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Suicide bomber kills Afghan ex-President
3 killed in Ankara blast
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LeJ militants kill 28 Shias
in Pakistan
Defunct satellite may fall on Earth this week: NASA
Now, gays can serve in US military
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Suicide bomber kills Afghan ex-President
Kabul, September 20 His residence is in Kabul's heavily guarded diplomatic enclave, and the attack came just a week after a 20-hour siege at the edge of the area sometimes known as the "green zone". "Rabbani has been martyred," Mohammed Zahir, head of the Criminal Investigation Department of the Kabul Police, told Reuters. He had no further details. A police source said Masoom Stanekzai, a senior adviser to President Hamid Karzai, was badly injured in the attack. "Masoom Stanekzai is alive but badly wounded," the police source, who asked not to be named as he is not authorised to talk to the media, told Reuters. Rabbani, a former leader of a powerful Mujahideen Party during the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan in the 1980s, was chosen by Karzai to head the High Peace Council last October. His plan included offering amnesties and jobs to Taliban foot soldiers and asylum in third countries to leaders. "This is a big blow to peace process and huge loss for Afghanistan," said Sadiqa Balkhi, a member of peace council. "Professor Rabbani was an influential and spiritual leader and was successful in luring Taliban fighters into peace process." Rabbani served as president in the 1990s when Mujahideen factions waged war for control of the country after the Soviet withdrawal. The assassination comes a week after a 20-hour gun and grenade attack that on Kabul's diplomatic enclave by insurgents, and three suicide bomb attacks on other parts of the city, together the longest-lasting and most wide-ranging assault on the city. Last week's siege was the third major attack on the Afghan capital since June and included three suicide bombing in other parts of the city. At least five policemen and 11 civilians were killed. All three of those attacks are believed to be the work of the Haqqani network, a Taliban-allied insurgent faction, based along the Afghanistan-Pakistan border.
— Reuters
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Ankara, September 20 What caused the blast was not immediately clear but Sahin said “there is a high possibility that it was a terrorist attack.” Deputy Prime Minister Bulent Arinc said in early remarks that a bomb attack caused the explosion. A previous official toll stood at 15 wounded. The blast, which occurred near the Cankaya district administration office, blew out windows of shops and offices in the surrounding area, damaged cars and started a fire which was later put out by firefighters at the scene, media reports said. The offices are near downtown Kizilay square in Ankara, a city of four million inhabitants and home to many government buildings as well as military headquarters. Kurdish rebels have conducted bomb attacks in Turkey’s urban areas in the past. The blast comes at a time when Turkish officials threatened to launch an incursion by its ground forces against Kurdish rebel bases operating in northern Iraq after a recent spate of attacks.
— AFP
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LeJ militants kill 28 Shias
in Pakistan
Islamabad, September 20 In the first incident, gunmen forced the pilgrims going to Iran out of a bus, lined them up and sprayed bullets killing 26 of them on the spot and leaving six more seriously injured. This is was one of the most brutal attacks on the minority community in the recent past. The bus was going from provincial capital Quetta to the border town of Taftan. Shortly after the attack on the bus, militants ambushed a vehicle carrying Shias at Akhtarabad on the outskirts of Quetta, killing two men. Several others were injured. The Shias were on their way to Mastung to collect the bodies of their kin. The militants who carried out both attacks escaped. The banned Lashkar-e-Jhangvi claimed responsibility for the attack on the bus in calls made to newspapers in Quetta. Mastung is considered a hub of the LeJ, a notorious sectarian group that has carried out numerous attacks on Shias across Pakistan. Khushal Khan, the driver of the bus, told reporters that the attackers blocked the road with a pick-up truck and ordered passengers to get out of
the vehicle. “The attackers were carrying Kalahnikovs and rocket launchers. After they opened fire, some of us escaped by running away,” Khan said.
— PTI
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NATO-backed charade won’t last: Gaddafi Benghazi, September 20 The remarks came ahead of the first talks between US President Barack Obama and Mustafa Abdel Jalil, the head of the National Transitional Council (NTC), now recognised as Libya’s legitimate leaders. “What is happening in Libya is a charade which can only take place thanks to the (NATO-led) air raids, which will not last forever,” said Gaddafi, for decades an outlandish fixture at the annual UN General Assembly in New York with his tent and rambling speeches. Gaddafi is believed to be hiding in Libya, although members of his family fled to Algeria and Niger after rebel fighters, backed by a NATO-led air war, overran Tripoli on August 23. “Do not rejoice and don’t believe that one regime has been overthrown and another imposed with the help of air and maritime strikes,” Gaddafi said in the message broadcast on Syria-based Arrai television. The recording was the first since September 8 by Gaddafi, who is wanted for alleged crimes against humanity along with his son Seif al-Islam and intelligence chief Abdullah al-Senussi. It was released after the new regime’s forces said they captured the airport and a garrison in his southern redoubt of Sabha, and fighting raged in two of his northern strongholds.
— AFP
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Defunct satellite may fall on Earth this week: NASA Washington, September 20 According to NASA’s latest projections, the bus-size Upper Atmosphere Research Satellite (UARS) will likely plummet down to Earth sometime around Friday (September 23). But there is a one-in-3,200 chance that its debris could hit any person, the US space agency officials said. “Re-entry is expected on September 23, plus or minus a day,” they said, adding that at least 26 large pieces of the dead satellite will hit the ground on Earth surviving the scorching temperatures of atmospheric re-entry, LiveScience reported. Though it’s still uncertain exactly where the debris will fall, NASA officials indicated that the drop zone for UARS satellite debris could be anywhere between the latitudes of northern Canada and southern South America, an area that includes much of the planet. The $750-million satellite, which was launched in 1991 to study the ozone layer and the Earth’s upper atmosphere to better understand their role in the planet’s climate, should re-enter over a 804-km track, the experts have predicted. Since 75 per cent of Earth is covered with ocean, there is a high likelihood that the satellite will re-enter over the sea or a remote, uninhabited stretch of land, said Victoria Samson, the Washington Office Director of the Secure World Foundation. The UARS was designed for a three-year mission, but it lasted for 14 years until newer satellites made it obsolete. It was decommissioned in December 2005 with NASA experts commanding the spacecraft to fire its thrusters one last time to use all its remaining fuel to place it on a years-long path toward disposal in Earth’s atmosphere. If the satellite does fall while flying over a populated region of Earth, sky watchers could see a “dazzling light show if they have clear weather”, Nick Johnson, chief scientist of NASA’s Orbital Debris Program in Houston, said. As of Sunday, the UARS was flying in an orbit that reached a high point of about 240 km above Earth. That is down from an orbit that peaked at an altitude of 275 km on September 8. The huge satellite, which is 35 feet long and 15 feet wide, and has been falling faster than anticipated (initial re-entry estimates pegged its plunge to somewhere between late September and early October) due to increased solar activity last week. Solar activity can cause the Earth’s atmosphere to heat and expand, increasing drag on low-flying spacecraft, the researchers said.
— PTI
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Now, gays can serve in US military
"Today, the discriminatory law known as 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell' is finally and formally repealed. As of today, patriotic Americans in uniform will no longer have to lie about who they are in order to serve the country they love," Obama said. "As of today, our armed forces will no longer lose the extraordinary skills and combat experience of so many gay and lesbian service members. And today, as Commander-in-Chief, I want those who were discharged under this law to know that your country deeply values your service," he said in a statement. The 1993 law had banned gays and lesbians from serving openly in the US military.
— PTI
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hid explosives in his turban. He approached Rabbani and detonated his explosives,” the police said.
Washington, September 20