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N Korea ‘readies’ missiles
Jittery US asks website to return all classified material |
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11 killed in Pak plane crash
How serious has the situation become?
India keen on solution to Tamil issue, says Krishna
US army ‘recruiting robots’ for combat operations
World’s tallest residential tower in Dubai soon
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N Korea ‘readies’ missiles Yeonpyeong, November 28 However, China made clear that the talks would not amount to a resumption of six-party disarmament discussions which North Korea walked out of two years ago and declared dead. South Korea said it would carefully consider China’s suggestion. South Korean President Lee Myung-bak had told a visiting Chinese delegation that Beijing, North Korea’s only major ally which is traditionally reluctant to criticise the reclusive regime, should do more to help. China, which agreed with South Korea that the situation was “worrisome”, suggested the emergency talks for December among North and South Korea, host China, the United States, Japan and Russia. It did not say whether Pyongyang had agreed to join. Japan was non-committal. “We want to respond cautiously while cooperating closely with South Korea and the United States,” Kyodo news agency quoted Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary Tetsuro Fukuyama as saying. Beijing has long-standing bonds with Pyongyang, and has sought to shield its small, poor neighbour from a backlash that China fears could draw an even more ferocious reaction from North Korea and dangerously destabilise the region. Critics in Washington and other capitals say China’s approach amounts to coddling a dangerous nuclear-armed state. Yonhap said North Korea, whose ailing leader, Kim Jong-il, is preparing to hand over the reins of power to his youngest son, had moved surface-to-air missiles to frontline areas, days after it shelled Yeonpyeong killing four people. The North’s official KCNA news agency warned of retaliatory action if its territory is violated. South Korea’s Defence Ministry told journalists to leave the island on Sunday because the situation Many residents evacuated earlier said they did not want to return. In Seoul, life carried on normally for the city’s more than 10 million residents, with downtown shopping districts jammed with people despite the freezing temperatures, and cafes decked with Christmas decorations doing brisk business. The exercises, in waters far south of the disputed maritime boundary, are being held in the face of misgivings by China and threats of all-out war from North Korea. The chairman of North Korea’s Supreme People’s Assembly will visit China from Tuesday, the official Xinhua news agency said. China has not taken sides in the conflict and declined to blame North Korea, unlike the United States, for the sinking of a South Korean naval vessel in March. — Reuters
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Korean Crisis
Tensions between the two Koreas have risen to their highest level in at least two decades, but at street level, South Koreans have become largely inured to the war of words. At the government level, the situation has become serious enough to warrant regional powers to send diplomats to a flurry of meetings. However, it has not escalated to the point of where the world's leaders are in regular contact. For instance, US President didn't see any urgency to contact his Chinese counterpart saying only they would talk in a few days.
What is different as compared to previous tensions?
Tensions are higher now than when a South Korean warship was sunk in March, killing 46 sailors. Then, it took weeks before Seoul pointed the finger of blame at the North, which has repeatedly denied responsibility. Tensions are higher this time for the simple reason that Tuesday's attack was clearly carried out by Pyongyang, and more importantly, civilians were killed. South Koreans were genuinely shocked when they saw civilian houses burning.
What could cause the situation to escalate further?
Military drills off the west coast have been a sensitive issue for years, because they are held in the vicinity of a disputed maritime border. Pyongyang says the current Northern Limit Line border was drawn up without its consultation, and it believes the boundary should be further south. The South's joint drill with the United States, involving the ultimate show of force, an aircraft carrier, is meant to intimidate the North and underline the disparity between the two sides' militaries.
What are the chances of an all-out war?
Slim. But a miscalculation in firing, or a unilateral act by a rogue N Korean general, could spark a more serious exchange. Even though the North has nearly twice as many "boots on the ground", the US-South Korean forces are far ahead technologically and would easily win any war. Neither side stands to gain. The capitalist South is acutely aware of the cost a war would have on its vibrant economy, the region's fourth biggest. The impoverished North has barely enough resources to feed its people, let alone sustain a prolonged military campaign.
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Karachi, November 28 The Russian-made Il-76 aircraft, which came from the UAE and was headed to the Sudanese capital Khartoum, crashed near Dalmia area within the cantonment in Karachi at 1.50 am local time. It went down in a part of the naval compound where new apartments were being built. The ill-fated aircraft came down two minutes after taking off from the city's international airport, said Civil Aviation Authority spokesman Pervaiz George. All eight Russian crew members were killed, he said. The bodies of at least three construction workers were found in apartments being built at the site, Geo TV reported. Recovered bodies were badly mutilated and beyond recognition, officials said, adding several people were also injured. Officials said the casualties would have been higher if the plane of Russia's Sunway Airline had hit several densely populated apartment blocks only a few hundred metres away. Rescue operations at the crash site gathered steam this morning after hundreds of naval and army personnel moved in with heavy machinery to remove the debris and scour the damaged buildings for victims. Several witnesses said they had seen the aircraft on fire before it crashed. "I saw a fireball plummeting to ground," milk seller Mohammad Raees told Geo TV. "It was so huge and quick. I was terrified. I couldn't see what it was. I sped up to save my life and after a few seconds I heard a deafening explosion, but thanks to Allah my life was saved and I was not injured." Footage on television showed the plane in flames as it plunged towards the ground. The aeroplane exploded in a massive fireball after slamming into the naval compound, due to which about 20 buildings were razed or damaged. The crash caused widespread panic among Karachi residents as many people initially thought the explosion was due to a bomb. Fire trucks sprayed foam on the crash site and extinguished the blaze after two hours.The control tower had learnt that the plane caught fire soon after take-off, George said. The crash was the second this month in Karachi and the third in Pakistan in less than five months. On November 5, all 21 people on board a small aircraft chartered by an international oil company were killed when it crashed shortly after taking off from Karachi. That aircraft crashed within an army ordnance depot. In July, a passenger jet operated by Pakistani carrier Airblue crashed into hills overlooking Islamabad during stormy weather, killing all 152 on board. — PTI
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India keen on solution to Tamil issue, says Krishna
On Board Special Flight, November 28 How fast they would like to move in that direction." "It all depends upon their comfort level and India is wholly interested in an amicable settlement of issues which seem to be of great concern," he told reporters on board the flight on his return. Asked to comment on the invitation being extended to Manmohan Singh by the Sri Lankan government, Krishna said that Prime Minister has been invited. "They seem to be very anxious for Dr Manmohan Singh to visit Sri Lanka." —
PTI
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US army ‘recruiting robots’ for combat operations
New York, November 28 While smart machines are already very much a part of modern warfare, the US Army and its contractors are eager to add more, New York Times reported. The machines, viewed at a “Robotics Rodeo” last month at the army’s training school at Fort Benning, Georgia, not only protect soldiers, but also are never distracted, using an unblinking digital eye that automatically detects even the smallest motion. Nor do they ever panic under fire. “One of the great arguments for armed robots is they can fire second,” said Joseph W. Dyer, a former vice admiral and the chief operating officer of iRobot, which makes robots that clear explosives. When a robot looks around a battlefield, he said, the remote technician who is seeing through its eyes can take time to assess a scene without firing in haste at an innocent person. Yet the idea that robots on wheels or legs, with sensors and guns, might someday replace or supplement human soldiers is still a source of extreme controversy. Because robots can stage attacks with little immediate risk to the people who operate them, opponents say that robot warriors lower the barriers to warfare, potentially making nations more trigger- happy and leading to a new technological arms race. “Wars will be started very easily and with minimal costs” as automation increases, predicted Wendell Wallach, a scholar at the Yale Interdisciplinary Center for Bioethics and chairman of its technology and ethics study group. Civilians will be at greater risk, people in Wallach’s camp argue, because of the challenges in distinguishing between fighters and innocent bystanders. It only becomes more difficult when a device is remotely operated. This problem has already arisen with Predator aircraft, which find their targets with the aid of soldiers on the ground but are operated from the US. Because civilians in Iraq and Afghanistan have died as a result of collateral damage or mistaken identities, Predators have generated global opposition and prompted accusations of war crimes. Automation has proved vital in the wars America is fighting. In the air in Iraq and Afghanistan, unmanned aircraft with names like Predator, Reaper, Raven and Global Hawk have kept countless soldiers from flying sorties. Moreover, the military now routinely uses more than 6,000 tele-operated robots to search vehicles at checkpoints as well as to disarm one of the enemies’ most effective weapons: the improvised explosive device. Military technologists assert that tele-operated, semi -autonomous and autonomous robots are the best way to protect the lives of American troops. The US-led international forces in Iraq and Afghanistan has reportedly lost over 6,000 personnel since 2001. — PTI
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World’s tallest residential tower in Dubai soon
Dubai, November 28 A report in Emirates 24|7 said besides the Princess Tower, the 91-storey Elite Residence in Dubai Marina will also be completed and ready for handover in the same quarter of next year, claims Tameer Holding, the developer behind the two towers. “We are planning the handover of the 414-meter Princess Tower (763 units) and 381-metre Elite Residence (696 units) in Dubai Marina, and Imperial Residence (510 units) in Jumeirah Village South by the fourth quarter of 2011,” company President Federico Tauber said. The Dubai-based developer will hand over the 31-storey Silver Tower (350,000 square feet) in Business Bay and 180-unit Al Jawzaa Tower in International City by year-end. — PTI
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North Korea has placed surface-to-surface missiles on launch pads in the Yellow Sea, Yonhap news agency said, as the United States and South Korea began military drills and China called for emergency talks.
A Russian cargo plane crashed in a fireball into a naval residential compound seconds after taking off from the airport of the southern Pakistani city today, killing at least 11
persons
The 107-storey tower, billed to be the tallest residential building on earth, is likely to be ready by late next year in the city that is also home to the 823-metre wonder Burj Khalifa. The 414-metre tall Princess Tower in the city’s high-profile Dubai Marina will be ready for delivery by fourth quarter of 2011, its constructor has said. According to Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat, Q1, located on the Gold Coast of Australia, is currently the tallest residential building in the world, standing 323-metre high with 78 floors.