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Israeli forces kill 12 Palestinian fighters
21 Filipino crewmen freed by Somali pirates
I’ve been made a scapegoat: Durrani
Michelle quits job, to focus on First Lady role
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Spurt in abortions by Asians in UK
Obama team to review Afghanistan conflict
Sanctions on AQ Khan not enough: US Senator
Bookies back ‘Slumdog’ for Oscars
Militant threat has Pak artistes worried
India may snap trade links with Pak: PC
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Israeli forces kill 12 Palestinian fighters
Gaza, January 13 The sounds of explosions and heavy machine-gun fire echoed through the city of 5,00,000 after Israeli tanks drew nearer but did not enter its densely populated centre, local residents said. Medical workers said 12 Palestinian gunmen, some of them members of the Hamas, were killed in the morning fighting. Hamas said its forces detonated explosives beneath the Israeli armour and fought with its forces backed by helicopter, gunships and naval fire. Israel aircraft attacked 60 targets, including tunnels used by Gaza militants to smuggle arms across the border from Egypt, weapons-making facilities and Hamas command posts, the military said. Two rockets hit the Israeli city of Beersheba, causing no casualties. "We have achieved a lot in hitting Hamas and its infrastructure, rule and armed wing, but there is still work ahead," Lieutenant-General Gabi Ashkenazi, chief of staff of Israel's armed forces, told a parliamentary committee. "We are working to deepen the blow to its military arm, reduce (Hamas) fire, strengthen (Israeli) deterrence and improve the security situation for residents of southern Israel living under the threat of (rocket) attacks," he said. Palestinian medical officials said at least 925 people in the Gaza Strip have been killed since Israel began its offensive on December 27. The health minister in Gaza's Hamas-run government said close to 400 of those were women and children. Thirteen Israelis - 10 Israeli soldiers and three civilians hit by mortar bombs and rockets from the Gaza Strip - have been killed. — Reuters
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21 Filipino crewmen freed by Somali pirates
Manila, January 13 Philippine Foreign Affairs spokesman Bayani Mangibin confirmed that the African Sanderling and its all-Filipino crew were released on Sunday. He gave no other details, and it was not clear if a ransom was paid, as is usually the case. The Panamanian-flagged and South Korean-owned ship was seized while en route to Asia from the Middle East. The latest release brought to 33 the number of Filipino sailors still held by pirates, according to government data. The Philippines supplies about a third of the world's sailors. Pirates last year attacked 111 ships and seized 42 off the Horn of Africa. An international flotilla including US warships has stopped many attacks, but the area is too vast to keep all ships safe. Their biggest prize yet, a Saudi oil tanker, was released last week. Five of the dozens of pirates who had hijacked the tanker drowned Friday when their small boat capsized as they returned to shore in rough weather. The US Navy released photos of a parachute dropping a package onto the deck of the Sirius Star, and said the package was likely to be the ransom delivery. The tanker had a crew of 25, 19 of them Filipinos. Another ship, the Iranian-chartered MV Delight, also was released Friday with a crew of 25, including seven Filipinos, Iranian TV reported last week. The Sirius Star had been held near the Ukrainian cargo ship MV Faina, which was loaded with 33 Soviet-designed battle tanks and crates of small arms. — AP
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I’ve been made a scapegoat: Durrani
The sacked national security adviser Major General (retd) Mahmud Ali Durrani believes that the Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani felt “left out” in the decision-making process in the Ajmal Kasab episode, as a result he had to bear the Pakistan Premier’s wrath. “I was made a scapegoat,” Durrani said, in an interview with The News, adding that he did not transgress the ‘official brief’ while speaking on Kasab's nationality. “The PM had every right and authority to send me home, but the way he did it was not nice. Otherwise, he is a fine gentleman. I wish him success,” Durrani said. “The way I was sacked ... I was painted as if I have committed a grave crime,” the former NSA said, adding that it was decided at the highest-level - President, in consultation with the premier security agencies - that it was in Pakistan’s national interest to admit Kasab's nationality before others started harping on it, leaving Islamabad with no choice but to own up. He added that the principal security organisations had briefed the President about Kasab’s nationality before he had talked about it. On allegations that he was dovish on India, Durrani said he wants peaceful relations with India. He said he has worked for it in the past and would continue to do so. Durrani said he was among four government functionaries authorised to issue statements on the subject. “When on January 7, I was sent packing, I had approached the PMO to talk to Gilani but received no response,” he said. The former adviser said President Zardari phoned him and regretted his dismissal. According to a report, the president, during the telephonic conversation, twice apologised to Durrani for the treatment meted out to him.
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Michelle quits job, to focus on First Lady role
Chicago, January 13 "Michelle Obama has resigned from her leadership post at the University of Chicago Medical Center as she prepares to take on her new role at the White House as First Lady," the centre said in a statement. "We are so very proud of Michelle personally, and we are very thankful for her professional accomplishments in creating and expanding the strategic vision for the Office of Community Affairs," said James Madara, the centre's director. Michelle, who will become First Lady when her husband, Barack Obama, is sworn in as President on January 20 was the centre's vice-president for community and external affairs. — AFP
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Spurt in abortions by Asians in UK
London, January 13 More Asian women are now living in open relationships and are having sex much before marriage, unlike the past when sex was a feature of post-marital life. This has led to a spurt in abortions, reflecting a change in social and cultural values among people with origins in the Indian sub-continent. There were 15,197 terminations in 2007 compared to 10,084 in 2003 for all age groups, health department figures show. "Young Asian people are more likely to come and visit us having had unprotected sex - they don’t appear to be using ongoing contraception and are more likely to be referred for terminations," Birmingham-based sexual health advisor Penny Barber was quoted as saying by the BBC. The Calthorpe clinic - one of Birmingham's main abortion centres - has seen the number of terminations go up by a fifth in the last five years. — PTI
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Obama team to review Afghanistan conflict
Washington, January 13 The incoming administration does not anticipate that the new deployment would significantly change the direction of the conflict, the newspaper said. Obama campaigned on a promise to "finish the job" in Afghanistan and said he would increase the US military presence there. However, since the November election, he has been flooded with dire assessments of the war, the Post said. "We have no strategic plan. We never had one," the newspaper quoted a senior US military commander as saying about the Bush years. Obama's first order of business will be to "explain to the American people what the mission is" in Afghanistan, the official told the newspaper. A retired senior officer with long Afghan experience and ties to the Obama team was quoted as saying that they were going to have to agree on a set of options and a decision on a single strategy. "It's going to require a much more complex assessment by Obama," the source said. The new administration says it will not be rushed into a decision on Afghanistan. "We are taking a long, hard look at these issues now," a transition adviser told the newspaper.
— Reuters
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Sanctions on AQ Khan not enough: US Senator
Washington, January 13 "These sanctions, though belated, are welcome," said Howard L Berman, chairman of the powerful House Foreign Affairs Committee. But this is not enough, he argued. Those involved in the AQ Khan nuclear black market are party to the worst proliferation of nuclear equipment and technology in history, he said. "But the sanctions do not put an end to the matter; equipment and technology from this network may still be circulating, and new suppliers could well spring up to take Khan's place," Berman argued. He said President Obamamust redouble efforts against black markets in weapons of mass destruction. — PTI
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Bookies back ‘Slumdog’ for Oscars
London, January 13 Bookies here put the feel-good movie starring Bollywood actors Anil Kapoor and Irrfan Khan at 8/15 on to scoop the coveted Best Picture prize at the Academy Awards, well in front of rivals 'The Curious Case of Benjamin Button', 'Milk', 'Frost/Nixon' and 'Revolutionary Road'. The film's director Danny Boyle is also 4/6 favourite to win the Best Director trophy at the February 22 ceremony. A spokesperson for bookmakers Paddy power said: "Slumdog Millionaire has been heavily backed for the last couple of weeks and, after its success at the Golden Globe, it looks set for Oscars glory." The low-budget flick was released in the UK on Friday. In the US, where it was released last year, the film has already generated over $30 million at the box office despite being on limited release. The film currently sits at number two in the top 10 in the UK, with the highest screen average of all the films on its release, amounting £5,640 ($8,320). — PTI
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Militant threat has Pak artistes worried
Karachi, January 13 Although no Islamic group has so far claimed responsibility for these serial bomb blasts, authorities are not ruling out the chances of some militant group trying to hit cultural activities in Lahore, which is known as the cultural centre of Pakistan. Though radical forces like Taliban, who are open in their opposition to cultural pursuits, have barred such shows from most of the restive North-West Frontier Provinces, but their diktats don't run in far-away places like Lahore, Karachi and the federal capital, Islamabad. However, the new series of attacks have unnerved musicians, actors, playwrights and dancers, though they put up a brave front. Sheema Kirmani, a well-known stage and television actress and one of the few accomplished dancers of the traditional "Kathak" form in the country is, however, optimistic about the future. "But the brave among us carried on cultural activities at times even underground fighting against all forms of extremism that discourages cultural activities," she said. Religious parties and clerics have in the past tried to discourage cultural activities. Some clerics have even said the "Kathak" dance form is against Islam, she said.
— PTI
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India may snap trade links with Pak: PC
London, January 13 “There are many, many links between India and Pakistan, and if Pakistan does not cooperate and does not help to bring
the perpetrators to heel, those ties will become weaker and weaker and one day snap,” Chidambaram told ‘The Times’ daily.— PTI
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