W O R L D

Twenty-hour Kabul siege shows Taliban strength
Longest insurgent attack on Afghan capital claims 25 lives
Kabul, September 14
A marathon siege in Kabul’s diplomatic enclave ended today with the death of the last two of a group of gunmen who had held off Western and Afghan security forces for nearly 20 hours, showering rockets on Western embassies in a dramatic show of insurgent strength.

NASA unveils design for giant rocket
Washington, September 14
The design for NASA’s newest behemoth of a rocket harkens back to the giant workhorse liquid rockets that propelled men to the moon. But this time the destinations will be much farther and the rocket even more powerful. The Obama administration today unveiled its much-delayed general plans for its rocket design, called the Space Launch System, which will cost about $35 billion, according to senior administration sources. It will carry astronauts in a capsule on top and start test launching in six years.

An artist's conception released by NASA shows an advanced heavy-lift launch vehicle on Wednesday. — AFP

STRUGGLING TO SURVIVE: A Pakistani retrieves belongings from a flooded 
room of his home following heavy rainfall in Karachi. — AP/PTI

Special to the tribune
Asians in UK ‘making more’ children for govt money
Lahore-born Baroness’ brazen claim creates a stir in the recession-hit nation
An Asian community leader in the UK has attracted mixed reactions to her claim that some South Asian families are deliberately having more children in order to claim extra welfare benefits from the government. Under the current UK Government regulations, every family -- regardless of income -- is entitled to an annual cash allowance of £1,055 for the first child and £500 for every child thereafter.

 

 

Twenty-hour Kabul siege shows Taliban strength
Longest insurgent attack on Afghan capital claims 25 lives

Kabul, September 14
A marathon siege in Kabul’s diplomatic enclave ended today with the death of the last two of a group of gunmen who had held off Western and Afghan security forces for nearly 20 hours, showering rockets on Western embassies in a dramatic show of insurgent strength.

It was the longest and most audacious militant attack on the Afghan capital in the decade since the Taliban was ousted from power and a stark reminder of insurgents’ resources and reach as Western forces start to return home.

At least 11 civilians were killed, three of them children, NATO-led foreign forces said. The Ministry of the Interior said four policemen died, and that toll was likely to rise. Eleven insurgents also died in the battle, seven of them in the clearing operation inside the building where the attackers were holed up near the US embassy. Four other attackers served as suicide bombers.

US Ambassador Ryan Crocker said about six or seven rockets had hit inside the embassy area during the early hours of the attack, launched early on Tuesday afternoon, but said the range meant they had not posed a serious threat. “They were firing from at least 800 metres away and with a rocket-propelled grenade that’s harassment. That’s not an attack,” he said in an interview transcript handed out to journalists in Kabul.

The insurgents had holed up in a multi-storey building still under construction and launched their attack by firing rockets towards the US and other embassies and the headquarters of NATO-led foreign forces.

Afghan security forces backed by NATO and Afghan attack helicopters fought floor-by-floor in the 13-storey building, which the six insurgents appeared to have booby trapped.

They had arrived under burqas in a car packed with explosives and entered the high-rise after shooting a security guard. “As our country is traditional and Islamic, there is a special respect for women and the enemies exploited this to get to the building,” Kabul Police Chief Ayoub Salangi said. — Reuters

NASA unveils design for giant rocket

Washington, September 14
The design for NASA’s newest behemoth of a rocket harkens back to the giant workhorse liquid rockets that propelled men to the moon. But this time the destinations will be much farther and the rocket even more powerful.

The Obama administration today unveiled its much-delayed general plans for its rocket design, called the Space Launch System, which will cost about $35 billion, according to senior administration sources. It will carry astronauts in a capsule on top and start test launching in six years.

The size, shape and heavier reliance on liquid fuel as opposed to solid rocket boosters is much closer to Apollo than the recently retired space shuttles, which were winged, reusable ships that sat on top of a giant liquid fuel tank, with twin solid rocket boosters providing most of the power.

It’s also a shift in emphasis from the moon-based, solid-rocket-oriented plans proposed by the George W Bush administration.

At first the rockets will be able to carry into space 77 tons to 110 tons of payload, which would include the six-person Orion Multi-Purpose Crew Vehicle capsule and more. — AP 

Pak’s flood victims save what they can

Pingrio, September 14
Pakistani soldiers in inflatable rescue boats peered across kilometers of flooded farmland and spotted a man wading through waist-deep water desperate to move his goat to high ground.

For the past two weeks, Kaywall has spent 12 hours a day moving his family’s livestock from his inundated village to the small town of Pingrio in Sindh province in the south. The goats are the only thing he has managed to save from raging waters which swept away his house and belongings.

Like many other flood victims, he awaits help from Pakistan’s cash-strapped government. “My house was completely destroyed,” said the construction worker, whose family is stranded.

The scene, being played out in many parts of Sindh, was a troubling reminder of floods which ravaged much of Pakistan in late July and August last year.

Pakistan’s civilian leaders were slow to respond, leaving the far more decisive military to take charge of rescue and relief efforts, along with international aid agencies.

This year, floods have destroyed or damaged 1.2 million houses and flooded 4.5 million acres since late last month, officials and Western aid groups say. More than 300,000 people were made homeless.

Frustrations with the government are running high. On Wednesday, 80 men blocked the main road to Hyderabad, the biggest city near the flooded areas. They are demanding help from the authorities.

Victims of Pakistan’s flood are at growing risk of potentially fatal diseases, aid groups warned. The director-general of the Sindh Health Department, Hafeez Memon, said there were 2,000 confirmed cases of malaria and the number was likely to rise.

A 70-year-old woman lying on the side of a road with plastic bags containing her meagre belongings and her two family buffaloes tied to pegs said she felt helpless.

The government, heavily reliant on foreign aid and an $11 billion International Monetary Fund loan to keep the economy afloat, is already stretched dealing with other critical issues like a Taliban insurgency and power cuts.

Entire villages are submerged. Only roofs of houses or the tops of trees are visible. Some people who thought they had found shelter were suddenly uprooted by raging waters again.

In a vast expanse of water that swallowed up houses and farmland in one area, only part of a blue and white tent was visible. Many wondered how they would survive.

Analysts say the government will lose even more credibility if charities tied to Islamist groups are seen as more helpful than the state. — Reuters

Special to the tribune
Asians in UK ‘making more’ children for govt money
Lahore-born Baroness’ brazen claim creates a stir in the recession-hit nation
Shyam Bhatia in London

An Asian community leader in the UK has attracted mixed reactions to her claim that some South Asian families are deliberately having more children in order to claim extra welfare benefits from the government. Under the current UK Government regulations, every family -- regardless of income -- is entitled to an annual cash allowance of £1,055 for the first child and £500 for every child thereafter.

“I really feel that for the first two children there should be a full raft of benefits, for the third child three quarters and for the fourth child a half.”