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Pakistan test-fires Ghaznavi missile
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18 Indian fishermen arrested
Job well done, Hyde gets a pat
Kashmir sapphire fetches £ 187,200
DNA tests: Driver of Diana’s car was drunk
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Pakistan test-fires Ghaznavi missile
Islamabad, December 9 ''The launch was carried out by the strategic missile group (SMG) of the Army Strategic Forces Command (ASFC),'' a statement issued by the Inter-Services Public Relations
(ISPR) said. It said the launch came at the culmination phase of the training exercise, which validated the operational readiness of the SMG. The missile, which can carry both nuclear and conventional warheads, was handed over to the ASFC a few years ago. This was Pakistan's third missile test in the past twenty-three days. On November 16, ASFC had conducted successful test flight of the intermediate ballistic range missile, HATF-5 (Ghauri) with a range of 1,300 km followed by another test-fire on November 29 of the nuclear-capable medium range ballistic missile, HATF-4 (Shaheen-I), which has a range of
700 km. Pakistan's Chief of Air Staff, Air Chief Marshal Tanvir Mahmood Ahmed and a large number of senior military officers, scientists and engineers of the strategic organisations witnessed today's test. The Air Chief said that synergy must be created between all Strategic assets of Pakistan's Armed Forces through coordination of operational, deployment and employment concepts under the aegis of the National Command Authority and Strategic Plans Division to strengthen the deterrence value of the nation's nuclear
capability. Pakistan began test-firing the different versions of short and medium range delivery systems since April 1998, when it first conducted test of Ghauri-1 intermediate range missile, which can hit targets accurately up to 1,500 km and is capable of carrying nuclear and conventional
warheads. — UNI
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Job well done, Hyde gets a pat
Poignant scenes and touching farewells marked the final session of the 109th Congress on Friday night, as Republicans prepared to step down after over a decade as the majority party in the Congress. Democrats, who won control of both the House of Representatives and the Senate in the November 7 mid-term elections, will take over on January 4 when the 110th Congress convenes. In a Congress bitterly divided on most issues, the US-India civilian nuclear cooperation deal succeeded in uniting members across the political aisle. The bill specifically brought together the two co-chairmen of the House International Relations Committee - Congressman Henry J. Hyde, Illinois Republican, and Congressman Tom Lantos, California Democrat - who worked painstakingly to craft the final bill that was approved on Friday. The warmth of the relationship that has developed between the two was evident on Friday as Mr Lantos gave a fond farewell to Mr Hyde, who will be retiring from the Congress after choosing not to seek a 17th consecutive term. Mr Lantos will take the HIRC gavel from Mr Hyde, while Congresswoman Ileana Ros-Lehtinen of Florida will become the co-chair and top Republican on the panel. In his remarks in the House on Friday night, Mr Lantos noted it was fitting that on the last day of the session of Congress, Mr Hyde was chairing a bipartisan agreement done with cooperation in both chambers. “It is especially fitting that it will be forever identified with the outgoing Chairman of the House International Relations Committee. And if it weren’t for his astonishing array of accomplishments, The Henry J. Hyde United States-India Peaceful Atomic Energy Cooperation Act could easily become known as the crowning achievement of the gentleman from Illinois,” Mr Lantos said. “He would have loved to stay with us longer, but as he recently told an interviewer, ‘Father Time and Mother Nature have a way of beating up on me’,” Mr Lantos said. “By contrast,” he added, “I am confident that history will be kind to Henry Hyde.” “Henry has held a firm grip on the gavel in the International Relations Committee these past six years, through some of the most pivotal and riveting challenges of our times,” Mr Lantos said. Earlier this week, a room in the Congress was named in the honour of Mr Hyde.
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Kashmir sapphire fetches £ 187,200
London, December 9 Sapphires from Kashmir are amongst the most desired stones and many of the finest examples that come on the market emanate from pieces of antique jewellery. At the auction held last evening the cushion-shaped Kashmir sapphire of 13.86 carats evinced keen interest among the bidders from 26 countries and ultimately it was bagged by International Trade. Raymond Sancroft-Baker, Senior director of Jewellery said, "The 6.57-carat fancy light pink diamond attracted enormous interest due to its exceptional cut and colour. This translated into the superb price of £ 120,000 per carat. — PTI
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DNA tests: Driver of Diana’s car was drunk
London, December 9 Tests have shown that Henri Paul, who was driving the car carrying Diana and her companion Dodi Al Fayed, was three times over the French drink-drive limit, the BBC reported here today. French authorities carried out the tests within the past year, the BBC quoted a source close to the authorities as saying. A DNA profile that was taken from Paul’s blood samples and compared with his parents’ DNA matched, the source said. Conspiracy theories have earlier suggested that Paul’s blood samples were swapped to portray him as a drunk in an cover-up of a secret service plot to murder Diana, it said.
— PTI
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Islamabad, December 9
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