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ISI chief leaves for US to restore ties
Qaida using social media to launch ‘cyber-jihad’: UK
Afghan Governor escapes bomb attack en route to funeral
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16 dead as plane crashes in Brazil Sao Paulo, July 13 A regional airliner crashed in a northeastern city in Brazil, killing all 16 people on board, the nation's Air Force said today. Witnesses said at least one of the passengers was pleading for help after the plane made a hard landing, gesturing through a window to onlookers, but the aircraft burst into flames before aid could arrive.
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ISI chief leaves for US to restore ties
Pakistan’s powerful ISI chief Lt Gen Ahmed Shuja Pasha left for Washington on Wednesday in an apparent bid to defuse mounting tensions between the two sides over a slew of incidents, including Osama bin Laden’s killing in a covert American raid and suspension of $800 million in military aid to Islamabad.
“Lt Gen Ahmed Shuja Pasha, Director-General of Inter-Services Intelligence, has proceeded to the USA for a day-long visit to coordinate intelligence matters,” said a brief statement from the military. It did not give more details of his unscheduled trip. According to sources, the ISI chief will be meeting his counterparts to discuss intelligence matters and on continuing cooperation in the fight against terror. Military sources say Gen Pasha will stay in Washington for a day. Although the exact nature of the visit and its agenda are not known, it is being said that he was travelling to the US for intelligence coordination. Pasha embarked on the visit a day after the US Army’s Central Command chief, Gen James Mattis, arrived here for talks aimed at defusing tensions between the two countries over a series of incidents, including the suspension of US military aid. Senior American officials announced on Sunday that the US administration had suspended the payment of military aid. They said certain steps taken by Pakistan, such as the expulsion of US military trainers, justified the move. The US made the decision after Pakistan expelled over 100 American military trainers. The move is also aimed at pressuring Pakistan to take more steps against terrorists. The US media said Pakistan has refused visas to US military officers, which annoyed the Obama administration. “We have to show that this is a two-way street, not just a one-way street. They have some obligations,” Defence Secretary Leon Panetta has said. “And they’ve got to know that we’re not going to give out a blank cheque until they show that this is a two-way relationship,” Panetta said referring to suspension of the $800 million of military aid to Pakistan. Pakistan’s Defence Minister Chaudhry Ahmad Mukhtar on Tuesday warned that his government might withdraw troops from the tribal regions bordering Afghanistan as a response to the suspension of US military aid. The military aid that has been held up includes $300 million to be paid as reimbursement to Pakistan for expenses incurred in the war on terror. Mukhtar warned that the US move could harm Pakistan’s campaign against Al-Qaida and Taliban. (With inputs from
PTI)
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Qaida using social media to launch ‘cyber-jihad’: UK
London, July 13 The UK’s updated counter-terrorism strategy released yesterday suggests that terrorists’ use of social media to disseminate information and radicalise people is “commonplace”. It warns that the number of attacks on IT systems would likely to increase and that extremists were increasingly sophisticated in their use of social networking and video- sharing sites. “Since the death of Osama bin Laden, the Al-Qaida has explicitly called not only for acts of lone or individual terrorism but also for ‘cyber-jihad’,” the document said. “There have been a number of attempts by terrorist and extremist groups to ‘invade’ Facebook. Twitter will be used to re-post media or forum articles enabling extremist content to be shared more quickly, widely and amongst people who would not normally search for extremist content.” Advances in technology, such as software to encrypt mobile phone calls and texts, file sharing networks and cloud computing, meant terrorists were able to store and share material online much more easily while also disguising their actions. Home Secretary Theresa May said the UK must learn the lessons from how past terrorist incidents, such as the 7/7 bombings in London and the 2008 Mumbai attacks, had been planned and “work harder” to tackle radicalisation via the Internet. “Our response must improve to keep pace,” she said. “Terrorists are increasingly using online technology, including Google Earth and Street View, for attack planning. While radicalisation continues primarily to be a social process, terrorists are making more and more use of new technologies to communicate their propaganda,” she said. British Defence Secretary Liam Fox recently said that his department had dealt with more than 1,000 “potentially serious” attempted cyber attacks in the past year. — PTI
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Afghan Governor escapes bomb attack en route to funeral
Kandahar, July 13 The governor of Helmand province, Gulab Mangal, and the provincial chief of Afghan intelligence escaped unhurt, said an official statement, and the group attended the funeral of Ahmed Wali Karzai in neighbouring Kandahar province. Mangal and the Helmand chief of the National Directorate of Security intelligence agency were travelling together when the bomb exploded in the neighbouring province of Kandahar, where Wali Karzai was killed yesterday. The bomb was detonated by remote control in the Maiwand district, wounding two soldiers attached to the NDS detached unit, the governor’s office said. Cheaply made roadside bombs are the weapon of choice for the Taliban, fighting a nearly 10-year insurgency against Afghan and foreign forces that has been largely focused in the southern heartlands of the country. President Hamid Karzai buried his younger half-brother in a family cemetery in the southern suburbs of Kandahar city, after the regional powerbroker was shot dead a day earlier by a guest in his home. — AFP
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16 dead as plane crashes in Brazil Sao Paulo, July 13 The crew of the twin-turboprop aircraft belonging to Noar Airlines reported problems shortly after taking off about 7 am (local time) from the city of Recife en route to the city of Natal. The Air Force did not indicate what the problems were or what caused the crash, but said it is investigating. Weather did not seem to be a factor as it was overcast but not raining when the plane went down. About five minutes after taking off, the pilot tried to make an emergency landing in a vacant lot near a beach on the outskirts of the city's centre, near several apartment buildings. But witnesses said the aircraft went down hard and burst into flames shortly afterwards. "I saw a woman in a window (of the plane) asking for help and it just exploded," witness Erandir Rodrigues da Silva told the Folha de S Paulo newspaper. "There was nothing to be done." Recife Fire Chief Valdyr Oliveira told Estado radio that the fire was controlled quickly and that investigators are working at the scene for clues as to why the plane went down. "The pilot was able to land, but the impact caused an explosion," said Oliveira. - AP
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Pakistan’s powerful ISI chief Lt Gen Ahmed Shuja Pasha left for Washington on Wednesday in an apparent bid to defuse mounting tensions between the two sides over a slew of incidents, including Osama bin Laden’s killing in a covert American raid and suspension of $800 million in military aid to Islamabad.
