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TEHRAN, April 2 (Reuters) – International sanctions will not prevent Iran from pursuing its nuclear activities, said the country’s top nuclear negotiator on Friday, the official IRNA news agency reported.
“Iranians are familiar with sanctions … We consider sanctions as opportunities … We will continue our (nuclear) path more decisively,” Saeed Jalili was quoted by IRNA as saying in China. (Writing by Parisa Hafezi; Editing by Jon Boyle)
Peshawar, Sep.18 (ANI): The death toll from a suicide car bomb blast that tore through a bazaar and gutted shops in Ustarzai, a small mainly Shia northwest town which lies between the garrison city of Kohat and Hangu, has risen to 33. Police sources also confirmed injuries to 56 others.
The little known Lashkar-i-Jhangvi al Almi militant group claimed responsibility for the attack.
“There are 33 dead and more than 50 injured. Twenty-five have been identified while the rest are in a very bad condition. The bodies have been completely damaged,” a foreign news agency quoted a North West Frontier Province police spokesman, as saying.
Police and witnesses said that soon after the blast, Shiite youths took control of the bazaar and attacked two police vehicles with sticks and chanted slogans condemning the Taliban and the Pakistani government.
Shias account for about 20 per cent of Pakistan’s mostly Sunni Muslim population of 167 million. More than 4,000 people have died in outbreaks of sectarian violence since the late 1980s. (ANI)
New Delhi, Sep.18 (ANI): Recognizing the enormous potential of Information Technology in acting as a catalyst for the Tier – II growth of Suburban India, The Government of Himachal Pradesh (GoHP) is moving to produce an IT friendly business landscape.
To close the technological gap and nab the marquee, various initiatives are being put in place by the GoHP. Tax Breaks, Exemption from various duties and levies and imports are certain defined benefits for the industry to set base at Himachal Pradesh.
The IT Park cum Township falls will come up in Solan District of Solan, about 20 kilometres from Shimla.
The total area of the project is 64.73 acres. The site is located at a distance of four kilometers from Kiarighat. Kiarighat is on Chandigarh – Shimla highway (NH-22) on midway between Solan and Shimla at an approximately equal distance of 23 kilometres.
Conceptualized as an Integrated Development – offering both residential and commercial options, the project’s developmental contours will include built-up IT space of 1.1 million square feet. Built to suit plots for IT in 9.5 acres of land, a township for of 1.31 million square feet, a project cost of 408 crore rupees.
Commercially structured on the Public Private Partnership format. The developer shall be responsible for designing,financing, constructing, operating, maintaining and development of the IT Park cum Township at Waknaghat.
The implementing agency will be the Department of Information Technology, Government of Himachal Pradesh.
To promote the project and the township, an investor Meet will be held in Delhi on September 23. A visit to the site will be organised on September 30, while a pre-bid meeting will be held on October 3, 2009.
The last date for submission of proposal is October 26. (ANI)
Tehran, Sep. 18 (ANI): Even as a secret IAEA report revealed that Iran is capable of making a nuclear bomb and is developing a missile system to carry an atomic warhead, Iranian officials have reiterated claims that the Islamic nation’s nuclear program is intended for peaceful purposes.
Fox News quoted Iran’s ambassador to the International Atomic Energy Agency, Ali Asghar Soltanieh, as saying that Iran is sincere in wanting to negotiate with the West.
He added that Western countries should “read between the lines” about Iran’s intentions.
Although the prospects of finding anything between the lines were almost nil after the surfacing of the IAEA report, but Soltanieh insisted that discussions with the West would be a “real, new window of opportunity.”
The secret U.N. watchdog report, titled “Possible Military Dimension of Iran’s Nuclear Program,” concludes:
*Iran worked on developing a chamber inside a ballistic missile capable of housing a warhead payload “that is quite likely to be nuclear.”
*Iran engaged in “probable testing” of explosives commonly used to detonate a nuclear warhead – a method known as a “full-scale hemispherical explosively driven shock system.”
*Iran worked on developing a system “for initiating a hemispherical high explosive charge” of the kind used to help spark a nuclear blast.
“Iran has sufficient information to be able to design and produce a workable implosion nuclear device (an atomic bomb) based on HEU (highly enriched uranium) as the fission fuel,” The agency assessed.
On October 1, Iran is scheduled to meet with the U.S. and five other world powers seeking curbs on its atomic activities for the first time in more than a year.
However, Tehran says it is not prepared to discuss its nuclear activities. (ANI)
London, September 18 (ANI): European Space Agency’s (ESA’s) Planck spacecraft has obtained its first peek at the afterglow of the big bang, revealing it in unprecedented detail.
The ESA spacecraft was launched into space on May 14 this year. It is observing the glow of hot gas from just 380,000 years after the big bang, called the cosmic microwave background (CMB).
According to a report in New Scientist, the detailed properties of this background may contain hints of hidden extra dimensions or multiple universes, as well as providing clues to what caused a brief, early period of incredibly rapid cosmic expansion.
Planck began surveying the microwave background on August 13, a few weeks after reaching its planned perch 1.5 million kilometres from Earth at a point called L2 and cooling its detectors to within 0.1 degrees Celsius above absolute zero.
Now, the Planck team has released the probe’s first image, an observational strip covering about 5 per cent of the sky.
Slight variations in temperature from place to place in the early universe give the image its mottled appearance.
“With a few per cent of the data in, you can see it’s working well and delivering good stuff,” said team member George Efstathiou of the University of Cambridge.
Planck is expected to provide the most detailed all-sky map of the cosmic microwave background yet, improving on the best current map, obtained by NASA’s Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe (WMAP), which launched in 2001.
Planck’s detectors have more than 10 times the sensitivity of WMAP’s, and about 2.5 times the angular resolution.
“Every strip that Planck scans, we’re getting data that is many, many times more sensitive than WMAP,” Efstathiou told New Scientist.
Although Planck was only designed to observe the sky for 15 months, the team believes it could last for more than 30 months, based on new estimates of how long its coolant will last.
The extra time will allow Planck to measure the radiation with even greater precision, since it will scan the entire sky four times – two more than originally planned. (ANI)
Lahore, Sep.18 (ANI): Expelled Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Jaswant Singh’s book on Mohammad Ali Jinnah has sent the Pakistani book piracy nexus working overtime, but it has also landed people in police custody.
Pakistani security agencies have arrested three people for selling pirated editions of the book ‘Jinnah: India, Partition, Independence,’ following a countrywide crackdown on publishers and sellers of counterfeit editions of the controversial yet popular book.
Several fake copies of the book have also been recovered and cases have been registered in Karachi, Peshawar, Quetta, Rawalpindi and Lahore, The Daily Times reported.
Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) officials said the action was taken on a complaint filed by Tariq Haq, regional sales head of the Oxford University Press (OUP).
Tariq said the OUP had the sole rights of publication and distribution of the book and the company is facing heavy losses due to large scale piracy of the book.
Singh’s book which has created a furor in India, has received an overwhelming response in Pakistan.
Not only intellectuals, but people from different strata of the society have also shown interest in the book, in which Singh has praised Muhammad Ali Jinnah and described him as a leader who had strong faith in united India, while blaming Sardar Patel for the partition in 1947. (ANI)
Washington, September 16 (ANI): NASA has concluded two weeks of technology development tests on two of the agency’s prototype lunar rovers.
“These tests provide us with crucial information about how our cutting edge vehicles perform in field situations approximating the moon,” said Rob Ambrose, Human Robotic Systems project lead at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston.
“We learn from them, then go back home to refine the technology and plan the next focus of our research,” he added.
The annual studies featured an intensive, simulated 14-day mission.
Two crew members, an astronaut and a geologist, lived for more than 300 hours inside NASA’s prototype Lunar Electric Rover.
The explorers scouted the area for features of geological interest, then donned spacesuits and conducted simulated moonwalks to collect samples.
The crew also docked to a simulated habitat, drove the rover across difficult terrain, performed a rescue mission and made a four-day traverse across the lava.
Throughout the test, the crew provided updates via Twitter and posted pictures and video online.
Prior to the test, NASA’s K10 scout robot identified areas of interest for the crew to explore.
NASA’s heavy-lift rover Tri-ATHLETE – or All-Terrain Hex-Legged Extra-Terrestrial Explorer – carried a habitat mockup to which the rover docked. (ANI)
Islamabad, Sep.16 (ANI): The Taliban’s threat has still not subsided in the Swat and Malakand Divisions as the security forces have found that the extremists have created a new stronghold in the region and are planning strikes from there.
According to senior officials, the Taliban, after being forced to retreat following the military operation, have shifted their base to the rough terrains between Batkhela and Jalala on the Mardan-Swat Highway and trying to regroup.
“It is from here that they are building their arms arsenals, training camps, logistics and propaganda centres,” officials said.
Over 200 people in the region have received handwritten and typed death threats in the past fortnight which proves that the Taliban is alive and kicking here.
“We are aware of how you assist security agencies and act against Islam. You are going to face the wrath of God,” one of the letter stated.
One of such threat mail has also been received by former North West Frontier Province (NWFP) Minister, Kamal Shah, who said the extremists have taken refuge in Shergarh, Batkhela, Chakdara, Iroshah, Shakh Number Panch, Jabban Road, Palai Sherkhanai, Sakhakot, Jalala and other villages on the Highway and are waiting to strike.
Security officials said they are aware of the development and the threat mails being sent by the Taliban. They said steps are being taken to thwart any untoward incident and block the supplies of arms and ammunition to the extremists.
“We are on their heels and are making all efforts to block arms and ammunition supplies to them from the channels developed by Taliban through Mohmand Agency, the adjoining areas of Malakand like Palai Sherkhani and Jabban Iroshah Road,” The News quoted a senior official, as saying. (ANI)
London, September 16 (ANI): People’s updates on popular social networking websites such as Twitter about having coughs and colds could help health officials track early warning signs about flu outbreaks.
The Health Protection Agency annual conference at Warwick University, UK, heard that such websites could indicate an outbreak of flu earlier than conventional disease surveillance methods based on doctor visits.
Combing for messages or “tweets” such as ‘I have flu’ or ‘I’ve got swine flu’ may help provide valuable insight into the spread of infectious diseases, research showed.
Ed de Quincey, a computer scientist at City University London conducted the research and developed the system with his team at the City eHealth Research Centre.
“As UK public health agencies and the NHS are preparing for the approaching flu season amid the H1N1 pandemic, new forms of social interaction via web sites such as Twitter and Facebook can expand the sources used in monitoring such outbreaks,” the Telegraph quoted him as saying.
“The flu pandemic was the perfect opportunity to test this idea and we found that at least 4,000 people reported flu symptoms via Twitter since May 2009.
“We are currently analysing over a million ‘tweets’ that we have collected and exploring the potential of incorporating data from other social networking websites. We hope in the future to expand this approach to investigate other health issues such as drug and substance abuse,” he added. (ANI)
London, September 12 (ANI): Soon, the Airborne Laser (ABL), built into a customized Boeing 747, is ready for flight tests, in which it will try to shoot a ballistic missile.
According to a report in New Scientist, the US Department of Defense’s Missile Defense Agency (MDA) has developed the ABL.
The ABL aims to focus a beam of laser energy in the megawatt range for several seconds onto a missile at a “militarily significant distance” – more than 100 kilometres.
So far, the laser has only operated at near full power on the ground. On August 18, it was fired successfully from the air, but at reduced power.
That, however, was no mean feat, as aircraft vibrations play havoc with the precisely aligned optical components needed to generate a laser beam.
Firing at full power poses other challenges as well.
At powers high enough to destroy missiles, any surface contamination or tiny flaw in the laser optics can absorb so much heat that they crack or shatter.
High-power laser beams also heat the air they pass through, creating perturbations that can disperse or divert the beam.
To counteract those effects, the ABL uses an adaptive system that senses atmospheric changes along its path and makes optical adjustments to compensate.
To test that system, the MDA plans a series of increasingly powerful shots at modified ballistic missiles loaded with sensors to measure the distribution of laser power on the target.
Engineers will assess each shot’s performance and use the results to fine-tune the adaptive optics.
Once this is done, the MDA will test the laser again in varying conditions, and attempt to destroy actual missiles.
The first of these tests is planned to take place late this year, with two more to follow in early 2010, according to an MDA spokeswoman. (ANI)
Rawalpindi, Sep 9 (ANI): The Pakistani security forces continued on Wednesday the search and clearance operations in Swat and Malakand during in which seven terrorists were killed.
According to a press release issued by Inter Services Public Relations (ISPR), the security forces conducted search operation in Charai near Malam Jabba and during exchange of fire with terrorists a soldier died and two others were injured. Also, seven terrorists were killed.
At least 11 terrorists voluntarily surrendered to security forces in Sarsanai, shadhand Banda and Bar Shaur, The News reported.
Local Jirga handed over a terrorist to security forces in Bar Kabulgram near Martung.
In Bajaur Agency, the security forces conducted search operation in Nawaga Bazaar and apprehended local terrorists commander along with five accomplices.
A wanted terrorist Kalam Khan voluntarily surrendered in Khar.
The security forces continued the relief activities, as at least 10 trucks of mix rations have been distributed amongst the IDPs of Bajaur. Also, as many as 294,841 cash cards have been distributed amongst the IDPs of Malakand. (ANI)
Jaipur, Sep 9(ANI): Income tax officials on late Tuesday seized jewellery worth Rs 93 lakhs during a raid on the office of a private locker agency in Ganpati Plaza complex in Jaipur.
During the raid, IT officials found the jewellery, 1000 dollars in cash and some papers.
“In one locker we have found there about Rs 93 lakhs of jewellery and 1000 dollars and in that locker there were some papers also, which contains details of certain transactions. We have to look into those transactions whether those transactions are accounted for or unaccounted for, that investigations are going on,” said Sunil Sharma, Commissioner of Income Tax Department.
“Probably the papers will provide us clue about the party whom this locker belongs to. At the first look it appears that these papers pertain to one jeweler,” he added. (ANI)
London, Sep. 9 (ANI): A startling new report has revealed that 252 children were killed during Israel’s war on Gaza early this year.
The Israeli official figures seriously underestimated the civilian Palestinian death toll, and said that just 59 children under 16 died during their offensive in Gaza.
Israeli human rights organisation B’Tselem gathered death certificates, photos, and testimonies relating to all 252 of the children, The Independent reports.
B’Tselem, which said it had carried out “months of meticulous investigation and cross-checks with numerous sources” has, unlike the Israel Defence Forces (IDF), made public the names of all those it said were killed in the war.
The organization noted that since the IDF had refused to reveal its own detailed list, it was impossible to compare the names but that “the blatant discrepancy between the numbers is intolerable.”
The new figures came as the IDF opened a criminal investigation into allegations by Khaled Abed Rabbo that three of his daughters were shot, two fatally, as the family, carrying a white flag, walked from their house in eastern Jabalya on January 7.
B’Tselem’s total Palestinian death toll exceeds by more than 200 the 1,166 cited by the IDF.
The IDF insisted when issuing its own figures that 709 were “Hamas terror operatives” and that a total of 295 “not involved” Palestinians were killed.
By contrast B’Tselem puts the total figure for those who “did not take part in the hostilities” at 773.
The agency repeated calls for an “independent and credible investigation” into the military’s conduct of the war. (ANI)
London, Sep.9 (ANI): A top Pakistani diplomat has reacted strongly to Britain’s accusations regarding Pakistan harbouring extremists plotting to attack the UK.
The diplomat charged Britain of not doing enough to tackle home grown terrorists and treating Pakistan as a “whipping boy”.
“Sometimes for our British friends the truth is bitter. We have somehow turned out to be a ‘whipping boy’, there is a long history to that. The British need to search their own house. Britain has to take responsibility and they have to look into the issues which are driving these youth to extremism, which is the third-generation British – they weren’t born and bought up in Pakistan,” The Guardian quoted the diplomat, who refused to be named, as saying.
Referring to the massive airliners bombing plot, he said the terrorists who were nabbed and convicted were ‘born and brought up’ in Britain, and not in Pakistan.
The diplomat underlined that it was the Pakistani intelligence agencies that had tipped Britain regarding the plot following which it was unearthed.
He said the plotters would have succeeded in their plans if the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) had not shared reports with London.
“It was Pakistan that informed Britain about this plot. We tipped them off, it was our security agency that tipped off the British … the British authorities were very much indebted to Pakistan. We had a major role in unearthing this plot. Had it not been for Pakistan (it) would not have been unearthed,” he said.
It may be recalled that Prime Minister Gordon Brown, during his Islamabad visit earlier this year, had said: “Three-quarters of the most serious plots investigated by the British authorities have links to Al-Qaida in Pakistan.”
Brown’s statement had angered Pakistani leadership and strained relationship between two countries, but things normalized later with President Asif Ali Zardari visit to the UK. (ANI)
New Delhi, Sep 8 (ANI): A Delhi court will hear the Bofors payoffs case against Italian businessman Ottavio Quattrocchi today. The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) may reveal its course of action following the withdrawal of Interpol’s Red Corner Notice against him.
The matter is to come up for hearing before Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Kaveri Baweja.
During the brief hearing on April 30, Additional Solicitor General P P Malhotra, appearing for CBI, had informed the court that the Red Corner Notice issued against Quattrocchi was withdrawn in November last year.
The ASG had also sought two months time to decide on the future course of action in the politically-sensitive case on the court’s query as to what options were left with the probe agency following the withdrawal of the Red Corner Notice.
The Bofors scandal was a major corruption scandal in India in the 1980s, when the then Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi and several others were accused of receiving kickbacks from Bofors AB for winning a bid to supply the Indian Army with 155 mm howitzer guns.
The court had on February 10, 1997, sent letters to Malaysia and the UAE seeking the arrest and extradition of Quattrocchi.
The CBI had registered the FIR in the Bofors case on January 22, 1990, three years after Swedish Radio on April 16, 1987, claimed that A B Bofors, the makers of the 155 mm howitzers, had paid kickbacks to top Indian politicians and key defence officials to secure the Rs 1,437 crore gun deal.The contract between the Indian government and the Swedish Company for the supply of 400 field guns was signed on March, 24, 1986. (ANI)
Peshawar, Sep.8 (ANI): At least 15 more Taliban extremists were killed in Pakistan military’s counter insurgency operation and a drone attack in the Khyber and North Waziristan areas.
While 10 militants were killed in the Tirah valley during anti-militancy offensive, a US drone targeted an alleged militant hideout and a madrassa in Machikhel village in North Waziristan killing five persons on the spot besides injuring six others, The Daily Times reports
“The strike targetted a madrassa and an adjoining house in Machikhel village in North Waziristan. At least five people were killed and six others injured,” a senior security official said.
Local tribesmen have cordoned off area and are searching for bodies, sources said.
People have started leaving their homes amid the fresh military operation against the extremists in the region.
According to an estimate 30,000 people have left Khyber Agency for safer places since Sunday.
“Thousands have fled the military operation in Khyber. Around 30,000 people have arrived in Peshawar,” said Sahibzada Mohammad Anis, administrative chief in Peshawar. (ANI)
Washington, September 7 (ANI): NASA astronauts aboard the US space shuttle Discovery have said that the smell of space, which is regarded as the final frontier, is strong, metallic and unique.
“There is one smell up here that is really unique though and that is the smell, we just call it ‘the smell of space’,” said NASA engineer and astronaut Gregory Chamitoff, who is on board US space shuttle Discovery.
“I haven’t had a chance to do a spacewalk yet, but when the other guys did and they came back in, there’s this really, really strong metallic smell,” he added.
For rookie astronaut Kevin Ford, Discovery’s pilot, both the sounds and smells of space have surprised him.
“It’s like something I haven’t ever smelled before, but I’ll never forget it,” he said. “You know how those things stick with you,” he added.
Chamitoff and Ford are among 13 astronauts on board the International Space Station and US space shuttle Discovery.
Astronauts from Discovery have concluded a third and final spacewalk, installing new equipment on the International Space Station (ISS), though failing to connect some of the cables.
The spacewalkers deployed a new payload attachment system, replaced a failed gyro assembly, installed two GPS antennae and did some work to prepare for the installation of the Node 3 “Tranquility” module next year.
Built in Italy by the European Space Agency, Node 3 “Tranquility” is scheduled to be flown to the ISS next February.
It contains the most advanced life support systems designed to recycle waste water and generate oxygen. (ANI)
Melbourne, Sep.6 (ANI): Tennis ace Mark Philippoussis is being chased by the US taxman and has sold his Williamstown family home to avoid having it repossessed.
It has now emerged that the US Internal Revenue Service has pursued the Scud for about 1.4 million dollars during the past decade.
US records show the IRS still wants about 500,000 dollars for tax debts dating back to 2003.
Philippoussis, who according to his mother is playing in a tournament in San Diego, revealed to the Sunday Herald Sun in May that his money was gone, he was depressed and he was battling to save the family home from repossession.
“Money came in left, right and centre; you just thought that’s how it was for everyone and that’s how it always will be,” he said at the time.
The Davis Cup hero put his Williamstown home on the market to avoid having it repossessed over his unpaid 1.3 million dollar mortgage, but it was passed in for 775,000 dollars in July.
Wayne Elly, of Hocking Stuart, yesterday confirmed Scud’s house had sold recently for about the asking price of 950,000 dollars.
Philippoussis once owned at least five properties in the US, selling the last one in 2005 at a loss.
Official US records suggest he still owes about 180,000 dollars for the 2004 financial year and about 317,000 dollars from 2003.
A former tax debt for about 918,000 dollars dating back to 2001 was satisfied in 2004, according to the Palm Beach County records office.
The IRS would not comment this week, but a US tax expert said the documents suggested the agency was confident it could recoup the debt. (ANI)
Islamabad, Sep.4 (ANI): Pakistan Information and Broadcasting Minister Qamar Zaman Kaira has rebutted reports regarding Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) giving assurance not to prosecute former President General Pervez Musharraf on high treason charges.
Kaira said the PPP has not given any ‘guarantee’ to any country regarding clemency to Musharraf.
“Though friendly countries generally give advice on various matters but it is not binding on the government,” Kaira said.
In an interview with The Nation, he categorically rejected media reports that Musharraf’s step down was pre-planned and a part of a ‘secret’ arrangement.
“PPP had expelled Musharraf from Aiwan-e-Sadr with the support of masses,” he stressed.
When asked about Interior Advisor, Rehman Malik’s visit to Saudi Arabia, just before Musharraf’s meeting with king Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz, Kaira said it was a routine affair and it had nothing to do with the Musharraf issue.
Kaira also denied presence of US Blackwater on Pakistani soil, saying Islamabad would never allow any private security agency to operate inside country’s territory.
“Some personnel of private security agencies of the US after taking clearance by the government are protecting the NATO trucks which transport supplies from Port Qasim to Afghanistan and nothing else,” he said.
“As the US is leading war against terror therefore its facilities and staff are more prone to terror attacks than other countries therefore they need more security to protect themselves,” he added. (ANI)
Riyadh, Sep.3 (ANI): Former Pakistan President General Pervez Musharraf has returned to London after his three day visit to Saudi Arabia, and it seems his tour has yielded the desired results.
Musharraf, who had a long one to one talk with King Abdullah amid speculations of yet another Saudi-backed political arrangement in Pakistan, was in ‘high spirits’ after the meeting, sources said.
While the details of the meeting are still behind curtains, sources privy to the developments said Musharraf would disclose his future course of action only after returning to London, but as it transpires Musharraf has succeeded in his aim to ensure a safe return to Pakistan without any fears of being tried for high treason under Article Six of the Constitution.
“Musharraf was in ‘high spirits’. His body language was ‘positive’ and he sounded ‘very optimistic’,” The Dawn quoted sources close to the former general, as saying.
It is worth mentioning here that Musharraf had resigned from the Presidency last year, following an agreement in which Saudi Arabia was one of the guarantors.
The accord says that Musharraf would not be tried in any court. The US and Britain are believed to be the other two guarantors of the agreement, which has been kept secret.
While the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) is pushing for Musharraf’s trial under high treason charges, observers believe that it would be naïve to think that PML-N chief and former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif is unaware about the agreement.
Sources also revealed Sharif may visit Riyadh next week where he is likely to meet King Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz. He will also have meetings with some other Saudi leaders including Prince Mukrin, chief of the Saudi Intelligence Agency. (ANI)
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