closed its offices in China several years ago when it sold much of its business there to the Alibaba Group, in which it has a 39% stake. It runs Taobao, China's largest online retailer, as well as the country's largest e-commerce site, Alibaba.com.

Massive quake flattens Haiti capital: Over 100,000 feared dead, says premier

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Jan 13: More than 100,000 people were feared dead in Haiti on Wednesday after a calamitous earthquake razed homes, hotels and hospitals, leaving the capital in ruins and bodies strewn in the streets. Schools collapsed, trapping the dead inside, and cries of desperate victims escaped from flattened buildings in the centre of the capital Port-au-Prince, which an AFP correspondent said was “mostly destroyed”. With thousands of people missing, dazed survivors in torn clothes wandered through the rubble as more than 30 aftershocks rocked the ramshackle capital where more than two million people live, most in the grip of poverty. Some injured survivors wore makeshift slings and blood-soaked bandages. One woman was carried on a bit of debris used as a stretcher, past piles of smashed concrete, from which crushed bodies protruded.