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Israel calls up reservists, deploys missile defence against Syria
Iraq bloodbath continues as 71 killed in series of blasts
IAEA, Iran to hold N-talks on Sept 27
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Japanese agency raises alert for nuclear leaks
New York police labels mosques as terror groups
First Russia-Pakistan strategic dialogue begins in Moscow
Shortage of security forces could keep Afghan women from vote
Sikh shot dead in New Jersey
Chandrayan helps NASA detect water on moon
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Israel calls up reservists, deploys missile defence against Syria Jerusalem, August 28 However, an Israeli official briefed on a meeting of Prime Minister Benjami Netanyahu’s security cabinet said the Jewish state believed the probability of it be targeted by Syria, its northern neighbour and long-time foe, was low. “Following a security assessment held today, there is no reason for a change to normal routines,” Netanyahu said. “We are, in parallel, preparing for any scenario.” That included a limited call-up of military reserve soldiers and deployment of an advanced missile shield in the north, the official said. Israel Radio said moblisation of several hundred troops in intelligence and air defence had been authorised. The Army Radio reported the military was using all of its missile defences, which include the short-range Iron Dome, the mid-range Patriot and the long-range Arrow II. Facing potentially imminent attack by the US and other western powers over its alleged use of chemical weapons, Damascus has hinted it could shoot back at the Jewish state. Israel is also braced for possible rocket salvoes from Hezbollah, Syria’s Lebanese militia ally. Netanyahu yesterday said that Israel sought to stay out of the Syrian crisis but would respond forcefully to any attempt to attack it. Israeli Defence Minister Moshe Yaalon said after the security cabinet meeting on Wednesday that Israel was "taking steps for just in case". In a speech in Tel Aviv, Yaalon said Israel’s finger is not light on the trigger, but whoever around us presumes they can challenge us by a threat will of course encounter our might if there is any attempt to hurt us or our citizens. Assad, preoccupied with a 2-1/2-year-old uprising against his rule and facing a militarily superior enemy in Israel, has held his fire in the face of three Israeli air strikes in Syria this year on advanced weaponry. However, many in Israel worry that he could lash out if he felt his back was against the wall, and long lines formed today at gas mask distribution centres. Israel has provided its citizens with equipment to cope with possible chemical or biological attacks since the 1991 Gulf War, when US-led troops drove Iraq out of Kuwait. According to official figures, however, only about 60 per cent of Israelis collected their gas masks before the current tensions over Syria erupted. — Reuters
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Iraq bloodbath continues as 71 killed in series of blasts
Baghdad, August 28 It was not immediately clear who carried out the attacks, which appeared coordinated, but Sunni Muslim insurgents, including the Al Qaida-affiliated Islamic State of Iraq, have significantly stepped up bombings this year. More than two years of civil war in neighbouring Syria have aggravated deep-rooted sectarian divisions in Iraq, fraying the country’s uneasy coalition of Shi'ite Muslim, Sunni Muslim and Kurdish factions. In Sadr City, an impoverished Shi'ite district in Baghdad’s northeast, two car bombs killed seven persons. A restaurant owner said he saw an attacker just before one of the explosions. “A man parked his car in front of the restaurant. He got breakfast and drank his tea. (Then) I heard a huge explosion when I was inside the kitchen,” the owner, who requested anonymity, said. "When I went outside, I saw his car completely destroyed and he had disappeared. Many people were hurt." Another car bomb killed seven persons and wounded 23 in Jisr Diyala in southeastern Baghdad, the police and medics sources said. The Interior Ministry described the attacks were "terrorist explosions" but said the number of people killed was only 20, with 213 wounded. The Shi'ite-led Baghdad government has said that media reports exaggerate attacks in Iraq and that security forces have stopped many attempted bombings. However, Wednesday's violence was worst since August 10, when nearly 80 persons were killed during a religious holiday. In other attacks on Wednesday, gunmen killed six members of al-Sahwa - former Sunni insurgents who rebelled against Al-Qaida - in am ambush on a checkpoint in Latifiya, a suburb 40 km (25 miles) south of Baghdad. — Reuters The attacks
* It was not immediately clear who carried out the attacks but Sunni Muslim insurgents have stepped up bombings this year *
Civil war in Syria has aggravated deep-rooted sectarian divisions in Iraq *
Interior Ministry described the attacks as "terrorist explosions" |
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IAEA, Iran to hold N-talks on Sept 27
Vienna, August 28 The meeting will be held in Vienna, a spokeswoman for the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said. It would be the 11th round of discussions between the two sides since early 2012, so far without any result. The talks will be scrutinised by the West for any sign of increased Iranian readiness to compromise in the decade-old international dispute over its nuclear programme after the June election of Rouhani. He has pledged more transparency and less confrontation in dealings with the IAEA and world powers. Iran and the IAEA last met in May, without achieving a breakthrough that would allow the UN agency to resume a long-stalled investigation into what it calls the possible military dimensions to Iran’s nuclear programme. Western officials accuse Iran of stonewalling the IAEA’s inquiry into suspected atomic bomb research. Iran says the allegations that it may have carried out tests relevant for developing atomic bombs are baseless and forged. Rouhani replaced Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, a conservative hardliner under whom Iran's relations with the IAEA deteriorated. Tehran said on Monday it had named a disarmament expert as its new IAEA ambassador, extending a reshuffle of top officials dealing with the nuclear programme. — Reuters the Meeting * The September meeting will take place the IAEA headquarters in Vienna * The last round of discussions between the two parties were last held in mid-May, before the election of current Iranian President Hassan Rowhani
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Japanese agency raises alert for nuclear leaks
Tokyo, August 28
The Nuclear Regulation Authority originally gave a Level I rating an "anomaly," to the August 19 leak of 3,00,000 litre of water from a tank at the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear plant. Last week it proposed raising that to Level III a “serious incident” and it made that change after consulting with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). The ratings are designed to inform the international community, and changing them does not affect efforts to clean up the leak by the government and plant operator Tokyo Electric Power Co. The 2011 Fukushima disaster itself was rated the maximum of seven on the IAEA’s International Nuclear and Radiological Events Scale, the same as the 1986 Chernobyl accident. TEPCO has recovered some of the water that leaked from the tank, but says some of it may have reached the sea through a rainwater gutter. TEPCO has built hundreds of tanks to hold radioactive water, some of which is ground water that made its way to the plant, but hundreds of liters of contaminated water are believed to be entering the sea each day. The plant suffered triple meltdowns after the massive earthquake and tsunami in March 2011. TEPCO is spraying tonnes of water into its reactors to cool them and is struggling to contain the resulting waste water. Japan’s Industry Minister said this week that the government would take over clean-up efforts. — AP
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New York police labels mosques as terror groups
New York, August 28 Since the 9/11 attacks, the NYPD has opened at least a dozen “terrorism enterprise investigations” into mosques. The TEI is a police tool intended to help investigate terrorist cells. Designating an entire mosque as a terrorism enterprise means that anyone who attends prayer services is a potential subject of the investigation and fair game for surveillance. Many TEIs stretch for years, allowing surveillance to continue even though the New York Police Department has never criminally charged a mosque or Islamic organisation with operating as a terrorism enterprise. The New York Police Department declined to comment. — AP
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First Russia-Pakistan strategic dialogue begins in Moscow
Islamabad, August 28 The decision for holding the strategic dialogue was made at foreign secretary-level talks last year. The talks will be upgraded to the level of foreign minister, just like the Pakistan-US strategic dialogue, state-run Radio Pakistan reported. Both sides will take up issues like disarmament‚ counter-terrorism‚ drug trafficking and global security. They will also enhance cooperation in different fields and expand bilateral trade. Russia has been supportive of Pakistan’s efforts to become a full member of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation and helped the country obtain observer status in the grouping. Islamabad supported Russia’s bid to have observer status in the Organisation of the Islamic Cooperation. Pakistan has ongoing defence cooperation with Russia and is keen on bolstering it. Pakistan Army chief Gen Ashfaq Kayani visited Moscow last year and the Russian Air Force chief visited Islamabad earlier this month. The two countries have been exploring prospects for enhanced bilateral cooperation through joint projects in areas like energy, power, railways, telecommunications and IT. Russia, one of the world’s leading energy producers, has offered Pakistan collaboration in oil exploration and major transportation projects, The Nation daily reported. — PTI
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Shortage of security forces could keep Afghan women from vote
Kabul, August 28 Afghanistan’s Independent Election Commission (IEC) said there were just 2,000 of the required 12,000 women needed to carry out body searches required for voters entering polling stations set aside specially for women. Voting is segregated as the two sexes are not permitted to mingle in public in conservative Afghanistan. The shortfall of women staff is one of the greatest challenges facing the government ahead of the vote, planned for April 5. “This is a really important issue for the IEC. We must have the same opportunities for men and women," IEC spokesman Noor Mohammad Noor said. Recruiting women into the police force was considered an important victory for Western efforts to promote equality after the toppling of the hardline Islamist Taliban in 2001. However, a report late last year found the aspirations of Afghanistan’s female police force have been poisoned by a steady stream of taunts, molestations and even rapes by their male colleagues. Recruitment has proved slow and numbers remain far below the target of 5,000 women by the end of 2014. To make up for the election-day shortfall, the Ministry of Interior is considering training female teachers to carry out searches at polling stations, the IEC said. The Ministry of Education was prepared to “help in any way possible”, a spokesman said, though it was unclear whether the plan was workable. Election officials encountered similar problems at the 2009 presidential poll, with female staff present at only 30 per cent of polling stations set aside for women. No figures for turnout of female voters are available, but officials say the numbers were very low, except in central Bamiyan province and areas in the country’s north. — Reuters the shortfall * The shortfall of women staff is one of the greatest challenges facing the government * There were just 2,000 of the required 12,000 women needed to carry out body searches required for voters entering polling stations set aside specially for women * Voting is segregated as the two sexes are not permitted to mingle in public in conservative Afghanistan
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Sikh shot dead in New Jersey
Washington, August 28 A massive manhunt has been launched in New Jersey for the two persons allegedly responsible for the killing of Singh. The police also released sketch of one suspect. One of them was described as a black male weighing 150 pounds, 5-feet, 7-inches tall, armed with a small handgun. They fled scene in a silver vehicle north on Broad Street. According to the police, Singh was shot twice - once in upper chest, which went straight in and a second time near the right arm pit. In a statement, the North American Punjabi Association alleged that the US law enforcement agencies had failed in protecting the lives and property of the Sikh Community in the country. — PTI |
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Chandrayan helps NASA detect water on moon
Washington, August 28 Earlier studies had shown the existence of magmatic water in lunar samples returned during the Apollo programme. NASA said scientists using data from the Moon Mineralogy Mapper (M3) instrument aboard the Indian Space Research Organisation’s Chandrayaan-1 spacecraft, remotely detected magmatic water, or water that originates from deep within the moon’s interior, on the lunar surface. M3 imaged the lunar impact crater Bullialdus, which lies near the lunar equator. “This rock, which normally resides deep beneath the surface, was excavated from the lunar depths by the impact that formed Bullialdus crater,” said Rachel Klima, a planetary geologist at the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory (APL) in Laurel. “Compared to its surroundings, we found that the central portion of this crater contains a significant amount of hydroxyl, a molecule consisting of one oxygen atom and one hydrogen atom, which is evidence that the rocks in this crater contain water that originated beneath the lunar surface,” Klima said. In 2009, M3 provided the first mineralogical map of the lunar surface and discovered water molecules in the polar regions of the Moon. This water is thought to be a thin layer formed from solar wind hitting the moon’s surface. Bullialdus crater is in a region with an unfavourable environment for solar wind to produce significant amounts of water on the surface, NASA said. — PTI
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Pak top court drops contempt notice against Imran Khan Mandela gets Mahathir Global Peace award White House fellowship for Indian-origin doc Indian national jailed for life in Singapore |
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At least 71 persons were killed and 201 wounded in a series of bombings and other attacks across Baghdad today, police and medical sources said, extending the worst wave of sectarian bloodshed in Iraq for at least five years.
It was not immediately clear who carried out the attacks
