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14 killed in LTTE suicide blast
The victims of the blast lying on the roadside in Matara district of
Sri Lanka on Tuesday. — AFP
US troop surge to aid Afghan police trainers
Army can act to ensure nation’s safety: Musharraf
9/11 detainees admit to planning attacks
Uprising Day |
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Stem Cell
Suicide bomber kills 25 in Iraq
Indo-US ties to deepen under Obama: Report
Pipeline Project
Bard’s memorial gets gift from Maharashtra
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14 killed in LTTE suicide blast
At least 14 persons were killed and 46, including a minister, were wounded as a suspected LTTE suicide bomber targeted a procession celebrating Prophet Mohammed's birth in Sri Lanka's Matara district today.
According to information, Post and Telecommunication Minister Mahinda Wijesekara, who was attending the function along with several other Cabinet and non-Cabinet colleagues, was injured in the attack. An official attached to the president's office said a team of doctors had been flown to Matara to treat the wounded minister. "Arrangements have been made to airlift the minister to Colombo," the official said. The attack took place around 10.30 am close to a mosque where the birthday of Prophet Mohammed was being celebrated. The Milad-un-Nabi, the birthday of the prophet, is celebrated as a national festival in Sri Lanka. Muslims are the third largest community in Sri Lanka after the mainly Buddhist Sinhalese and largely Hindu Tamils. Blaming the LTTE for the attack, a government spokesperson said: “The government notes with utmost contempt this wanton act of terrorism and observes that the attack bears the unmistakable signature of the LTTE. The terror outfit deliberately targeted the Muslim community in a bid to spread religious disharmony.” The incident, the spokesperson said, was another desperate act by the LTTE to divert the attention from the government’s “humanitarian mission” to flush out the terrorists from their last remaining foothold in the northern Wanni area. “This attack will only serve to strengthen the resolve of the government and the security forces in this regard.” The attack, meanwhile, once again shows that despite being cornered by the military to a small part in the north, the Tigers still retain their ability to carry out suicide attacks in any part of the country.
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US troop surge to aid Afghan police trainers
Kabul, March 10 The US is to send 17,000 additional US troops to the war-torn country to bolster some 70,000 foreign troops, including 38,000 US soldiers, already on the ground battling a resurgent Taliban in the south and east. But military commanders have recognised any “surge” in foreign troops can ultimately only buy time to expand the Afghan army and the police which are seen as the long-term solution to Afghanistan’s security. The US, which took over as the primary trainer of the Afghan police in 2007, needs around 1,500 more soldiers to carry out its mentoring program, according to a US Government Accountability Office (GAO) report released yesterday. Before Afghan and US-led forces toppled Taliban in late 2001, Afghanistan had little concept of the police and while progress has been made in developing the fledgling force, it is usually seen as corrupt and lagging behind the more professional army. In many isolated outposts, the police are the only face of the Afghan government and are vulnerable to insurgent attacks, but they are also renowned for milking the populace for bribes. Kubik agreed that the US military was 1,500 trainers short but could not say exactly how many of these places would be filled by the incoming troops. To help meet the shortage, CSTC-A has had to shift some of its soldiers training the Afghan army to training the police, the GAO said, a move that can only be seen as a short-term solution as the demand for Afghan army trainers increases. Last year Afghanistan and the international community agreed to expand the Afghan army from its current 80,000 soldiers to 134,000 by 2012.
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Army can act to ensure nation’s safety: Musharraf
In an invitation to the army chief to intervene in current political turmoil, former president Gen Pervez Musharraf has said it is the responsibility of the army to act when external and internal security of the country is threatened. Taking to mediapersons in Karachi on arrival from India, the former president expressed serious concern over the country passing through a difficult phase at the moment. He said the country was confronted by security, law and order threats, political uncertainty and an economic crisis. It was the responsibility of the government to safeguard these fronts. “By inference it is the responsibility of the armed forces of Pakistan, and in particular that of the army chief,” said the retired General who twice imposed martial law in the country during his eight years in power. “It is the army chief’s responsibility to do what he has to do to ensure internal security as well,” Musharraf said, adding he would leave it to the incumbent army chief (General Kayani) to decide as to how does he tackle the present situation. Musharraf showed his preference for the PPP over his inveterate foe Nawaz Sharif’s PML (N), saying the continuation of the PPP-led coalition government will help Pakistan progress, adding the completion of a government’s tenure was a “demand of democracy”. But he derided Sharif brothers for their statements that his spirit had shifted to Asif Zardari who was behaving in the same dictatorial manner as he ( Musharraf) had. Referring to allegations against the army and the ISI of shielding the terrorist outfits, Musharraf implored the media and the nation to support the two institutions instead of maligning them as he considered they were the backbone of the country. “They say the army and the ISI have terrorists,” he said, adding Pakistan must “finish” and “kill” these elements to save itself and its name. Many of these terrorists have come from other countries.
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9/11 detainees admit to planning attacks
New York, March 10 The document uses the Arabic term for a consultative assembly in describing the five men as the "9/11 Shura Council," and it says their actions were an offering to God, the New York Times reported today, citing excerpts of the document that were read to a reporter by a government official. The document is titled "The Islamic Response to the Government's Nine Accusations," the military judge at the Guantanamo Bay detention camp said in a separate filing, obtained by The New York Times, that describes the detainees' The document was filed on behalf of the five men, including Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, who has described himself as the mastermind of the September 11 attacks, the paper said. President Barack Obama halted the military proceedings at Guantanamo in the first days after his inauguration, and the five men's case is on hiatus until the government decides how it will proceed, the Times added. Several of the men, the paper reported, have earlier said in military commission proceedings at Guantanamo that they planned the 2001 attacks and that they sought martyrdom.
— PTI
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Hundreds of Tibetans held, freed
Bishnu Budhathoki writes from Kathmandu Hundreds of Tibetan monks and nuns joined mass prayer sessions in Buddhist shrines in Kathmandu today to remember those who died in the failed uprising in Tibet in 1959, after which the Dalai Lama, the Tibetan spiritual leader fled to India. After the prayer was over, some Tibetans scuffled with the police outside a monastery at Bouddha in Kathmandu. Tibetan youths, who shouted anti-Chinese slogans, were hauled up to the police trucks on charge of provoking anti-China activities and they were released few minutes later. “The police let them walk free after they agreed to disperse,” SP Nawa Raj Silwal, chief of the Metropolitan Police Range Office, said. In a bid to prevent possible anti-China protests, the security had been beefed up around the Chinese Embassy in Baluwatar and the visa section in Hattisar. The authorities have declared restricted zones there and restricted vehicular movement along the road to the south of the Chinese visa section in Hattisar since yesterday. The Nepali government has been under pressure from the Chinese government to adopt strong measures to prevent anti-Chinese protest in its soil. The police have increased surveillance over Tibetans and visited their settlements, warning them not to hold protests.
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Stem Cell
Vatican City, March 10 After Obama signed the order yesterday, the Vatican, US and Italian Church leaders condemned the move. One commentator said the test of "a real democracy" was its defence of the most defenceless. Obama's executive order reversed and repudiated restrictions placed on the research by his predecessor, George W Bush, freeing labs across the country to start working with the cells, which can give rise to any kind of cell in the body. Cardinal Justin Rigali of Philadelphia, chairman of the US Conference of Catholic Bishops' committee on pro-life activities, called Obama's decision "a sad victory of politics over science and ethics". “This action is morally wrong because it encourages the destruction of innocent human life, treating vulnerable human beings as mere products to be harvested,” he added. The Catholic Church, other religious groups and pro-life advocates oppose stem cell research — which scientists hope can lead to cures for diseases such as Alzheimer's and Parkinson's — because it involves the destruction of embryos. The Catholic Church supports adult stem cell research, which has made advances in recent years, because it does not involve the destruction of embryos. An article in the Vatican newspaper today said "a real democracy" should be founded on protection of human dignity in every phase of its existence.
— Reuters
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Suicide bomber kills 25 in Iraq
Baghdad, March 10 “At least 25 persons died, including army officers and tribal chiefs, when a suicide bomber blew himself up while they toured a market in Abu Ghraib,” 25 km from the centre of Baghdad, an interior ministry official said. The officers and tribal figures were visiting the market
as part of efforts at national reconciliation, defence and interior ministry officials said. “The suicide bomber targeted a tour of the tribal leaders under the command of Major-Gen Mared Abdel Hassen and other officers in the market near the town hall,” said Brig-Gen Qassim Atta, spokesman for Baghdad army command operations. Hassen is in charge of tribal affairs in the interior ministry. Today’s carnage came after a suicide bomber on a bicycle killed 28 persons and injured 56 outside a Baghdad police academy on Sunday, the bloodiest attack in weeks.
— AFP
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Indo-US ties to deepen under Obama: Report
Washington, March 10 “Upon the seating of a new US president this year, most experts expected general policy continuity with regard to US-India relations,” said the 83-page report on the ‘India-US Relations’ by the Congressional Research Service (CRS). The CRS, a research wing of the US Congress, periodically prepares such reports for the internal use of US lawmakers. “Some look to history in anticipating potential friction on issues such as non-proliferation (where India may be pressed to join initiatives like the CTBT and the Fissile Material Cutoff Treaty); human rights and Kashmir (where the new Administration could become more interventionist); and bilateral economic relations (where Obama may pursue so-called protectionist policies),” the report pointed out. Yet, it pointed out, “Obama’s statement that ‘Our rapidly growing and deepening friendship with India offers benefits to the world’s citizens,’ suggests that the bilateral strategic partnership likely will continue and even deepen.” — PTI
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Pak to go ahead even if India opts out
Islamabad, March 10 Heading for Iran on his first visit to the country after assuming office, President Asif Ali Zardari said, “We have proposed that even if the third party (India) does not come into this relationship, we should do it on our own. Pakistan and Iran should do this project on their own.” The 2,600-km pipeline was mooted in 1994 but has been delayed by differences between the three countries on the pricing of gas and transit fees. It has also been held up with New Delhi seeking firm assurances of uninterrupted supplies. Since the proposed pipeline will go through Pakistan, there are concerns of supplies getting affected in the event of relations between India and Pakistan turning sour. The President will hold talks with Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and other leaders on regional issues, including the situation in Afghanistan, and participate in a summit of the Economic Cooperation Organisation (ECO). — PTI
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Bard’s memorial gets gift from Maharashtra
London, March 10 The books will form part of the memorial’s public collection. After Rabindranath Tagore, the next Indian poet to find a pride of place in the memorial is Padgaonkar. Padgaonkar, who was on a wheelchair, travelled from London to Stratford-upon-Avon specially to gift the Marathi translation of ‘The Tempest’, ‘Romeo and Juliet’, and ‘Julius Ceasar’, his spokesperson said. These were received by the memorial’s Director of Learning, Paul Edmondon.
— PTI
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At least 14 persons were killed and 46, including a minister, were wounded as a suspected LTTE suicide bomber targeted a procession celebrating Prophet Mohammed's birth in Sri Lanka's Matara district today.
