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Pak Army to train 8,000 to protect nukes
US: Potential threats exist to Pak’s atomic weapons
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ANP leader, son killed in Pak suicide attack
A former mayor and leader of the secular Awami National Party was killed along with his son and bodyguard in northwest Pakistan when a suicide bomber blew himself up outside a prayer ground just as the victims were returning after offering Eid prayers.
Italian PM Berlo denies resignation rumours
‘Carlos the Jackal’, caged but combative, goes on trial
Nigeria on alert as US warns of more attacks
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Pak Army to train 8,000 to protect nukes
Islamabad, November 7 “It may be re-called that SPD (Strategic Plans Division) has undertaken a comprehensive plan to significantly augment its existing capacity through induction of additional 8,000 personnel in its nuclear security force,” Major-General Muhammad Tahir, Director-General Security Strategic Plans Division of the Pakistan Army, said in a statement. He resolved to safeguard Pakistan’s nuclear assets at all cost. Fresh media reports in the US have questioned the quality of security being given to Pakistan’s nuclear arsenal, which Washington fears could be vulnerable to militants and terror groups like the Al-Qaida. However, Tahir, “reiterated that extensive resources have been made available to train, equip, deploy and sustain an independent and potent security force to meet any and every threat emanating from any quarter,” the statement released after the graduation parade of a fresh batch of 700 SPD Security Force trainees in Rawalpindi yesterday said. Tahir expressed his determination that no stone would be left unturned in making the defence of country’s nuclear installations and assets impregnable. The trainee batch had successfully completed six months of training in various realms of nuclear security. Talking about the 8,000 recruits, Tahir said, “This comprises handpicked officers and men, who are physically robust, mentally sharp and equipped with modern weapons and equipment, trained in technical skills to the best international standards and practices.” The senior military official claimed the rapid accomplishment of the plan would deter and defeat all types of threats against Pakistan’s nuclear capability. Pakistan had yesterday described as “pure fiction” a US media report about possible American plans to secure the country’s nuclear arsenal in the event of any extremist threat, saying no one should “underestimate” its capability to defend its national interests. A statement issued by Foreign Office spokesperson Tehmina Janjua said the article ‘The Ally From Hell’ in The Atlantic journal was “baseless and motivated”. Janjua said: “No one should underestimate Pakistan’s will and capability to defend its sovereignty, territorial integrity and national interests.” The article had accused Pakistan of lying to the US administration in the campaign against terrorists and failing to detect the presence of Al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden. It said that army chief Gen Ashfaq Parvez Kayani had asked officials of the SPD to take additional steps to secure Pakistan’s nuclear arsenal in the wake of the US raid that killed bin Laden in the garrison town of Abbottabad on May 2.
— PTI
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US: Potential threats exist to Pak’s atomic weapons
Islamabad, November 7 The US Embassy in Islamabad was reacting to a report in the American journal, The Atlantic, which said the American raid that killed Osama bin Laden at his Pakistani compound in May had reinforced Islamabad’s longstanding fears that Washington could try to dismantle the country’s nuclear arsenal. “The US government’s views have not changed regarding nuclear security in Pakistan. We have confidence that the government of Pakistan is well aware of the range of potential threats to its nuclear arsenal and has accordingly given very high priority to securing its nuclear weapons and materials effectively,” said a statement issued by the US Embassy. “Pakistan has a professional, highly motivated, and dedicated security force that fully understands the importance of nuclear security,” the statement said, a day after Pakistan rubbished the US media report. The embassy statement noted that US President Barack Obama had declared at the Nuclear Security Summit in March last year that he felt “confident about Pakistan’s security around its nuclear weapons programmes”. The statement added that Obama had also said: “But that doesn’t mean that there isn’t improvement to make in all of our nuclear security programmes.” The Pakistan government has already dismissed The Atlantic's report as "pure fiction".
— PTI
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ANP leader, son killed in Pak suicide attack
A former mayor and leader of the secular Awami National Party was killed along with his son and bodyguard in northwest Pakistan when a suicide bomber blew himself up outside a prayer ground just as the victims were returning after offering Eid prayers.
Seven other persons were injured as the bomber detonated his explosives outside the prayer ground in Swabi, around 90 km from Peshawar, the police said. The wounded were rushed to a nearby hospital. Former nazim (mayor) Hanif Jadoon, a leader of the ANP, was killed, along with his son and bodyguard in the attack. President Asif Ali Zardari condemned the attack that came on the day when people were celebrating Eid-ul-Azha, saying it reflected the “callousness and barbarism” of the terrorists. The government had put in place strict security arrangements across Pakistan to prevent terrorist attacks. No group claimed responsibility for the suicide bombing though such attacks are usually blamed on the Pakistani Taliban. Taliban suicide bombers have targeted Eid congregations in the past too. In December 2007, former federal minister Aftab Ahmed Khan Sherpao had a narrow escape when a suicide bomber blew himself up during Eid prayers in Charsadda, killing over 50 persons and injuring over 100. Jadoon was a leader of the Awami National Party that rules the northwestern Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province. Dozens of ANP workers and leaders have been killed in attacks by the Taliban in the past few years.
(With inputs from agencies)
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Indian professionals oppose UK visa move
London, November 7 Raising the threshold as recommended by the Migration Advisory Committee (MAC) will make thousands of Indian and non-EU professionals working here ineligible for permanent settlement, which is called the Indefinite Leave to Remain (ILR). The latest report of the MAC says: “To ensure greater differentiation in the selection decision, we suggest implementing a minimum annual pay threshold. This could reasonably be between £31,000 and £49,000 per year”. The Highly Skilled Migrant Programme (HSMP) Forum, which successfully challenged Home Office’s immigration decisions in the past, has criticised the recommendation and said the “whole idea of introducing such an income criteria is a blatant mockery of the system”. The current criterion for ILR is to show the salary drawn at the time of applying for previous extension. Indian and other non-EU professionals can apply for ILR after working for five years and demonstrating continued employment. If the MAC recommendation is accepted by the Home Office, which usually accepts its recommendations, it will mean that those earning an annual salary below 49,000 pounds or the final agreed figure will not be able to apply for the ILR. However, MAC chairman David Metcalf has stated that some exceptions should be made in the public sector jobs “which will contribute to future economic growth”. Amit Kapadia, Executive Director of HSMP Forum said: “This is nothing but victimisation of migrants”. “After letting them stay on for five years and profiting from their taxes, the government cannot impose a new criteria to evict them from the country after they have invested their time and earnings into building a life in the UK, and contributed towards the UK economy”. The HSMP forum, he said, believed that introducing the income criterion will create more problems for the “already troubled migrants, who are hanging to their stability by a thread due to constant immigration changes”.
— PTI
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Venezuelan beauty crowned Miss World
London, November 7 Indian hopes were dashed quite early in the day, as Miss India World Kanishtha Dhankhar failed to even make it to the top 25. Colmenares, 21, came triumphant over first runner-up Miss Philippines, Gwendoline Ruais, and second runner up Miss Puerto Rico, Amanda Perez. Dressed in a crystal-encrusted baby pink gown, Colmenares was handed over the crown by last year’s winner, Alexandra Mills, from the US. The new Miss World was orphaned at a young age and spent five years studying at a nunnery. She dreamt of becoming a nun but her life took a different direction as she gained a degree in human resources and worked for a broadcasting company before becoming a beauty queen. “Winning means everything to me and I hope to take advantage of being a winner in a productive manner. I’m unbelievably happy to have won and there are some incredible girls. I first and foremost want to help people in need. I would like to help people like me. I am an orphan. I would also like to help the elderly and troubled teenagers. As many people as I can,” said the brunette beauty at the pageant. The jury this year included former Miss World winners Cindy Breakspeare (1976), Nigeria Agbani Darego (2001), Zhang Zilin (2007) and Kaiane Aldorino (2009). Miss World returned to London where it all began in 1951 to celebrate its 60th anniversary, but still met with critics. Protesters gathering outside the Earls Court carried such placards that read, “Objectification won’t achieve world peace”, “Being a woman is not a competition” and “Sexism is pretty ugly”. The next Miss World pageant will be held in China’s Inner Mongolia.
— PTI
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Sirleaf poised to win Liberia run-off vote
Monrovia, November 7 The vote was meant to gauge the West African state’s progress since a devastating civil war ended in 2003 and pave the way for new investment, but fears are rising it could instead open the door to open-ended political turmoil. Johnson-Sirleaf took nearly 44 per cent of the first round vote on October 11 and has since won the endorsement of the third-place finisher, former warlord Prince Johnson, all but sealing her victory in the second round run-off. But her chief rival, former UN diplomat Winston Tubman, who took roughly 33 percent in the first round, announced last week he would withdraw from Tuesday’s race and called on Liberians to boycott the poll due to evidence of fraud. “Something was done to the figures, they were doctored, they were changed, they were altered. That is our belief,” Tubman told Reuters in an interview on Sunday. He said he was seeking changes to Liberia’s vote-counting procedures and a delay to the run-off of between two and four weeks.
— Reuters
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PM to step down in deal to save Greece, euro
Athens, November 7 Prime Minister George Papandreou crucially agreed to step down yesterday, removing a key stumbling block which had held up an accord just hours before nervous financial markets reopen today with the euro in the line of fire. Meanwhile, Lucas Papademos, a former deputy head of the European Central Bank, was tipped to emerge as the Greek Prime Minister. But whoever leads the transitional government of national unity will have a monumental task in restoring order to a country whose chaotic economy and politics are shaking international confidence in the entire euro project. With the European Union demanding a quick resolution to the political crisis, Prime Minister George Papandreou sealed a deal on Sunday with the conservative opposition on the crisis coalition to approve the international financial aid package. Papandreou informed European leaders, including German Chancellor Angela Merkel and European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso, by phone on Monday about efforts to form the coalition, his office said. The Greek leaders’ job on Monday was to agree a new prime minister, possibly a technocrat who must exert authority over hardened party chiefs from the centre-left and centre-right, and made decisions which will affect Greeks for a decade. Papandreou also spoke to conservative New Democracy party leader Antonis Samaras on the coalition, and his office said more talks would follow later in the day. In an early sign that a broad compromise will be hard to achieve, President Karolos Papoulias’s plan to summon the heads of all leading parties for more negotiations on Monday was dropped after two leftist parties refused to attend. Greeks have suffered immensely in the two years that Papandreou has run the country. International lenders have demanded wave after wave of pay and pension cuts, plus tax increases and job losses in return for emergency aid. This has helped to keep Greece in four successive years of recession, Many Greeks remained sceptical. “Are we saved? I don’t think so, if nothing is done to stop this practice of slapping more and more taxes because people’s pockets will be empty,” said Nikos Stratakis, 49, a taxi driver, referring to the two years of austerity. — Reuters
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Italian PM Berlo denies resignation rumours
Rome, November 7 Reports of a possible resignation had an immediate impact, boosting stock and government bond markets dismayed with the political disarray in Italy, which has dramatically worsened the eurozone debt crisis. But a denial by Berlusconi reversed the direction, indicating just how much markets would like to see him depart. Earlier, Giuliano Ferrara, editor of the Foglio newspaper and a former minister seen as extremely close to Berlusconi, said on his website: “That Silvio Berlusconi is about to resign is clear. It is a question of hours, some say of minutes.” Franco Bechis, deputy editor of the centre-right Libero newspaper, also said on Twitter that the 75-year-old media magnate would resign on Monday night or Tuesday morning. But Berlusconi said on his Facebook page: “Rumours of my resignation are baseless.” Earlier on Monday, benchmark government bond yields rose to their highest since 1997 at 6.67 per cent. Many analysts say yields above 7 per cent would make funding costs unsustainable for Italy’s huge public debt, one of the highest in the world. Berlusconi was making a private visit to Milan for a lunch with his children. As recently as Sunday he vowed to stay in power and denied that a party rebellion had robbed him of a workable majority. Political sources said a late Sunday meeting of leaders of his PDL party had urged him to resign but he was not convinced. He and his closest aides spent the weekend trying to win back the support of enough deputies to avoid humiliating defeat on Tuesday in a vote to confirm a state financing bill which he has already lost once. — Reuters
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‘Carlos the Jackal’, caged but combative, goes on trial
"I am a revolutionary by profession," Ilich Ramirez Sanchez declared to a special terrorism court of judges, his bluster clearly undiminished by two decades served in French prisons since his 1994 capture in Khartoum by French special forces. Ramirez is now 62, sports a grey beard and carries a paunch; but over some 30 years, he was the face of militant Marxist struggle, his taste for Havana cigars, Che Guevara-style berets, alcohol and women only adding to his revolutionary allure. For his small coterie of admirers, some of whom were in court on Monday, he was a romantic anti-imperialist fighter, for others a cold-blooded killer. Ramirez, dressed in a casual blue jacket and blue sweater, sat in a hardened glass box, guarded by three police officers, occasionally dangling an arm casually through an opening as he watched proceedings. He faces a second term of life in prison if convicted for four bombings in 1982 and 1983 that killed 11 people and wounded nearly 200. He was sentenced to life in 1997 by a French court for killing two police officers and an informant. The leftist guerrilla, who exuded the confidence of someone invited, rather than ordered, to attend trial, spoke expansively of his past contacts. He told the judge that Yasser Arafat "himself" had given him Palestinian citizenship. Ramirez was one of a generation of urban guerrillas who wrought havoc in the 1970s and 1980s with attacks on establishment figures and institutions. In West Germany the Baader-Meinhof group carried out assassinations and in Italy the Red Brigades pressed a campaign of violence. Ramirez launched attacks around the world, in operations funded by Soviet-bloc and Middle Eastern countries, from Romania to Syria. Isabelle Coutant-Peyre, his attorney and also his wife, whom he married while in prison, called the trial "political" and said the court had already made up its mind against her client. She has argued that evidence against him was fabricated, dug up from dustyr secret service archives. Also being judged in absentia at the trial, which runs until mid-December, are three co-defendants, two of whom are fugitives and one of whom is serving a prison sentence in Germany. — Reuters A courtroom sketch made on Monday shows Venezuelan militant Ilich Ramirez Sanchez aka Carlos gesturing during a hearing on the opening day of his trial for four deadly bombings carried out almost 30 years ago. These attacks in 1982 and 1983 were part of a private war Carlos waged against France to free two comrades, including his future wife. — AFP
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Nigeria on alert as US warns of more attacks
Abuja, November 7 Boko Haram could bomb several locations in Abuja, including popular hotels like Nicon Luxury, the Sheraton and the Trancorp, Hilton, the US mission in Nigeria warned. The warning came a day after the sect’s overnight suicide attacks and shootings that left 150 people dead and several injured in northeast Nigeria. The emergency message for the attention of US citizens warned the attack may occur during the Muslim Sallah holiday. Nigeria declared public holidays today and tomorrow to mark the Islamic feast of Eid-ul-Azha. “All US Government personnel have been instructed to avoid these locations, and previously scheduled events have been cancelled,” the statement said, adding that American citizens should expect additional police and military checkpoints, additional security, and possible road blocks in Abuja for the foreseeable future. The statement did not give additional information regarding the timing of the possible attacks. On Saturday, Boko Haram claimed responsibility for attacks which included the bombing of a government building and gunning down over 63 people in the northern city of Damaturu, while another suicide attack in neighbouring Maiduguri town left four dead.
— PTI
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Paris, November 7