The Tribune, Chandigarh, India

Violence engulfs Damascus
Top defector warns Assad would not hesitate to use chemical weapons

Damascus, July 17
Syria's rebels announced the launch of a "Damascus volcano" offensive against regime forces, which according to activists deployed helicopters today in a Damascus neighbourhood rocked by intense fighting.

Russia, meanwhile, slammed as "blackmail" Western pressure to push for a UN Security Council resolution against Syria's regime, as a top defector warned that Assad would not hesitate to use chemical weapons against his own people.

The Free Syrian Army's central-Homs Joint Command said its operation, dubbed "the Damascus volcano and earthquakes of Syria," was launched "in response to massacres and barbaric crimes" committed by the Assad regime.

The FSA, the statement said, started to conduct "attacks on all security stations and branches in the cities and the countryside, to enter into fierce clashes (with their forces) and to call on them to surrender." The FSA called for all international roads to be cut off, "from (northern) Aleppo to (southern) Daraa and from (eastern) Deir Ezzor to (coastal) Latakia, to cut off and seize the supply lines." Hours after the FSA announcement, monitors and activists reported that the regime had early today deployed helicopters to fire into Qaboon district of Damascus and that rebels and troops had clashed violently in Al-Midan and Al-Hajar al-Aswad neighbourhoods.

"Regime forces used helicopters equipped with heavy machineguns to strike the district of Qaboon," said the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

A Damascus-based activist told AFP that the helicopter assault came after the FSA in Qaboon had repulsed an attempt by regular troops to reclaim the neighbourhood.

The army "violently shelled the neighbourhood with mortars (and) shot machinegun fire randomly into the district from low-flying helicopters," said the activist. — AFP

iraq receives 21 bodies

Baghdad: Iraqi authorities received on Tuesday bodies of 21 Iraqis killed during Syria's unrest at a border area in the country's western province of Anbar, a provincial security source said. "Syrian security authorities handed over the Iraqi side bodies of 21 Iraqis at al-Waleed border point near the city of al-Qaim, 330 km west of Baghdad" the source said on condition of anonymity.

white house warns syria

The White House warned the Syrian government on Tuesday it will be held accountable for safe handling and storage of any chemical weapons it possesses
The government of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad appears to be quietly shifting some chemical weapons from storage sites, Western and Israeli officials have said, but it is not clear whether the operation is merely a security precaution amid the chaos of the Syrian conflict, or something more
"There are certain responsibilities that go along with the handling and storage and security of those chemical weapons," White House spokesman Josh Earnest said on Air Force One

2 hurt as UN convoy attacked in Karachi

Karachi, July 17
Unidentified gunmen today opened fire on a UN vehicle in the southern Pakistani port city of Karachi injuring a foreign doctor working on a polio immunisation campaign and a local driver.

The UN Land Cruiser vehicle was passing through Koochi Camp near Sohrab Goth when the motorcycle-borne gunmen fired.

Police said the Ghanaian doctor, identified only as Dr Fostan, was going to a polio immunisation clinic in Koochi Camp, one of the Afghan refugee settlements here, when gunmen opened fire on his vehicle.

Police sources said the doctor and his driver had received injuries and were taken to hospital.

Police sources said initial investigations showed that two young Afghan men had opened fire on the vehicle.

Taliban commanders have banned the polio immunisation drive in the North and South Waziristan claiming they would not allow it until the US stops its drone attacks on innocent people.

"One of our drivers and a health staff member were injured but they are presently both stable", the spokesman from the UN's World Health Organisation (WHO) said.

Additional IGP Iqbal Mahmood said that the doctor had not informed them about his movements for today. "Otherwise we provide police protection to all foreigners in Karachi, specially when they are moving around", Iqbal said. — PTI

Sunita Williams, colleagues reach space station

Houston, July 17
A cheerful Sunita Williams and two of her colleagues today successfully docked their Soyuz capsule with the International Space Station for a four-month scientific mission, two days after the record-setting Indian- American astronaut blasted off for her second space odyssey.

46-year-old NASA astronaut Williams, Russian Soyuz Commander Yuri Malenchenko and Japan aerospace agency flight engineer Akihiko Hoshide reached the ISS after two days in orbit aboard Russian-made Soyuz TMA-05M spacecraft.

"It's great to be up here and it's great to see Joe and Sergei. They have welcomed us with open arms and we are ready to work as a six-person crew," Sunita said referring to the two cosmonauts already at the ISS. — PTI

planned us-pak meetings
Civil-military disconnect in Pakistan comes to the fore
Afzal Khan in Islamabad

An awkward disconnect between civil and military authorities came to light on Monday, in relation to Pakistan’s planned meetings in the US, with whom relations are beginning to thaw.

Moments after Defence Secretary Nargis Sethi announced the Army chief General Ashfaq Pervaiz Kayani would visit the US as part of the strategic dialogue, military sources rubbished Defence Secretary’s claim.

If the visit materialises, it would be the first by Kayani since disruption of Pak-US ties in the aftermath of a NATO attack on Pakistani border post Salala in November last year that killed 24 troops. Bilateral civil and military relations nosedived to an all-time low amid reprisal actions by Pakistan to disrupt supplies to NATO forces in Afghanistan through Pakistan which were reopened this month following months of painstaking negotiations. Kayani is believed to have played a key role in supplies’ resumption.

Talking to the media after attending a meeting of the Senate’s Standing Committee on Defence, Sethi revealed even though the exact details of the Army chief’s visit were yet to be finalised, a tentative agenda was being prepared in consultation with all the ministries concerned. However, military sources, requesting anonymity, denied the report.

US approves first-ever pill to prevent HIV

Washington, July 17
For the first time, a once-a-day pill which reduces the chance of contracting HIV among high-risk groups "significantly" has got a green signal in the US, where 1.2 million people are infected by the deadly disease.

The drug,'Truvada' can now be used by those at high risk of the infection and anyone who may engage in sexual activity with HIV-infected partners, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced.

“In two large clinical trials, daily use of the drug was shown to significantly reduce the risk of HIV infection," it said yesterday.

However, some health workers and groups active in the HIV community opposed the approval for the once-a-day pill. There are concerns that circulation of such a drug could engender a false sense of security and mean people will take more risks. There have also been fears that a drug-resistant strain of HIV could develop.

People diagnosed with HIV that without treatment develops into AIDS take antiviral medications to control the infection that attacks their immune system.

In a statement, the FDA stressed that the drug should be used as part of a "comprehensive HIV prevention plan", including condom use and regular HIV testing.

An advisory group of health experts recommended approval for the pill in May this year. — TNS

The wonder drug

The once-a-day pill ‘Truvada' reduces the chance of contracting HIV among high-risk groups “significantly”
It can be used by those at high risk of infection and anyone who may engage in sexual activity with HIV-infected partners

B’desh-like set-up not possible in Pak: Justice Chaudhry
Afzal Khan in Islamabad

Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry on Monday said a Bangladesh-type set-up was not possible in Pakistan, adding that no one had the right to topple the government.

Justice Chaudhry observed that the judiciary, civil society and the country’s vibrant media provided guarantee to the democratic order and would not support any unconstitutional act.

He made these observations during hearing of Asghar Khan’s petition on distribution of money by the Inter Services Intelligence (ISI) agency in 1990 to manipulate polls against Benazir Bhutto. A three-member bench headed by the Chief Justice is hearing the petition.

The Supreme Court ruled that the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) could not have a functioning political cell in view of its judgment of July 31, 2009. It observed that that one point had been settled and it was that money was indeed distributed to manipulate the 1990 elections.

Jet-setting Hillary Clinton breaks travel record

Washington, July 17
If diplomatic achievements were measured by the number of countries visited, Hillary Rodham Clinton would be the most accomplished secretary of state in history.

While historians will debate and eventually rate her tenure as America's top diplomat, Clinton is already assured of a place in the State Department record book.

When her plane touches down at Andrews Air Force Base outside Washington early today morning, the former first lady will have completed an epic 13-day journey of 27,000 miles (43,450 kilometres), about 2,000 miles (3220 kilometres) more than the circumference of the Earth, through and over Europe to Asia and then doubling back to the Middle East. — AP

Pak’s Election Commission asks MPs to declare assets
Afzal Khan in Islamabad

The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) asked members of Parliament and provincial assemblies on Monday to submit the annual statements of their assets and liabilities by September 30.

The commission said in accordance with the law, the sitting members of the National Assembly, Senate and provincial assemblies have to submit statements of assets of not only themselves, but also those of their spouses and dependents. Since there is no mechanism available to verify these statements, the practice has so far remained a cosmetic exercise in accountability. However, if implemented properly, the procedure can deter widespread corruption.

The law states: “Where a member submits the statement of assets and liabilities under sub-section (1) which is found to be false in material particulars, he may be proceeded against under Section 82 for committing the offence of corrupt practice.”

If followed in its true spirit, any member found guilty of corruption may be disqualified from his office. The statements of assets and liabilities have to be published and any citizen can obtain a copy after paying a prescribed fee.

Walking test to detect Alzheimer’s

Washington, July 17
How a person walks can be a clue to whether he has Alzheimer's, after researchers found a link between the disease and a person's gait.

Subtle changes in the way a person walks can be an early warning sign of cognitive decline and a signal for advanced testing, according to research released at Alzheimer's Association International Conference in Vancouver, Canada.

The findings are the first to link a physical symptom to the disease, 'USA Today' said. — PTI