Monday, December 5, 2011

Mid Day International News

Mid Day International News

Islamic militancy emanates from Pakistan: Daily

Posted:

The review of Pakistan's security paradigm should start with Islamic militancy that emanates from within the country, a leading Pakistani daily has said while noting that it is one of the biggest stumbling blocks in New Delhi-Islamabad relations

Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani Saturday told the parliamentary committee on national security that the Nov 26 NATO attack that left two dozen soldiers dead and the May 2 Abbottabad raid to kill Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden may "compel us to revisit our national security paradigm".

An editorial in the Dawn Monday said: "No doubt this is a welcome move - and one that should have been made more than a decade ago."

"But any review of the country's security paradigm, which has several aspects, should start with the nature of the threat emanating from within the country, i.e. Islamic militancy.

"...the US is not the only one to have raised the issue of militant groups finding safety within Pakistan. Iran and even China have expressed similar apprehensions, while for India, Islamic militancy remains one of the biggest stumbling blocks in its relations with Islamabad," it added.

It said that Pakistan is "yet to frame a policy that is clear and that can become the basis for a comprehensive security plan".

"Since the 1980s, when the Mujahideen in a US-led effort were supported in their resistance against the Soviets in Afghanistan, Pakistan has legitimised the idea of militant Islam.

"Its `security paradigm' has included using Islamic militants when convenient, with crackdowns occurring mainly after 9/11 when external pressures became too great to withstand," the editorial said.

It went on to say that "the security establishment has been accused of having links with Afghan militant groups using Pakistani soil to launch attacks across the border".

"The lack of a cohesive policy means that even as we lose men and money to the fight against extremism, Islamic militancy cannot be controlled."

Obama expresses condolences, but no apology to Pakistan

Posted:

Eight days after a NATO airstrike killed 24 Pakistani soldiers and chilled US-Pakistan relations, President Obama called Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari to express condolences, but stopped short of an apology

"The president made clear that this regrettable incident was not a deliberate attack on Pakistan and reiterated the United States' strong commitment to a full investigation," the White House said in a statement Sunday.

"The two presidents reaffirmed their commitment to the US-Pakistan bilateral relationship, which is critical to the security of both nations, and they agreed to stay in close touch."

The conversation between Obama and Zardari was the latest bid to address strained relations between the two nations after a NATO airstrike killed the Pakistani troops near the Afghanistan border Nov 26.

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Defence Secretary Leon Panetta have called the incident a "tragedy" and offered condolences, though Washington has not issued a formal apology sought by Pakistan.

Meanwhile, 2008 Republican nominee John McCain repeated his charge that Pakistani spy agency Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) is supporting terrorist groups in Afghanistan which are killing Americans and called the situation "unacceptable."

"An investigation is going on," he told CNN Sunday. "But, also, the fact is that the ISI, the intelligence arm of the Pakistani Army is still supporting the Haqqani network, which is killing Americans. That is unacceptable."

"There are two fertiliser factories-the materials for which are used for IEDs that are killing Americans," McCain said suggesting that aid to Pakistan "has to be gauged on the degree of cooperation they show us."

Noted Indian American commentator Fareed Zakaria also made a similar point Sunday saying "it's time to recognize that the America's Pakistan policy is just not working."

Former joint chiefs of staff chairman "Admiral Mike Mullen, he noted "finally said publicly what insiders have said privately for years: Pakistan's army, despite getting over a quarter of its budget from Washington, funds and arms the most deadly terrorist group in South Asia."

"Pakistan's military needs to stop playing games to keep Afghanistan weak and India off balance," Zakaria said suggesting "There lies a fundamental tension in US policy toward Pakistan."

China loans 2 giant pandas to Britain

Posted:

China, home to the world's giant pandas, has loaned two of the endangered species to Scotland for a whopping $935,000 (Rs 4.8 crore) a year.



The eight-year-old pandas named Tian Tian and Yang Guang (in pic) left China yesterday on a specially chartered Boeing plane FedEx Panda Express. "The specially chartered flight follows months of preparation and planning to ensure the pandas' travel is safe and comfortable at every stage of their journey," Gerald P Leary, president of FedEx Express Europe, was quoted as saying. Ahead of their trip, the pair was fed bamboo, favourite food of the giant pandas, at Chengdu airport. The pandas are to stay for 10 years at Edinburgh Zoo, where they are expected to breed and give Scotland its first Panda cubs. They will be given two weeks time to settle in after which they will be displayed to public.


85-year-old strip searched at US airport

Posted:

Lenore Zimmerman says she was furious after officials forced her to strip when she requested to avoid the metal detector so that her defibrillator stayed unaffected

An 84-year-old Long Island grandmother says she was injured and humiliated during a strip search at Kennedy Airport.

Lenore Zimmerman says she was on her way to a flight to Fort Lauderdale, Florida, when security workers forced her to strip down to her underwear when she requested to avoid the metal detector to make sure that her defibrillator would not be affected.


How could they? Lenore Zimmerman claims that the officials remained
unsympathetic during the search and also banged her shin making it bleed

"I walk with a walker I really look like a terrorist," she said sarcastically.

"I'm tiny. I weigh 110 pounds -- 107 without clothes -- and I was strip-searched," she continued.
Zimmerman was dropped off at the JetBlue terminal Tuesday by her son as she was due to take a flight down to Coconut Creek, where she lives in the winter.

Rather than being patted down by a female Transportation Security Administration officials as she normally is, Zimmerman was escorted to a private room where two female officers started removing her clothes.

On top of that, as Zimmerman removed her metal walker, it banged her shin and she started bleeding.
"My sock was soaked with blood. I was bleeding like a pig," she said.

Zimmerman takes blood thinners, explaining why the cut bled so profusely, and she had to be treated by a medic.

Unsympathetic
That process took so long that she ended up missing her original flight and had to take a later one.
During the search, the officials were unsympathetic and showed no emotion to the confused grandmother.
She asked them, "Why are you doing this?" and they did not respond.

'As per procedure'
TSA spokesman Lisa Farbstein said that a review of closed-circuit television footage from the airport shows proper procedures were followed.

"Our screening procedures are conducted in a manner designed to treat all passengers with dignity, respect, and courtesy," Farbstein said.

That certainly was not Zimmerman's view of the screening, and she said that she intends to sue the TSA.
"I was outraged," Zimmerman said.


Queen's income frozen till 2015

Posted:

The Queen is set to feel the pinch of the economic downturn as she faces a pay freeze until 2015.

The royal household is set to see six consecutive years of funding cuts -- affecting the Queen's income, which has dropped in real terms since 2009.

The austerity measures mean the monarch's royal palace repairs will most likely be halted.


Feeling the pinch: The Queen will have to face six years of funding cuts,
which will put a dent in her plans for repairing the royal palace. pic/afp

And any extra taxpayers' money previously used to fund the court of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, will also no longer be available.

The Prince of Wales will be responsible for the costs of providing staff for the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, until Charles becomes king.

While the Queen won't see a pay rise until at least 2015 following the replacement of the civil list with the sovereign grant.

The monarch's funding is now linked to profits at the Crown Estate instead of taxpayers' money paying for royal travel and royal palaces.

The Queen's funding will now equal 15 per cent of the profits made two years previously by the Crown Estate, under the new law which was passed six weeks ago.

The Crown Estate includes Regent Street, Windsor Great Park and over 50 per cent of the UK's shoreline.
Chancellor George Osborne has imposed the freeze on the Queen's taxpayer funding -- setting payments at �30 million (Rs 240 crore) per year until April 2013.

But she will receive a further one-off payment to fund the cost of the diamond jubilee.

In stark contrast, she received �77.3 million (Rs 613 crore) from taxpayer funding in 1991-92.

The Prince of Wales' income comes from the Duchy of Cornwall which not only supports the court of William and Kate, but also Prince Harry and his future wife and family.

Although Charles is paying for William and Kate's staff at Kensington Palace, structural work will still be funded with taxpayer money.

'Brutal' Duke reduced Queen to tears
The Queen was reduced to tears by the Duke of Edinburgh's "brutal" behaviour towards her when she refused to take his surname of Mountbatten, according to a new biography. Sally Bedell Smith even suggests that the
10-year age gap between the Princess Royal and the Duke of York was the result of "Philip's anger over the Queen's rejection of his family name". Her book Elizabeth the Queen details the Duke's irritation over the monarch's decision to keep the family name Windsor.


Posted by Harshad at 7:33 AM

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