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Manhunt on to catch London bombers
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British MPs too hurl ‘chappals’ at each other, says Azad
NASA to launch Discovery today
US “needs to shape” closer ties with Indian Army
Indian beheaded in Saudi Arabia
Suicide bomber kills five
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Manhunt on to catch London bombers
London, July 25 The third suspect was arrested late on Saturday near Stockwell in South London from where two other suspects were arrested on Friday, the police said. Metropolitan Police Commissioner Sir Ian Blair said the investigation was “racing against time”, amid reports that last Thursday’s attackers were planning to strike again. Senior officers believe the bombers could be preparing to strike while being harboured at safe houses in the capital, the Press Association reported. Blair urged his officers to “move on” with the probe after a plainclothes detective shot dead 27-year-old innocent Brazilian Jean Charles de Menezes at Stockwell tube station. Foreign Secretary Jack Straw spoke to his Brazilian counterpart Celso Amorim to convey his regrets over the killing. Menezes’ family have said they may sue the British police over the killing. The British police had said it would have to shoot suspects in the head to prevent suicide blasts. Criticising the fatal shooting of Menezez, the British media said that the police action had “badly shaken” the trust of ethnic communities in them. Media reports said the British police suspected that a fifth bomber was involved in last week’s attempted suicide attacks at underground trains and on a bus in London, apart from the four whose photographs have been released.
— PTI |
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London station hit by bombings reopens
London, July 25 The Aldgate Station had been shut since Shahzad Tanweer, a Briton of Pakistani origin, apparently blew himself up on a Circle Line train as it approached the station from Liverpool Street, killing himself and seven rush hour commuters. Engineers have now repaired the damage and the station reopened for the start of today’s service. The Metropolitan Line, which had been closed from Moorgate to Aldgate, also resumed a full service today. Elsewhere, there is still large-scale disruption to the All services on the Circle Line remain suspended. The Piccadilly Line is suspended between the Hyde Park Corner and the Arnos Grove and between the Rayners Lane and Uxbridge, while the District Line is suspended between the Edgware Road and High Street Kensington stations. Trains are running again on the Hammersmith and City Line between Hammersmith and Paddington, but not between Paddington and Barking. Extra bus services are being run to replace the suspended train services. The Northern, Victoria, Central, Bakerloo, Waterloo and City, East London and Jubilee Lines are running a normal service.
— AFP |
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British MPs too hurl ‘chappals’ at each other, says Azad
London, July 25 “We should also not forget that slippers have been hurled at each other even in the British parliament,” Azad told a BBC Hindi radio programme broadcast on Monday. Azad did not give details, but British MPs, who have to abide by strict dress codes unlike Indian MPs, do not wear ‘chappals’ — slippers or sandals — to the House. Asked to compare the behaviour of Indian MPs with that of their vaunted counterparts in the House of Commons, Azad’s first line of defence was that British MPs are better educated. “We cannot compare ourselves with Britain, where all MPs are literate and there is a common working language. Ours is a country with MPs coming from such diverse educational, regional and linguistic backgrounds.” Next, the minister blamed the media. “This issue has to be seen in totality,” Azad said. “There is no denying the fact that disruptions in our parliament are frequent, but let us all share the responsibility for this.” “Why does the media highlight those members who disrupt the proceedings? We have enough experience to show that when any MP prepares his speech with hours of hard work and speaks well inside the house, not a single line is reported, on the contrary even a disruption of few minutes finds prominence. Therefore, the fourth estate of our democracy should also play its role with equal responsibility.” The unfortunate thing, he said, was that while five disruptions made headlines “MPs sitting beyond midnight or even the lunch break being cancelled” did not find a mention in the media.
— IANS |
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NASA to launch Discovery today
Houston, July 25 Senior NASA managers, who met yesterday at the Kennedy Space Center for a launch readiness meeting, said discussions focused on recent problems related to a liquid hydrogen low-level fuel sensor inside the external fuel tank, which prompted the earlier postponement of the shuttle’s launch. Since then, engineers have been working around-the-clock on troubleshooting the sensor system issue. NASA Administrator Michael Griffin also endorsed a strategy by shuttle managers to change the launch criteria from four operable gauges to three if the problem resurfaces under a narrow range of circumstances. “I’m quite comfortable with where we are,” said Griffin during the briefing. “What you want of NASA is that make the right technical decisions, that we do the right thing to the extent that we can figure that out, which is hard.” “If anything else happens. we will stop, because that says we need to do more testing,” said NASA’s Wayne Hale, who chairs Discovery’s mission management team. Discovery is set to be NASA’s first shuttle flight since the loss of the Columbia orbiter, which broke apart during re-entry on February 1, 2003 killing its astronaut crew, including Indian born astronaut Kalpana Chawla. The STS-114 mission is designed to test new orbiter inspection tools and methods to increase shuttle flight safety.
— PTI |
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US “needs to shape” closer ties with Indian Army
Washington, July 25 The Washington-based think-tank, which is funded by the US government, argues that “recent US-led military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan amply demonstrate” the need for building such partnerships with friendly nations, particularly India which has the world’s second largest army. Author Christine Fair, a programme officer for South Asia at the USIP, notes that the Indian Army has conducted operations successfully in desert and jungle terrains, tackled rural and urban insurgencies, and operated at home and abroad –- principally in United Nations peacekeeping operations. “Notably, India has a well-honed and exceptional high-altitude warfare capability, of which few countries can boast,” says Ms Fair while urging the US administration to develop a closer relationship with the Indian military establishment. “There are reasons to believe that future Indo-US military cooperation is possible in particular political contexts and in specific kinds of operations,” says the author while acknowledging that India disappointed the US when it refused to send troops to Iraq. The essay makes five main arguments: First, although there is considerable convergence at the strategic level, there are also significant asymmetries between the US and Indian armies. Second, while New Delhi values the increased service-to-service interactions, technology access remains the litmus test of the relationship. Third, although Washington and New Delhi have many shared security concerns, India will not participate in combat coalitions unless its own security is at stake. Fourth, while India is a reluctant multilateralist, this does not mean that the Indian Army is irrelevant to the US. It is conceivable that the Indian and US armies could operate together in the context of peace,
counter terrorist, or counter-narcotic operations. Therefore, developing joint operational capabilities will be useful to the US. Fifth, apart from troops, India has a number of other assets, including its vast military-educational institutions. “Following the Indian military campaign during the 1999 conflict with Pakistan in the
Kargil and Dras sectors and Operation Parakaram, the Indian army action during the 2002 standoff with Pakistan, foreign armies became increasingly interested in the Indian Army,” says the author. After these two operations, several nations expressed the desire to send their officers for training to India. |
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Indian beheaded in Saudi Arabia
Riyadh, July 25 Soper Amani Rafi was found guilty of “stabbing to death Mohammad bin Siddiq Ashfak Ashraf with a knife as he slept because of a dispute between them,” the ministry said in a statement carried by the official SPA news agency. The execution brought to 55 the number of beheadings announced by Saudi authorities since the beginning of the year. Executions are generally carried out in public in Saudi Arabia, which applies a strict form of Islamic law.
— AFP |
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Suicide bomber kills five
Baghdad, July 25 The unusually large explosion as dawn broke was followed by the sound of shooting, Reuters journalists nearby said. Black smoke could be seen rising from near the area of Hotel Sadir, which houses some foreign contractors and is close to the Central Firdoz square.
— Reuters |
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