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Saddam’s hanging may not need President’s nod Baath party threatens retaliation Iran Parliament votes to reduce IAEA cooperation |
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Pakistan decides
to fence border with Afghanistan Pak plan worries
UN Concern over missing Hindus in Pak SC order pushes Bangladesh politics to uncertainty Supporters of AL leader take to streets
Jallianwalla Bagh massacre in UK syllabus Releasing women on bail termed discriminatory Munir Niazi passes away Israel again targets
militants US companies push workers to adopt healthy habits Pentagon faces crunch, mulls to hire immigrants Lightning shuts down Japanese N-reactor Vista flaw found, risk believed low
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Saddam’s hanging may not need President’s nod Baghdad, December 27 In an Internet posting, Saddam loyalists threatened retaliation if Saddam is executed. Violence struck Baghdad again today, with a car bomb killing eight civilians near an Iraqi army checkpoint, the police said. In its ruling yesterday, the appeals court said the former dictator must be hanged within 30 days for ordering the killing of scores of Shiite Muslims in the city of Dujail in 1982. Iraqi officials had said that such a decision must be ratified by President Jalal Talabani and Iraq's two Vice-Presidents, but that assertion was in doubt after the ruling. "Some people believe there is no need for his approval," said Mr Hiwa Osman, Talabani's media adviser."We still have to hear from the court as to how the procedure can be carried out. "Lawyers were debating whether an Iraqi High Tribunal provision mandating imposition of the death penalty could take precedence over a law in the Constitution that requires the President to approve death sentences. The tribunal convicted Saddam on November 5 after a nine-month trial. The Supreme Court of Cassation also affirmed death sentences for two of his co-defendants, including his half brother, and said life imprisonment for a third was too lenient and demanded he be given the death penalty, too. Crawford: President George W. Bush has went to his ranch to rethink US involvement in Iraq as his spokesman hailed a Baghdad court’s decision upholding the death sentence for former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein. Saddam, who was deposed by the US-led invasion of Iraq in 2003, is to be hanged within 30 days. “Today marks an important milestone in the Iraqi people’s efforts to replace the rule of a tyrant with the rule of law,” deputy White House press secretary Scott Stanzel told reporters aboard Air Force One to Texas on Tuesday, where President Bush was to meet this week with his national security team. “Saddam Hussein has received due process and legal rights that he denied the Iraqi people for so long, so this is an important day for the Iraqi people,” he said. President Bush, saddled with low approval ratings for his handling of Iraq, will host a National Security Council meeting at the ranch on Thursday, but is not expected to make any final decision on what he says will be a new way forward in Iraq. Vice-President Dick Cheney, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, Defence Secretary Robert Gates and National Security Adviser Stephen Hadley will attend the meeting. —
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Amman, December 27 The statement appeared on a website known to represent the Baath, which was disbanded after the US-led forces overthrew Saddam in 2003. The site is believed to be run from Yemen, where a number of exiled members of the party are based. On Tuesday, Iraq’s highest court rejected Saddam’s appeal against a conviction and death sentence for the killing of 148 people who were detained after an attempt to assassinate in Dujail, northern Iraq, in 1982. The court said the former president should be hanged within 30 days. “Our party warns again of the consequences of executing Mr. President and his comrades,” the statement said. “The Baath and the resistance are determined to retaliate, with all means and everywhere, to harm America and its interests if it commits this crime,” the statement added, referring to Baath fighters as “the resistance.” “The American Administration will be held responsible for any harm inflicted on the president because the United States is the decision-maker (in Iraq) and not the puppet Iraqi government.”— AP
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Iran Parliament votes to reduce IAEA cooperation
Tehran, December 27 The text of the Bill was approved by an overwhelming majority in the
conservative-controlled Parliament, with 167 in favour and 21 against. The formulation leaves the government a free hand to cut cooperation as it feels best. This could involve limiting UN inspections of its atomic sites, a move that has been urged by several lawmakers. “Officials from the Foreign Ministry and the Supreme National Security Council should be left to interpret the text,” said Deputy Foreign Minister Hamid Reza Asefi, who promoted the Bill in Parliament on behalf of the government. The vote applies to the principle of the Bill to “revise cooperation” and now MPs are to debate the exact content of its text.
— AFP
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Pakistan
decides to fence border with Afghanistan Islamabad, December 27 “By taking such steps we want to show our intention to those who
have been blaming Pakistan for not controlling the infiltration of the
Taliban into Afghanistan,” said the minister at a function here. He
said the government had already deployed 80,000 troops and established
over 800 check posts on the border.
Expressing similar sentiments, Foreign Secretary Riaz Mohammad Khan
at the weekly Foreign Office briefing said that Islamabad had decided to
“selectively” mine and fence the border with Afghanistan. It also
planned to expand the deployment of Frontier Corps to prevent
cross-border militant activity.
“In keeping with our policy to prevent any militant activity from
Pakistan inside Afghanistan, the Pakistan Army has been tasked to work
out modalities for selectively fencing and mining the
Pakistan-Afghanistan border,” said the foreign secretary.“We think
these measures would be helpful and in the future if there are any
further measures that we think are necessary we would be quite ready to
undertake those,” he said.
Notably, the announcement about additional measures comes amid
mounting complaints from Afghanistan, the US and Nato that Pakistan is
not doing enough to help stabilise the situation in the border areas and
the growing concern about tribal areas turning into safe havens for the
Taliban and militants.
The foreign secretary said these measures would take into account the
need for having designated crossing points to facilitate movement of
people across the border under the ‘easement rights’ which the
tribals had traditionally enjoyed in the area.
“Of course the population will also have to be fully informed about
such measures so there are no untoward incidents,” he remarked. Mr
Khan noted that it had also been decided to “strictly monitor” the
Afghan refugee camps, adding that the government was expediting the
process of registration of Afghan refugees which he hoped would complete
soon.
“We also request the international community, specially the United
Nations, to expedite refugees return to Afghanistan and to relocate some
of the camps which are closer to the border and which have been cause of
much contention to territories inside Afghanistan.”
To a question if Pakistan had reached an agreement with the Afghan
government on fencing and mining of the border given that it had been
opposed to these measures, his response was: “There is no question of
an agreement in this regard as this is a measure that we will be taking
on our side of the border.” He said Pakistan’s suggestion to take
such measures had been well-known to all sides as it had been stated
publicly a number of times.
When his attention was drawn to the international convention on
mining, he said Pakistan like a number of other countries, including
India, was not a signatory to the Ottawa Convention that forbids mining
and added: “We understand the sentiment behind this convention but
there is an extraordinary situation and we need extraordinary measures
to respond to this”.
Defending Pakistan’s decision to fence segments of the border, he
cited the example of fencing on the US-Mexico border to check
cross-border movements. He argued that the move was a necessary measure
to carry out Pakistan’s commitment that its territory would not be
used for militancy inside Afghanistan.
When asked when implementation of fencing and mining plan would
start, Mr Khan said: “The task which has been given to the armed
forces is already in hand.” Indicating that the process would take
some time, he maintained that while fencing was a more time-consuming
process and also needed to be guarded as it could be tampered, mining
was easier and could be done quite expeditiously in selective areas.
However, he gave no timeline for it.
On whether Pakistan would seek international assistance for
undertaking fencing and mining, Mr Khan said it had not thought about it
but he did not rule it out, saying: “We can look into the pros and
cons.” He then added: “We have not asked and so far we don’t
intend to request the international community to help us in this
regard.”
However, he stressed that where the international community could
really help was in repatriation of Afghan refugees on urgent basis and
come up with important initiatives and funds to expedite this.
On media reports that the US government had demanded of Pakistan
fresh military operations in North and South Waziristan he said: “Well
there is no such demand that I am aware of.” Mr Khan said the much
commented North Waziristan peace agreement represented a very important
policy on the part of Pakistan. “This policy is that in addition to
military action or measures that may be necessary it is important to
have a political and an administrative approach and socio-economic
development plan and programmes,” he explained. This approach, he
said, was also being replicated elsewhere in South Waziristan, Bajaur
and other tribal agencies. He pointed out that raising of fresh levies
and strengthening the institution of the political agent and the tribal
Maliks were among the measures that the government had taken to address
the problem of extremism which had affected these regions of Pakistan
and also to combat terrorist elements there.
While mentioning the measures taken by Pakistan, including
establishing of 700 check posts along the border with Afghanistan, he
underscored that the responsibility for interdicting or preventing
militancy was not the sole responsibility of Pakistan side but was
equally the responsibility of the ISAF, Nato, and the Afghan forces.
He said apart from the army deployment Pakistan was very actively
cooperating within the framework of the tripartite military commission
and intelligence sharing through bilateral means between the concerned
agencies of the two sides and also cooperation through Nato-ISAF related
intelligence.
Mr Khan also emphasised the need for a Marshall Plan-like effort to
help Afghanistan and declared: “Nothing short of that kind of an
endeavour of that magnitude will make a difference.”
Meanwhile, Interior Secretary Syed Kamal Shah told Dawn that fencing
and land mining would not done at the whole 27,000kms border but at the
most critical patches from where the movement of the Taliban could be
possible.
Responding to a question that would the laying of land mines be a
violation of the UN Geneva Convention, the official said: “There would
be no bar on land mining if the areas, where it is put in place, are
marked otherwise it is a violation of UN resolutions.
The official said earlier Pakistan was not in favour of erecting
fence or laying land mines, but now such steps were being taken as a
last resort to ward off the apprehensions of the Afghan government that
Pakistan was taking serious steps to control the cross border movement
of the Taliban.
The interior minister in his statement in March this year had
revealed that Pakistan will erect fence on the border as a “last
resort’ to check infiltration of terrorists.
He had said: “We are suffering from large scale poppy cultivation
and gun running in Afghanistan and the Afghan government had no writ in
some of its provinces to overcome the situation.”
Afghanistan has reportedly asked Pakistan to increase security at the
border by deploying more troops and erect fence.
Mr Sherpao said that Pakistani troops were effectively safeguarding
the borders and the government was fully satisfied with their
performance. Responding to a question about the bomb blast in the car
parking area of Peshawar International Airport that claimed the life of
a man on Tuesday, the interior minister said investigations were under
way to trace the people involved in the incident.
Answering to a query about the presidential elections in the country,
he hoped that Gen Musharraf will win the elections by a huge margin if
he asks for the vote from the present parliament or by any other in
future. “I think there will be no strong candidate against President
Gen Musharraf today or in future as nobody has courage to contest
against him,” he claimed. — Dawn
Pak plan
worries UN
Kabul, December 27 Pakistan yesterday said it would plant land mines and build a fence
on parts of its 2,430-km frontier with Afghanistan to fend off criticism
that it does too little to stop Taliban and al-Qaida guerrillas from
crossing the border.
"From a human rights perspective, we would be concerned about
any mining, including this," said Richard Bennett, the UN's chief
human rights officer in Afghanistan. "Human rights advocates are
solidly opposed globally to the use of land mines. The UN is opposed to
the use of mines."
Afghanistan is one of the world's countries worst affected by land
mines that have killed and maimed thousands of civilians during the past
quarter-century of wars. The frontier region is inhabited on both sides
by Pashtun tribes, people who travel freely across the border. — AP
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Concern over missing Hindus in Pak Islamabad, December 27 It has demanded that the law enforcement authorities and intelligence agencies must either release the citizens or disclose the charges against such illegally arrested and kidnapped persons. “They should also disclose the law under which they have been arrested, the place of detention, and the name of the court where any case against them may be pending,” HRCP's Zohra Yusuf said in Karachi. She said the authorities must allow friends and relatives of the detainees to meet them regularly, saying this was a basic human right guaranteed under law. A majority of Pakistan's Hindus reside in Sindh province. Pinpointing specific cases, she said that on September 9, 55-year-old Gordhan Das, alias G.M. Bhagat, of Umerkot district was picked up reportedly by four law enforcement personnel in plainclothes. Bhagat was taken away in a government vehicle from a spot close to his residence.Bhagat's son Om Prakash filed a case in the Hyderabad High Court, the HRCP said. In the same district, Chetan Kumar was arrested as an alleged "terror suspect" in 2001 and sentenced by the Special Anti-Terrorism Court in Hyderabad. He was reportedly tortured and abused in custody. The Sindh High Court acquitted him. In July 2006, eight armed law enforcement agents abducted him again from his house. Chetan and his son were tortured, his whereabouts are still unknown, HRCP said. — IANS
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SC order pushes Bangladesh politics to uncertainty Dhaka, December 27 “We are now thinking if we should go to the polls at all,” said Obaidul Qader, joint general secretary of former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina Wajed’s Awami League that leads a strategic election grouping where Ershad’s Jatiya Party is a crucial partner. Qader called the development centring Ershad, who recently joined Sheikh Hasina’s mega alliance, as a “cruel farce that forces us to rethink about tough actions like fresh nationwide siege for indefinite period.” “I am an eligible candidate for the election but plots are being hatched to stop me,” Ershad told newsmen after an hour-long meeting with Sheikh Hasina. He said the “plots” to scrap his candidature might lead his party to take a decision by tomorrow on whether to take part in the January 22 elections. Meanwhile, acting chief election commissioner Mahfuzur Rahman said he was likely to take a decision on Ershad’s candidature in the next 24 hours as the returning officer of Dhaka region referred his nomination papers to the commission initially finding it “unacceptable” following the court order. An appellate division chamber judge of the Supreme Court yesterday ordered Ershad’s surrender before a lower court, rejecting his appeal against an earlier High Court verdict sentencing him to two years of imprisonment in the Japanese boat purchase scandal. — PTI
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Supporters of AL leader take to streets
Dhaka, December 27 The followers of Shamim Osman encircled his residence with bamboo sticks afer the Awami League leader returned home yesterday to contest in next month’s polls as a candidate of the AL-led mega alliance. The police, however, denied making any attempt to arrest Osman with the police chief of the area saying that the supporters were moblised under a “planned campaign” as he filed nomination papers on the last day of the election commission deadline. —
PTI/Reuters
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Los Angeles, December 27 "My family joins me in sharing the difficult news that Gerald Ford, our beloved husband, father, grandfather and great grandfather has passed away at 93 years of age," Ms Ford said yesterday in a brief statement issued from her husband's office in Rancho Mirage. "His life was filled with love of God, his family and his country." The statement did not say where Ford died or list a cause of the death. Ford had battled pneumonia in January 2006 and underwent two heart treatments, including an angioplasty, in August at Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota. He took office minutes after Nixon flew off into exile and declared that "our long national nightmare is over." But he revived the debate a month later by granting Nixon a pardon for all crimes he committed as President. That single act won him praise in later years as a courageous act that allowed the nation to move on. — AP
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Jallianwalla Bagh massacre in UK syllabus London, December 27 The Qualifications and Curriculum Authority (QCA) has said the course for 11-14 year olds is intended to give a valuable insight into the shared history of Britain and India, The Times reported today. The course, which is to be covered in 15 hours, would help pupils evaluate different interpretations of the massacre. The massacre was one of the most notorious incidents of the Raj rule when Brigadier-General Reginald Dyer ordered his troops to fire on unarmed civilians holding a meeting in the park. The massacre stirred nationalist feelings across India, fuelling the call for full independence from the British colonial forces. In its guidelines, the QCA cautions that teachers "should be aware that this unit explores issues and events that may evoke strong feelings in some pupils. Care should be taken to present the unit in a manner that is sensitive, objective and balanced". — PTI
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Releasing women on bail termed discriminatory Islamabad, December 27 The petitioner, Shahid Orakzai, questioned the logic of releasing women under the same law which barred freeing men on bail. President Gen Pervez Musharraf had promulgated the Code of Criminal Procedure (Second Amendment) Ordinance 2006 protecting women's rights, authorising immediate release of all under trial women prisoners involved in criminal and Hudood cases on bail. The ordinance also amended Section 497 of the CrPC to facilitate the release of women prisoners involved in rape, adultery and Hudood cases if not wanted for murder and terrorism. Earlier, offences under Hudood laws were non-bailable. Soon after the promulgation of the ordinance 1,300 women prisoners, languishing in different jails under Hudood cases, were to be released after the completion of their bail process. The ordinance was promulgated on July 8 but it lapsed after four months. Subsequently, it was re-promulgated on Nov 8. Mr Orakzai urged the apex court to declare the ordinance to be against the Constitution. The ordinance's re-promulgation, he contended, indicated that the incumbent president, being a military officer, was not aware of his legislative powers, duties and functions. Therefore the apex court should elaborate the president's legislative role mentioned in Articles 50, 54, 56, 75 and 89 of the Constitution. — Dawn
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Munir Niazi passes away Lahore/Karachi, December 27 According to family members, his condition deteriorated rapidly after an asthma attack at around 7pm. He was taken to the Jinnah Hospital where he died one and a half hours later. Niazi leaves a widow. Niazi, whose original name was Munir Ahmad, was born in Khanpur in 1928. He had his early education in Khanpur but moved to S.E. College in Bahawalpur for his intermediate. He did his BA from Dyal Singh College. Niazi, who settled in Sahiwal following the partition of the subcontinent, published a weekly called "Saat Rung" in 1949. He became associated with what was then the country's budding film industry for some time and penned a number of lyrical poems for movies. The late Nasim Begum sang the song "Us Bewafa Ka Shehar Hey" for the 1962 film "Shaheed". The song, which was put to music by versatile composer Rasheed Attre, catapulted both the singer and the poet to stardom. Niazi also wrote articles for newspapers, magazines and radio. In 1960, he established a publishing house called "Al-Misal". Among his famous anthologies of Urdu poems are "Taiz Hawa Aur Tanha Phool", "Jungle Mein Dhanak", "Dushmanoon Kay Darmiyan Sham" and "Mah-i-Munir". In the Punjabi language, he authored "Safar di Raat", "Char Chup Cheezan" and "Rasta Dasan Walay Tarey". Niazi, a master of poetic imagery, was bold enough to experiment with many genres of poetry and is credited with creating a distinct style, rhythm and diction. Mythology, nostalgia, haunting romance and a belief in the supernatural are some of those themes that find frequent mention in his poems. Contemporaries' comments: Critiquing Niazi's poetic art, noted writer Intizar Hussain said Niazi had his own unique style of poetry. "He had his own colours. Along with Nasir Kazmi, he is one of my favourite poets," said Mr Hussain. Poet Dr Abrar Ahmed said Niazi was among those poets who migrated from India and in their poetry defined the places they lived. Dr Ahmed recalled that Niazi had no other source of living and relied solely on his poetry. Playwright Munoo Bahi said next to Faiz and Nasir Kazmi, Niazi was a leading Urdu poet who had his own style. 'Niazi gave a couple of new metaphors to Urdu poetry," he explained. Poet Dr Pirzada Qasim, who is vice-chancellor of the University of Karachi, said that with Niazi's death, the country had lost one of the finest poets. "He was one of the few most important poets of his generation. His poetry was full of mystery and melancholy," Dr Qasim said. Poet Jamiluddin Aali said the late Niazi was distinctively strict in his aesthetic diction and style. "He was also known as a great Punjabi poet but I cannot say much about that. I would however state without any reservation that among his Urdu contemporaries, he was the greatest. His departure from the scene is really a great loss to Urdu," said Mr Aali. Poet Iftikhar Arif, who is chairman of the Pakistan Academy of Letters, said Niazi was the greatest poet of the post-Faiz era. "He was so committed that he never compromised on aesthetics. That's perhaps why he is equally popular with the intellectual elite and the masses," said Mr Arif. According to him, Niazi was among those five Urdu poets who have been widely translated in European languages. "He has been translated in English, Russian, German, Norwegian and many other European languages. He was also translated in Hindi," said Mr Arif. Poet Kishwar Naheed said what Niazi wrote in Urdu and Punjab would inspire future writers for a long time. "His poetry has given a modern approach to Urdu and Punjabi poetry. He gave new expressions to old words and used beautiful words in his poetry that had earlier not been touched. He drew sketches with words. He was matchless," said Ms Naheed. Funeral: Family members told Dawn that Niazi's funeral would be held at 2pm in a mosque near his residence at 43, Block 1, B1 Township on Wednesday. —
Dawn
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Israel again targets militants Jerusalem, December 27 Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Defence Minister Amir Peretz met senior military and intelligence officials to discuss the recent escalation in rocket attacks and instructed the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) to resume pinpoint operations targeting Qassam rocket launching cells today. “In parallel, Israel will continue to maintain ceasefire and work with the Palestinian Authority so that immediate steps are taken to halt the Qassam firings,” it said. Mr Peretz and senior IDF officials had called on Prime Minister Olmert to suspend the policy of restraint and let the army fire at Qassam rocket-launcher cells. Mr Peretz has been vocal in recent days about his dissatisfaction with the policy of restraint and believes the risk to Palestinian civilians is low if the IDF operations are confined to unpopulated areas used by terror cells. — PTI
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US companies push workers to adopt healthy habits New York, December 27 Outdoor clothing company L.L. Bean, Inc. shuts down its manufacturing line three times a day for mandatory five-minute stretches, designed to prevent the most common injuries the workerssuffer. “It’s a safety measure, just as we would ask someone to wear safety glasses if there’s a danger of hurting their eyes,’’said Susan Tufts, the company’s employee wellness program manager. Atretailer Replacements Ltd., 250 employees take part in a walking program organized by the company nurse. T-shirt manufacturer American Apparal has 80 loaner bikes, locks and helmets for employees and hostedan employee screening of ``Fast Food Nation,’’ a film where the villainis the meat industry. Insurance company The Hartford Financial Services Group Inc. is among those using price manipulation in its cafeteria to encourage employees to eat right. It is increasing the prices on fattyfoods and using the extra money to fund a subsidy for healthysandwiches, cut fruit and salads. Such ``Twinkie taxes’’ are now inplace at 7 to 10 percent of corporate cafeterias run by food servicecompany Sodexho, up from almost none three years ago, according to thecompany. Mounting healthcare costs are driving the changes. Employee assistance company ComPsych Corp. runs what it calls``trainwreck exercises,’’ in which companies compute how long they canabsorb healthcare cost increases before they become unprofitable. Thefirst client that did the exercise realized it only had 18 months.Health insurance premiums for 2006 rose 7.7 percent — twice the rateof inflation. While some companies are responding to the higherhealthcare cost by cutting employees’ coverage and shifting more costs to the employees, others are doing everything they can toconvince employees to adopt healthier habits in the hopes they will avoid diseases caused or complicated by eating poorly and beingoverweight or inactive. After L.L. Bean increased the price forburgers and lowered the price for salads in its cafeteria fruit andsalad bar purchases doubled while French fry and burger sales fell byhalf. When railroad company Union Pacific Corp. opened anew headquarters in Omaha two years ago it ordered itscafeteria operator to hire a full-time dietitian for the site and cutthe fat and calories on every item by 10 percent. The company runs a``Know Your Numbers’’ program that drills into employees’ heads figuressuch as the 30 minutes of exercise they should be getting a day and the3,500 calories in a pound (450 grams). “`The biggest thing the guyscome back and say they learned the most about is portion size,’’ saidMarcy Zauha, the company’s director of health and safety. ``They didn’tunderstand how much they were eating.’’ Besides cost cutting, anotherfactor behind the programs is the amount of time employees spend atwork. If workers don’t have access to fruits and vegetables on thejob,they will need to consume between one and two servings everywaking hour after work to meet the goal of eating 5 to 9 servings aday,according to the California Department of Human Services. To reach the recommended 10,000 steps a day, sedentary workers would have to spend most of their evenings in motion, the department said. Even alittle daily excercise can boost health, said Dr.Antronette (Toni)Yancey, associate professor at the UCLA School of PublicHealth. Yancey collaborated with the Ministry of Health in Mexico,where everyone gathers at 11 a.m. each morning for 10 minutes ofexercise to music. The result, after a year, was an average .45 pound (about 220 grams) weight loss _ an improvement from the one pound (450 grams) a year, on average, people gain as they age. “Especiallyas it relates to physical activity, people have demonstrated thatthey’re not going to make a lot of changes on their own,’’ Dr. Yanceysaid. ``If we’re going to make a big dent _ lower healthcare costs,improve productivity and morale _ you have to make it easier to do thannot do.’’ Yancey and others say that work gyms are used primarily bypeople who would exercise anyway. For everyone else, a littlemanipulation goes a long way. Her suggestions include incorporating exercise breaks in to the work day, restricting parking close to the building, limiting elevator access to people with disabilities, widening and brightening stairwells and hosting walking meetings. — AP
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Pentagon faces crunch, mulls to hire immigrants New York, December 27 Foreign citizens serving the US military, said the ‘Boston Globe’, is a highly charged up issue, which could expose the Pentagon to criticism that it is essentially using “mercenaries” to defend the country. Analysts have voiced concern that a large contingent of non-citizens under arms could jeopardize national security or reflect badly on Americans’ willingness to serve in uniform. The idea of signing up foreigners who are seeking US citizenship is gaining ground as a way to address Pentagon’s “critical need,” while fully absorbing some of the roughly one million immigrants that enter the States legally each year, the report said. The proposal to induct more non-citizens, which is still largely on the drawing board, has to clear a number of hurdles. So far, the Pentagon has been quiet about specifics — including who would be eligible to join, where the recruiting stations would be, and what the minimum standards might involve. Meanwhile, Pentagon and immigration authorities have expanded a programme that accelerates citizenship for legal residents who volunteer for the military, the report said. Since September 11, 2001, the number of immigrants in uniform who became US citizens increased from 750 to almost 4,600 last year, the report said quoting military statistics. — PTI
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Lightning shuts down Japanese N-reactor Tokyo, December 27 There was no radiation leak or damage, it said. The 140,000-kilowatt Joyo experimental fast reactor at the Japan Atomic Energy Agency’s O-arai Research and Development Center in Ibaraki prefecture shut down shortly before 1 a.m. on Wednesday after lightning hit a commercial power line serving the reactor, the agency said in a statement. Power from the line was restored one and a half hours later, the agency said. No other facilities at the site were affected. The reactor was in the middle of a test operation that remains on track to run from December 11 to February 2.— PTI
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Vista flaw found, risk believed low New York, December 27 Microsoft and independent security researchers, however, tried to play down the risk from the flaw, which was disclosed on a Russian site recently and is apparently the first affecting the new Vista system released to larger businesses in late November. The software company said it was investigating the threat but found so far that a hacker must already have access to the vulnerable computer in order to execute an attack. That could occur if someone is actually sitting in front of the PC or otherwise gets the computer’s owner to install rogue software, said Mikko Hypponen, chief research officer for Finnish security research company F-Secure Corp. “The bottom line is you couldn’t use a vulnerability like this to write a worm or hack a Vista system remotely,” Hypponen said. “It only has historical significance in that it’s the first reported vulnerability that also affects Vista. It’s a nonevent in other ways.” Attackers with low-level access privileges on a vulnerable machine could theoretically use the flaw to bump up their status, ultimately gaining systemwide control, Hypponen said. The flaw affects older Windows systems, too, and Hypponen said vulnerabilities like these are quite common and can be fixed with a software patch, which Microsoft releases on the second Tuesday of each month except for the most serious threats. The flaw remains a proof of concept, with no one known to have actually launched an attack with it, Hypponen said. In a posting on Microsoft’s security-response Web journal, a senior security manager, Mike Reavey, said he remained confident “Windows Vista is our most secure platform to date.” Vista, the first major Windows upgrade since Windows XP launched in 2001, was made available on November 30 to businesses that buy Windows licenses in bulk. Consumers generally won’t be able to get Vista until January 30. In trying to improve security, Microsoft redesigned its flagship operating system to reduce users’ exposure to destructive programs from the Internet. But most security researchers believe a complex product like Vista can never be error-free, so it was a matter of time for someone discovered a security vulnerability. — AP
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Two killed, 42 hurt in Taiwan quakes US backs Somalia attack Ahmadinejad ends message to Pope Prince Harry going to war in Iraq
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