How Korea's other phonemaker sells good, cheap phones

Pantech Discover, AT&T's higher-end 'budget' Android

One of my favorite smartphones on today's market also happens to be one of the least expensive around. It costs just $50, runs
Android, boasts a rapid-fire processor and 12.6-megapixel camera, and offers up some ergonomic design elements you won't see anywhere else.

Who makes this humble wonder device? I'll give you a hint: the Korean phone-maker isn't Samsung, or even Sammy's compatriot rival, LG. Instead, credit for the Discover goes to Pantech, the country's third-largest handset-maker.

Although less well-known in the U.S., Pantech has managed to achieve some important milestones that other second-tier smartphone brands have not. First, Pantech primary sells phones through Verizon and AT&T, the country's largest two wireless networks.

Second, Pantech manages to price its smartphones below $100, often charging just $50 with AT&T for models that wrap up a lot of features for not very much dough.

Cheap, but good

By Pantech's own admission, the Discover is its most premium smartphone to date.

Even before the Discover, smartphones like the Burst and Flex represented high-value, high-quality components for even half the up-front price of comparable smartphones.

Pantech's Verizon devices tend to cost more, but still hover in the hundred-dollar range.

This kind of pricing is a noteworthy feat for a subsidized phone. Typically, the manufacturer and carrier negotiate a subsidized price for consumers that comes in hundreds of dollars lower than the phone's full retail price. That's how iPhones and Samsung Galaxy S3s sell for roughly $400 less through a U.S. carrier than they would on their own.

Generally, the more powerful, in-demand brands can negotiate better deals to lure in customers. Otherwise, these brands foot more of the bill to reduce the carrier's sticker price and advertise the phone.

Despite its minimal corporate influence and relative obscurity, Pantech has still kept costs low and value high across the board. How?

In Korea, Pantech's quad-core Vega R3 superphone challenges Samsung head-on.

(Credit:
Screenshot by CNET,Pantech)

"It has a lot to do with our manufacturing process," said Chandra Thompson, a marketing manager for Pantech USA, when I posed this very question.

Pantech spends a lot of money on in-house research, development, and design, Thompson said, which helps keep the price point down. "There are cost efficiencies that can be achieved by developing technologies in house instead of outsourcing them."

That may be, but plenty of other companies like Samsung, HTC, and Apple do exactly the same. Yet the majority of Samsung's feature-comparable smartphones, to draw one parallel, come in higher.

It's Thompson's second half of the answer that strikes truer: steering clear of multi-billion dollar campaigns keeps their phones' total price lower. In other words, since Pantech doesn't have to offset expensive print and TV ads, it can afford to sell its smartphones for less.

"We look for quality materials, none of our stuff is cheap at all," Thompson adds.

Not every Pantech smartphone or messaging phone comes out as big a winner as the Discover, though few recent models are truly bad (the cute Swift might be one exception,) and all look stylish.

Pantech phones also earn consistently high manufacturer ratings from AT&T for the fewest number of dropped calls. On the Verizon side, Pantech goes through a company called PCD, which helps bring clients' smartphones to market (Verizon's HTC Thunderbolt was a well-known PCD win.)

Humble beginnings

The Pantech-made Hero debuted in May 2006 for Helio.

(Credit:
CNET)

Pantech has traveled a long road to reach this point. The company been selling phones in the U.S. as white label devices that lacked Pantech branding. Take, for instance, the Helio Hero of May 2006. This was Pantech's first "high-end" cell phone for the U.S., and by today's standards, it doesn't look like much.

Throughout the years, Pantech has sold messaging cell phones for AT&T and then Verizon, like the Pantech Laser touch phone and swivel-y Razzle.

It wasn't until 2011 that the company struck forth with its first smartphone, the durable but entry-level "http://reviews.cnet.com/smartphones/pantech-crossover-at-t/4505-6452_7-34813352.html">Pantech Crossover for AT&T.

Since then, the company has released six more smartphones in the U.S., in addition to releasing messaging handsets.

Super in Seoul

In the U.S., even the best Pantech smartphone so far sells as very good, but not premium. In its South Korean homeland, though, Pantech can tell a different story.

There, the Vega 3 smartphone can directly challenge front-runners like Samsung's Galaxy Note 2, with its 5.3-inch LCD screen, 1.5GHz quad-core Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 Pro processor, 13-megapixel camera, and 2,600mAh battery.

Despite a respectable list of of Vega sub-branded phones, Pantech doesn't sell to Samsung's volume. The company launched four new smartphones in Korea in 2012, and three smartphones in the U.S. (plus some feature phones and the Pantech Element tablet.)

Click to enlarge.

(Credit:
Pantech)

In addition to the U.S., Pantech also has a presence in Japan. Combined, the country's overseas sales for 2011 -- 8.8 million units -- dwarf domestic sales of 3.5 million units. Likewise, Pantech's US and Japanese sales ($1,540,000 million) doubled the company's at-home revenue of $1,260,000.

Click to enlarge.

(Credit:
Pantech)

To put the numbers into perspective, Pantech is still small potatoes compared to Samsung, which pulls revenues in the billions and sells millions of units of just its flagship phone.

What's next for Pantech

Although Pantech remains a smaller-size brand compared to the heavy-hitters, expansion is most definitely in its future. In the U.S., Pantech aspires to become more consumer-focused, perhaps holding events at fashion and music shows in the future.

2013 will also see the company generate some grassroots exposure around the Pantech Discover, which they'll position as a Mass market device skewed toward Millennials.

In addition, Pantech's Web site points to establishing corporate offices in Europe and China.

"We're not a consumer brand," Pantech USA marketer Chandra Thompson said. "We'd certainly like to become one."

So long as the handset-maker can continue releasing top-performing smartphones like the Discover for a low ticket price, it'll have a shot.

Read More..

Evidence shows bold L.A. priest abuse cover-up

(CBS News) LOS ANGELES - There is new evidence that leaders of the Catholic Church in Los Angeles maneuvered secretly to shield priests accused of sexually abusing children.

Documents just released indicate they never told parishioners -- or the police -- what they knew.

"What we're seeing in these files is but a glimpse into a very, very dark, and endless tunnel of secrecy, of abuse, of silence," said Raymond Boucher, a former altar boy and current lead attorney, representing some 500 victims of sex abuse by priests in the archdiocese of Los Angeles.

Files show L.A. archdiocese manipulation in abuse cases

Judge to church: Keep names in Los Angeles priest abuse files
Ten years after revelations of massive sex abuse cover-ups, many victims never get their day in court

Raymond Boucher

/

CBS News

The documents offer the strongest evidence yet of a cover-up that reached to the very top of Los Angeles clergy: Then-archbishop, now-retired Cardinal Roger Mahony.

"That has always been paramount for the church for decades: Protect itself from scandal," Boucher said.

Many of the documents are correspondence between Mahony and Monsignor Thomas Curry, his chief adviser on sex abuse. One concerns whether to allow Monsignor Peter Garcia to return to his duties in L.A. He had secretly been sent away for treatment in New Mexico for sexually abusing as many as 17 youngsters.

No one in the church hierarchy alerted authorities.

Mahony wrote on July 22, 1986: "I believe if Monsignor Garcia were to reappear here within the archdiocese we might very well have some type of legal action filed in both the criminal and civil sectors. Signed, sincerely yours in Christ, most reverend Roger Mahony."

Monsignor Curry concurred: "There are numerous - maybe 20 - adolescents or young adults that Peter Garcia was involved with in a first degree felony manner. The possibility of one of these seeing him is simply too great."

Cardinal Mahony issued this statement Tuesday to the victims: "I pray for them every single day."

It ends simply: "I'm sorry."

Victims held a press conference Tuesday. Manny Vega says was abused from age 10 to 15.

"Conscious, clear decisions were made to hide these priests and move them around and never, never did they consider the well-being of the children that they destroyed and left behind," Vega said.

Monsignor Garcia has passed away, and Monsignor Curry did not respond to requests for comment from CBS News.

As many as 30,000 more documents from the archdiocese sex abuse settlement are to be released in the coming weeks.

Read More..

Left Turn? Obama Speech Invigorates Progressives

A presidential campaign that was largely about jobs and the economy gave way during Monday's inaugural ceremonies to a sweeping affirmation of progressivism and call for "collective action."

Now, liberal allies of President Obama say they're closely watching to see whether the second-term president follows through on issues with which he has struggled before.

Obama's groundbreaking references to climate change and gay rights in his second inaugural address particularly surprised many progressive interest groups, which said their first-term frustrations have been replaced by a new sense of optimism.

"We are hopeful that the president's progressive speech signals a major strategy shift for the Obama administration," said Adam Green, co-founder of the Progressive Change Campaign Committee.

Green's group and other liberal Democrats have openly expressed disappointment in Obama since 2009, saying his agenda has fallen short. Many have cited his failure to advance an assault-weapons ban, as promised, enact climate change legislation or overhaul the nation's immigration system.

J. Scott Applewhite/AP Photo

The Inaugural Fashion of Michelle, Sasha and Malia Obama Watch Video

Jason Wu Inaugural Ball Gown: Michelle Obama Stunning Watch Video

Inauguration 2013: Obama's Speech a Call to Action Watch Video

Get more pure politics at ABCNews.com/Politics.

Other progressives have chafed at Obama's extension of the Bush-era tax cuts for the wealthy in 2010 and move last month to make some of the cuts permanent, while putting changes to Social Security and Medicare on the table as part of a deficit-reduction deal.

During the election campaign, Obama ran no paid TV advertising that mentioned gays or gay rights, or the term "climate change," for example. Only four of his ads mentioned environmental issues, and two explicitly portrayed Obama as a defender of the coal industry, something anathema to many environmentalists.

"If the president's inaugural words and action on guns are the template for his governing strategy in a second term, that will allow the president to win big victories and secure a legacy of bold progressive change," Green said, responding to Obama's inaugural address.

In interviews with ABC News, advocates stressed that success on many liberal priorities remains a big "if," with a politically divided Congress and a record of failure by the White House to bridge the divide.

On the environment, activists say they are most closely watching the president's upcoming decision on the proposed Keystone XL Pipeline project, which would carry oil from the tar sands of Alberta to the U.S. Gulf Coast.

Obama delayed a decision on the project in January 2012, ordering a new environmental-impact study. But with that study nearing completion, he will be forced to weigh in on an issue that has pitted a need for jobs and cheaper energy with environmental and health concerns.

"The decision on the Keystone XL pipeline will be the first indicator about how seriously he's taking climate change over the next four years," said Erich Pica, president of Friends of the Earth, an environmental advocacy group opposed to the pipeline. "We'll know in the next month and a half to two months whether he does."

Bill McKibben, an author and leading environmentalist, said in a blog post that he is not holding his breath. "With words like that, it's easy to let ourselves dream that something major might be about to happen to fix the biggest problem the world has ever faced," he wrote.
"And given the record of the last four years, we know that too often rhetoric has yielded little in the way of results."

McKibben is organizing a major environmental rally in Washington on Feb. 17.

Read More..

Netanyahu turns to Iran after narrow election win

JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Hawkish Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu claimed victory in Israel's parliamentary election, shrugging off surprise losses to center-left challengers and vowing to stop Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons.

Exit polls showed the Israeli leader's right-wing Likud and the ultra-nationalist Yisrael Beitenu would remain the biggest bloc in the 120-member assembly, but with only 31 seats, 11 fewer than the 42 the two parties held in the last parliament.

If the exit polls compiled by three local broadcasters prove correct - and they normally do in Israel - Netanyahu would be on course for a third term in office, perhaps leading a hardline coalition that would promote Jewish settlement on occupied land.

But his weakened showing in Tuesday's election, which he had called nine months early in the hope of a strong new mandate for his confrontation with Iran, could complicate his struggle to forge an alliance with a stable majority in parliament.

"I am proud to be your prime minister, and I thank you for giving me the opportunity, for the third time, to lead the state of Israel," the 63-year-old leader told a cheering crowd in the early hours of Wednesday at his campaign headquarters.

Netanyahu said he planned to form as broad a governing coalition as possible, suggesting he would seek partners beyond his traditional ultra-nationalist and religious allies. His first call may be to Yair Lapid, a former television anchorman whose centrist, secular party came from nowhere to second place.

"The first challenge was and remains preventing Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons," Netanyahu said.

Iran denies it is planning to build an atomic bomb, and says Israel, widely believed to have the only nuclear arsenal in the Middle East, is the biggest threat to the region.

Netanyahu views Tehran's nuclear program as a threat to Israel's existence and has stoked international concern by hinting at possible Israeli military action to thwart it.

He has shunted Palestinian peacemaking well down the agenda despite Western concern to keep the quest for a solution alive.

The projections showed right-wing parties with a combined strength of 61-62 seats against 58-59 for the center-left.

Lapid's Yesh Atid (There is a Future) party should have 18 or 19 seats, exit polls showed - a stunning result for a newcomer to politics in a field of 32 contending parties.

Lapid won support amongst middle-class, secular voters by promising to resolve a growing housing shortage, abolish military draft exemptions for Jewish seminary students and seek an overhaul of the failing education system.

He urged Netanyahu "to build as broad a government as possible so that we can bring about real change in Israel".

The once dominant Labour party led by Shelly Yachimovich was projected to take third place with 17 seats. She described Likud victory claims as "ridiculous" before final results were in.

"There is a very good chance, a very good chance, that tomorrow morning Benjamin Netanyahu will not be able to form a government," she declared at her party headquarters.

"YESH ATID SWEEP"

Some in Netanyahu's party acknowledged that the election had gone somewhat awry. "We anticipated we would lose some votes to Lapid, but not to this extent. This was a Yesh Atid sweep," Likud campaign adviser Ronen Moshe told Reuters.

Lapid said before the election he would consider joining a Netanyahu-led government. If that happens, the ultra-Orthodox religious parties which often hold the balance of power in parliament might lose some of their leverage.

After a lackluster campaign, Israelis voted in droves on a sunny winter day, registering a turnout of 66.6 percent, the highest since 2003. That buoyed center-left parties which had pinned their hopes on energizing an army of undecided voters against Netanyahu and his nationalist-religious allies.

Opinion polls before the election had predicted an easy win for Netanyahu, although the last ones suggested he would lose some votes to the Jewish Home party, which opposes a Palestinian state and advocates annexing chunks of the occupied West Bank.

The exit polls projected 12 seats for Jewish Home.

The biggest casualty was the centrist Kadima party, which was projected to win no seats at all. It had gained the highest number in the previous election in 2009, although its then leader Tzipi Livni failed to put together a governing coalition.

Full election results are due by Wednesday morning and official ones will be announced on January 30. After that, President Shimon Peres is likely to ask Netanyahu, as leader of the biggest bloc in parliament, to try to form a government.

WESTERN ANXIETY

Whatever permutation finally emerges, a Netanyahu-led government is likely to resist any push for a peace deal with the Palestinians that would come anywhere near satisfying the moderates who seek a viable independent state alongside Israel.

Britain warned Israel on Tuesday it was losing international support, saying Jewish settlement expansion had almost killed off prospects for a two-state solution.

U.S.-brokered peace talks broke down in 2010 amid mutual acrimony. Since then Israel has accelerated construction in the West Bank and east Jerusalem - land the Palestinians want for their future state - much to the anger of Western partners.

Netanyahu's relations with U.S. President Barack Obama have been notably tense and Martin Indyk, former U.S. ambassador to Israel, told the BBC the election was unlikely to change that.

"President Obama doesn't have high expectations that there's going to be a government in Israel committed to making peace and is capable of the kind of very difficult and painful concessions that would be needed to achieve a two-state solution," he said.

Tuesday's vote was the first in Israel since Arab uprisings swept the region two years ago, reshaping the Middle East.

Netanyahu has said the turbulence, which has brought Islamist governments to power in several countries long ruled by secularist autocrats, including neighboring Egypt, shows the importance of strengthening national security.

Foreign policy issues barely registered during the election campaign, with a poll in Haaretz newspaper on Friday saying 47 percent of Israelis thought social and economic issues were the most pressing concern, against just 10 percent who cited Iran.

A major problem for the next government, which is unlikely to take power before mid-March, is the stuttering economy.

Data last week showed the budget deficit rose to 4.2 percent of gross domestic product in 2012, double the original estimate, meaning spending cuts and tax hikes look certain.

(Reporting by Jerusalem bureau; Editing by Alastair Macdonald)

Read More..

Marines beat a retreat in Beyonce lip-sync flap

WASHINGTON: The US Marine Corps beat a hasty retreat Tuesday from a furore over whether Beyonce lip-synched "The Star-Spangled Banner" at President Barack Obama's public inauguration ceremony.

First, the New York Times quoted a US Marine Band spokeswoman as saying that, just before Beyonce took the stage Monday, the musicians learned a version of the national anthem it had pre-recorded with her would be used.

"We don't know why," said the spokeswoman, Master Sergeant Kristin duBois. "But that is what we were instructed to do... It's not because Beyonce can't sing. We all know Beyonce can sing. We all know the Marine Band can play."

But later, the Marine Corps said only that a pre-recorded version of the band's musical track was played to the crowd outside the Capitol after Obama was sworn into office for a second term.

Since the band did not have a chance to rehearse with Beyonce beforehand, "it was determined that a live performance by the band was ill-advised for such a high-profile event," it said.

But as for Beyonce's vocal performance, it added: "No one in the Marine Band is in a position to assess whether it was live or pre-recorded."

Beyonce's publicist did not respond to emails Tuesday, leaving it unclear as to whether or not the R&B diva had pulled off the biggest karaoke number in the history of US presidential inaugurations, or somehow just mimed the words.

Also unexplained was a black-and-white Instagram photo, supposedly taken Sunday, of Beyonce in a wool beret and cardigan in a recording studio with three soldiers behind her. She appeared to be listening intently to something.

Equally mysterious was why Beyonce removed the ear monitor mid-way through the song. Singers performing over an instrumental track might do so if the playback is clashing with what's coming out of the loudspeakers.

One way or another, fans of Beyonce -- who sang "The Star-Spangled Banner" live at last year's Super Bowl and returns to the American football classic in February as its half-time act -- rallied behind her on Twitter.

"Who cares that Beyonce Lip #Sync the National Anthem, it was recorded live an hour before. You try singing in that cold," tweeted one fan, referring to Monday's near-freezing temperatures in Washington.

"Beyonce certainly acted like a diva ... but I don't see how that can be compared to Lance Armstrong cheating for 7 straight years at the least," said another Twitter user, referring to the disgraced cyclist.

"Beyonce is the best lip-syncer I've seen," added a third fan. "Because she surely fooled me."

The US Marine Band is the premier musical ensemble of the US Marine Corps. It's also known as the President's Own for its longstanding connection with the White House and important national events.

It played live for most of Monday's inauguration on the Capitol steps, but prior to any major event, it routinely goes into the studio to record its repertoire as a precautionary measure.

"Each piece of music scheduled for performance in the Inauguration is pre-recorded for use in case of freezing temperatures, equipment failure or extenuating circumstances," the Marine Corps statement said.

Pop star Kelly Clarkson and folk singer James Taylor also performed at the inauguration.

- AFP/jc

Read More..

Clouds ruin GeoEye's satellite image of inauguration

A nighttime shot of Washington, D.C. taken on January 19.

(Credit:
Chris Hadfield)

Aw, shucks: imaging company GeoEye could not capture a super high-resolution image of Obama's inauguration today from space.

Using its GeoEye-1 and IKONOS satellites positioned 423 miles above the Earth, the company tried and failed -- due to clouds -- on two separate attempts to capture the image of the inauguration, a GeoEye representative told CNET. GeoEye planned to release an interactive map of the ceremony with a built-in zoom and a slider that would have let the user compare this year's image to the one captured four years ago. Feel free to zoom around in the 2009 Inauguration image embedded below.

For those who just can't accept the bad news from GeoEye, Canadian astronaut Chris Hadfield snapped an image (seen above) of an illuminated Washington, D.C. several days before the inauguration. The day before the event, astronauts aboard the International Space Station captured a picture (seen below) of the greater National Mall area.

"This detailed view shows the Potomac River and its bridges at left, with National Mall at the center, stretching eastward from the Lincoln Memorial to the Washington Monument toward the Capitol building, where the inaugural ceremony will be held," NASA officials said in a statement.

In 2009, GeoEye released a satellite image of Obama's first Inauguration that clearly revealed the hundreds of thousands of people who attended the landmark event, which takes place on the West Front of the U.S. Capitol Building in Washington, D.C.

A view of Washington, D.C. from space, taken on January 20.

(Credit:
NASA)

Read More..

Anticipating Obama's coming immigration push

(CBS News) MESA, Arizona - In his inaugural address Monday, President Obama touched only briefly on immigration reform. But in the next few weeks, he is expected to propose changes that would put millions of illegal immigrants on the path toward U.S. citizenship.

It could be one of the biggest challenges in his second term.

"We need this president to push as hard as he can, because Latinos care about immigration and the election showed it," said Erika Andiola, a well-known immigrant rights activist in Arizona. "Our families can no longer be separated."

Obama looks to past to set course for future
As GOP splinters, "purple" Texas on the horizon, Castro predicts
Rubio outlines immigration proposal

She crossed the border illegally from Mexico with her mother when she was 11 years old. She was asked what she would say to people who point out she entered illegally.

"Give us a chance to be in the country -- to give back to the country. I think a lot of us have a lot to contribute," Andiola said.

President Obama's deferred deportation program allows those who came illegally as children to work or study in the U.S.

"It would definitely be a dream come true if I was to become a citizen," Andiola said.

Erika Andiola, right, and her mother

/

CBS News

She recently lived every illegal immigrant's nightmare. Federal agents took her mother and brother from their home to be deported. Andiola jumped into activist mode. She posted a YouTube video about her experience.

Word went out on Twitter and Facebook.

"Just one organization was able to get 18,000 petitions in a matter of 12 hours.," Andiola said.

She even got members of Congress to call immigration authorities. Her brother and mother were released within 20 hours. Yet, Andiola points out, a record number of undocumented immigrants - almost 410,000 - were deported last year.

"This is why we need immigration reform," Andiola said. "I think it has to happen."

Hispanic political power helped release her mother -- helped elect a president -- and she's convinced it will forge a path to citizenship for millions like her and her mother.

Read More..

Obama's 2nd Term: Whose Time Is 'Our Time'?

Jan 21, 2013 12:50pm

Jewel Samad/AFP/Getty Images

ANALYSIS By RICK KLEIN

President Obama used a brief pause in the partisan warfare that’s scarred his time in office to return to the ideals of the Declaration of Independence, with his own declaration of urgency and a call to action that reflects shared sacrifice and responsibility.

This was no centrist conciliator. It was the speech of a committed, unapologetic progressive, an Obama doctrine for domestic policy that included concrete commitments in areas he made little progress on over his first four years. Above all, he was speaking to a changing America – the nation that propelled him to a second term, and whose voices he will need to channel to be effective over the next four years.

“My fellow Americans, we are made for this moment, and we will seize it – so long as we seize it together,” the president declared.

That word “together” appeared seven times in the president’s speech. He used the phrase, “we, the people” five times. Notably, the president said “our time” five times. It was a clear signal that Obama is not satisfied with the frustrations that marked his first term, and that he is cognizant of his opportunity at this moment.

And he sees those opportunities mainly to his left. Obama made a firm commitment to pursue climate-change legislation, in addition to immigration reform and gun control. In an era of budget-cutting, he delivered a rousing endorsement of the social safety net, including Medicare and Social Security.

Obama cited the civil-rights movement and listed Stonewall – the 1960s demonstrations over a police raid of a New York City gay bar that galvanized the gay-rights movement – alongside Seneca Falls and Selma. He also promised equality for “our gay brothers and sisters,” apparently becoming the first president to use the word “gay” in an inaugural address.

Obama’s defining challenge as president has been to deliver on the hope and promise he rode into office on in 2008. He may never hope to fulfill the expectations that surrounded his elevation. But speaking to the largest crowd he’s likely to ever appear before again, the president sounded both more optimistic and more committed to progress on his priorities than anything in our current political system would suggest is warranted.

“Progress does not compel us to settle centuries-long debates about the role of government for all time, but it does require us to act in our time,” the president said.

For a president whose very inauguration speaks to the promise of America, but whose first term ended with so much frustration, it was a return to his roots. President Obama is cognizant of his role in history, though clearly not content with leaving it at that.

Read More..

Algeria vows to fight Qaeda after 38 workers killed

ALGIERS (Reuters) - Algeria's prime minister accused a Canadian of coordinating last week's raid on a desert gas plant and, praising the storming of the complex where 38 mostly foreign hostages were killed, he pledged to resist the rise of Islamists in the Sahara.

Algeria will never succumb to terrorism or allow al Qaeda to establish "Sahelistan", an Afghan-style power base in arid northwest Africa, Abdelmalek Sellal told a news conference in Algiers where he also said at least 37 foreign hostages died.

"There is clear political will," the prime minister said.

Claimed by an Algerian al Qaeda leader as a riposte to France's attack on his allies in neighboring Mali the previous week, the four-day siege drew global attention to Islamists in the Sahara and Sahel regions and brought promises of support to African governments from Western powers whose toppling of Libya's Muammar Gaddafi helped flood the region with weapons.

The attack on a valuable part of its vital energy industry raised questions about the security capacity of an establishment that took power from French colonists 50 years ago, held off a bloody Islamist insurgency in the 1990s and has avoided the democratic upheavals the Arab Spring brought to North Africa.

Sellal said a Canadian citizen whom he named only as Chedad, a surname found among Arabs in the region, was among 29 gunmen killed and added that he had "coordinated" the attack. Another three militants were taken alive and were in custody.

Among hostages confirmed dead by their own governments were three Americans, seven Japanese, six Filipinos and three Britons; others from Britain, Norway and elsewhere were listed as unaccounted for. Sellal said seven of the 37 foreign dead were unidentified, while a further five foreigners were missing.

Nearly 700 Algerians and 100 other foreigners survived.

An Algerian security source said investigators pursuing the possibility that the attackers had inside help to map the complex and gain entry were questioning at least two employees.

Prime Minister David Cameron told parliament in London that Britain would increase its help to Algeria's intelligence and security forces and might do more for France in Mali, though he ruled out sending many of its stretched armed forces to Africa.

Noting a shift in the source of threats to British interests from Afghanistan to Africa, he also noted Sellal's rundown of a multinational group of gunmen from across north and west Africa and said the region was becoming "a magnet for jihadists".

Alongside a "strong security response", however, he called for efforts to address long-standing grievances, such as poverty and political exclusion, which foster support for violence. Some militants in Algeria want autonomy for the south and complain of domination by an unchanging establishment in Algiers.

DEATH AND SURVIVAL

As Algerian forces combed the Tigantourine plant near the town of In Amenas for explosives and the missing, survivors and the bereaved told tales of terror, narrow escapes and of death.

"The terrorists lined up four hostages and assassinated them ... shot them in the head," a brother of Kenneth Whiteside told Sky News, in an account of the Briton's death given to the family by an Algerian colleague who witnessed it. "Kenny just smiled the whole way through. He'd accepted his fate."

Filipino survivor Joseph Balmaceda said gunmen used him for cover: "Whenever government troops tried to use a helicopter to shoot at the enemy, we were used as human shields."

Another Briton, Garry Barlow, called his wife from within the site before he was killed and said: "I'm sat here at my desk with Semtex strapped to my chest."

Several hostages died on Thursday when Algerian helicopters blasted jeeps in which the militants were trying to move them.

An Algerian security source had earlier told Reuters that documents found on the bodies of two militants had identified them as Canadians: "A Canadian was among the militants. He was coordinating the attack," Sellal said.

In Ottawa, Canada's foreign affairs department said it was seeking information. Security experts noted that some Canadian citizens had been involved with international militants before.

Officials have also named other militants in recent days as having leadership roles among the attackers. Veteran Islamist Mokhtar Belmokhtar claimed responsibility on behalf of al Qaeda.

In a video distributed on the Internet, the one-eyed veteran of Afghan wars of the 1980s, of Algeria's civil war and of the lucrative trans-Sahara cigarette smuggling trade, said: "We in al Qaeda announce this blessed operation."

Dressed in combat fatigues, Belmokhtar demanded an end to French attacks on Islamist fighters in Mali.

The jihadists had planned the attack two months ago in neighboring Mali, Sellal added. They had traveled from there through Niger and Libya, hence evading Algeria's strong security services, until close to In Amenas. Their aim, he said, had been to take foreign hostages to Mali, and they made a first attempt to take captives from a bus near the site early on Wednesday.

Normally producing 10 percent of Algeria's natural gas, the facility was shut down during the incident. The government said it aimed to reopen it this week, although officials at Britain's BP and Norway's Statoil, which operate the plant with Algeria's state energy firm, said the plans were not clear.

MALI CONFLICT

An Algerian newspaper said the jihadists had arrived in cars painted in the colors of Algerian state energy firm Sonatrach but registered in Libya, a country awash with weaponry since Western powers backed a revolt to oust Gaddafi in 2011.

Using his oil wealth, the Libyan dictator exercised a degree of influence in the region and the consequences of his death are still unfolding.

In a sign of the complexities wrought by the Arab Spring revolts, Egypt, a former military dictatorship now led by one of the generals' Islamist foes, criticized France's intervention in Mali on Monday. President Mohamed Mursi called instead for more spending to address rebels' grievances and warned that the military moves would "inflame the conflict in this region".

The bloodshed also increased the strains in Algeria's long fraught relations with Western powers, where some complained about being left in the dark while the decision to storm the compound was being taken.

But this week, Britain and France both defended the military action by Algeria, the strongest military power in the Sahara and an ally the West needs in combating the militants.

Chafik Mesbah, a former Algerian presidential security adviser, said: "The West did not criticize Algeria because it knows an assault was inevitable in the circumstances ... The victims were a minimum price to pay to solve the crisis."

(Writing by Alastair Macdonald; Editing by Mark Heinrich)

Read More..

Football: Sundram to be interim Lions coach for Jordan game

SINGAPORE: V Sundramoorthy has been named the caretaker coach for the Lions for their opening Asian Cup group qualifying match against Jordan in Amman next month, while the Football Association of Singapore (FAS) continues its search for Radojko Avramovic's successor.

In a media statement, FAS president Zainudin Nordin said that the LionsXII head coach was appointed because of his experience.

"Having worked with Raddy (Avramovic) and the national age-group squads in recent years, Sundram has the relevant experience and I am confident that the Lions will be in good hands.

"The FAS will support Sundram and his team to the best of our abilities as they strive to put up a strong performance against a strong Jordan side."

This will be the second time that Sundram will be handling the national team as caretaker coach. He had filled in for a World Cup qualifier two years ago when Avramovic was serving a touchline ban.

TODAY understands that the 47-year-old former international was initially hesitant when approached earlier because he felt that the two Asian Cup qualifiers - against Jordan on Feb 6, and against Oman on March 22 - would clash with his coaching duties with the LionsXII.

However, the FAS have been notified since that the Oman has been postponed to Aug 14. The Oman FA had made the request to the Asian Football Confederation as they will be facing Australia in a World Cup fourth-round qualifier on March 26.

Sundram described his appointment as "a great honour" in the media statement and added: "I am now discussing with the backroom team and staff the composition of the squad for the Jordan game and I hope to finalise the names before the end of the week."

Meanwhile, Zainudin said that the FAS have received "an overwhelming response from interested parties" for the national coach position since announcing its availability in December.

"We will draw up an initial list of about 15 candidates... before trimming it to a final shortlist of between five and seven candidates," he said.

"While we hope to finalise the appointment soon, we will not rush into making any decision. We are determined to appoint the right person for the job."

- TODAY

Read More..