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NTC forces seize Sirte landmarks
Over 1,400 killed in Karachi violence till Aug this year
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N-deal: US puts onus on India
IIT alumnus Dutt develops
next-gen computer chip
World’s highest webcam puts Everest on Net
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NTC forces seize Sirte landmarks
Sirte, October 9 The fortress-like Ouagadougou conference centre, constructed to host pan-African summits, has been a major objective of the National Transitional Council (NTC) forces since they launched an offensive to take the city on September 15. “We control 100 per cent of the Ouagadougou centre,” said Mohammed al-Fayad, an NTC military leader, adding the capture of the complex “opens the way” for his forces to overrun the city centre. An AFP correspondent on the spot confirmed the NTC fighters were in control of the vast complex. “We are ready to take the centre” of Sirte “within a matter of hours,” said Fayad. “It is only a question of coordination between (Misrata fighters on) the western front and (Benghazi fighters on) the eastern front. We just need time,” he told AFP. As he spoke, NTC fighters spread throughout the sprawling complex, taking down portraits of the fugitive Gaddafi and the green flags of his fallen 42-year regime. But they were soon sent scurrying for cover as the din of armed clashes heard in the distance grew louder and nearer in the streets surrounding the conference centre. A day after taking a four-lane avenue into the centre, the NTC forces also took control of Sirte’s university and its new campus, a huge site where Gaddafi snipers had been picking them off from unfinished buildings. “We have taken the university... we have liberated the area from Gaddafi ‘s dogs,” NTC commander Nasser Zamud said, as hundreds of his fighters roamed the campus. “The fighting has been difficult; there were a lot of snipers,” Zamud said of the assault on the university in the Mediterranean city’s southeast. Their gains in the battle for Gaddafi’s birthplace have come at a heavy cost, however. And the ferocity of the Gaddafi forces’ resistance in Sirte and their other main bastion, Bani Walid, has surprised the new regime, with NTC chief Mustafa Abdel Jalil admitting the battle was “very vicious.” “Our fighters today still have to deal with snipers in high positions,” he told a joint news conference in Tripoli late on Saturday. Medics said six NTC fighters were killed and 99 wounded on Saturday, taking the toll to 23 dead and almost 330 wounded since they launched what they are calling their final assault on the Gaddafi bastion. — AFP
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Over 1,400 killed in Karachi violence till Aug this year
As many as 1,406 persons have been killed in violence in Karachi between January 1 and August 31 this year, a report released by the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) has revealed. Of the total deaths, 658 were killed in July and August alone.
The report, titled ‘Karachi: Unholy Alliances of Mayhem’, was compiled by an HRCP fact-finding mission that ventured all over the city for extensive ground research. In a similar vein to the Supreme Court’s verdict on Thursday on the same issue, the report pinned responsibility for the killings on the main political parties in Karachi, adding that those responsible for the violent chaos are the ones who must now bring peace to the city. “There is little evidence that there is even any realisation among the political parties, much less remorse, of how they have failed the people. There are many accessories to these murders. This is one of those instances when no bystander is innocent,” the report states. Since 2002, political power and state machinery have been used to grab land in Karachi. “While gangs of land-grabbers and mafias have tried to exploit the breakdown of law and order, they do not appear to be the main directors of the horrible game of death and destruction; that distinction belongs to more powerful political groups and it is they who hold the key to peace,” the report reads. The report terms Karachi a “deeply fractured” city, which is in the grip of “linguistic, ethnic and sectarian polarisation.” The report also states that several analysts believe May 12, 2007, was the turning point in the context of violence in Karachi when another ethnic group, the Pakhtuns, asserted themselves and a turf war started between the incumbents, the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM), and an emerging political force in Karachi, the ANP. “The demography of Karachi is changing. It has been changing since 1947 but then it stopped. This process of change should not be stopped and if any political party tries to stop this, Karachi will face problems,” said HRCP secretary-general IA Rehman at the launch ceremony. The report also addresses problems with policing in Karachi. “Law enforcement agencies are inefficient, ill-prepared, poorly resourced, and lack the political support to be effective. The killing of hundreds of policemen in the city in the past decade has affected morale and the policemen are not keen to stick their necks out,” it states. Talking to reporters in Lahore, human rights veteran campaigner IA Rehman said during their fact-finding they learnt that Rs 1 billion is collected as extortion in Karachi every day. “The genuine problems of people are not legally sorted out in Karachi. A man whose house was looted told us that when he approached the police, it asked him to do the same. In Kati Pahari, the police couldn’t show up for four days,” he added. HRCP chairperson Zohra Yusuf said 15 lawyers in Karachi had been killed since March 15. “Every political party has an armed wing. All parties should take back arms from their workers and come forward to de-weaponise the city,” she said. Recipe for peace
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“We remain fully committed to expanding the civil nuclear cooperation with India and have made clear the steps that India needs to take to allow us to move forward,” she told PTI when asked if India’s nuclear liability Bill was an irritant in the bilateral relations. Without directly responding to the question, Clinton mentioned two specific steps India needs to take: ratify the Convention of Supplementary Compensation (CSC) for nuclear damages and engage with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) to ensure that the liability regime conforms with the international norms. India’s liability regime has been a bone of contention between it and many of its nuclear partners, including the US, which have expressed reservations about some aspects of the domestic law that they fear will impose huge penalty on foreign suppliers in case of nuclear accidents. However, Indian officials have maintained that the law was in accordance with international standards but India was ready to allay any apprehension in this regard. The officials also maintain that New Delhi was well on its way to ratify the CSC by this year end. Clinton emphasised Washington’s commitment on the issue by citing the recent Nuclear Safety Energy Summit in Mumbai, “where you saw a host of top-tier American companies working to expand our private engagement and investment in the civil nuclear sector.” — PTI Over 7,000 on fast against TN Plant Tirunelveli: Breaking the brief truce, more than 7,000 persons on Sunday observed a token fast against the Koodankulam nuclear power plant in Tamil Nadu and vowed to intensify the struggle if the government did not scrap it. The renewed protest comes two days after Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said that an expert group would be set up to allay their safety concerns.
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IIT alumnus Dutt develops next-gen computer chip
Washington, October 9 The breakthrough technology by Dutt, Chairman and CEO of privately-held APIC Corp and Photonic Corp, helps computer processors consume up to 90 per cent less energy and run up to 60 per cent faster. “The significance of the technology is that information transfer on the semiconductor chip as well as between components, will now be done using light - photons - instead of just electrons (electronics),” California-based Dutt said. There are many advantages in size, weight and especially power consumed, he explained during his recent trip to Washington, where he met Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee. Photons do not generate heat, thus thy do not need to be cooled. For electronics, cooling is one of the largest cost components.
— PTI
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World’s highest webcam puts Everest on Net
Kathmandu, October 9 The solar-powered camera, set at 5,675 metres on Kala Patthar, a smaller mountain facing Everest, will withstand temperatures as low as minus 30 degrees Celsius and operates during daylight hours. The device, developed by German surveillance firm Mobotix, is more than a kilometre higher than the previous record for a high-altitude webcam set by a 4,389-metre-altitude camera at the base camp of Mount Aconcagua in Argentina.
— AFP
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As many as 1,406 persons have been killed in violence in Karachi between January 1 and August 31 this year, a report released by the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) has revealed. Of the total deaths, 658 were killed in July and August alone.
Washington, October 9