| US bars media from covering return of 30 dead soldiers killed in Afganistan Posted: 09 Aug 2011 03:24 AM PDT 
WASHINGTON: The Pentagon has ruled out media coverage of a ceremony marking the return of 30 US soldiers, including 22 Navy SEALs, who were killed when the helicopter they were travelling in was shot down in Afghanistan. The return of the remains in flag draped coffins to the Dover Air Force Base in Delaware, possibly today, was denied media coverage because given the nature of the attack there were "no identifiable remains" of these servicemen, Pentagon spokesman Marine Col David Lapan told reporters during an off camera briefing. The International Security Assistance Force in Afghanistan said the CH-47 Chinook helicopter was reportedly shot down by an insurgent rocket- propelled grenade while transporting the US service members and Afghan commandos to the scene of an engagement between ISAF and insurgent forces. As a result of the attack, the helicopter exploded in midair, killing everyone on board. "Due to the catastrophic nature of the crash, the remains of our fallen service members will be returned to the US via Dover AFB in unidentified status, until they can be positively identified by the Armed Forces Mortuary Affairs Office at Dover," another Pentagon spokesman, Navy Capt Jane Campbell said in a statement later. "Because the remains are unidentified at this point, next- of-kin are not in a position to grant approval for media access to the dignified transfer," he said. Therefore, in accordance with the policy of the Department of Defence, no media coverage of the arrival and dignified transfer is permitted, Campbell said. "Families will however, be given the opportunity to be present for the arrival," he said. Coverage of arrival of soldiers killed in battlefield was banned for the media during the previous Bush administration. The Obama administration permitted media coverage of the return ceremony for service members killed in Iraq and Afghanistan, subject to the approval by the next-of-kin. But this time the Department of Defence ruled against the media coverage. Pentagon Press Association president Nancy Youssef said the organisation has protested the decision to ban media coverage and had sought to reverse the decision. |
| Unequal growth fuels London’s nights of anger Posted: 08 Aug 2011 10:23 PM PDT |
| Unequal growth fuels London's anger Posted: 08 Aug 2011 10:05 PM PDT 
LONDON: Two night of riots that rocked London point to deeper social unease in poor areas of the British capital, community leaders said on Monday, but police and politicians said much of the violence was opportunistic. The touchpaper for the unrest was lit on Thursday when police shot dead Mark Duggan, a resident of the multi-ethnic district of Tottenham in north London, after officers stopped the taxi in which he was a passenger. Hooded youths set fire to police cars and a double decker bus in Tottenham on Saturday night after a peaceful protest against the death descended into violence. A block of 26 flats was completely gutted by fire after the carpet showroom on the ground floor was set alight, sending terrified families fleeing into the street. The violence then spread to other parts of London on Sunday, including Brixton in south London, another racially mixed district which like Tottenham was rocked by riots in the 1980s. Young men were seen carrying new televisions out of some shops, while others tried on looted sports shoes. The scenes in Tottenham evoked memories of severe rioting on the Broadwater Farm housing estate there in 1985, sparked when a local woman died after police raided her home. In the ensuing violence, a policeman was hacked to death. A quarter of a century on, with Britain's economic growth almost at a standstill and government cuts to public spending hitting areas of high unemployment like Tottenham, some residents said they saw the seeds of more unrest. Osagyefo Tongogara, a community activist who was in Tottenham during the Broadwater Farm riots, said: "There are a lot of parallels with 1985. I don't call it rioting, I call it rebellion. People are angry and frustrated. If you have a community with high levels of unemployment and cutbacks in welfare then this is what you are going to get. We are told that this is a global financial crisis and that we are all in this together but why should we be? But you can't put the unrest down to that or to criminality. That's a a very simplistic explanation," he said. |
| Arab states slam Syria, recall envoys Posted: 08 Aug 2011 10:04 PM PDT 
DAMASCUS: Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Bahrain recalled their Damascus envoys as Sunni Islam's top body on Monday urged an end to the crisis in Syria, increasing the regional isolation of President Bashar al- Assad . Hours after the Saudi envoy's recall, rights activists said security forces shot dead a mother and her two children in the eastern city of Deir Ezzor, where 42 people were reported killed in an army assault on Sunday. The recalls by Riyadh, the Arab world's Sunni Muslim heavyweight, and fellow Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) members Kuwait and Bahrain marked a major escalation of pressure on Assad. His regime's repression of a pro- democracy uprising has left at least 2,059 people dead, including almost 400 members of the security forces, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. "Saudi Arabia announces the recall of its ambassador for consultations," King Abdullah said in a statement after Syrian security forces killed more than 50 people on Sunday. He urged Damascus to "stop the killing machine and the bloodshed... before it is too late." "The kingdom does not accept the situation in Syria, because the developments cannot be justified," King Abdullah said, urging comprehensive and quick reforms. "The future of Syria lies between two options: either Syria chooses willingly to resort to reason, or faces being swept into deep chaos, God forbid," he said. The Saudi decision to recall its ambassador from Damascus was followed by Kuwait and Bahrain. "No one can accept the bloodshed in Syria... The military option must be halted," Kuwait's foreign minister told reporters. "There will be a meeting for the GCC foreign ministers soon and a joint GCC move to discuss the issues related to Syria." he said. Hackers take the war to cyber space, deface defence ministry website T he website of Syria's ministry of defence was offline on Monday after being defaced by the "hacktivist" group Anonymous to protest a bloody crackdown on anti-government protestors. Repeated attempts to connect to the site, www.mod.gov.sy, were met with an error message on Monday. On Sunday, the Internet vigilante group Anonymous claimed on @YourAnonNews to have hacked the defense ministry website. On its Tumblr feed, Anonymous posted a screen grab of the page before it went offline. |
| Britain’s first: Woman to command warship Posted: 08 Aug 2011 10:03 PM PDT 
LONDON: A British naval officer is all set to become the first woman in the 500-year history of the Royal Navy to command a frontline warship , a media report said. Lieutenant Commander Sarah West, 39, will take control of HMS Portland and its mostly male crew of 185. After promotion to a 65,000 pounds-a-year Commander, she is ready to take her ship to war anywhere in the world, ' The Sun' reported. Women have previously commanded only small nonfighting Navy ships such as fishery protection vessels. But, naval top brass said Lt Cdr West had seen off tough competition from male officers to win the role on merit due to her "leadership, confidence, moral courage, sound judgement and exceptional people skills" . Unmarried Lt Cdr West, who was raised in Lincolnshire and studied at University of Hertfordshire. |
| Why women have sex Posted: 08 Aug 2011 10:01 PM PDT 
Women indulge in sex not for love and passion, but for various other "unromantic" reasons— including relieving themselves of boredom, out of pity for a man and even to cure a migraine headache—says a book. Why Women Have Sex by Cindy Meston and David Buss has highlighted 200 reasons as to why women have sexual intercourse. While attraction ranks way down in the list, it seems that women go to bed with their partners as a way of relieving boredom, keeping the peace, curing a headache and even as a thank you for a nice dinner. "Research has shown that most men find most women at least somewhat sexually attractive, whereas most women do not find most men sexually attractive at all," the Telegraph quoted the authors, who are both psychology professors at the University of Texas, as saying. The researchers interviewed 1,006 women as research for the book, and found some very surprising answers. One revealed that she did it for a spiritual experience, as she thought it to be "the closest thing to God". Others listed "cure for stress headache", "to make my sexual skills better" and "for a clearer complexion". However, the majority (84 per cent), admitted that they had sex to ensure a quiet life or to bargain for their partners to carry out household chores. "I have sex to relieve the boredom. Because it's easier than fighting. Plus it gives me something to do," said one of the interviewee. While another admitted: "I had sex with a couple of guys because I felt sorry for them." One of the surveys carried out by the authors revealed that one in ten women admitted having sexual intercourse in return for presents, or lavish meals. Responses included "he bought me a nice dinner" or "he spent a lot of money on me early on", "he gave me gifts early on" and "he showed me he had an extravagant lifestyle". |
| Papia, 2 others get bail in 'car-torching' case Posted: 08 Aug 2011 09:45 PM PDT 
Dhaka, Aug 8 (nilganj.com) — A magistrate has granted bail to BNP reserved seat MP Syeda Asifa Ashrafi Papia and two other lawyers arrested over a chaotic incident in the High Court but later implicated in a car- torching case that apparently had no connection with them. Papia, a lawyer by profession, was arrested along with pro-BNP lawyers Gazi Towhidul Islam and Abu Bakr Siddique last week as they face charges of attacking police and preventing them from doing their duties involving scuffles in front of judges in the High Court. Monday's bail at the court of Dhaka metropolitan magistrate Shahadat Hossain involved another June 5 case in which, police claimed, they were involved in torching a car at Moghbazar on the eve of a general strike called by the main opposition BNP and its key partner Jamaat-e-Islami. A case was filed on June 5 against some unidentified people involving the arson but Papia and the two others were implicated in that case on Friday. Court police sub-inspector Sheikh Farid told nilganj.com that Monday's bail would not ensure their freedom from jail as they face other charges involving the High Court melee. The court asked the authorities to keep them in jail, pending hearing on the rest of the charges, he said. Meanwhile, the scheduled hearing on petitions by police for a 10- day remand for each of the three lawyers was not held Monday, as police did not place necessary documents as advised earlier by the same court. The magistrate set Thursday for the hearing on the remand petitions and asked the investigating officer, Shahbagh police sub-inspector M A Jalil, to explain that day why he failed to submit the documents. A chaos in the High Court broke out on Tuesday during the hearing of a petition that questioned apparently seditious remarks on the country's constitution by Islami Oikya Jote faction leader Fazlul Haque Amini. The scuffle set off between the rival lawyers tied to BNP and Awami League when the bench mentioned that similar remarks were also made by BNP chairperson Khaleda Zia and that there was hardly any difference between the remarks of the two leaders. They screamed and used abuses in front of the judges to ridicule each other. The next day, the court barred 13 pro-BNP lawyers from entering courts and asked the Bangladesh Bar Council to explain why their licences should not be cancelled. The police also filed a case against 14 lawyers at Shahbagh Police Station. Nine of them were also sued by the investigating officer of the case for alleged bid on his life on Friday involving a separate incident. |
| Todays future, just for you Posted: 08 Aug 2011 03:02 PM PDT |
| Roshni Chopra opens up on her forthcoming thriller ‘Phirr’ Posted: 08 Aug 2011 01:18 PM PDT 
 Having kick started her career with a negative shade as Pia in popular daily soap 'Kasam Se', Roshni Chopra has gone a long way as a television host, reality show contestant and finally Bollywood. She is quite excited about her forthcoming romantic thriller ' Phirr' being made under the direction of Vikram Bhatt. Roshni plays NRI girl who lives abroad, but is Indian at heart. Her co-stars are Rajneesh Duggal and Adah Sharma. Roshni blends well with her co-stars on the sets and says, "Rajneesh is from Delhi, so we really got along, because I'm a Delhi girl too; and Adah is just a crazy girl. She and her mum would show me all kinds of yoga asanas and headstands while we were not shooting, which was hilarious!" Roshni feels blessed to be associated with Bhatt camp and says, "I've had the chance to spend quite a bit of time with Mahesh Bhatt and I'm quite a fan of his. He's so candid and brilliant. Their films have a very distinctive flavor and a great mass appeal." |
| Sameera Reddy has a hot item number in Priyadarshan’s ‘Tezz’ Posted: 08 Aug 2011 01:15 PM PDT 
 Our space had informed you that Sameera Reddy turns a biker chic for her forthcoming 'Tezz' with Priyadarshan. The latest addition to it is the fact that Reddy will also be seen grooving to a hot item number in the flick. The number has been done by talented duo Sajid Wajid and will be shot in Mumbai. Earlier it was being rumored that the item number had been offered to Priyanka Chopra but she refused to do it citing date problems. However, Priyadarshan vehemently denies it and says that the number always had been for Sameera Reddy. "How can anyone else dance to that number? Sameera plays a club dancer in Tezz and the number rightly belongs her," he said. Sameera had also done an item song in Priyadarshan's Aakrosh in 2010. Not many know that Sameera and Priyadarshan's wife Lizzie are best friends; and whenever she shoots a film in Chennai, Sameera stays with Priyadarshan and his wife. |
| Bipasha Basu' new buddy: Salman Posted: 08 Aug 2011 01:12 PM PDT 
Bipasha Basu is surprising close friends by making friends with the unlikeliest of names. First it was Shahid Kapoor, who is currently shooting in London. Now we hear she's pallying up with Salman Khan, John Abraham's jaani dushman. While Bips and Sallu weren't friendly, that status quo seems to be changing now. Basu wants to start anew, both personally and professionally. Buzz is the Bongshell is keen on working with Khan and might even shoot a song in his brother Sohail Khan's next production, Sher Khan. Bips and Salman's last film together was the 2005 hit No Entry. A source explains, "While they were never friends, they weren't enemies either. She maintained a distance from Salman when she was seeing John. Now that he's out of the picture, she's keen on bridging the divide. In fact, she has been a regular at Galaxy Apartments (Khan's bastion) for Arpita's Ganesh puja for the last two years. She has been texting him quite often these days, and they even seem to have discovered a shared passion for poetry. She has introduced Salman to her favourite couplets and lines." Sallu begins work on Sher Khan before Dabangg 2. And there's a good chance she may feature in the film if this friendship continues. "Bipasha definitely wants to work with Salman. She feels that several opportunities were lost in the past. Now, if there's such a chance, she'll grab it with both hands." |
| US President Barack Obama said he would present his own solutions for mending US debt woes in "coming weeks". Posted: 08 Aug 2011 01:10 PM PDT 
WASHINGTON: US President Barack Obama vowed on Monday that America would always be a "triple A country," fiercely defending US credit after a historic debt downgrade and saying the economy could be fixed with political will. Speaking against a backdrop of tumbling global stock markets, Obama said he would present his own solutions for mending US debt woes in "coming weeks" but again called on Republicans to accept tax hikes on the richest Americans. As he spoke jittery markets sent the Dow Jones Industrial Average plummeting to 4.5 per cent, sinking below the 11,000 points level. The broader S&P 500 lost 5.7 per cent, while the tech- heavy Nasdaq Composite plunged 5.6 per cent. The president was making his first public comments on the historic decision by ratings agency Standard & Poor's on Friday to downgrade the AAA credit rating on US sovereign debt for the first time to AA+ with a negative outlook. "No matter what some agency may say, we have always been and always will be a triple A country," Obama said, arguing global investors still saw the US economy as one of the safest investments in the world. But he conceded that fiercely partisan combat in Washington was hampering efforts to fix the US economy, and called on all sides to unite on a balanced solution to ease the deficit tipped to hit 1.6 trillion dollars this year. "Here's the good news. Our problems are imminently solvable. And we know what we have to do to solve them," Obama said at the White House. The president said the solution to US deficit woes was a mixture of tax rises on the most affluent Americans and modest cuts to state-run health programs plagued by rising costs, like Medicare for the elderly. "Making these reforms doesn't require any radical steps. What it does require is common sense and compromise," Obama said. The formula was a failed part of an Obama push for a "grand bargain" during the fierce debate over raising the US government's borrowing authority which wrapped up last week. Republicans refuse to countenance any kind of tax rises and Obama's Democratic allies have balked at any cuts to Medicare or other aspects of the American social safety net. "It's not a lack of plans or policies that is the problem here. It's a lack of political will in Washington," Obama said. "It's the insistence on drawing lines in the sand, a refusal to put what's best for the country ahead of self-interest or party of ideology. And that's what we need to change." |
| UK diplomats ask Pak to rein in Hafiz SaeedUK diplomats ask Pak to rein in Hafiz Saeed Posted: 08 Aug 2011 11:56 AM PDT 
ISLAMABAD: Jamaat-ud-Dawah chief Hafiz Muhammad Saeed may face fresh detention after British diplomats met senior Pakistani officials to convince them to crack down on the organisation, a front for the banned Lashkar-e-Taiba, according to a media report today. Diplomats from the British missions in Islamabad and New Delhi had a "successful rounds of talks with Pakistani leaders in the last week of July", 'The Express Tribune' newspaper quoted unnamed diplomats as saying. These talks "might lead to the detention of JuD chief Hafiz Muhammad Saeed and a possible crackdown on his group", the report said without giving details. The report contended that the developments were an outcome of a 'covert diplomatic campaign' by India to pressure Pakistan to rein in the JuD, which New Delhi has blamed for the 2008 Mumbai terrorist attacks. The report quoted the diplomats as saying that the British government hopes to convince Pakistan to address India's concern about Saeed and restrict the activities of the JuD in Pakistan and Jammu and Kashmir. Pakistani authorities had launched a limited crackdown on the JuD and its leaders in the aftermath of the Mumbai attacks after the UN Security Council classified the group as a front for the LeT. However, no official notification was issued to ban the JuD and most of its detained leaders, including Saeed, were freed within months. |
| Syria intensifies crackdown, envoys outown, envoys out Posted: 08 Aug 2011 11:11 AM PDT 
BEIRUT: A besieged Syrian city came under fresh artillery fire early Monday as a deadly military assault left President Bashar Assad's regime increasingly isolated, with Arab nations forcefully joining the international chorus of condemnation for the first time. The renewed violence in the eastern city of Deir el-Zour comes a day after at least 42 people were killed there in an intensifying government crackdown on protesters. "We heard very loud explosions, and now there's intermittent gunfire," an activist said in the city said, speaking on condition of anonymity for fear of reprisals. He said people were too terrified to take the wounded to government hospitals, instead treating them at home or in makeshift hospitals. The Local Coordinating Committees, which help organize the protests and track the uprising, said machine fire and artillery blasts resumed early Monday in Deir el-Zour. Syrian troops also stormed Maaret al- Numan in the northern province of Idlib at dawn, activists said. "Forces entered the city from its eastern side and they are preventing the residents from entering or leaving the city," the LCC said in a statement. More than 300 people have died in the past week, the bloodiest in the five-month uprising against Assad's authoritarian rule. Deir el-Zour, in particular, has come under withering attack. The city is in an oil-rich but largely impoverished region of Syria known for its well- armed clans and tribes whose ties extend across eastern Syrian and into Iraq. "Humanitarian conditions in the city are very bad because it has been under siege for nine days," an activist said in the city said, speaking on condition of anonymity for fear of reprisals. "There is lack of medicine, baby formula, food and gasoline. The city is totally paralyzed." The government's crackdown on mostly peaceful, unarmed protesters demanding political reforms and an end to the Assad family's 40-year rule has left more than 1,700 dead since March, according to activists and human rights groups. Assad's regime disputes the toll and blames a foreign conspiracy for the unrest, which at times has brought hundreds of thousands of protesters into the streets. The international community has sharply condemned the government's crackdown, imposing sanctions and demanding an immediate end to the attacks. But in a sign of growing outrage, Syria's Arab neighbors joined that chorus of criticism, voicing their concerns of a crackdown that intensified o the eve of the holy month of Ramadan a time of introspection and piety characterized by a dawn-to-dusk fast. Muslims typically gather in mosques during the month for special nightly prayers after breaking the fast, and the Assad government have been trying to prevent such large gatherings from turning into more anti- government protests. After sunset Sunday, thousands of people poured into the streets in areas around Syria, including the capital Damascus and its suburbs, the village of Dael in the south, the central city of Homs, Latakia on the Mediterranean coast and northern city of Aleppo, according to the Local Coordination Committees. There were reports of shootings but no immediate word on casualties, according to the LCC. Saudi Arabia's king whose country does not tolerate dissent and lent its military troops to repress anti- government protests in neighboring Bahrain harshly criticized the Syrian government. King Abdullah said Sunday he was recalling his ambassador in Damascus for consultations, and demanded "an end to the killing machine and bloodshed." "Any sane Arab, Muslim or anyone else knows that this has nothing to do with religion, or ethics or morals; Spilling the blood of the innocent for any reasons or pretext leads to no path to ... hope," the king said in a statement. Abdullah accused the Syrian government of a disproportionate response, and said it must enact speedy and comprehensive reforms to avoid a future of chaos. The 22-member Arab League, which had been silent since the uprising began, said Sunday it is "alarmed" by the situation in Syria and called for the immediate halt of all violence, while the prime minister of Syria's key trade partner and neighbor, Turkey, said he was dispatching his foreign minister to Damascus on Tuesday to deliver a strong message about the crackdown. In a front-page article Monday, Syria's pro-government Al-Watan newspaper said the Saudi and Arab League statements ignore the "extremist and terrorist groups that have sought to tear up Syria's unity." Syria's smaller neighbor to the east, Jordan, urged dialogue, but stopped short of condemning Damascus. Jordanian Foreign Minister Nasser Judeh was quoted on Monday by the country's official Petra News Agency as saying the violence was "disturbing." But he also said Amman does not interfere in its neighbor's internal affairs. Assad has shrugged off months of criticism and sanctions, blaming armed gangs for the violence while offering reform measures that have failed to placate the protesters demanding sweeping changes. In Deir el-Zour, which sits about 280 miles (450 kilometers) east of the capital Damascus, troops stepped up a siege that had already been going on for days. A pre-dawn raid on the city killed at least 42 people Sunday, said Abdul-Karim Rihawi, the Damascus-based chief of the Syrian Human Rights League, and Ammar Qurabi, who heads the National Organization for Human Rights in Syria. An activist in the city said that the military attacked from four sides and took control of eight neighborhoods. Kuwait recalls ambassador Kuwait has recalled its ambassador to Syria, Foreign Minister Sheikh Mohammed al- Salem al-Sabah said on Monday, adding that Gulf foreign ministers would meet soon to discuss the situation in Syria. "Our ambassador to Syria has been summoned for consultation," Sheikh Mohammed told reporters in parliament. |
| Nepal: Former Maoist child soldiers clash with own Posted: 08 Aug 2011 11:07 AM PDT 
KATHMANDU: Krishna Prasad says he was 19 when he left his family to join the People's Liberation Army and eventually became a section commander in its 3rd Division in Chitwan. His dream was to become part of the national army and reform the Hindu kingdom. Though he survived the "People's War" for six hard years, his dream did not. After the battle was over and the former guerrillas signed a peace accord, Krishna Prasad -- Comrade Kiran – was discharged from the PLA when a UN verification found him to be an illegal recruit. There were 4007 others like him. Now after a lull of almost three years, many of the discharges are back, seeking "justice' and "rehabilitation". After taking out a protest march in Kathmandu on Sunday, the former child soldiers tried to enforce a two-hour "chakka jam" in four major parts of the city. The government retaliated by arrested nearly 40 of them. "We are sad that the home ministry that ordered the arrests is run by our own leader (Maoist deputy chief Narayan Kaji Shrestha)," Kiran told TNN. "The party has become regressive and is solely focused on capturing power. But we will stage stronger protests to make them listen to our demands." On Friday, the disgruntled discharges have called a general strike in Kathmandu valley, to be followed by a Nepal bandh on Aug 20. Their demands include taking off the "disqualified" tag, getting a rehabilitation package including financial assistance, and the promulgation of a new constitution and the conclusion of the peace process in time. However, the Maoist leadership has had little time for them though it has also been preventing them from fashioning out a new life for themselves due to the desire to keep its support bases intact. Supported by western donors, the UN and its partners in Nepal tried to interest the child soldiers in getting vocational training and then seeking jobs or starting their own micro businesses. But UN officials say many dischargees turned up their noses at the offer as their leaders had stoked their ambitions without doing anything to fulfil them. |
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