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Pak had readied N-missiles for launch during Kargil crisis: Clinton aide
Pak rules out deal in power sector without Kashmir solution
20 schoolchildren abducted
Hackers steal data of 40 million credit cards
Woman assaults DiCaprio
Oprah world’s ‘most powerful’ celebrity
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Military police to suppress
alcoholics
4 held for squirting Cruise with water
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Pak had readied N-missiles for launch during Kargil crisis: Clinton aide
Washington, June 20 Bruce Riedel, a special assistant to the President and a senior director of Near East and South Asian Affairs at the National Security Council in the Clinton era, was present at the July 4, 1999, meeting between the two leaders. In a new book, “Pakistan Between Mosque and Military,” Mr Riedel is quoted as saying that Mr Sharif “wanted desperately” to find a solution that would allow Pakistan to withdraw from Kargil “with some cover.” The author, Husain Haqqani, has spoken to a number of senior US officials who dealt with Pakistan during major crises confronting the country during the past 58 years and includes their description of crises like the 1971 disaster and the Kargil dispute in his book. “Without something to point to, Mr Sharif warned ominously, the fundamentalists in Pakistan would move against him and this meeting would be his last with Mr Clinton,” says Mr Riedel. “Mr Clinton asked Mr Sharif if he knew how advanced the threat of nuclear war really was? Did Mr Sharif know his military was preparing their nuclear-tipped missiles? Mr Sharif seemed taken aback and only said only that India was probably doing the same. “The President reminded Mr Sharif how close the US and Soviet Union had come to a nuclear conflict in 1962 over Cuba. Did Mr Sharif realise that if even one bomb was dropped … Mr Sharif finished his sentence and said it would be a catastrophe.” Mr Riedel recalls that Mr Clinton’s draft statement on the Kargil crisis also mentioned Pakistan’s role in supporting terrorists in Afghanistan and India. Going back to the meeting, Mr Riedel says: “Was that what Mr Sharif wanted, Mr Clinton asked? Did Mr Sharif order Pakistani nuclear missile force to prepare for action? Did he realize how crazy that was? You have put me in the middle today, set the US to fail and I won’t let it happen. Pakistan is messing with nuclear war.” At the end of that meeting, Mr Sharif agreed to announce a Pakistani withdrawal from Kargil and restoration of the sanctity of the Line of Control in return for Mr Clinton taking a personal interest in resumption of the India-Pakistan dialogue. |
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Pak rules out deal in power sector without Kashmir solution
Islamabad, June 20 “The two countries first need to resolve the Kashmir issue and water disputes before even considering such collaboration,” Foreign Office spokesman Jalil Abbas Jilani said on Sunday when asked to comment on recent calls for such cooperation from the Indian side. He also underlined that the sanctity of the bilateral water sharing Indus Waters Treaty had to be maintained in this context. Although there has been no formal proposal from the Indian Government, hints about exploring possibilities of joint ventures in the power sector have been dropped through the media. A recent report suggested that the Indian Prime Minister’s office had asked experts to look into this possibility. Last month Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Mufti Mohammed Sayyed had also said that India and Pakistan should jointly undertake hydro-power projects in Jammu and Kashmir. The calls for cooperation in the power sector come at a time when Pakistan and India have serious differences over three water projects in Kashmir. These include the under-construction Baglihar dam, and proposed Kishanganga dam and Wullar Barrage. |
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20 schoolchildren abducted
Kathmandu, June 20 Hiramaya Rai, staff member of Nava Indradhanus School at the Balaju area, kidnapped the children, all below 14 years, and took them in a van to some undisclosed location yesterday, sources said adding that most of the children were orphans. The reason behind the kidnapping is not known and a search has been launched to find Rai.— PTI |
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Hackers steal data of 40 million credit cards
Los Angeles, June 20 Major credit card brands such as MasterCard, Visa, American Express, and Discovery were affected by what is being seen as one of the largest security breaches of personal financial information, MSNBC TV channel reported Sunday. MasterCard International said card numbers and expiry dates were harvested by a rogue programme planted inside the computer network at CardSystems Inc, a firm that process merchant requests for credit card authorisation. The Atlanta-based CardSystems processes $15 billion in charges annually for major credit cards. When a retailer swipes a customer's card, the information goes to companies such as CardSystems for approval before getting passed along to banks. The attack exposed the 13.9 million MasterCard holders and an unknown number of those with other brands of cards, MasterCard said. At least 68,000 accounts have had fraudulent charges posted to them. Information security experts believed all four of the major card brands were tainted one of the biggest security breaches. The Federal Bureau of Investigation is pursuing the case. Experts said hackers from around the world could trade and sell pilfered credit card numbers in online chat rooms, making it relatively easy for a single big theft to affect thousands of cards quickly. This also made it more difficult to catch the culprits, they said. Earlier this year, IT security firm Symantec and others warned that hackers are posing more serious threaten to personal financial information. Using
trojans, worms, viruses and other rogue programmes, they are stealing critical information such as credit card number and online bank account password in a new-styled crime called identity theft. This weekend's revelation is the latest in a series of reported data breaches that began this year with reports that identity thieves had accessed sensitive information on at least 145,000 persons tracked by data broker ChoicePoint
Inc. — IANS |
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Woman assaults DiCaprio
Los Angeles, June 20 The Oscar-nominated star of “The Aviator” and “Titanic” required about a dozen stitches, People magazine online and Los Angeles television station CBS2 reported. DiCaprio had been attending a party on Friday at the home of an ex-boyfriend of Paris Hilton, Hollywood restaurant owner Rick Salomon, the reports said yesterday. The Los Angeles police said they had no information about the incident and a representative for DiCaprio could not be reached for comment. However, DiCaprio’s publicist, Ken Sunshine confirmed that the actor had been assaulted in a statement reported by City News Service.
— Reuters |
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Women angrier than men
London, June 20 According to The Scotsman, the researchers led by Heather Joshi interviewed more than 20,000 persons born in 1958 and 1970, tracking their responses through adulthood. They found that women were more likely to report "persistent anger" by a small but significant margin. They also are more likely to act on their frustration in an unhealthy manner, choosing passive aggression over non-violent confrontation. "In childhood, it is boys who are very angry and that sort of fits the common conception. But our study shows that come adulthood, it's just the opposite, as women tend to report being angry more often," Joshi said. "One can only speculate at this point, but it certainly should be looked into. My guess is further research will relate higher levels of anger to larger inequality issues facing women today," Joshi added. The survey also found that both men and women tend to mellow in middle age, and that angry children do not necessarily become angry adults. A link also was established between economic status and anger, as low-income children are more prone to tantrums and distress.
— ANI |
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Oprah world’s ‘most powerful’ celebrity
New York, June 20 Although her $ 225-million income over the past 12 months was less than that of George Lucas, Winfrey's media presence was deemed far greater than the reclusive Star Wars creator, who raked in $ 290 million thanks to his sci-fi blockbuster "Star Wars III - Revenge of the Sith." "After 21 years, her daytime chat-fest still rules the airwaves, minting new celebs - and hundreds of millions of dollars in profits," the magazine said. Winfrey's talk show pulls in around 30 million viewers a day and reaches 112 countries.
— AFP |
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Military police to suppress
alcoholics
London, June 20 Home Secretary Charles Clarke has asked the Ministry of Defence to support police forces around the country in an all-out summer campaign against anti-social drunken and violent behaviour by
boys, The Sunday Telegraph reported. This followed an experiment in Royston,
Hertfordshire, where uniformed Redcaps — military police — were deployed to crack down on late-night violence by drunken
yobs. As well as dealing with off-duty soldiers from a nearby base, they targeted civilians in the non-garrison town. Their patrols were judged a success and the Redcaps are now seen regularly on the streets, alongside the Hertfordshire beat police, in the small market town.
— PTI |
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4 held for squirting Cruise with water
London, June 20 Cruise was outside a movie theatre in central London's Leicester Square yesterday doing Press interviews when a man squirted him with a water pistol disguised as a microphone, London's metropolitan police said. Cruise initially appeared to laugh at the incident but then asked the prankster: "Why would you do that?" As the man gave a barely audible excuse, Cruise said: "Do you like thinking less of people, is that it?" The prankster tried to walk away but Cruise reached across the metal barrier, held his arm and said: "Don't run away. That's incredibly rude. I'm here giving you an interview and you do that ... it's incredibly rude."
— AP |
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New York, June 20
