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Israel quietly helps WASHINGTON, Dec 12: A key US ally behind-the-scenes in the war in Iraq, Israel has been contributing intelligence, tactics and technology mostly in secret to avert an Arab backlash, Congressional aides and analysts said yesterday. ....more Legislations
expected WASHINGTON, Dec 12: US officials expect a flurry of legislation to restrict outsourcing of jobs to India and other countries as.....more Israeli
report predicts JERUSALEM, Dec 12: Leading Israeli security veterans predict in a report to Prime Minister Ariel Sharon that Palestinian warlords will take control in the . ......more Globalising
internet GENEVA, Dec 12: The United Nations’ push to transform the developing world into tech-ready nations could partly backfire, delegates to an it summit .....more |
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Villagers caught in KATHMANDU, Dec 12: Pandon village in Kailali district in far western Nepal wears a deserted look as more than half of its inhabitants have been forced , ....more Indo-Pak
situation WASHINGTON, Dec 12: The Indo-Pakistan situation at present is the best in the three years of the Bush administration and the US is urging both ....more Pope urges Europe not to forget Christian heritage ROME, Dec 12: Pope John Paul urged Europeans not to forget their Christian past as EU leaders met to haggle over a draft Constitution that has .. ....more Remorseful
BERLIN, Dec 12: A remorseful thief sent 600 dollars worth of stolen goods to the police and asked they be returned to their rightful owners, German authorities said. . ....more |
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Israel quietly helps US in Iraq, Aides say WASHINGTON, Dec 12: A key US ally behind-the-scenes in the war in Iraq, Israel has been contributing intelligence, tactics and technology mostly in secret to avert an Arab backlash, Congressional aides and analysts said yesterday. The commander of the Israel defense forces’ Golani Brigade briefed US Marines in mid-June on the lessons the IDF has learned from its conflict with the Palestinians. The Israelis have supplied the American military with aerial surveillance equipment, decoy drones and D-9 armored bulldozers, sources close to the Israeli Government said. The Israelis are also considering sharing new training software designed for Israeli commanders stationed in Palestinian areas, the sources said. Israeli tactics, which have been honed against a 3-year-old Palestinian revolt in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, have prompted protests by international human rights groups. Neither the White House nor the Israeli embassy will openly talk about connections between US operations in Iraq and Israel’s hotly-contested tactics in Palestinian areas. Such connections could spark a backlash against Washington in the Arab world, where suspicions of US intentions are already rife. In keeping with its low profile, Israel was left off the White House’s much-publicized list of coalition partners, and this week was denied — along with anti-Iraq war countries France, Germany and Russia — eligibility for lucrative post-war reconstruction contracts. "It’s hard to believe that a country like Moldova has done more for the US war effort than Israel. And yet the former is eligible and the latter is not. That doesn’t make any sense," said David Makovsky of the Washington institute for near east policy, a strong supporter of Israel. The White House justified its decision to deny eligibility to certain countries as a matter of national security but said they would be eligible to work as subcontractors. Israel benefits in other ways — it gets about 3 billion dollars a year from Washington and was promised in the run-up to the war in Iraq up to 9 billion dollars in loan guarantees. In contrast, the Palestinians get between 100 million and 200 million. Israeli officials and their supporters in the United States say it is no surprise the administration would play down the contributions of the Jewish state. "It’s not PC," said a pro-Israel lobbyist. A senior Congressional aide said acknowledging Israel’s role would be like "pouring gas on the fire." "Admitting Israel’s involvement in how to fight the resistance in Iraq does not advance the cause of winning hearts and minds in the Arab world," said another Congressional aide involved in middle east policy in explaining the secrecy. US and Israeli officials would not provide any specific details about US-Israeli cooperation in Iraq. "Obviously the two countries have a very close relationship. ... This has been going on pre-Iraq and it’ll be going on when Iraq is behind us," an Israeli official said. According to congressional aides and analysts, US-Israeli military contacts have expanded from intelligence sharing to direct consultations on defensive tactics and urban warfare. They said the IDF gave the Americans detailed information about its methods before the war, and that Israeli and American officers have held regular meetings since. Brig Gen Michael Vane, a senior officer in the US Army’s doctrine and training command, said in a letter to Army magazine in July that US officers had gone to Israel to discuss urban combat and intelligence. A senior official in the Pentagon’s defense advanced research projects agency recently met with Defense Ministry Director General Amos Yaron and toured several high-tech Israeli defense firms. More recently, Israeli officials have met with US officials in Washington about sharing software used to train commanders. US navy F-18 planes routinely used an Israeli glider, and US A-10 thunderbolts, F-15E strike eagles and AV-8B harrier jets were equipped with "pods" that provided real-time images of the battlefield in Iraq. American forces also made limited use of a helmet system which allows a pilot to more easily target the enemy without maneuvering the aircraft into attack position. Israeli security sources say mass assaults by covert squads of soldiers and swoops by troops posing as Arabs were among the tactics US forces were studying for use in Iraq. According to the New Yorker magazine, Israeli commandos and intelligence units have been working with their American counterparts at the special forces training base at fort Bragg, north Carolina. But Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and Air Force Gen Richard Myers, Chairman of the Military’s Joint Chiefs of Staff, said on Tuesday that they were not personally aware of any consultations between the US and Israeli militaries aimed at adopting Israeli tactics for counter-insurgency in Iraq. (AGENCIES) |
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Legislations expected to curb outsourcing of US jobs to India WASHINGTON, Dec 12: US officials expect a flurry of legislation to restrict outsourcing of jobs to India and other countries as concern grows that the second wave of information technology job losses would be much larger than the loss of manufacturing jobs. Speakers at a capitol hill symposium sponsored by the information policy institute yesterday agreed that globalisation would spur movement of more call centers, information technology, insurance, accounting and other service jobs to countries with educated workers and low pays such as India. The first outflow of jobs estimated at 3 million since 2001 was in the manufacturing sector. The second exodus in information technology and other sectors is expected to be much larger, although officials disagreed on estimates. Rolf lundberg of the US Chamber of Commerce told the symposium that 400,000 to 500,000 information technology jobs had moved overseas and by 2015 the number would swell to 3-3.5 million. But Martin Kenney, a university of California systems expert, said US jobs that had gone to India alone was about 500,000 it jobs. By 2008 the total might reach 1.2 million in India alone, he added. While officials couldn t agree on measures to counter the trend of job outflows, there was consensus that a spate of legislation would follow to restrict job loss. One such measure is contained in the omnibus appropriations bill that awaiting approval by the senate. It would bar some outsourced federal jobs to be based overseas. (UNI) |
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Israeli report predicts warlords after Arafat goes JERUSALEM, Dec 12: Leading Israeli security veterans predict in a report to Prime Minister Ariel Sharon that Palestinian warlords will take control in the West Bank and Gaza Strip in a post-Yasser Arafat era, officials said. Former heads of security services, including the Mossad Intelligence Agency, who drew up the report for Sharon believe there is no chance of reaching a peace deal while Arafat is alive or for many years after he leaves the stage. "I wouldn’t put my money on peace," Shmuel Bar, chairman of the study team, said of its "day-after scenario" in which it forecast a power vacuum filled by warlords. "What we will see is a lot of small areas of control and influence. Warlords with their own armed forces... It will be fiefdoms, Afghanisation," he told . Arafat, 73, was ill in October and Palestinians said he never looked so frail. Aides said later the President needed gallstone surgery but was otherwise in good health. Palestinian officials dismissed the panel’s findings. "If the absence of Arafat will bring chaos, why undermine the democratically elected president?" said senior cabinet minister Saeb Erekat, referring to Israel’s refusal to deal with Arafat or allow him to travel freely. "They are saying no peace with Arafat and no peace without Arafat and this is not logical. This leads to the conclusion that the real issue is that they want to keep expanding settlements (in occupied territory)...," he told . Israel accuses Arafat of inciting militant attacks on Israelis in violence that erupted in 2000, a charge he denies, but has recently backed away from a threat to exile the 73-year-old Palestinian President. Bar blamed Arafat’s policies and the Israeli Army’s isolation of Palestinian cities for a three-year-long process of "feudalisation" in which strongmen backed by local militias were gaining footholds in many areas. In the post-Arafat era, he said, the Muslim militant group Hamas would be the only coherent power centre in Palestinian areas as it would remain united under one leadership. But the security experts did not believe Hamas would succeed in taking power, as militia chiefs, many affiliated with Arafat’s mainstream fatah faction, would block them. Islamist factions get about 30 percent support in Palestinian polls. Bar said the former security chiefs, who had private interviews with some Palestinian officials, felt that some of Arafat’s contemporaries such as Prime Minister Ahmed Qurie, a moderate, would rise into the Presidency. But the report predicted they would probably be unable to implement any peace initiatives with Israel as they would lack a power base among the Palestinian people, which would be held by local warlords in West Bank and Gaza cities. "It’s a Greek tragedy. The person who could deliver doesn’t want to, and the people who want to deliver can’t," Bar said. The security veterans’ main recommendation to Sharon was to provide economic incentives and encourage international backing for moderate Palestinian leaders to help them build their popularity for the time when Arafat would leave the stage. Sharon is expected to unveil in a keynote conference address next week a series of unilateral steps, including annexation of some territory, israel would take if a US-backed "road map" plan for peace with the Palestinians hits a dead end. (AGENCIES) |
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Globalising internet brings unexpected problems GENEVA, Dec 12: The United Nations’ push to transform the developing world into tech-ready nations could partly backfire, delegates to an it summit aimed at bridging the "digital divide" said today. The overwhelming consensus at the UN-sponsored World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) summit this week is that bringing the internet and telecoms innovations to the world’s poor is a noble cause that needs embracing now. But there are unpredictable consequences that also need to be considered, experts said. "There are a number of non-trivial issues that come with overcoming the digital divide," said Alan Greenberg, a Canadian it consultant who works with the World Bank on programmes aimed at bringing new technologies to the developing world. "Security is one of them. Whether it be viruses or worms, or various forms of fraud, they will be coming to developing countries too. There are no barriers," he said. The need for international measures to fight computer virus outbreaks and step up prosecution of "cybercriminals" has been a constant topic of the three-day event — particularly among representatives of the developed world. This cautionary note contrasts sharply with the pleas from heads of state in poorer countries for the west to urgently step up technological aid to developing countries. Bridging the gap between the technology "haves" and "have nots" is a crusade that began in the late 1990s, and this summit is testament to its slow but steady progress. The UN’s ambition is to help eradicate poverty and create stable state democracies by using new technologies to improve access to vital information. Poor communities from India to Nepal can report success stories of how the internet has brought advances in farming, schools and healthcare. But the march of technology has had some unforeseen social consequences too, as news written in languages incomprehensible to all but a few gets beamed in daily. One Indian fishing village in the Tamil Nadu region that relies on the internet for weather updates has one terminal for 7,000 inhabitants, said Rajamohan Kg, an advisor for the M S Swaminathan research foundation, a tech aid group. Because the children have — like everywhere else — the greatest facility with the internet, they often have access to information vital to the village’s fishermen. "They are respected, like the village elders," he said. Others called the English-language-dominated internet a potential threat if it fails to reflect the planet’s diversity. "I cannot fail to mention the importance of using the information society to maintain our planet’s rich linguistic and cultural diversity," Latvian President Vaira Vike-Freiberga told UN delegates in an address yesterday. Other dignitaries used the occasion to urge software developers to embrace open-source software programmes, or customisable computer applications that can be tweaked into a local language of configured for specific needs. But open source software, while cheap or free to install, has its drawbacks, as one delegate from schoolnetafrica (www.Schoolnetafrica.Net) pointed out. Sara Kyofuna, a spokeswoman for the group that is looking for a donation of a million PCS for the continent’s classrooms, said open source software is too complicated for some schools to run, and, if something goes wrong, there are no support staff. "Problems arise. We now know that if something works in Uganda, in Mozambique it will frustrate you to zero," Kyofuna said. (AGENCIES) |
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Villagers caught in cross-fire desert homes in Nepal KATHMANDU, Dec 12: Pandon village in Kailali district in far western Nepal wears a deserted look as more than half of its inhabitants have been forced to leave their ancestral homes. The bitter and violent struggle between Maoist rebels and security forces in the Himalayan kingdom has trapped thousands of civilians and their lives in the middle. In Pandon village, a fierce gun-battle between the rebels and security men last Tuesday once again claimed innocent lives, including those of school children. For the villagers the latest incident came as the last straw in what has become a routine suffering and they decided to uproot themselves and move on to safer places. The local daily Kantipur reported today that "of the total 60 households 30 have locked their houses and fled along with their children and livestock while others are also preparing to leave." These incidents have also taken a toll on the normal life of the villagers in areas prone to such clashes between the rebels and security forces. The local school in the village has been closed since the Tuesday’s incident as the building had witnessed a 15-hour gun battle. A 10th grade student has been missing since then and eight teachers, who had a close call during the cross-fire, have quit the school fearing intimidation by security forces, a local was reported as saying. "The security forces tortured teachers accusing them of sheltering the Maoists," one local man said on condition of anonymity, the newspaper reported. Two deaths of civilians was confirmed, by the authorities, their identities, however could not be established. The bodies were found half-buried close to the school building. Hundreds of rebels had made a surprise attack against the security forces who were having their snacks on the school grounds. Desertion by villagers caught between the warring sides has been a common phenomena. Hundreds of thousands have fled from their home to take refuge across its southern border in India. Maoists Victims Association, a group of affected people, claims that about 50,000 have been displaced by the ongoing insurgency. (UNI) |
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Indo-Pak situation best in three years: Armitage WASHINGTON, Dec 12: The Indo-Pakistan situation at present is the best in the three years of the Bush administration and the US is urging both countries to continue with the Confidence Building Measures undertaken by them, Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage has said. "We are urging both sides not to lose the momentum that they themselves have developed. And Prime Minister Vajpayee (Atal Bihari Vajpayee), since his rather dramatic statement in senegal, has had his desire to reach out a hand," Armitage said in an interview to `The Financial Times’ released by the state department. "Whether they will actually grasp each other, we will see. Right now they’re enormously in a better place than they were just two months ago with both the ceasefires at the Kashmir Line of Control and the Siachen Glacier, with the high level visit exchanges, high level diplomatic exchanges, and the public announcement by the Prime Minister he’s coming to the SAARC. "So both sides have, I think, greatly modulated the rhetoric and, at least for the 3 years that this administration has been around, it’s the best place that India and Pakistan have been in," Armitage told the paper. The ceasefire along the Line of Control was proposed by Pakistan Prime Minister Mir Zafarullah Khan Jamali in his address to the nation on November 23. India subsequently came up with a positive response. After clarification from Pakistan that the ceasefire offer held good for the world highest battle ground, Siachin sector also, the two sides agreed to observe it from midnight last night. Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee had in November 2000 announced a Ramzan ceasefire in Jammu and Kashmir aimed at bringing the militant groups for talks with the Centre’s interlocutors. However, this was rejected by Pakistan-based Hizbul chief Syed Salahuddin. Armitage was on the defensive when the newspaper’s correspondent pointed that there were rogue elements in or beyond the pakistan military and within the Pakistan intelligence service, and that Taliban openly walked up and down the streets in Quetta. "It would be, I think, unrealistic to expect that people who had developed or had spent the better part of the last 10, 12 years of their lives working with the Taliban wouldn’t develop personal relationships, and also political relationships to some degree. "But I’m absolutely convinced it is not the policy of the Musharraf Government, that if one can point out who these "rogue elements" are, that they would not be allowed to participate any more," armitage told the paper. On Afghanistan, Armitage said the US is planning to step up non-military aid to the war-ravaged nation. He said it was misleading to compare spending on US military operations in Afghanistan and its aid budget, which were "like apples and oranges." But he said the Bush administration was planning to request a far higher civilian aid budget for next year. This year’s aid is about 1.5 billion US dollars, he said. "You’ve got 1.5 bn US dollars on the table now, which we are spending. And you’ll have, in our terms, a very robust number for 2005." (PTI) |
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Pope urges Europe not to forget Christian heritage ROME, Dec 12: Pope John Paul urged Europeans not to forget their Christian past as EU leaders met to haggle over a draft Constitution that has sparked outcry over its reference to the religion. "Social, political and economic structures are certainly very important to the unity of Europe but we must absolutely not neglect the human and spiritual aspects," the Pope said, presiding over a mass for university students in Rome yesterday. "It’s indispensable that the Europe of today safeguards its valuable heritage and recognises that christianity above all has the capacity to promote, conciliate and consolidate it," the 83-year-old Pontiff added. A first draft of the constitution provoked protests from the vatican and traditionally Catholic countries Italy, Spain, Portugal and Poland because it did not mention Christianity in the opening section. While this dominated early debate, the issue has since been overtaken by disputes over voting rights. The final constitution does not look set to mention Christianity in its preamble, although it mentions it deeper in the text. The strongest opposition to making an explicit mention of religion in the text has come from French President Jacques Chirac, who has said his country’s secularism is non-negotiable. An official French report released yesterday recommended banning Muslim veils, Jewish skullcaps and large Christian crosses from public schools to help preserve secularism in France, home to more Jews and Muslims than any other EU state. (AGENCIES) |
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Remorseful German thief returns stolen loot BERLIN, Dec 12: A remorseful thief sent 600 dollars worth of stolen goods to the police and asked they be returned to their rightful owners, German authorities said. Police in the southern town of Darmstadt said the thief sent them a letter signed "Mea Culpa", listing the return address as Ehrlichstrasse (honest street) in apologising for the theft of 500 euros (608 dollars) worth of CDs, cosmetics and other goods. Darmstadt police spokesman Ferdinand Derigs said the contrite perpetrator had supplied the addresses of the shops plundered for the separately packed wares, and enclosed personal letters of apology to the respective managers. "The thief even suggested they install more cameras and improve security, warning that a lot of things were getting pinched," said Derigs. "Now we have the goods, but no culprit. One out of two isn’t bad though." (AGENCIES) |
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Suicidal man atop crane paralyses traffic in Warsaw WARSAW, Dec 12: A 27-year-old man caused morning rush-hour traffic paralysis in the heart of the polish capital Warsaw when he teetered some 50 metres above the ground at the end of the arm of a crane, bent on committing suicide. After nearly three hours of negotiations via a loud speaker police standing on the roof of an adjacent hotel were able to persuade the young man to come safely down to the ground, Poland’s pap news agency reported yesterday. (DPA) Oldest fossil Marsupial discovered in China WASHINGTON, Sec 12: A 125 million-year-old fossil found in northeast China is probably the oldest known ancestor of modern marsupials, US and Chinese researchers said. The furry mouse-sized creature, named Sinodelphys Szalayi, would have climbed trees, they report in this week’s issue of the journal science. The fossil is 50 million years older than the oldest known Marsupial fossil to date and the finding sheds light on when Marsupials diverged from placental mammals — which include humans, cats and dogs. Marsupials — the group that includes Opossums, Kangaroos and Koalas — give birth to very tiny young that develop in a pouch. Placental mammals give birth later, protecting their young inside the womb. There are also differences in bone structure, reports Zhe-XI Luo of the Chinese academy of geological sciences and colleagues there and at the carnegie museum of natural history in Pittsburgh. They suggest that the new fossil, together with others from the area, support the idea that Asia was a center for diversification of mammals. (AGENCIES) Ireland welcomes home Miss World winner DUBLIN, Dec 12: Irish beauty Rosanna Davison brought her Miss World crown home last night, five days after winning the planet’s biggest glamour contest in China. Nineteen-year-old art student Davison, the daughter of singer Chris De Burgh, beat over 100 contestants at the pageant last weekend to become the first Irish holder of the title. Wrapped in a long tweed coat against the chilly Irish weather, Davison waved at smiling passersby and posed for photographs as she made her way to a civic reception at the lord Mayor of Dublin’s city centre residence. "I’ve been looking forward so much to coming home and I couldn’t wish for a better welcome," Davison told assembled dignitaries, friends and family at the reception. Lord Mayor Royston Brady said it was a great privilege to welcome davison back to her native city. "You represent young Irish people and your country with confidence. You do us proud," Brady said, adding he was sure she would be a "fantastic Ambassador" over the coming year. Proud parents De Burgh — best known for his song "Lady in Red" — and his wife Diane looked on as the mayor presented their daughter with a commemorative Irish crystal globe. Irish President Mary Mcaleese will hold a reception for Davison on Friday. (AGENCIES) French Parliament backs human cloning ban PARIS, Dec 12: France’s lower House of Parliament backed draft legislation on Thursday making reproductive cloning of human cells a crime against humanity punishable by 30 years in jail and a 7.5 million euro 9 million dollars fine. The draft law would also ban cloning for therapeutic purposes —the creation of stem cells for medical research — and key techniques used in embryo research. Final legislation will be adopted early next year assuming it is also passed by the upper House — which like the lower House is dominated by President Jacques Chirac’s ruling conservatives —in a vote scheduled for February. "This text is a sop to conservatives and is a step backwards compared to the first version," left-wing Deputy Jacqueline Fraysse said, referring to an initial draft penned under the socialist-led Government which was ousted last year. France has been one of the countries most opposed to cloning technologies. Chirac said this year he wanted to lead efforts for an international convention on bioethics to prevent abuse of cloning research. The UN General Assembly decided on Tuesday to postpone for a year deliberations on a treaty banning human cloning that US President George W Bush’s administration wants to extend to research on stem cells. All 191 UN members agree on a treaty that would prohibit cloning of human beings. But nations are divided about whether to allow cloning human embryos for stem cell or therapeutic cloning. Supporters of therapeutic cloning say the technique could prove valuable in the development of cures for a whole range of diseases, including Parkinson’s disease and diabetes. Stem cells, or master cells, have the potential to turn into any human cells and hold immense, though unproven, promise for treating a host of illnesses. (AGENCIES) |
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