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JuD chief’s detention up
Israel & Hamas vow to keep conflict going
Obama unveils spy team
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Zardari hosts envoys from non-Muslim states
Halt Gaza ‘horror’, say UK Jews
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JuD chief’s detention up
Islamabad, January 11 A spokesman for the Punjab government told reporters that the province's Home department had yesterday extended the detention of Saeed and the seven other JuD leaders by 60 days. Saeed and other Jamaat leaders were placed under house arrest for a month on December 11 last year after the UN Security Council listed the group as a front for LeT. Saeed's home in Johar Town area of Lahore was declared a "sub-jail". The Jamaat leaders have been detained under the Maintenance of Public Order ordinance, which allows a person to be held for up to 90 days. Defence Minister Chaudhry Ahmed Mukhtar told reporters last month that Saeed and other militant leaders detained by Pakistani authorities could not be tried in the absence of evidence against them. The Punjab government spokesman also said 10 schools and 18 dispensaries run by the Jamaat in the province had been taken over by authorities. Seven Jamaat publications had been banned and all copies had been confiscated, he said. Among the other Jamaat leaders whose detention was extended were Col (retired) Nazir Ahmed, Amir Hamza, Yasin Baloch, Mufti Abdur Rahman and Qazi Niaz. Though Pakistani authorities have detained Jamaat leaders, sealed the group's offices across the country and frozen its bank accounts, local media reports have described the measures as "half-hearted". The reports have said Saeed, also the leader of the LeT, had been allowed to leave his home and that the Jamaat's sprawling headquarters at Muridke near Lahore was still fully operational.
— PTI
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Israel & Hamas vow to keep conflict going
Gaza, January 11 Hamas' leader in exile, Khaled Meshaal, said his Islamist group would not consider a truce until Israel ended its military offensive and lifted a blockade of the Gaza Strip. Israel sent tanks deeper into the Hamas-ruled coastal enclave and threatened to intensify its air and ground assaults against militants who fired more rockets into the Jewish state. Palestinian witnesses reported heavy fighting east of the city of Gaza where Hamas militants fired anti-tank missiles and mortar bombs at advancing Israeli forces who responded with tank shells and air strikes. Southwest of the city, the soldiers killed 10 gunmen, Palestinian medical workers said. Israeli air strikes killed three militants. At least one of the dead was identified as a Hamas gunman. A total of 858 Palestinians and 13 Israelis - three civilians killed by rocket fire and 10 soldiers - have been killed since the offensive began on December 27. While Israeli commanders said whole Hamas battalions were being wiped out, Meshaal said the Israeli forces had achieved nothing and pointed to the continued rocket fire. The Israeli actions have drawn denunciations from the Red Cross, UN agencies and Arab and European governments, spurred by the Palestinian civilian death toll in the hundreds. Israel is demanding a complete halt to Hamas rocket fire, plus regional and international guarantees to stop the group rearming via smuggling tunnels under the border with Egypt.
— Reuters
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Obama unveils spy team
Washington, January 11 Obama named Leon Panetta, a former White House chief of staff, to head the Central Intelligence Agency and retired admiral Dennis Blair as the director of National Intelligence. John Brennan, a former leader of the National Counter- terrorism Centre, will be his homeland security adviser, Obama announced at a press conference yesterday. The outgoing DNI chief Mike McConnell has been nominated to be in his foreign intelligence advisory board. “To have a successful and sustainable national security strategy, I’ve made clear that we will need to deploy and balance all elements of American power — our military, diplomacy, homeland security, economic might, and moral suasion. Good intelligence work is necessary to support each of these endeavours,” Obama said. In an apparent reference to Iraq, he said the controversies during President George W Bush’s administration had provided “tough lessons.”
— PTI
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Zardari hosts envoys from non-Muslim states
Islamabad, January 11 The dinner hosted by Zardari last night at the Presidential palace was also attended by Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani. Apart from the Indian High Commissioner, envoys of the US, China, Britain, Russia and France were among those present on the occasion. Federal ministers, secretaries and senior officials were also present. Zardari had recently hosted a dinner for envoys of Muslim nations and last night's dinner was hosted for envoys of other countries. Meanwhile, Farhatullah Babar, the spokesman of the Pakistan President, dismissed media reports that claimed Zardari had asked the diplomats during the dinner to help defuse tensions between India and Pakistan. “The President did not a make any speech at the function,” he told 'Daily Times'. “Rather, it was a get together.”
— PTI
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Halt Gaza ‘horror’, say UK Jews
London, January 11 Describing themselves as "profound and passionate supporters" of Israel, they said the current tactics threatened to undermine international support for Tel Aviv. The intervention, in a letter published in today's Observer, came as fears grew that Israel was to launch a "new phase" of its military offensive inside the Gaza strip.
— PTI
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Tintin turns 80
London, January 11 Tintin is aided in his adventures from the beginning by his faithful fox terrier dog Snowy. Later, additions to the cast included the cynical and grumpy Captain Haddock, the bright but hearing-impaired Prof Calculus and other colourful supporting characters such as the incompetent detectives — Thomson and Thompson. The success of the series saw the serialised strips collected into a series of albums, and more than 200 million copies of the books, with translations published in over 50 languages, have been sold to date. In fact, a total of 23 Tintin books were published during Herge’s
(Remi's pen name) lifetime, and another one was published after he passed away in 1983. Four million Tintin books are sold every year worldwide, which experts say, due to the slapstick humour the comic series feature. The reporter is so popular in France that former French leader Charles de Gaulle once said: ‘Deep down, my only international rival is
Tintin.’
— PTI
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