Washington, August 17
China is pursuing a major military build up in a “secretive manner” developing survivable nuclear delivery system, a 1,500 km range anti-ship missile to hit aircraft carriers and has the most active land-based ballistic and cruise missile programme in the world, Pentagon has said.

Beijing is acquiring ‘capabilities’ to strike from a distance, warned the US Defence department, saying these moves, “increases the potential of misunderstanding” and military conflict with other nations.

In worrying new assessment, Pentagon said Beijing had developed missiles capable of striking targets in space and is also expanding its fleet of conventional and nuclear submarines to give its forces global reach.

The annual Congressional-mandated report by the Pentagon expressed concern about the lack of transparency from China into the force projection and anti-access, area denial capabilities it is acquiring.

In 2009 alone, the Pentagon said China’s military-related spending was $150 billion. While some of the increasing Chinese capabilities have been put to positive use, like humanitarian and anti-piracy efforts, the report says, China’s continued effort to be able to sustain military operations far from its shore was a cause of concern to the US military.

But, it said China had still limited ability to sustain military power at a distance. “They are fast catching up”, the report said, by developing an anti-ship ballistic missile that has a range in excess of 1,500 km, which is intended to provide the PLA with the capability to attack ships, including aircraft carriers in the Western Pacific.

According to the report, “China has the most active land-based ballistic and cruise missile programme in the world.

It is developing and testing several new classes of offensive missiles, qualitatively upgrading certain missile systems and developing methods to counter ballistic missile defenses,” a Pentagon official told reporters.

China’s active ballistic and cruise missile development programme also extends over into the area of its nuclear force modernisation, where China appears to be focusing on developing more survivable delivery systems, he said.

“Turning to the maritime realm, the PLA navy has the largest force of principal combatant submarines and amphibious warfare ships in Asia. China continues to invest heavily in undersea warfare with a mixture of nuclear-powered submarines and conventionally-powered diesel electric boats.

This is complemented by investment in new surface combatants designed to improve the PLA navy’ capability and capacity for anti-surface and anti-air warfare,” the official said.

“In the South China Sea, China’s primary interests are related to securing its extensive sovereignty claims and exploiting natural resources. A stronger military presence in the region would also position it for force projection, blockade and surveillance operations to influence critical sea lanes,” the official said. — PTI

Houston, August 17
A newly-built gurdwara in Austin may soon be razed or moved following a Texas appellate-court ruling that it violated zoning laws, resulting in an outcry from members of the community.

The gurdwara was completed in April to replace a mobile home that the congregation of about 60 families in central Texas had been using as a place of worship since 2003. But, the congregation says it was unaware of the subdivision's restricting covenants stating that only single-family dwellings can be built on the lot and that they must be used as housing.

The group purchased the 2.75-acre property where the new gurdwara sits in 2003 in a subdivision of the Austin suburb of Bee Cave and set up the makeshift temple in the 1,200-square-foot mobile home, which was already on the property. Two years later, the congregation started plans to build a temple on the property and obtained all necessary permits from the city, said Harnek Bains, president of the Austin congregation.

Sikh organisation Austin Gurdwara Sahib said it cost $350,000 to build the gurdwara, and it paid $100,000 for the land. The court ruling had resulted in an outcry from members of the religious group, some of whom claim discrimination was at the heart of the case. “There is a great amount of grief that a religious house of worship is being destroyed,” said Amardeep Singh, director of programmes at the National Sikh Coalition, a civil-rights organisation.

Bains said the congregation faced no opposition until 2008, when the Bolliers moved into the neighbourhood and filed suit while the temple was under construction. — PTI

Jerusalem, August 17
Pictures of a woman Israeli soldier posing next to blindfolded and handcuffed Palestinian prisoners, posted on Facebook, have stirred a storm in Israel, with independent groups condemning them as “inhuman”.

The photographs uploaded by Eden Abergil, a former soldier with Israeli Defence Forces (IDF) from the southern city of Ashdod, show her smiling next to elderly Palestinian prisoners with their hands bound and their eyes covered. The pictures have prompted the IDF to denounce the behaviour of the soldier as “shameless”.

The pictures titled, ‘IDF - the best time of my life,’ that were posted at the popular social networking site, left many people shocked and some even amused.

“You’re super sexy here,” one of her friends wrote. Eden responded, “Yeah I know, ha ha, what a day that was, see how he completes my picture, I wonder if he’s on Facebook! I have to tag him in the photo! Ha ha”.

The pictures have since been removed from the site, but not before being duplicated across the web by a variety of bloggers and news sites.

When Israeli blogger Lisa Goldman contacted the former soldier via Facebook, she replied, “I don’t speak to leftists”.

Responding to the criticism, Abergil said she was not making a political statement by posing for the pictures, and had no intention to humiliate anyone. “I still don’t understand what I did wrong,” she told the Army Radio.

“There’s no violence or intention to humiliate anyone in the pictures. I just had my picture taken with them in the background. I did it out of excitement, to remember the experience. It wasn’t a political statement or any kind of statement. It was about remembering my experiences in the army and that’s it,” she said. — PTI