Chinese laborers killed, 1 injured, by landslide
on the KKH in Hunza Valley
GILGIT: Two Chinese workers were killed while another sustained injuries
when large rocks fell upon them during rock blasting in Hunza Nagar on
Sunday. According to details, the Chinese workers were working in Hunza
Nagar when large rocks fell on them during the blasting
Aliabad,
September 30:
Two Chinese laborers died while a third one was injured today in Yal
Pari area, between Ghulmet and Hindi in Hunza Valley, after being hit
by a landslide.
The landslide
was triggered by a construction work related blast carried out by the
laborers on the Karakoram Highway.
The dead bodies
were shifted to a government hospital in Aliabad while the injured
laborer was shifted to the Aga Khan Hospital in Aliabad, Hunza
Valley, where he is said to be out of danger.
Facebook and Youtube are having their disadvantages......here is one below
THOUSANDS of rioters have torched Buddhist temples and homes in
southeastern Bangladesh in a rare attack against the community over a
photo posted on Facebook deemed offensive to Islam.
Officials said the mob comprising some 25,000 people set fire today
to at least five Buddhist temples and dozens of homes in Ramu town and
its adjoining villages, about 350km from Dhaka.
The rioters
claimed the photo allegedly defaming the Koran was uploaded on Facebook
by a Buddhist man from the area, district administrator Joinul Bari
said.
"They became unruly and attacked Buddhist houses, torching
and damaging their temples from midnight to Sunday morning".
"At least 100 houses were damaged. We called in army and border guards to quell the violence."
The authorities had temporarily banned public gatherings in the area to prevent further clashes, Bari said.
It was not immediately clear if there were any casualties, and authorities did not say if any of the rioters were arrested.
Buddhists,
who make up less than one per cent of Bangladesh's 153 million
population, are based mainly in southeastern districts, close to the
border with Buddhist-majority Burma.
Sectarian tensions have been
running high since June, when deadly clashes erupted between Buddhists
and Muslim Rohingya in Burma's western Rakhine state.
This would be the first time in Pakistan’s history that the Army has
decided to court-martial officers bearing the rank of lieutenant
generals, though more precedents might follow in foreseeable future if
the case of Royal Palm Golf Course in Lahore is opened in light of the
very recent reservations of the National Assembly’s Public Accounts
Committee.
Lot of ISI and Pakistan Army generals next in line. CJ Iftikhar Chaudhry finally getting dignity and honor to Pakistani common man by nailing these Pakistan Army bastard generals who have brought the country on the verge of collapse and disintegration
LAWHORE: The Pakistan Army is due to find its public image getting a huge
boost following reports that two retired lieutenant generals and a
major general are being tried in its courts for investing bank loans
worth Rs4.3 billion in country’s volatile bourses during 2004-08 and
consequently inflicting a loss of Rs1.84 billion to the military-run
National Logistics Cell (NLC), which was otherwise paying Rs2.7 million a
day as mark-up on the credits availed. These ‘strange’
investment-related decisions at the NLC were taken by Lt Gen (retd)
Khalid Munir Khan, Lt Gen (retd) Mohammad Afzal Muzaffar and Maj Gen
(retd) Khalid Zaheer Akhtar, all of whom have now been recalled to
service and subjected to a thorough process of investigation in
accordance with Pakistan Army Act Section 92, read in conjunction with
Section 40. The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) would, of course, be acting against the civilian officials involved in the scam. This
would be the first time in Pakistan’s history that the Army has decided
to court-martial officers bearing the rank of lieutenant generals,
though more precedents might follow in foreseeable future if the case of
Royal Palm Golf Course in Lahore is opened in light of the very recent
reservations of the National Assembly’s Public Accounts Committee.
A peek into the history of notable courts martial in Pakistan during the
last 20 years or so reveals that Major General Zahirul Islam Abbasi
(1943-2009) was convicted for seven years for hatching a conspiracy to
take over the GHQ at Rawalpindi during a corps commanders` conference
and overthrow the second Benazir Bhutto government in September 1995. Zahirul
Islam Abbasi was tried while he was a serving Major General in Pakistan
Army, holding the post of director-general of Infantry Corps at the
Army General Headquarters at Rawalpindi. The coup plot designed by
Major General Abbasi was foiled by Lt. Gen. Ali Kuli Khan, the then
Director General Military Intelligence. The coup plotters were arrested.
If you have not been following Asia news recently, you may have missed
out on the dramatic slow down recently in the Chinese economy. There
are many reasons for this slow down. The most obvious of which has been
the extreme unbalanced growth model that China has been on in recent
year to exports and investments. With Europe, China's biggest export
market, in an economic free fall and America also getting into a
recession, China's export is unlikely to pick up in the near future. At
the same time, we are seeing a collapse in the real estate caused by
the bursting of housing bubble. Local governments are saddled with
debts from all of the infrastructure projects, so the investment part of
Chinese economy is seeing a collapse and this is confirmed by all of
the PMI numbers that have come out recently. While Chinese government
may push for more stimulus and infrastructure projects to kick start the
economy, this is really a great time to start the de-leveraging process
and come to a more balanced growth model with increased consumption
making up the growth. I'm not sure how long this period will last, but
this is all part of the capitalism. You have the boom and bust period.
During bust period, the government will hopefully cut back on some
programs and reduce the spending. When it comes to PLA, that should
point to a lower growth in the defense budget. This happened in 2009
when the defense budget grew at the slowest pace in a long time. And
Chinese government has shown in the past that it is willing to divert
money from defense to help economic development. The question is how
PLA will adjust to smaller increases in its budget. Which programs will
it cut? Or which programs should be cut or reduced?
If we look back in the 80s, when PLA saw its budget cut pretty much
every year, most of the programs it embarked on were cut or abandoned
very early on. When Su-27s were purchased in the early 90s, there were
even many who called for abandoning the J-10 program. That's quite
amazing considering that J-10 has been described as China's Apollo
project by some. At the same time, many naval projects like 052 and
nuclear submarines were delayed while the shipyards continue to build
low technology ships due to lack of funding, lack of technical expertise
and arms embargo. Of course, the PLA build up of the past 20 years
were the results of increased funding, technology transfer from Russia
and improved civilian industries.
First of all, what should PLA look into slowing down, reducing or
cutting if the procurement and RnD budgets are cut by 10 to 20% vs PLA's
current projection levels. Suppose the four services of air force,
navy, army and second artillery all get cut around that level, I will
look at the two areas I'm more familiar with: air force and navy. I
will talk about training and personnel cost later.
Pakistani soldiers being asked to sit on ammunition boxes and mango crates in the back of unprotected civilian pickup trucks in the fight against the Taliban.
While Pak=pure Army General comes in a tinted glass Toyota Terios
This announcement offered a rare glimpse of a long-running campaign to sabotage Iran's critical nuclear installations, believed to be a key priority of Western and Israeli intelligence agencies.
The Fordow plant, located inside a bunker dug into a mountainside, became the latest target on Aug 17 when an explosion severed its electricity cables, running from the nearby city of Qom.
Fereydoun Abbasi, the head of the Iranian Atomic Energy Organisation, disclosed the incident during a speech in Vienna to the 155 members of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). He noted that IAEA inspectors visited Fordow the day after the explosion and insinuated that they might have been responsible.
"During the early hours of next morning, an Agency inspector requested to conduct an unannounced inspection. Does this visit have any connection to that detonation?" asked Mr Abbasi. "Who, other than the IAEA inspectors, can have access to the complex in such a short term to report and record failures?"
Mr Abbasi added: "Terrorists and saboteurs might have intruded the Agency and might be making decisions covertly."
Five Iranian nuclear scientists are known to have been assassinated since
2007. Mr Abbasi was himself wounded when a motorcyclist attached a bomb to
his car in Tehran in November 2010, on the same day as another scientist was
killed by this method.
The Fordow enrichment plant, buried beneath about 260ft of rock and earth, was
built in secret from 2006 onwards. But Western intelligence discovered its
construction, allowing President Barack Obama to reveal the installation's
existence in 2009. Fordow is Iran's most valuable plant because its location
in a hollowed out mountainside could render it immune to air attack.
The IAEA says that 696 centrifuges are being used to enrich uranium inside
Fordow, with another 1,444 installed but not yet operational. If these
machines lost their power supply, they would be severely damaged, said Mark
Fitzpatrick, the head of non-proliferation at the International Institute
for Strategic Studies.
The PLA National Defense University (Chinese: 中国人民解放军国防大学) is a state university administered by the PLA. It is the top education institution for military education in China.
The university located in Beijing under the leadership of PLA Central Committee. The current President of the university is Prof. Lt. Gen Wang Xibin.
It was formed in 1985 with the merger of parts of the PLA Military Academy, the PLA Political Academy and the PLA Logistics Academy. It is claimed to be "China's equivalent of West Point
The security services have decided to widen the net for suppliers of
state-of-the-art spyware for "covert surveillance", it was
reported.
Traditionally, the intelligence organisations have relied on a network of
trusted contractors but the change in approach represents an opportunity for
burgeoning technology companies.
“This is a fast moving environment and you always have to think ahead,” a
senior Whitehall official
“The agencies are perfectly happy with the quality of the equipment they have.
But for the first time, they are appealing to a wide range of innovators,
small and large, and saying: ‘Here are some problems we encounter. Can you
solve them?’”
GCHQ was said to be keen to improve its systems for monitoring information on
the internet to trace suspects online.
“Sorting through the large amount of data to extract ... significant trends is
a complex challenge,” the organisation said.
The agencies said they were looking for “groundbreaking, cutting-edge
innovations to augment our existing capabilities”.
Earlier this year, the head of MI5 warned of the growing security threat from
cyber crime.
Jonathan Evans, the Director General, said Mi5 was investigating "cyber
compromises" in more than a dozen companies while one major
London-based business had lost £800 million in one attack alone.
“Vulnerabilities in the internet are being exploited aggressively not just by
criminals but also by states,” Mr Evans said.
“And the extent of what is going on is astonishing – with industrial-scale
processes involving many thousands of people lying behind both State
sponsored cyber espionage and organised cyber crime.
“This is a threat to the integrity, confidentiality and availability of
government information but also to business and to academic institutions."
A battalion of Special Forces (BOPE) from the Brazilian city of Rio
do Janeiro started using unmanned aerial vehicles or drones to air
monitor the drugs trade and gangs in shanty towns surrounding the
“marvellous city”.
The VANTS (Portuguese for UAV) manufactured by
the Brazilian Military Engineering Institute with Israeli technology are
currently being flown on an experimental basis over the estimated six
hundred ‘favelas’ or shanty towns that ‘hang’ from the ‘morros’ (hills)
which surround the city of Rio do Janeiro and its world famous beaches.
Three
VANTS are on test surveillance and in the near future could be used for
several tasks, including monitoring and support operations in many of
the favelas which remain under control or threat from the drugs’ related
gangs that hide among the impoverished residents, according to
Montenegro Magalhaes Neto from the Military engineering Institute.
“When
you send a Vant ahead, it will help you see what soldiers can’t see; we
believe the Vants are going to help us save lives despite the fact they
could be downed by ‘enemy fire” from these criminal groups, some of
which have heavy weapons and have even attacked our armour plated
helicopters,” said Magalhaes Neto.
The most violent communities in
Rio, such as the Complexo do Alemao, were occupied by Brazilian Navy
regular forces from Nov 2010 when they were taken over from the drug
gangs until last July, following the closing of the Rio 20 environmental
summit.
Gen Ashfaq Parvez Kayani taking potshots at Pakistani democracy
I'BAD, Sept 11: Service extension given to Chief of Army
Staff Gen Ashfaq Parvez Kayani has been challenged in the Islamabad High
Court.
But Chief Justice Iqbal Hameedur Rehman has directed the petitioner
to satisfy the court about his locus standi (being aggrieved) and to
submit copies of relevant documents annexed with the petition and
adjourned the hearing.
Petitioner Col (retd) Inamur Rahim, convenor of ex-servicemen legal
forum, told the court that the forum was of the opinion that the
extension given to the army chief was immoral and unconstitutional.
He said there was no provision in the Pakistan Army Act of 1956 and
in the rules under which an extension of complete tenure could be
granted to any person subject to the Army Act.
The petitioner said the ex-servicemen society, which represented
hundreds of thousands of retired military men, had been expressing
serious concern over extension given to uniformed people because it
would adversely affect the entire fibre of command – a hallmark of any
disciplined force.
He said the extension of Gen Kayani was granted by the authority
concerned in a mechanical manner. While granting a tenure extension of
three years nobody bothered that it would surpass the age of
superannuation (60 years) on April 20, 2012. As per the army list, the
date of birth of Gen Ashfaq Parvez Kayani is April 20, 1952, and under
the Army Act nobody is permitted to remain in uniform after attaining
the age of 60.
He pointed out that the Supreme Court had already observed on a
number of occasions that on account of extension/re-employment of
government employees, eligible candidates deserving to be appointed on
such posts could not make it because the position had been occupied by
the re-employed employees.
The petitioner said it was a natural desire of every officer who
joined the army to reach the optimum rank and after undergoing so many
courses when he became a lieutenant general he is a potential candidate
to be selected as COAS.
He said more than one dozen lieutenant generals would retire and
could not even be considered to become a general because of the
extension given to Gen Kayani in violation of Article 9 of the
Constitution.
The petitioner claimed that Gen Kayani had played a vital role in the
NRO deal struck at Dubai. Gen Kayani accompanied former president Gen
(retd) Parvez Musharraf and virtually emerged as a guarantor of the
deal. And the Zardari government gave him another extension illegally to
protect the guarantor, he said. He requested the court to set aside the extension order and send Gen Kayani home.
CHINA'S first aircraft carrier has been handed over to the navy
of the People's Liberation Army, state press said, amid rising tensions
over disputed waters in the East and South China Seas.
The handover ceremony of the 300-metre (990-foot) ship, a former Soviet
carrier called the Varyag, took place in northeast China's port of
Dalian after a lengthy refitting by a Chinese shipbuilder
During the handover ceremony the aircraft carrier raised the Chinese
national flag on its mast, the PLA flag on its bow and the navy's
colours on its stern, the short online report said.
A ceremony to place the ship into active service would be held sometime in the future, the paper said without elaboration. The announcement comes at a time of heightened tensions over maritime
disputes in the Asia-Pacific region, where China's growing
assertiveness has put it on a collision course with Japan, Vietnam and
the Philippines.
China has also postponed a ceremony marking the 40th anniversary of
the establishment of diplomatic ties with Japan, due to a noisy
territorial dispute with Tokyo over the Diaoyu Islands, known in
Japanese as Senkaku.
Tensions have also risen this year with Vietnam and the Philippines over disputed islands in the South China Sea.
This country of mine will self destruct with 15-20 of such Youtube videos....
CIA, RAW, MI6, Mossad, KHAD, Afghan NDS, Russian FSB, Australian ASIS, German Bundesnachrichtendienst and all those NATO countries loosing troops in Afghanistan to Pakistan ISI treachery must have their own inhouse Youtube production studios....
Such is the state of Pakistan.....the land of the Pure
Pakistani Psychologists say Pakistanis as a nation are trained to indulge in the habit of blame-game instead of being encouraged to conduct a self-analysis and soul
searching to determine the causes of any trouble and its solution Pakistanis psychologically we are very weak and are taught that a protest without violence is nothing. Burning tyres, blocking highways, looting bank in the name of Prophet Mohammed.
Lawyers beat up judges, target killing is rampant in Karachi, gun crime in Islamabad and Rawalpindi, we cannot have evening tea without hearing about bomb blasts in Quetta and Peshawar killing minorities ,teachers beat up teachers and headmasters, forceful abduction of minority religion girls and conversion to Islam.
ISLAMABAD: As Friday’s violent protests shook Pakistanis, psychologists
say the leadership vacuum, a violence-ridden society, the yawning gap
between the rich and the poor as well as the lack of attention on
personal grooming and entertainment activities act as a trigger for such
ugly episodes.
Although demonstrations in Pakistan never stay
peaceful, an increase in street violence has been recorded in the last
four years starting right from the assassination of Benazir Bhutto when
angry protesters took lives of many innocent people besides causing
damage to billions of rupees to public and private property.
In the
absence of sports activities and entertainment programmes, such a
protest becomes a source of entertainment for the people, they said.
Likewise, no attention is paid to the personality development of the
youth; they learn by their seniors and from their surroundings.
“A
lot depends on the grooming. They are taught that a protest without
violence is nothing,” said Prof Naeem Aslam, a psychologist at
Quaid-i-Azam University. “We live in an authoritarian society where
people feel scared before saying anything that result in gradual
aggression in a personality,” he explained.
There is no source of
entertainment. When the individuals turn to TV channels and films, the
programs are all about violence, he said.
According to psychologists,
Pakistanis as a nation are trained to indulge in the habit of
blame-game instead of being encouraged to conduct a self-analysis and
soul searching to determine the causes of any trouble and its solution.
“In general, we are suppressed. We pass blame of our failures on others.
When granted an opportunity, individuals become violent for venting out
their frustrations,” said Nayyar Abbas Bokhari, a psychologist with
expertise on behavioural studies. He said the expressions of individual
behaviours are different from group behaviour.
As the violence was
predominately carried out by the teenagers, the psychologists identify
the youth as the most vulnerable section in terms of reacting. “It is
easy to trigger youth. Nobody is there to guide them,” said Dr Farah
Zulqurnain, a clinical psychologist.
Psychologically we are very
weak, she explained talking to news. “Our (psychological) defence
mechanism is weak.” The anger is misdirected. For instance, we protest
the power outage, Dr Farah said, by burning tires on the roads, blocking
them for those who have nothing to do with the load-shedding. She said
the pattern is not new; however, it is gaining momentum with the passage
of time.
Speaking about the Friday’s protest, she said it became
more violent as there was nobody to lead the mob. When you are headed
without any leaders, violence is an outcome.
At Sayyed Ali Square in central Aleppo, rebels cry out “Allahu
Akbar” (God is greatest) to which Syrian government troops respond “You
will soon join him,” before the shooting starts up again.
Since the regular army recaptured the city’s Christian district of
Jdeideh from the rebel Free Syrian Army on August 22, the frontline has
come to a virtual standstill in the area despite intermittent outbursts
of violence.
Hidden in buildings, snipers await their prey, on the lookout for any
blunder by their foes. But most victims are civilians, mowed down as
they try to rush across the street.
Less than fifty metres (yards) separate the rival fighters, leaving them within hearing distance.
“They treat us as apostates who deserve to die and we scoff that no
virgin will want them in heaven,” says Ahmed, a 22-year-old conscript.
According to Muslim tradition, men who die as martyrs defending Islam are entitled to 40 virgins in heaven.
Some soldiers say they have captured Islamist fighters who had women's
lingerie hidden in their pockets that they intended to offer their
“brides” in paradise.
Hong Kong’s Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying has barely been in office
for two months, and he’s already faced repeated calls to step down.
This time, it’s over backlash against an education course that critics
are calling a veiled attempt by the Chinese regime to “brainwash” Hong
Kong students.
Leung cancelled his trip to attend the APEC meeting
in Russia this week, after days of protests in front of his office
building by angry locals. They’re demanding the national education
course be scrapped, which started this week in primary schools.
After
initially refusing to cancel the course, Leung may now be backing down.
Chinese state-run media China Daily reported on Thursday that Leung
said the course is open to discussion, including the possibility of
scrapping it.
This may not be enough for protestors. They’re planning further actions until the course is actually cancelled.
[Wong Hak-lim, Vice President, Professional Teachers' Union]:
“The Alliance against the course will continue to push…for a major
rally on Saturday, until the government gives us a clear answer.”
The
protests have attracted student groups, parents and grassroots
activist. During the week they demanded Leung Chun-ying step down,
accusing him of being a puppet for Communist leaders in Beijing.
[Willy Lam, Professor and China Analyst]:
“Well the opposition to National Education has evolved from an
educational issue to a political campaign. What’s happening is that wide
spectrums of the Hong Kong population are against the CY Leung
administration trying to impose Chinese values on Hong Kong.”
Hong
Kong media reports that more than 35,000 people had turn up for a rally
against the course on Friday evening. Organizers estimated around
100,000 people participated.
An apparent classified Iranian intelligence report that has been
leaked online warns of an imminent financial crisis in the country that
would cause nation-wide upheaval.
Excerpts of the report, posted
this week on several Iranian websites, revealed that the government
might not be able to pay the full salaries of its employees in the
coming three months, which threatens the eruption of massive popular
protests across the country.
Large portions of the population
might suffer from starvation, the report said, adding that riots are
expected to take place in border cities where living conditions are
rapidly deteriorating.
According to the report, Iran’s reserve of
foreign currency might run out within the coming six month owing to
extreme budget deficiency.
Other official reports have stated
that Iranian factories are working on only half their capacity, and that
a large number of them have declared bankruptcy.
Under
international sanctions, inflation in the country has reached 33 percent
and prices of meat, chicken, and milk saw an unprecedented hike that
reached 80 percent last year.
The European embargo on the purchase
of Iranian oil is costing the country an estimated $133 million in
daily revenues, and the Iranian riyal has also witnessed an
unprecedented drop.
The governor of the Iranian Central Bank,
Mahmoud Bahmani, has announced a raising the official rate of the riyal
against the dollar over the next 10 days in order to deal with the
“international developments.”
But according to Iranian bankers,
the official rate – 12,260 riyals to the dollar — was only a reference.
There was a wide gap between the official and actual rates, which
reportedly increased the prevalence of corruption within the Iranian
government, since purchasing dollars with the official rates has become
extremely profitable.
Hyderabad, Pakistan: A businessman was accused of blasphemy after he refused to take part in a protest against an anti-Islam film in Hyderabad and for allegedly trying to convince others to not take part in the protest, the Associated Press (AP) reported on Wednesday.
Pakistani officials said that they have launched an investigation into the accusations, the report said.
Police officer Munir Abbasi told AP that hundreds of protesters in Hyderabad demanded that the shops of the businessman be shut down as action against him.
According to the report, one of businessman’s tenants said that the decision against joining the protest supported the blasphemous film.
The protesters also claimed that the accused insulted the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH), City Police Chief Fareed Jan told AP.
He added that there was no evidence against the accused, but the mob forced the police into lodging a blasphemy case against him.
TEHRAN (FNA)- An Iranian innovator said he has invented a
fragrance-making and spraying device to deceive enemies in the
battlefield by camouflaging the gunpowder smelt in the area.
Mohammad Sadeh Pir-Tavana, the inventor of the aroma producing and
spraying device, told FNA on Monday that his invention pumps and
spreads the smell of fresh air, rainy weather, seaside weather and tea
fragrance in vast areas to change the smell of the battlefield,
specially in those areas where the two sides are not deployed
classically and the two warring parties should analyze various
battlefield specifications, including the smell of the gunpowder, to
realize if there has been any armed force or engagement there.
"The 'Deceit Perfume' is considered as a highly effective and
strategic weapon for civil defense, and for pushing back enemy threats,
surprise attacks and offenses," Sadeh Pir-Tavana said.
Noting that the enemy can realize the presence of military forces by
smelling the fragrance of food, fire or gunpowder, he said, "In this
strategic project of the Armed Forces, four samples of smells like the
fresh air, rainy weather, seaside and tea have been produced."
Sadeh Pir-Tavana reiterated that the seaside smell can be used by
the Navy and the tea fragrance can be utilized by the police officers
for deceiving the criminals on the crime scene.
In recent years, Iran has made great achievements in the defense
sector and gained self-sufficiency in essential military hardware and
defense systems.
The country has repeatedly made it clear that its military might is
merely based on the state's defense doctrine of deterrence and that it
poses no threat to other countries.
