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US closes 19 missions till August 10
Taliban threaten biggest attack; alert in Pak
Syrian ballistic missiles ‘killing’ children
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B’desh SC rejects Jamaat’s plea against disqualification
A file photo of a bus, allegedly set on fire by demonstrating Jamaat-e-Islami activists, near Dhaka. — AFP
Pak, India must cut defence spending: Sharif
World’s first lab-grown burger up for grabs
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US closes 19 missions till August 10
Washington, August 5 The United States initially closed 22 diplomatic posts for the day yesterday. The State Department last week issued a worldwide travel alert warning Americans that the Al-Qaida may be planning attacks in August, particularly in the Middle East. A State Department official asserted that this was not an indication of a new threat stream, but merely an indication of US commitment to exercise caution and take appropriate steps to protect its employees and visitors to its facilities. "Given that a number of our embassies and consulates were going to be closed in accordance with local custom and practice for the bulk of the week for Eid celebration at the end of Ramadan, and out of an abundance of caution, we've decided to extend closure of several embassies and consulates, including a small number of additional posts," State Department spokesperson Jen Psaki said. However, a top military commander said the US has intercepted the Al-Qaida plot to target not only Americans but also citizens from Western countries. "There is a significant threat stream, and we're reacting to it," General Martin Dempsey, Chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, told the ABC news. "That part of it is unspecified. But the intent seems clear. The intent is to attack Western - not just the US - interests." Congressman Charles Albert Ruppersberger said the terror threat is credible and is based on intelligence reports. "We can only say the intelligence that we get. And, by the way, intelligence is the best defence against terrorism. Those operatives are in place because we've received information that high-level people from the Al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula are talking about a major attack," said Ruppersberger, who is ranking member of the House Intelligence Committee. Meanwhile, Britain has extended the temporary closure of its embassy in Yemen until the end of the festival of Eid due to continuing security concerns. The mission had been set to reopen on Tuesday after a two-day shutdown as part of global fears of a terrorist attack. — PTI Norway follows Us’ Lead
Oslo: Norway has closed its embassies in Saudi Arabia and Jordan to the public due to threats of attacks by the Al-Qaida, the foreign ministry said on Monday. It has also raised the security level at other diplomatic missions in the Middle East and North Africa, as well as sensitive locations like Nairobi. — AFP |
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Taliban threaten biggest attack; alert in Pak
Pakistan has taken unprecedented security measures to fend off a looming threat by Taliban militants to launch the "biggest attack" on some unspecified important installation, officials said on Monday. Over 30 joint teams of commandos from the army, navy and air force went into action on Sunday and took control of important facilities like the Benazir Bhutto International Airport in Rawalpindi and several key sensitive security buildings in Islamabad. Elite police units were deployed at prisons, the parliament building, diplomatic enclave, five-star hotels and other key places in the capital frequented by VVIPs. "It is the highest level of security in the country,” Islamabad Police chief Sikandar Hayat said.Security was ratcheted up after credible reports that Taliban militants were planning to storm some key building and take people hostage. An intelligence official said militants emboldened by last week's attack on the Dera Ismail Khan jail - during which 252 prisoners escaped - wanted to created an even bigger impact with a high-profile attack. (With PTI inputs) 3 killed in train blast A bomb went off in the Karachi-bound Shalimar Express in Pakistan's Punjab province near Toba Tek Singh city on Monday, killing three persons, including a child, and injuring 15 others in what the Railways Minister called an "act of terrorism". —
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Syrian ballistic missiles ‘killing’ children
Beirut, August 5 Such missiles have what the group described as a wide-area effect, and when used in populated areas cannot distinguish between civilian and military targets. The New York-based watchdog said "military commanders, as a matter of policy, should not order the use of ballistic missiles in areas populated by civilians". But the repeated use of such missiles in areas populated by civilians “violates international humanitarian law”. — AFP
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B’desh SC rejects Jamaat’s plea against disqualification
Dhaka, August 5 The chamber judge of Appellate Division Justice AHM Shamsuddin Choudhury Manik rejected the Jamaat's petition seeking stay on the high court verdict on August 1. The judge said there is no merit in the stay petition and the petitioner's lawyer did not place any argument in support of it, The Daily Star reported. The Jamaat could move a regular appeal before the Appellate Division against the verdict after getting its full text, the judge said. Bangladesh Tariqat Federation's Secretary General Rezaul Haque Chandpuri and 24 others had filed the writ petition on January 25, 2009. The Tariqat is a group that preaches Sufi philosophy and promotes secularism. In the petition, they said the Jamaat was a religion-based political party and it did not believe in independence and sovereignty of Bangladesh. — PTI
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Pak, India must cut defence spending: Sharif
Islamabad, August 5 “Regional peace will remain under threat until there is a balance in armament. We want peace and for that, both countries must put a cap on their defence spending,” Sharif said. “Common people have suffered from the wars between us,” Sharif said. —
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World’s first lab-grown burger up for grabs
London, August 5 The "cultured beef" burger in a petri dish, was created after five years of research at an institute in the Netherlands by taking cells from a cow, which experts say could start of a food revolution. The 5oz patty, dubbed 'Frankenburger' by some sections of the British media, was unveiled for the first time by creator Professor Mark Post from Maastricht University at a press conference in Hammersmith, west London. The scientist-turned-chef made the most expensive beef burger in history from 20,000 tiny strips of meat grown from cow stem cells over a three-month period. Professor Post believes his artificial meat — known by the rather unappetising title "in-vitro meat" — could herald a food revolution and appear in supermarkets within the next 10 to 20 years. Sergey Brin, the billionaire co-founder of Google, has been revealed as the mystery backer behind the project. He has invested £2,15,000 of his own money towards the research, saying he was doing it for "animal welfare reasons". The beef-like product was injected with red beet juice and saffron as well breadcrumbs to bring it as close to the real thing. It was cooked in a frying pan in front of a live audience by chef Richard Haake, who described the cooking process as similar to real meat. — PTI
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Turkey court sentences ex-army chief to life in coup trial Egypt protests on as envoys seek solution Rouhani appoints reformist as top deputy US military chopper crashes on Okinawa 55 hospitalised after tunnel fire in Norway |
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The US has extended closure of 19 diplomatic missions in the Middle East and north Africa till August 10 as a precaution after it intercepted Al-Qaida's most serious threat in recent years to target its embassies.
In another blow to Bangladesh's fundamentalist Jamaat-e-Islami party, the Supreme Court today rejected its plea against a high court verdict that declared it illegal and barred it from contesting future polls.
