Washington, December 19
In a landmark victory for gay rights in the country, the US Senate gave its final approval to repeal the “Don’t Ask Don’t Tell” law, which would pave the way for gays to openly serve in the US military for the first time.

The White House said President Obama would soon sign the bill into law, which was earlier passed by the House of Representatives.

“Today, the Senate has taken an historic step toward ending a policy that undermines our national security while violating the very ideals that our brave men and women in uniform risk their lives to defend,” Obama said in a statement soon after the Senate yesterday passed the bill 65 to 31.

“By ending ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,’ no longer will our nation be denied the service of thousands of patriotic Americans forced to leave the military, despite years of exemplary performance, because they happen to be gay.

“And no longer will many thousands more be asked to live a lie in order to serve the country they love,” he said.

The 17-year-old law restricts the US military from efforts to discover or reveal closeted gay, lesbian, and bisexual service members or applicants, while barring those who are openly gay, lesbian, or bisexual from military service.

“As Commander-in-Chief, I am also absolutely convinced that making this change will only underscore the professionalism of our troops as the best led and best trained fighting force the world has ever known,” the president said.

Allowing gay men and women to serve openly in the military, will strengthen US national security while upholding the basic equality on which this nation was founded, White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs said. “The President looks forward to signing the bill into law,” he said.

“This is one of those moments in our history when we stepped up and squared our policies with the values this nation was founded upon,” said Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid. Senator Robert Menendez from New Jersey termed it as an important step for civil rights and for national security. — PTI

London, December 19
Europe saw little respite today from the Arctic conditions that have closed airports and disrupted travel on the weekend before Christmas, traditionally one of the busiest times of the year.

Britain's busiest airport, London Heathrow, which was forced to close both its runways for much of Saturday because of heavy snow, was not accepting inbound flights on Sunday and said only a few planes would be leaving.

About 30 tonnes of snow was being removed from each parking stand around the planes, but ice was making it dangerous for the aircraft to be moved.

"There comes a point at which the weather has such an impact that it's simply not safe to fly," Andrew Teacher, spokesman for airport operator BAA, told BBC television.

The runway at London's second busiest airport Gatwick was open but thousands of passengers were facing delays and cancellations, as they were at most other British airports.

In Germany, Frankfurt airport operator Fraport said 470 flights had been cancelled on Sunday so far and a worsening of weather conditions was expected from noon onwards. "The airport halls are packed with flight guests," a spokeswoman said, adding that about 1,000 people were forced to stay at the airport overnight.

Snow blanketed northern France, delaying trains and forcing flights to be cancelled. At Paris's main Roissy-Charles de Gaulle and Orly airports, where 700,000 passengers were expected, a quarter of flights were cancelled and delays were running on average to at least an hour.

Britain's Transport Secretary Philip Hammond said he had asked the government's chief scientific adviser to assess whether the country was experiencing a "step change" in weather patterns due to climate change and if it needed to spend more money on winter preparations.

Britain traditionally experiences mild winters, but last year's was the coldest for 30 years and this December is likely to be it’s coldest since 1910. The Met Office said temperatures could hit minus 15 degrees Celsius in western Scotland later on Sunday and icy conditions were forecast across the country.

Relatives and close friends of Shrien Dewani, who is accused of plotting to kill his wife while they were on honeymoon together, yesterday revealed their fury and anguish at a stream of allegations, ranging from his alleged payment to his wife’s killers to a rumoured homosexual affair with a rent boy.

“Shrien is torn apart by it all. He has been robbed of the love of his life and is grieving, and now he must deal with all these ridiculous allegations,” a close relative said on Saturday. They deny he fled South Africa to avoid justice and insist allegations he conspired to have his new bride murdered are groundless. The police case against him is “flimsy”, they insist.

Friends and supporters also launched a counter-attack this weekend to correct what they claim is a distorted and biased picture of the heartbroken widower. He believes the murder allegations are flawed and based on evidence from men “who have everything to win and nothing to lose from inventing a story”, according to his supporters.

They also point to claims by a lawyer acting for the two men accused of the murder that his clients were “tortured by police” before signing confessions. Shrien Dewani is being scapegoated by the South African authorities anxious to defend their honour and protect the country’s vital revenue-raising tourism industry, they claim.

In his defence, they argue strongly that he was “deeply in love” with his bride and had no motive to murder her; that his lawyers have clear evidence to refute allegations he had homosexual liaisons with a German “rent boy” and are planning a legal action against those responsible for the rumours; that he did not flee South African justice but instead has made repeated attempts - without success - to contact detectives investigating the case, including going through Foreign Office diplomats.

Dewani is extremely concerned and frustrated that the media cannot talk openly to the family because of constraints imposed by the legal process, relatives say. “As a result, we have been unable to challenge some of the reporting which has been totally inaccurate,” a close relative said, speaking on condition of anonymity. He added that they decided to speak out in contravention of advice from family lawyers.

Close friends and relatives described the couple as “madly in love” to the point of it being “sickening and embarrassing”. They decided on a Hindu wedding ceremony in Mumbai and planned a civil ceremony in March next year to coincide with Anni’s birthday .

Relatives expressed amazement and anger that police were taking seriously taxi driver Zola Robert Tongo’s claim that Shrien Dewani broached the topic of killing his wife 25 minutes into that first journey from the airport with a man he had never met before, while she sat in the car by his side.

His lawyers have been given clear evidence he was at a gym in Bristol and conducting a job interview when he is alleged to have been with a “rent boy”. They plan to take legal action against the media.

— The Independent 

London, December 19
Al-Qaida military strategist Ilyas Kashmiri is recruiting Britons and training them for launching Mumbai-style attacks in the UK, France and Germany during the Christmas period, a media report said today.

Kashmiri, described by The Sunday Times as the new Osama bin Laden, was last week named as Al-Qaida’s chief military strategist in Afghanistan and Pakistan.

He has been entrusted with the responsibility of spearheading attacks in the West, and has been assigned to bring western recruits into Al-Qaida, the paper said. “... he is plotting Mumbai-style attacks in European countries including UK, France and Germany,” The Times reported.

The HuJI militant originally from the POK region, has previously fought the Indian Army in J&K and his move to Waziristan signalled his intention to back global terrorist causes, the report said.

The 46-year-old, recognisable by his henna-dyed long beard and his trademark pair of Aviator sunglasses, has shot through Al-Qaida’s ranks and is known for his brutality and guerrilla skills.

Kashmiri has also been accused of bombing a cafe in Pune, in February killing 17 people and of plotting to attack the Copenhagen office of Jyllands-Posten, the newspaper that published controversial cartoons of Prophet Muhammad. — PTI