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Ash from Mt Merapi may hit Indian region
Unfolding Headley
Strikers rally in last-ditch bid to halt pension bill
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Ash from Mt Merapi may hit Indian region
Mumbai, October 28 Activity monitored by the Merapi Volcanological Observatory has predicted a cataclysmic explosion that could wipe out everything in its path and, therefore, the aviation industry has to keep a close watch on this volcano. Lava flow is not a major concern but this strato volcano is characteristic of blowing tonnes of ash plumes and India could be on its fire line, said Dr D Chandrasekharam, Professor of the Department of Earth Sciences, IIT-B and a Board of Director, International Geothermal Association said today. “A cataclysmic explosion or eruption is when the mountain basically explodes. Previous world cataclysmic eruptions were Mount Vesuvious that buried the Roman towns of Pompeii and Herculaneum, St Helens in Washington, Hekla in Iceland, and the well documented volcano of Pinatubo in Philippines,” he said. Merapi, one of Indonesia’s most active volcanoes, dominates the landscape immediately north of the city of Yogyakarta. “According to the Merapi Volcanological observatory, the inflation rate of the surface of the volcano increased from 0.6 cm/day on 20th October to 42 cm/day on 24th October, just before the eruption,” Chandrasekharam said. “When the seismic signals are pointing towards a cataclysmic volcanic event, it is but natural to expect a major earthquake around this region which is a major active subduction area in the Indian Ocean,” Chandrasekharam said. — PTI
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Info was general in nature: US
Says security agencies conducting review of what Headley knew prior to 26/11 Ashish Kumar Sen in Washington
James Clapper, Director of National Intelligence, has ordered a “full review of everything that we knew related to the Headley case,” Ben Rhodes, deputy national security advisor for strategic communication, told reporters at a briefing on President Barack Obama’s upcoming visit to India on Wednesday. US media reports earlier this month claimed that Headley’s ex-wives had told law enforcement agencies of his involvement in terrorist activity. “There is a vast amount of information within the US intelligence system and the nature of the kind of information we received in this instance from Headley’s ex-wives again was of a more general nature... Lets get all of the facts completely together... and when that review is completed it is certainly something we will share with the Indians as well,” Rhodes said. He said the US government did share information it had on Headley before 26/11. “If we had information that could have helped to prevent the attacks or pinpoint specific aspects of the attacks, we certainly would have shared that, too. The fact of the matter is that the information we had before 26/11 was not of that nature. It was far more general and far less specific,” Rhodes said. US officials say they learned a lot about 26/11 after they arrested Headley. “Not only did we share that information, but it is a signal of the strength of our counter-terrorism cooperation that we provided access to Headley for the Indian security services so they were able to ask him questions directly which continued to flesh out the understanding of what took place on 26/11,” Rhodes said, adding, “We share information with India as a partner whenever we have something we think is directly relevant to their security. We certainly did so in this instance.” Anish Goel, senior director for South Asia in the National Security Council, said this case “highlights how far our [counter-terrorism] cooperation has come.” The review comes on the eve of President Barack Obama’s visit to India early next month. US officials sought to gloss over another irritant that has cropped up in the relationship: a nuclear liability law passed by Parliament that puts the onus on suppliers in the case of a nuclear accident. They welcomed India’s decision to sign the Convention on Supplementary Compensation (CSC) on Wednesday. Geoffrey Pyatt, principal deputy assistant secretary for South Asia, described India’s signing of the CSC as an important step. He said the Obama administration was “very optimistic” that its “practical concerns [about the liability law] can be addressed in a practical way.” “Signing the CSC was a very significant final step,” Pyatt said, adding, “This is important both so India can access the best international technology for its civil nuclear power programme but also importantly so that Indian companies can participate as part of the international marketplace in civil nuclear hardware and civil nuclear technology.”
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Strikers rally in last-ditch bid to halt pension bill
Paris, October 28 At least 270 rallies were planned around France, as workers and students launched the ninth in a series of one-day mass protests and strikes, part of a movement that has threatened to paralyse the economy. The main protest rally in Paris expected to draw hundreds of thousands in its own right, while previous marches on October 19 drew between 1.1 and 3.5 million nationwide. — AFP
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Russia calls on US to probe WikiLeaks documents
France plays down hostage threat Britain’s super spy goes public
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Mumbai, October 28
The Obama administration is conducting an extensive review of what US agencies knew about David Coleman Headley prior to the attacks in Mumbai.
