Fallujah, December 24
US President George W Bush has authorised new cuts in US combat troops in Iraq, below the 138,000 level that prevailed for most of this year, US Defence Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld said here yesterday.

Addressing US troops at this former insurgent stronghold, Rumsfeld did not reveal the exact size of the troop cut, but Pentagon officials have said it could be as much as 7,000 combat troops.

Two army brigades that had been scheduled for combat tours — one from Fort Riley, Kansas, the other now in Kuwait — will no longer be deployed in Iraq. That will reduce the number of combat brigades in Iraq from 17 to 15.

“The effect of these adjustments will reduce forces in Iraq by the spring of 2006 below the current high of 160,000 during the (Iraqi) election period to below the 138,000 baseline that had existed before the most recent elections,” Rumsfeld said.

Rumsfeld aides said details were to be provided later at the Pentagon.

Further reductions will be considered “at some point in 2006,” after the new Iraqi government is in place and is prepared to discuss the future US military presence, he said.

The Pentagon sent an extra 20,000 troops to Iraq to bolster security during the recent elections, and Rumsfeld has previously said those 20,000 would be withdrawn in January to return US force levels to a 138,000 baseline.

Yesterday’s announcement marks the first time Rumsfeld has said troop levels will dip below that baseline. — AP

Islamabad, December 24
Cable operators across Pakistan have shut down 35 channels, including most of the Indian channels and certain South African channels on orders of the Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (PEMRA).

The operators have also threatened to go on a complete strike from Monday in protest against the decision.

The shut down orders came in the wake of the Pakistan Cricket Boards urgent complaint to the Federal Government that Ten Sports, which has exclusive broadcast rights of Pakistan cricket matches in the country, was pulling out of its five-year agreement with effect from the upcoming Indian tour.

Ten Sports was pulling out because local cable operators were running the South African channels, which were broadcasting the Pakistan-England series only within their own territories.

Local cable operators obtained ‘splicers’ from Dubai cheaply. The operators ran their own advertising on the South African channels, charging extremely low rates, thereby undercutting Ten Sports so severely that it had decided to pull out of its agreement with the PCB, Pakistani newspapers today reported, quoting unnamed sources.

In response to the PCB complaint through the Federal Government, PEMRA ordered the cable operators to strictly implement its standing instructions, which were being ignored with PEMRA connivance, to stop broadcasting Indian channels.

Meanwhile, local satellite channels, including the Geo, ARY and Indus networks, and Aaj were shocked by this threat, which would take them off the air almost entirely.

They have approached the cable operators and expressed willingness to find an alternate media which would allow the cable operators to stay on air, while meeting Ten Sports’ demand.

Cable operators have given a Monday deadline, because until then the Indian soaps which provide the bulk of their audience are on a weekend break.

The last time PEMRA tried to enforce this ban, operators faced subscription cancellations en masse and only after they threatened to shut down operations did they receive a tacit relaxation allowing them to broadcast Indian entertainment channels. However, they were not allowed to resume broadcasting Indian news channels. — UNI

New York, December 24
An Indian student studying in Massachusetts has been held without bail pending hearing after he allegedly stabbed his Assistant Professor in the neck.

In the appearance at District Court in Cambridge in Massachusetts state, 22-year-old science student Nikhil Dhar from Kolkata, pleaded not guilty to the charges of armed assault with the intent of murder and battery with a dangerous weapon.

His victim Mary Elizabeth (54) was admitted to intensive care but is expected to survive. She was stabbed by Dhar on Thursday night at her home, 30 km from the campus, after being dragged out, according to a version.

Elizabeth was quoted as saying that Dhar wanted to talk to her about his poor grades. The neighbours called the police when they saw the scuffle and a 21-year army reservist Carlos Madden chased Dhar and kept him cornered till the police arrived and took him into custody. The police recovered the knife from the scene.

According to the police report, Dhar said he had followed her to her house as this was the last chance to talk to her about grades because the semester was ending.

He alleged that he had not brought the knife with him and that she came out with it as she might have thought him to be a burglar.

A media report quoted Dhar’s attorney Stephen Hrones as saying that it was a “complicated case” with two sides.

Dhar, whose hearing comes up on Wednesday, is on a student visa. His mother is a middle school teacher in New York and his father a research scientist in India, the police said. — PTI

New York, December 24
The licence of a 70-year old Indian American doctor has been suspended by the Medical Board of Georgia state for allegedly using insecticides to treat cancer patients and prescribing unauthorised drugs.

The nine-member board’s unanimous action came after a federal grand jury had earlier in the week accused the doctor, who practises in Stockbridge, of using weed killer and insecticide to treat patients.

The jury had returned an 87-count indictment which, among other things, accuses him of falsely billing insurance companies by indicating that he was using approved drugs.

The prosecutors alleged that Shanthaveerappa, also known as T.R. Shantha, was using dinitrophenol, or DNP, a weed killer and insecticide chemail Ukrain and hyperbaric oxygen therapy to treat patients.

His lawyer Dan Conaway told media that the doctor, who calls himself an alternative healer, would stop treating the patients but his clinic would remain open with other doctors continuing to attend to the patients.

The law enforcement officials did not arrest him nor closed down his clinic. They expect him to surrender within next few days and Donaway said the doctor plans to plead not guilty when appears in the court next Tuesday. — PTI