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N-warrior Mush warns India
Israeli forces pound Gaza
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US Surgeon General
Indian couple appeals for missing son
30 die in Peru bus crash
Five shot at after school ball game
UAE raises $86m for civilians
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N-warrior Mush warns India
In an obvious reference to the use of nuclear weapons, former president Gen Pervez Musharraf Saturday warned that Pakistan is resolved to use its "strategic assets" if needed in case of Indian aggression.
He also warned that Pakistan's military would not take lying down Indian surgical attacks on specific targets and would hit back with identical reprisal operations Musharraf was talking to reporters at Islamabad while embarking on a US trip during which, he said, he would deliver a lecture on the international situation. Musharraf's jingoistic tone and threat of use of nuclear weapons immediately provoked a strong reaction with critics accusing him of being "irresponsible and reckless" for ulterior motives to further inflame current India-Pakistan tensions. They said Musharraf's observation would trigger another debate on Pakistan's nuclear assets and further intensify international pressure on Pakistan which is already facing a very dicey situation in the wake of the Mumbai carnage. Tehrike Insaf chief Imran Khan, PML-N spokesman Ahsan Iqbal, PML-Q secretary general Mushahid Hussain and many prominent analysts reacted sharply to Musharraf's bluster and blamed him for the predicament in which the country found itself at present. "Let India stop giving us threats," Musharraf said adding: "We have built a force level and we can use the sensitive and strategic assets when we have to." Imran Khan termed Musharraf's statement as "highly irresponsible" adding that the nuclear weapons were meant for deterrence and not for use against any country. He said Musharraf was now behaving like Sultan Rahi, hero of Punjabi films, by being boastful. "Here is a man now talking in tough terms after slavishly pursuing American diktat to utter humiliation of this nation," he said. Musharraf dispelled the impression that he had allowed the United States to intrude into Pakistani territory with drones and missile attacks. Imran Khan and Ahsan Iqbal criticised the government for allowing Musharraf to make statesments on sensitive issues and not holding him accountable for his misdeeds. Imran blamed President Asif Zardari for providing Musharraf full protocol and security in return for his favour to pardon his corruption under the National Reconciliation Ordinance. Iqbal said Musharraf should not have been allowed to go abroad. Musharraf believed that resolution of the Kashmir and Palestinian issues was close at hand. But Mushahid Hussain said the former President was being unrealistically too optimistic.
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Israeli forces pound Gaza
Jerusalem, January 10 As the deadliest ever Israeli assault against the Islamic Hamas group entered the third week, troops pounded dozens of targets and engaged the militants in series of ground clashes as it moved closer to the northern edge of Gaza City, killing 15 militants. Israel said it launched 40 overnight air strikes, while Hamas militants fired several rockets at Israeli towns. According to the military, Israeli aircrafts attacked more than 40 targets throughout Gaza, striking 10 rocket-launching sites, weapons-storage facilities, smuggling tunnels, an anti-aircraft missile launcher and gunmen. Hamas and its allies fired at least four rockets into Israel, without causing casualties or damage, the Israeli military said. The Israeli Prime Minister's office said rockets being fired from the Gaza by Hamas "only prove that the UN's decision is not practical and will not be kept in practice by the Palestinian murder organizations." Rejecting the call for ceasefire, Hamas said would not accept a truce that did not see the lifting of the crippling blockade which Israel imposed on the territory after the Islamists seized power in June 2007. Egypt has been leading a US-backed plan to end the violence. According to reports, senior Palestinian officials are in Egypt for talks on how to end the Gaza conflict, which began two weeks ago. President Hosni Mubarak was to meet his Palestinian counterpart Mahmud Abbas on Saturday. The United Nations announced it would resume operations in Gaza — reeling soon after receiving security assurances from Israel. Israel has vowed to continue its offensive against Hamas in the Gaza Strip after the government rejected the UN resolution as unworkable. Israeli PM Ehud Olmert said that Israel would not bow to "outside influence". — PTI
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US Surgeon General A Democratic US Congressman is urging his colleagues on Capitol Hill to oppose the expected nomination of an Indian-American doctor to be the next Surgeon General of the United States. Congressman John Conyers of Michigan says he "lacks the requisite experience needed to oversee the federal agency that provides crucial health-care assistance." In a letter sent to other members of Congress yesterday, Conyers urged them to join him "in signing a letter to President-elect Barack Obama that Dr [Sanjay] Gupta not be nominated for the post." Conyers, who chairs the House Judiciary Committee, represents Gupta's home state of Michigan. Earlier this week, CNN reported Obama's transition team had approached Gupta, CNN's chief medical correspondent, about becoming US Surgeon General. CNN released a statement saying, "Since first learning that Dr Gupta was under consideration for the surgeon general position, CNN has made sure that his on-air reporting is on health and wellness matters and not on health-care policy or any matter involving the new administration." Gupta hosts the CNN medical show "House Call," is on the faculty at Emory University School of Medicine and performs surgery weekly at Emory University Hospital and Grady Memorial Hospital, where he serves as chief of neurosurgery. He has acknowledged that he was approached by the Obama team but he is carefully weighing the decision, largely because of the enormous pay-cut he will have to take. Gupta is said to be concerned about the impact of this cut on his two young children and pregnant wife. If Gupta is picked for the post, it is unlikely that he will be blocked as his nomination must be cleared by the Senate and no senators have so far raised any objection to him. Conyers is a member of the House of Representatives. In his letter, Coyers says: "There are highly experienced medical professionals who question whether Dr Gupta has the necessary experience or even the medical background to be in charge of some 6,000 physicians or more who work in the US Public Health Service." "Clearly, it is not in the best interests of the nation to have someone like this who lacks the requisite experience needed to oversee the federal agency that provides crucial health-care assistance to some of the poorest and most underserved communities in America," Conyers wrote. Nobel Prize-winning economist Paul Krugman has also raised concerns about Gupta’s nomination. The son of Indian immigrants, Subhash Gupta and Damyanti Gupta, 39-year-old Gupta was born and raised in the US. As a White House fellow in 1997, he worked as an adviser to then First Lady Hillary Clinton. He was embedded with a Navy unit, the Devil Docs, during the 2003 Iraq invasion. At that time, he performed five brain surgeries, including one on a two-year old Iraqi boy wounded by the US soldiers. Gupta was also chosen by People magazine as one of their 2003 "Sexiest Men of the Year."
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Indian couple appeals for missing son
London, January 10 The parents of Jonathan Marques, a Reading-based family of Goa origin, wept throughout the press conference and asked anyone who has seen him to get in touch. The family, which moved to the UK three years ago, in their plea said, "Jonathan, if you are there, just give us a call and tell us you are safe. Please come home. We love you and we miss you. Please come home."
— PTI
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30 die in Peru bus crash
Lima, January 10 The dead included six children, police chief Marcial Gonzales Perez told CPN radio. The bus, which was carrying about 50 passengers, fell 150 meters off the road after the driver lost control, Perez said. Rescue teams and local residents were at the scene helping to transport the injured to hospitals as authorities began an investigation into the cause of the accident, he said. In 2008, at least 875 people were killed and 5,307 injured in road accidents in Peru, down 10 per cent from the toll in 2007, according to police.
— AFP
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Five shot at after school ball game
Chicago, January 10 "It appears to be gang-related (incident)," Chicago Police Superintendent Jody Weiss said, adding that more than 200 officers were investigating the attack which took place last night. "We anticipate solving this thing in the not too distant future," Weiss was quoted as saying to CNN. Chicago Fire Department spokeswoman Eve Rodriguez said the five persons, all males, were wounded by the gunfire and taken to hospital. Two were in serious condition, she said. All the five victims had been inside Paul Laurence Dunbar Vocational Career Academy. The spectators were leaving the school building after the basketball game when the gunfire broke out. — PTI
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UAE raises $86m for civilians
Abu Dhabi, January 10 The fund-raising campaign, which began yesterday with a telethon, is due to continue until the first week of February, said deputy prime minister Sheikh Hamdan bin Zayed al-Nahayan. UAE President Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed al-Nahayan has offered to pay for the construction of 600 houses in Gaza to accommodate families left homeless by the Israeli onslaught, officials said.
— AFP
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In an obvious reference to the use of nuclear weapons, former president Gen Pervez Musharraf Saturday warned that Pakistan is resolved to use its "strategic assets" if needed in case of Indian aggression.
