How Kasab was captured

A Chowpatty resident shot the entire sequence of events during the police encounter with two terrorists on November 26. Abu Ismail and Ajmal Amir Kasab, after killing 55 people at CST, fled into a bylane of Cama Hospital, where they killed three top cops. They used the jeep to spray gunfire near Metro, later hijacking a silver Skoda near Oberoi. ASI Omble accosted the duo. Ismail was shot dead, Kasab arrested.

Pak-trained terrorists Abu Ismail and Ajmal Amir Kasab gunned down 48 people at Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus and nine policemen at two other spots before commandeering the Skoda.

Abu Ismail and Ajmal Amir Kasab, after killing 55 people at CST, fled into a bylane of Cama Hospital, where they killed three top cops. They used the jeep to spray gunfire near Metro, later hijacking a silver Skoda near Oberoi. ASI Omble accosted the duo. Ismail was shot dead, Kasab arrested.

Ambulances were brought to the spot to carry both terrorists to a hospital. Initially, Ajmal Kasab was also assumed dead until policemen noticed some signs of life. He has now emerged as the main lead for investigators.

As the news spread, policemen took position near Marine Drive to intercept their vehicle.

The terrorists were stopped by barricades near Girgaum Chowpatty. As they drove down, policemen opened fire, killing Abu Ismail who was in the driver's seat.
The terrorists were stopped by barricades near Girgaum Chowpatty. As they drove down, policemen opened fire, killing Abu Ismail who was in the driver's seat.

Pak's steps against terror 'not nearly enough': Rice

Insisting that the steps taken by Pakistan in the wake of the Mumbai attacks are "not nearly enough", the US has advised it to keep on working to "really deal" with terrorism to help ease the "crisis" with India.
Neither India nor Pakistan wanted to escalate tensions and "no one was speaking in belligerent language", Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said at a function in Washington.
"And if Pakistan continues to work to really deal with the terrorism problem, and if India can do the hard work of both helping to bring the perpetrators to justice and trying to prevent the next attack, then I think we can get through this crisis," the top official said.
Asked if she believed the civilian government in Pakistan has control over the military and the ISI, she said civilians were very much in charge and there have been some "positive" steps "though they're not nearly enough to this point".
"I have to say that I didn't hear a different line from the military and from the civilians. In fact, I heard from the military that they want the civilian government to succeed."
Rice felt that the deepening of Indo-US ties since 2001 helped in better tackling the crisis arising out of the Mumbai terror attacks, as there is now a greater level of trust between the two countries.
She said her visit to the subcontinent following the November 26 carnage was aimed at showing solidarity with India as also giving a message to Pakistan that terrorists operating from its soil have to be dealt with and it is not enough to say that they are "non-state actors".

2008: Sexiest legs of Bollywood!

The Bong bombshell was too hot to handle in 2008. She set the screens ablaze with 'Bachna Ae Haseeno' and 'Race'. Bips was also praised for her scintillating chemistry with Saif Ali Khan and Ranbir Kapoor in both the movies.She has to her credit two of the biggest hits of 2008 - 'Singh is Kinng' and 'Race'. The demure actress showcased her sex appeal in 'Race'. She later said, "I want to retain the image of the girl next-door. I don't want the hot image".

She was featured in the sexiest item number of 2008. 'Dostana' had Shilpa Shetty asking everyone to "Shutup and Bounce".

Bebo up-ed the oomph quotient with her Size Zero figure in 'Tashan'. She grabbed eyeballs in 2008 with her sexy image makeover.

Malaika is the deity of Item numbers. Here is one siren who believes that seducing is not about undressing. It is the attitude that counts!

2008 was dull affair for Deepika Padukone. She mainly hit the headlines for her off-and-on relationship with Ranbir Kapoor. Deeps is all set to make a comeback in 2009 with 'Chandni Chowk To China'. Rumour hawks have it that she would soon be playing a sexy femme fatale named 'Meow Meow'!!!

She is the undisputed item queen of Bollywood. Her item number in 'Krazzy 4' was the pick of the lot in 2008. Rakhi had her own talk show on ZOOM and was also on the judge’s panel of a kids' dance reality show.

Beauty with (no) brains seems to be the best way to describe this siren. She chose all the wrong movies in 2008: 'Golmaal Returns', 'C Kkompany' and 'Money Hai Toh Honey Hai'.

Minissha Lamba earned the siren tag with her sexy act in Sanjay Gadhvi's 'Kidnap'. She also had moderate successes with 'Bachna Ae Haseeno' and 'Shaurya'.

2008 saw Neha Dhupia tease the mercury and play unconventional roles in 'Maharathi'. 'Dasvidaniya', 'Singh Is Kinng' and 'Mithya'.

Safety of handlers of terrorists assured: Mukherjee

New Delhi, Dec 20 (PTI) Hinting at the Pakistani establishment's backing to terrorists who struck in Mumbai, India today said such strikes could be carried out with impunity only when the safety of the "handlers" of attackers has been assured. External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee said the lone terrorist, who was caught alive during the terror attacks in Mumbai on November 26, has given to investigators a "chilling accounts of his handlers.
" "The impunity with which these attacks are carried out is possible only because of the safety the handlers have been assured," he said addressing a conference here. Mukherjee said the attack on Mumbai was "cold and calculated murder" and the death of innocent people there were "not accidental or unintended as is sometimes referred to as collateral damage.
" Seeking to nail Pakistan's denial that perpetrators of Mumbai attacks were elements of that country, Mukherjee said "the faces of terrorists have been seen across the globe." While talking about the Mumbai strikes, he also referred to a similar attack on the Indian embassy in Kabul in July.
In an obvious reference to the clout of Pakistan military vis-a-vis democracy in that country, he said genuine democracy does not come about simply by holding an election but rather through a process of democratisation that makes elected representatives accountable and also ensuring that there is no "de facto centre of power" that is actually "pulling the puppet strings."

Nepal denies report on Kasab's arrest

Kathmandu/Islamabad: Nepal today dismissed as "baseless" a report which claimed that Ajmal Amir Iman Kasab, the lone terrorist captured during the Mumbai attacks, was nabbed in the Himalayan nation two years ago and handed over to India.The Nepalese Foreign Ministry in Kathmandu said its "serious attention" was drawn to the report that appeared in Pakistan's 'The News,' which quoted a Lahore-based lawyer as claiming that Kasab was arrested here by Indian police with the help of Nepalese security in 2006.The report in the Pakistani daily was "illusive, baseless and fictitious and it was published with a view to damaging Nepal's image," the ministry said in a statement."The ministry hereby refutes the news report in the strongest term and states Ajmal Kasab was neither arrested in Nepal nor was he handed over to any other country," it said.Meanwhile, Nepal's Ambassador to Pakistan Bala B Kunwar told a news conference in Islamabad that report about the arrest or kidnapping of Kasab in his country were "baseless and concocted."Kunwar said an inquiry had established that Kasab had never lived or was arrested in Nepal before 2006."Nepal as a sovereign state, has always adhered to its stated policy of not allowing its territory to be used against the interest of other countries," he said.Kunwar said the news report about Kasab’s arrest were "aimed at denting Nepal-Pakistan relations." He added he was confident that such charges would have no impact on the friendly ties between the two countries.
A Pakistani lawyer named C M Farooque had claimed this week that Kasab was arrested two years ago in Kathmandu by "Indian agencies" with the help of Nepali authorities. He claimed Kasab was on a "business visit" when he was arrested. Farooque told the Pakistani media that he had filed an application in Nepal's Supreme Court for seeking Iman's release and claimed the court had sought a reply from Nepali authorities and the Indian High Commission in Kathmandu. His claims were subsequently rejected by Nepal's interior ministry. His claim was rejected by the Nepalese court officials, who said Farooqi had filed a case for the release of two other Pakistani nationals, not Kasab, and later the court had dismissed the case as he had failed to follow its proceedings.Kunwar made it clear that he was not addressing the news conference due to pressure from India but only because his country had been "dragged" into a controversy. He also pointed out that there is no counter-terrorism treaty between India and Nepal though there is an extradition treaty that only applied to nationals of the two countries.Answering a question, Nepalese Ambassador said there are many Pakistanis in Nepal's jails while many Nepalese were in Pakistani jails though he did not have the exact number of prisoners.The ambassador said Nepal's policy of issuing visas on arrival for Pakistanis would not be changed or altered. He said the Nepalese government will extend full cooperation to Kasab's lawyer in finding out the facts."The embassy of Nepal wants to say loud and clear that... Ajmal Amir Kasab was neither arrested in Nepal nor handed over to any other country," said a statement later issued by the mission.The news reports about Kasab’s arrest in Nepal were "put out with a design to malign the image of Nepal."

New ships, radars to beef up security

New Delhi: The government today took a series of measures, including acquisition of ships, installation of radars and setting up of new coast guard stations, to strengthen the security of coastal areas."In a high-level meeting to review the security of coastal areas, Defence Minister A K Antony cleared several proposals which will help in improving security along our coastline," Defence Ministry officials said.To augment Coast Guard's surveillance capabilities, the Government also approved the acquisition of hi-tech equipment."The Defence Minister cleared the proposal for global acquisition of cutting-edge equipment and interceptor boats on a fast-track basis, so that arrangements for increasing security of Indian waters can be done as early as possible," the officials said.Besides the Coast Guard, which have a fleet of 70 small and big vessels, was allowed to lease and hire ships from the global market, they said.It was also decided to set up nine coast guard stations in addition to the existing 13 for better coverage of the country's 7,500 km-long coastline."Government decided to set up nine more Coast Guard stations and will soon send a proposal to the Cabinet for its approval," the officials said. The Government also decided to deploy additional aircraft in the region.The meeting was attended by Defence Secretary Vijay Singh, Director General Coast Guard Vice Admiral Anil Chopra and Director General Acquisition Shashi Kant Sharma.

Congress fails to decide on Antulay

New Delhi: The fate of Minority affairs Minister continued to hang in the balance as Congress President Sonia Gandhi and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh grappled with his controversial remarks on the killing of Maharashtra ATS chief Hemant Karkare.The meeting to resolve the situation caused by his remarks raising questions over the circumstances surrounding the killing of Karkare by Pakistani terrorists in Mumbai ended without a decision, and the government's position is expected to be made clear in Parliament before it winds up business for the session on December 23.The hour-long meeting of the Congress Core Group at the residence of the Prime Minister is believed to have gone into the pros and cons of the matter but there was no official word on whether his resignation was being accepted.Opposition BJP and Shiv Sena having been gunning for Antulay's removal from the Cabinet accusing him of compromising the country's position vis-a-vis terrorism emanating from Pakistani soil."No decision has been taken. The position will be made clear in the session of Parliament concluding on December 23," said a senior leader who declined to be identified.Meanwhile, Antulay, who has resigned in the wake of apolitical storm over his remarks and the opposition demand for his removal from the Union Cabinet, received rare support from his party when AICC General Secretary Digvijay Singh saw nothing "objectionable" in the minister's statement."Antulay has been misreported. What he has asked for is a probe which is already on. What is objectionable in his statement," Singh told reporters in Varanasi.
The Congress, however, had in the last two days distanced itself from Antulay's remarks saying they were his personal views.Singh said the BJP, VHP and RSS had raised doubts about the integrity of Karkare as he was investigating the Malegaon blasts in which Hindus were arrested.Against this backdrop, Karkare was killed in the terrorist attack in Mumbai and it was "natural" to think that whether he was murdered."But this possibility appears to be low because the course of events minimises it. Antulay has said the matter should be investigated that who ordered him (Karkare) to go there. What is objectionable in that," Singh said.Two Muslim MPs from Uttar Pradesh - Ilyas Azmi of BSP and Rasheed Masood of Samajwadi Party - backed Antulay's demand for a probe into Karkare's death.

Antulay is mad guy

ANTULAY the name poupolar in the news and news channels becoz of his words against KARKERE death, his words shows how is mentally unhealthey, his mad .. we need to take them out from govt all the old jokers... i think antulay is around 80 years of age..
ANTULAY want to become news maker in the media,thats why he said all nonsense ...
i think his not fit to minister,

Pak says 55 JuD leaders under detention

Islamabad, Dec 19 (PTI) Pakistan today said it has detained 55 leaders of the outlawed Jamaat-ud-Dawah as part of the crackdown against the group designated as a terrorist outfit by UN Security Council, but claimed that no evidence linking them to the Mumbai attacks has been found so far. The crackdown on JuD, the front organisation of Lashkar- e-Toiba blamed for the Mumbai attacks, is continuing and 55 of its leaders, including its chief Hafiz Mohammed Saeed, have been detained.
Twenty-two JuD leaders have also been barred from travelling abroad, an Interior Ministry spokesman said. The detained leaders were being interrogated and no clues about links to the Mumbai terror attacks have been found so far, the spokesman told Dawn News channel.
The Indian government has not provided any "credible evidence" against the JuD, he said. Authorities also had no information on the whereabouts of Jaish-e-Muhammad chief Masood Azhar, the spokesman claimed.
Defence Minister Chaudhry Ahmed Mukhtar has said the detained JuD leaders, including Saeed, could not be tried in Pakistani courts in the absence of evidence against them. He said the leaders had been detained under the Maintenance of Public Order ordinance, which allows a person to be held for up to 90 days.
India has blamed the LeT for the attacks in its financial hub. India also holds the LeT and Jaish-e-Mohammad responsible for an attack on its parliament in 2001.
Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi told a TV channel on Wednesday that Masood Azhar was in custody but retracted his statement less than two hours later. The Foreign Office later clarified that Qureshi had said that Azhar "is wanted by the law enforcement authorities of Pakistan and is at large".

Saina reaches World Super Series semis

Saina Nehwal [Images] shrugged off her opening match disappointment to become the first Indian shuttler to reach the semi-finals of the World Super Series Masters Finals when she defeated Mew Choo Wong of Malaysia in the group league stage, in Kuala Lumpur on Friday.
Saina defeated Wong 21-10, 17-21, 21-16 to claim her second successive win that catapulted her to the last four stage.
Following her loss to Tine Rasmussen in the first game, Saina had to win both her quarter-final league matches and she did just that.
After brushing past Hongyan Pi of France [Images] 21-18, 21-13 in the day's first encounter, the world No. 10 Indian had to battle hard before edging past Wong in the evening match.
Faced with a must-win situation, a gritty Saina rode on her powerful smashes and opened up a nine-point lead at 13-4 in the first game as her Malaysian counterpart could not match up to her.
The world No. 11 Malaysian tried to level scores but could not get past Saina who held on to her lead and won the game 21-10.
However, Saina lost concentration in the next game and allowed her rival to open a four-point lead at 9-13.
Saina rallied to level the score but was soon staring at defeat as the game progressed. She ultimately conceded the second game 17-21 and allowed the Malaysian to bounce back.
The decider was a cliffhanger as both fought tooth and nail before Saina took a slight advantage with the score reading 13-10 in her favour.
Thereafter she didn't give Wong much chance and wrapped up the match in 48 minutes.
Earlier, Saina hammered fourth-seed Pi of France in a 34-minute contest to keep her semi-final hopes alive.
The 18-year-old national champion rallied well to leave her opponent, ranked three notches above her, huffing and puffing all over the court and indulged in some sharp smashes to gallop her way to the first set at 21-18.
In the next game, Hongyan displayed some powerful strokes and matched Saina's smashes well but the Indian ace was not in a mood to give an inch. She played close to the nets and raced away with the game 21-13.

India destined to become world's knowledge park: PM

India is destined to become the knowledge park of the world and the Indian government is geared make this destiny a reality, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh declared Friday.
Inaugurating PanIIT 2008, the three-day global conference of Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) alumni through a video conference from New Delhi, he said: 'The government is setting up several higher education institutes towards this mission'.
The prime minister added: 'If we are to become knowledge superpower all sectors should be ready for scientific and technical knowledge.'
The government has sanctioned setting up of eight IITs, 30 central universities, 10 National Institutes of Technology, 20 Indian Institutes of Information Technology, five Indian Institutes of Science Education, two new schools of architecture, 373 new colleges and over 1000 polytechnics, he informed.
According to Manmohan Singh, there is an urgent need to strengthen the research capability of IITs so that more research activities are done by them.
At the grass roots level, a series of school scholarship schemes have been launched by the government to provide access to quality education for under-privileged sections of the society, the prime minister said.
Acknowledging the contribution made by the 170,000 IIT graduates in various technology breakthroughs, he said: 'Vast majority of IIT alumni have become leaders in different fields - science, business, and policy making bodies.'
In his address, principal scientific adviser R. Chidambaram said national development and national security are two sides of the same coin.
'The second national knowledge network has put India at par with developed countries on the scientific field. We are in the process of strengthening the technology delivery systems for the rural areas,' he added.

Ajmal Kasab belongs to Pakistan, says Nawaz Sharif

Islamabad: Challenging President Asif Ali Zardari's assertion that there was no proof that the arrested Mumbai attacker hailed from Pakistan's Punjab province, former premier Nawaz Sharif has said that the suspect's village was cordoned off and his parents were not allowed to meet anyone.
'I have checked myself. His (Ajmal Amir Iman alias Ajmal Kasab) house and village has been cordoned off by the security agencies. His parents are not allowed to meet anybody. I don't understand why it has been done,' Sharif, who hails from Punjab, said in an interview to Geo News channel."The people and media should be allowed to meet Iman's parents so that the truth could come out in the open,' he said, adding, 'We need some kind of introspection.'Zardari, who earlier acknowledged that the perpetrators of the Mumbai carnage could be 'non-state' actors from Pakistan, has now said there is still no 'real evidence' that the terrorists who attacked Mumbai came from Pakistan.'Have you seen any evidence to that effect? I have definitely not seen any real evidence to that effect,' Zardari told BBC in an interview earlier this week.
Cover up in PakistanPakistani security agencies and local officials in Faridkot have launched a cover-up since India made it public that Kasab belonged to the village in Punjab province and his father acknowledged to a Pakistani newspaper that the terrorist captured in India was his son.Sharif also slammed President Zardari's rule, saying the functioning of the current Pakistan People's Party-led government is making Pakistan look like a 'failed state'.
Pakistan a failed statePakistan presents the picture of a failed and ungovernable state due to the absence of the government's writ and the country urgently needs a new roadmap to pull it out of the problems it is currently facing, he said.

‘Militants using Google maps to zero in on targets’

Mumbai: Google Earth is being growingly misused by terror groups to have the first glimpse of sensitive places to plot attacks without moving an inch.
Lashkar-e-Taiba terrorist Fahim Ahmed Ansari, arrested by Uttar Pradesh Police in Feburary this year with maps and details of the spots hit during the recent terror attacks, in his statement had conceded that his masters showed him the maps on Google Earth to pin-point the specific targets.
Fahim shown targets in Google map
The interrogation report of Fahim, who was trained at the Baitul Mujahideen camp in Pakistan in his statement said that a top Lashker commander 'Kahasa' asked him to show the spots in Mumbai on the Google Earth. "I was shown the map of Mumbai in Googleearth.Com. Kahasa asked me to point out places in Mumbai he noted down and marked those places in the map," he told interrogators, adding, "I was first asked about my residence location and in-laws location in Mumbai." Sensitive places like offices of Commissioner of Police and DGP, Gateway of India, Navy Nagar, Colaba, Taj Mahal Hotel, Mantralaya, Wankhede Stadium, Race Course, Church Gate Railway Station, Stock Exchange Building, BARC, Kalina Army Gate and other such spots were located and marked on the Google Earth Map.Fahim, along with Sabauddin, were brought to Mumbai and remanded to police custody till December 31. They are being questioned to ascertain whether they had provided the minute details to Lashkar terrorists to help them plan the terror strike here on November 26.

Cong meets to decide on Antulay's resignation

New Delhi: Congress Working Committee is currently meeting to take final call on Union Minister A R Antulay’s resignation and a decision to this effect are likely anytime now. Minority Affairs Minister sent in his resignation to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, following the storm over his comments on Maharashtra police officer Hemant Karkare's killing during the Mumbai terror attack, government sources said Friday.
The 79-year-old former Maharashtra chief minister had indicated that the death of the Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) chief Karkare could be linked to the Malegaon bombings he was investigating and in which members of Hindu radical groups were the main suspects. "Superficially speaking they (terrorists) had no reason to kill Karkare. Whether he (Karkare) was a victim of terrorism or terrorism plus something I do not know," Antulay had said."Karkare found that there are non-Muslims involved in acts of terrorism in some cases. Any person going to the roots of terrorism has always been the target," he said. "There is more than what meets the eye."Antulay's remarks created an uproar in parliament and outside with the opposition parties demanding his removal.The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) said the comments had weakened India's position on the Mumbai terror attacks carried out by Pakistani terrorists.Karkare was among the security personnel who died moments after the terrorists went on a killing spree, eventually leaving over 170 Indians as well as foreigners dead. Karkare was gunned down along with his colleagues when the gunmen fired at their vehicle Nov 26 night.The ATS led by him had arrested 11 people, including Sadhvi Pragnya Thakur, in connection with the September blasts in Maharashtra's Malegaon town in which six people were killed.

Pak TV channel sued for confirming Kasab's Pak nationality

Islamabad: A Pakistani court has admitted a petition seeking registration of a case against the private Geo News channel for beaming a report that said Ajmal Amir Iman, the lone terrorist captured for the Mumbai attacks, is a resident of a village in Punjab province.
Setting aside an objection raised by the court registrar's office, Lahore High Court's acting Chief Justice Mian Najamuzzaman yesterday admitted the petition seeking registration of a case against the employees and owners of the channel.Pakistan People's Party leader Sardar Hur Bukhari filed the petition in his personal capacity. On Tuesday, the registrar's office had objected to the petition, saying it fell under the jurisdiction of subordinate courts, and advised Bukhari to avail that remedy first.Bukhari said he had filed an application with police for registering a case against Geo News's Lahore bureau chief, reporters and cameraman as well as owners of the channel for beaming the report which had "damaged Pakistan's image" across the world. But police had refused to register a case, he added. He then decided to approach the court to direct the police to register an FIR.Geo News recently aired what it said was secretly filmed footage of residents of Faridkot acknowledging that Ajmal, alias Kasab , was a resident of the village. One resident said Ajmal had last visited Faridkot about six months ago, when he told his mother he was going away for 'jehad'.

Gambhir century gives India the edge

MOHALI, India (Reuters) - Opener Gautam Gambhir hit his third century in four tests to lead India to 179 for one on the truncated first day of the second and final test against England on Friday.
The in-form Gambhir struck 106 not out and added 173 runs for the second wicket with Rahul Dravid to lift the hosts out of early trouble after skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni elected to bat in overcast conditions.
Dravid shook off his poor form by scoring an unbeaten 65 after opener Virender Sehwag fell to Stuart Broad for a third-ball duck in the morning's second over.
The diminutive Gambhir struck 12 fours and a straight six against off spinner Graeme Swann, reaching his hundred after tea.
"I think we've done a very good job, considering the wicket and the kind of fast bowlers they have," said Gambhir. "It's up to us to capitalise tomorrow."
Play was called off with 18 overs remaining because of poor light, which had also delayed the start by 20 minutes.
Gambhir had scored a match-winning 104 in the second test against Australia at Mohali in October and 206 in the drawn third test in New Delhi.
He then made 66 in Chennai, after sitting out the last test against Australia due to a disciplinary ban. India won that series 2-0.
England, demoralised by their six-wicket defeat in the first test in Chennai after India achieved the fourth-highest run chasing a target of 387, failed to build on a promising start, often bowling too short.
EARLY ESCAPE
Gambhir survived a leg before appeal off James Anderson's first ball of the day but drove the next past cover for four before quickly settling down.
Broad, 22, replaced the off-colour Steve Harmison after recovering from a hamstring injury, and bowled a superb first spell of pace, swing and control.
He beat Sehwag, who hit a blazing 83 to trigger India's run chase in Chennai, with movement before inducing him to edge a swinging delivery to wicketkeeper Matt Prior.
Gambhir and Dravid, who made three and four in the first test to prolong a poor run of form, saw off the testing morning spells by Anderson, Broad and Andrew Flintoff to guide the team to 51 for one at lunch.
Gambhir, 27, audaciously flicked over the slip cordon for fours against Anderson and Broad after lunch as England lost their momentum.
Only Swann, who took two wickets in his first over on test debut in Chennai, created chances as left-arm Monty Panesar, under fire for his poor first test showing, failed to impress.
However, Swann was unlucky not to remove Gambhir.
Slip fielder Paul Collingwood could only get his finger tips to a thick edge when he was on 70 and two runs later the umpire turned down a confident leg before appeal.
Dravid swung Anderson to square leg for four in the morning, his first boundary in five innings, and has hit seven fours in his 205-ball effort.
England coach Peter Moores said he hoped his bowlers could turn things around on the second morning.
"Anytime you keep a side under three an over you know if you get two quick wickets you are back in the game," he said.
"We'll come back tomorrow morning with the same thought. If we get two in the first half hour we'll be right back in the game."

Pakistan must disentangle terrorist groups: US

Washington, Dec 18(ANI): The US State Department has said that Pakistan must disentangle terrorist groups having their base in the country.
State's Department Deputy Spokesperson Robert Wood said that the United States, has learnt from its own experience that some of the charitable organizations in Pakistan were tied to terrorist groups.
"This is something that they (Pakistan) are going to have to disentangle," he said adding, "But they've given us a very solemn commitment."
Replying to queries about Pakistan's action against Jamaat-ud-Dawa, Wood said: "I think the Pakistani government is being very sincere," adding "they're on the front lines of terrorism, as we've said many times before."
Taking note of the probe of Mumbai terror attack,Wood said that ,"they're going to do everything they could to help catch the perpetrators of the Mumbai attacks and to prevent future attacks from happening."
We don't have any doubt that Pakistan is committed to trying to get to the bottom of this," the Dawn quoted Wood as saying

US to make new H2-B visa changes permanent

The US government will make permanent its changes to a visa program that brings foreign workers to the United States for temporary non-agricultural work.
The aim is to streamline and simplify the application process and increase worker protections, Labour Secretary Elaine Chao said in an interview on Wednesday.
The H2-B visa program allows foreign workers into the United States for specific seasonal jobs, provided the employer cannot find Americans for the work, and the foreigners return home within 10 months. Workers in the program must pass background checks, and the visas have provisions to ensure they return home.
The visa program is capped at 66,000 workers per year, who are placed mostly in landscaping, hospitality and other industries.
Changes include eliminating duplicative applications at the state and federal levels, requiring employers to attest, under threat of fines and disbarment, that they follow all rules and let the government decide what workers should earn.
Employers will be prohibited from passing along the cost of the new proposals to their workers, and the Labour Department, for the first time, will be able to enforce terms and conditions of temporary foreigner employment and impose fines on violators.
The Homeland Security Department currently is responsible for enforcing the regulations, but the Labor Department has more expertise in the area, Chao said. The Labor Department also will become the final word on labor certification applications.
The final changes will be in the Federal Register tomorrow and go into effect in mid-January.

Plans underway in US to provide more funds to Pakistan

Washington, Dec 19 (PTI) Even as the current US' monetary aid to Pakistan has drawn flak from various quarters, the Pentagon has said that the Central Command is working on a plan which will involve more funding to the Pakistani military for countering terrorism. A senior Defence Department official, however, said that the idea is still in the nascent stage and not flagged through the Secretary of Defence and Capitol Hill yet.
".
Right now we've got, in addition to the coalition support funds and the foreign military financing, there is a proposal coming out of CENTCOM to provide some additional financial assistance that would assist the Pakistani military in their counterterrorism operations," Pentagon Spokesman Geoff Morrell said here at a briefing.
"But this is just a proposal at this point, hasn't gotten to.
The secretary, hasn't been briefed to Congress.
I think it's in the conceptual stages. And I don't have really anything further beyond that," he said.

India test fires Brahmos supersonic missile

New Delhi: India Thursday test fired the BrahMos supersonic cruise missile, one of the most successful products of India-Russia military joint venture, from a vertical platform in the Bay of Bengal.
“The BrahMos Missile has been successfully launched today (Thursday) from a naval warship in the Bay of Bengal. This unique launch has been carried out from a mobile platform and all mission objectives have been met,” a DRDO official said.This is for the first time that BrahMos has been test fired from a universal vertical launcher fitted in a new ship. All earlier launches of BrahMos missiles had been carried out from inclined launchers.“It is a significant milestone in view of the fact that most present day ships are today fitted with vertical launchers,” the official said. The missile has a range of nearly 300 km and carries a conventional warhead of 300 kg. It can achieve speeds of up to 2.8 Mach or nearly three times the speed of sound.The supersonic missile takes its name from the Brahmaputra and Moskva rivers and can be launched from submarines, ships, aircraft or land.

India's tour of Pakistan officially called off

New Delhi: India's cricket tour of Pakistan was today officially called off with the government refusing permission to the team to travel across the border in the wake of the Mumbai terror attacks, putting an end to the prolonged uncertainty on the fate of the series.

The Government's decision was conveyed to the BCCI President Shashank Manohar today through a letter which cited "recent developments as well as the overall circumstances prevailing at present" as the reasons for calling off the high-profile tour.

"The final decision has been taken. We have got the letter from the Sports Ministry and the Ministry of External Affairs not to proceed with the tour", senior BCCI official Rajeev Shukla told PTI.

"The government has declined permission to go ahead with the tour taking into account the recent developments in Mumbai as well as the overall circumstances prevailing at present", Shukla said.

He said the External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee and the Sports Minister MS Gill had also personally called up Monohar to convey the decision.

India were scheduled to play three Tests, five one-dayers and a Twenty20 match during their tour of Pakistan from January 4 to February 28 but the tour had been thrown into jeopardy in the aftermath of the Mumbai terror attacks.

The BCCI had all along maintained that it was upto the government to decide on the fate of the tour. "Now that we have received the letter, we will intimate it to the Pakistan Cricket Board," Shukla said.

There was intense speculation that the tour will be called off in the aftermath of the Mumbai carnage and top BCCI officials had privately admitted that there was no chance that the team will travel to Pakistan.

Even the Sports Minister Gill had gone on record last week that the team should not tour Pakistan under the circumstances, which was seen as a clear indication of things to come.

Even before the Mumbai carnage, some of the senior Indian cricketers were apprehensive of travelling to Pakistan because of the security scenario in the strife-torn country.

The cancellation of the tour has not only put a question mark on the sporting ties between the two countries but will also have a bearing on the 2011 Cricket World Cup being jointly hosted by the four Asian countries.

Pakistan was keen to play the series at a neutral venue in case the tour was cancelled but the BCCI said it had not taken any decision on such a possibility.

BCCI's Chief Administrative Officer Ratnakar Shetty said that the government's decision will not have any impact on the 2011 World Cup. "It will not affect the 2011 World Cup, that's a different tournament," he said.

"We'd written to the government about the tour and we've just got the letter from the government that in the present circumstances the tour is not possible."

Asked if it was because of the fact that senior players were not ready to play in Pakistan, Shetty said "I am not ready to comment on that. It was upto the government to decide and it was not for the BCCI to decide."

Shetty did not feel it would create an uncomfortable atmosphere for the BCCI and PCB. "No, I don't think so. PCB is aware of whatever is happening at the moment."

He said there was no discussion on the two teams playing the series at a neutral venue. "We've not discussed anything on this," he said and added there would be "no tour to replace the Pakistan series".

The Sports Minister gave the first indication of the government view when he sent out a strong message by bluntly suggesting that the team's tour of Pakistan should not go ahead. The Minister had said it was not the right time to play cricket with Pakistan when "people from their soil were indulging in mass murder in India".

"Is it possible for one team to arrive in Mumbai and indulge in mass murder, and have another team go and play cricket in the winter afternoon sun at Lahore, immediately after," he had said.

The cancellation of the tour will hit Pakistan hard with the cash-starved PCB having already suffered with many teams calling off tours in the recent past.

Hit hard by teams after teams refusing to tour the country because of the volatile security situation there, Pakistan has not hosted a major international tournament since the Asia Cup in June this year.

The high-profile Champions Trophy, which was originally scheduled to be held in Pakistan in September this year, had to be deferred with most teams refusing to tour the country. The Indian junior hockey team's tour was also cancelled last month.

Desperate to salvage the series, PCB Chairman Ejaz Butt had decided to tour India to convince the BCCI top brass and also offered to shift the series to a neutral venue, possibly Abu Dhabi or England, but after the Mumbai attacks, even that possibility had become non-existent.

Pakistanis protest JuD ban

The UN decision to brand the Jamaat-ud-Dawah (JuD) as a terrorist organization and the Pakistan government’s ban on it has triggered widespread protests in Pakistan.
Hundreds marched to an UN office in Muzaffarbad, the capital of PoK, protesting against the decision. The marchers shouted slogans against the UN, the US and India.
In Karachi many people including students studying in JuD institutions held demonstrations protesting the UN move. Some poor Pakistani Hindus who receive help from JuD also joined the protests.
Pakistani authorities arrested JuD chief Hafiz Mohammed Saeed and sealed its offices and institutions throughout the country including seminaries, educational institutions and hospitals.
Saeed's son, Mohammad Talha Saeed, said the JuD will challenge the ban in Pakistan's courts and the International Court of Justice.
Students of banned charity Jamaat-ud-Dawa run schools protest in Karachi on December 17, 2008 against the UN Security Council's declaration that the charity a terrorist group.
Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman, who is also chairman of Pakistan parliament's Special Committee on Kashmir, demanded that Pakistan should approach the UN and seek a review on its decision to declare the JuD as a terrorist group.
Rehman said the Jamaat and the Al Rashid Trust were welfare organizations. He said that no action had been taken against terrorist groups in India, though Muslim charities were being targeted because of a bias against Islam.
Students of Pakistani banned charity Jamaat-ud-Dawa run schools protest in Karachi on December 17, 2008 against the UN declaration that the charity is a terrorist group.

The leaders of Islamic parties held meetings in all provincial capitals to protest the banning of the Jamaat and the closure of its offices. They demanded the immediate release of JuD leaders and the lifting of the ban on it.
Students of JuD schools protest in Karachi on December 17, 2008 against the Security Council's declaration that the charity is a terrorist group.
Clerics asked Pakistan's rulers not to accept India’s "dictates.” They condemned the government's sealing of JuD mosques and said the entire nation was with the group in "this critical hour."
Teachers of JuD's schools march during a protest in Karachi on December 17, 2008 against the UN declaration that the charity is a terrorist group.
Pakistani clerics said that India should behave responsibly and not use any incident to "mar the normalization of relations" with Pakistan.

Sonia on 26/11: Don't take India for granted

Describing the Mumbai terror strikes as a 'deliberate assault' on the country, Congress chief Sonia Gandhi on Thursday warned that people perpetrating such attacks cannot continue to take India for granted any longer and said the response has to be firm and effective.
"I want to say very categorically here that those who perpetrate such attacks on our people and those who direct or support them cannot continue to take India for granted any longer. Our response has to be firm and effective," she told a meeting of the Congress Parliamentary Party in New Delhi. She said the 'whole country is united in its determination to combat the forces of terrorism wherever they may be'.Sonia said the December 11 resolution in Parliament reflects the resolve of all political parties to set aside their differences when it comes to dealing with the scourge of terrorism."They (Mumbai attacks) were a deliberate assault on our nationhood and a brazen attempt to destroy the fabric of our society and our secular democratic way of life," Sonia said, while eulogising security personnel for showing 'extraordinary' courage and bravery.She also referred to the statements of External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee about the steps the government was taking as also the passage of the National Investigation Agency Bill and Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Amendment Bill in the Lok Sabha. Sonia said the new laws will balance the need for an 'uncompromising tough set of laws against' terrorism with the need to respect human rights.Referring to the recent blasts in Guwahati, the Congress chief said: "The attacks too had resulted in the loss of innocent lives. Investigations are underway. We hope that those responsible for this dastardly deed will be brought to book."

Masood Azhar not in our custody, says Pak

Islamabad: Jaish-e-Mohammed chief Maulana Masood Azhar is not in the custody of the Pakistan government, Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi said on Thursday."Maulana Masood Azhar is wanted by the government of Pakistan, but he is not in our custody and he is at large," Qureshi told state-run APP news agency.He said Pakistan has taken "enough steps" to arrest culprits involved in terrorist activities.Qureshi's remarks came about a week after Defence Minister Chaudhry Ahmed Mukhtar told a TV channel that Azhar had been detained by Pakistani authorities.In a demarche issued after the Mumbai terror attacks, India had asked Pakistan to hand over Azhar and underworld dons Tiger Memon and Dawood Ibrahim.Pakistan has said it intends to take action against all terror suspects according to the country's laws and will not hand them over to India.Azhar and two other terrorists were freed by India in exchange for the passengers of an Indian Airlines flight that was hijacked from Kathmandu to Kandahar in December 1999. Azhar formed the Jaish-e-Mohammed soon after his release.Pakistan's High Commissioner to India Shahid Malik also said today that JeM chief Azhar was not under house arrest and his whereabouts were not known to the country's authorities."We are looking for him. He is not under house arrest. As far as I know, it (news reports of Azhar's house arrest) is wrong. He is not in Pakistan... We don't know where he is," Malik told Karan Thapar in 'India Tonight' programme of CNBC-TV18.

Pak lodges protest against airspace violation by Indian jets

Islamabad: After describing it a "technical mistake", Pakistan Thursday formally lodged its complaint over the alleged airspace violation last week by two Indian Air Force fighter jets.
The Indian deputy high commissioner was summoned to the foreign ministry and a diplomatic note was handed over to him, a statement of the Foreign Office spokesman here said.The Indian official was conveyed about Pakistan's concerns over the technical air space violations by the Indian aircraft on Dec 12 and 13, which were against the 1991 agreement between India and Pakistan on Prevention of Air Space Violations, the statement said.Pakistan Air Force spokesman Hamayun Waqar said that Indian planes violated Pakistan's airspace last Saturday in Pakistan-controlled Kashmir and over the eastern city of Lahore but were forced by Pakistani fighter jets to retreat.Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari Sunday said at a news conference that the Indian aircraft had made a "technical mistake" while flying over an altitude of some 50,000 feet. India has denied any violation of Pakistan's airspace.

Buy out Pakistan's Nuclear arsenal for $100bn: WSJ

An American newspaper columnist has proposed a $100 billion buyout of Pakistan's nuclear arsenals, saying these weapons had become "an inviting target" for Jehadists."Let's buy their arsenal," wrote Bret Stephens in The Wall Street Journal in an op-ed article in which he highlighted the problems Pakistan's atomic programme has caused, especially the situation resulting from the export of nuclear technology by the A Q Khan network."...Pakistan's nuclear arsenal has made it an inviting target for the jihadists who blew up Islamabad's Marriott hotel in September and would gladly blow up the rest of the capital as a prelude to taking it over.""Since President-elect Barack Obama has already committed a trillion or so in domestic spending, what's $100 billion in the cause of saving the world," the columnist has suggested.Stephens, who interviewed Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari in September when he was participating in the UN General Assembly session, said despite some gains after acquiring a bomb, Pakistan didn't gain greater security."Still, give Khan this: Thanks partly to his efforts, a country that has impoverished the great mass of its own people, corruptly enriched a tiny handful of elites, served as a base of terrorism against its neighbours, lost control of its intelligence services, radicalised untold numbers of Muslims in its madrassas, handed the presidency to a man known as Mr. 10 per cent, and proliferated nuclear technology to Libya and Iran (among others) has, nevertheless, made itself a power to be reckoned with congratulations," the article said. Preventing the disintegration of Pakistan, "perhaps in the wake of a war with India (how much restraint will New Delhi show after the next Mumbai-style atrocity?)," will be the Obama administration's most urgent foreign-policy challenge, Stephens said."This is the deal I have in mind. The government of Pakistan would verifiably eliminate its entire nuclear stockpile and the industrial base that sustains it. In exchange, the US and other Western donors would agree to a $100 billion economic package, administered by an independent authority and disbursed over 10 years, on condition that Pakistan remain a democratic and secular state (no military rulers; no Sharia law)."It would supplement that package with military aid similar to what the US provides Israel: F-35 fighters, M-1 tanks, Apache helicopters. The US would also extend its nuclear umbrella to Pakistan, just as Hillary Clinton now proposes to do for Israel.""A pipe dream? Not necessarily. People forget that the world has subtracted more nuclear powers over the past two decades than it has added: Kazakhstan, Belarus, Ukraine and South Africa all voluntarily relinquished their stockpiles in the 1990s. Libya did away with its programme in 2003 when Gadhafi concluded that a bomb would be a net liability, and that he had more to gain by coming to terms with the West," he added."The tragedy of Pakistan is that it remains a country that can't do the basics, like make a bicycle chain. If what its leaders want is prestige, prosperity and lasting security, they could start by creating an economy that can make one -- while unlearning how to make the bomb".

'Masood Azhar, Dawood Ibrahim not in Pakistan'

Islamabad: Contradicting Defence Minister Chaudhary Mukhtar Ahmad, Pakistan's High Commissioner to India Shahid Malik on Wednesday said that Jaish-e-Mohmmad chief Maulana Masood Azhar, one of India's most-wanted terrorists, was not under house arrest and his whereabouts were not known to them.
"We are looking for him. He is not under house arrest. As far as I know, it (news reports of Azhar's house arrest) is wrong. He is not in Pakistan...We don't know where he is," Malik told a TV channel.He was responding to a question on why Pakistan cannot hand over Azhar, who walked into freedom from an Indian prison in exchange for passengers of a hijacked Indian Airlines plane, as he was already in Pakistan custody.Malik's statement was in contradiction to Ahmad's interview to a TV channel a week ago, when he had said Azhar was placed under house arrest but said that he would not be handed over to India.The High Commissioner claimed that Dawood Ibrahim [Images], the prime accused in the 1993 serial blasts case, was also not in Pakistan, as claimed by New Delhi [Images].Asked whether it will extradite the don if India provides proof of Dawood's presence in Pakistan, Malik said, "Fact of the matter is that he is not in Pakistan."Malik also claimed that the Inter Services Intelligence has no links with the Lashkar-e-Tayiba, which is believed to be behind the Mumbai terror attacks [Images].Malik claimed that the Pakistan High Commission has not received any letter from Mohammad Ajmal Amir Iman, the lone terrorist arrested in Mumbai attacks, seeking legal aid and persisted with its denial mode on his Pakistani nationality, saying it needed 'incontrovertible' evidence about it."Please don't give too much importance to newspaper reports. No letter has been delivered to me or to the Pakistan High Commission," he said.The High Commissioner was asked about the accused's father accepting, after seeing photographs in newspapers and television, that the terrorist is his son."Not when it comes to dealing with such individuals... We need something which is incontrovertible, which cannot be challenged in a court of law," he said.Malik said Pakistan was not contemplating giving access to Zaki-ur-Rahman Lakhvi, the alleged mastermind of the Mumbai attacks, to the Federal Bureau of Investigation, for investigation."At the moment, we are not contemplating it...Please allow us to carry forward the process of investigation and see whether there is any merit in involving others or not," he said.

LS approves NIA bills

New Delhi: The two bills for setting up a National Investigation Agency and amending the law to deal with terrorism effectively were passed by the Lok Sabha on Wednesday, with the Government asserting that a balance of requirement of law and human rights had been ensured in these measures.
Replying to a five-hour debate on the two bills, Home Minister P Chidambaram sought to allay any apprehensions of misuse of the new tough measures to deal with terrorism, saying there adequate safeguards have been envisioned, including setting up of an independent authority of judicial experts to review cases that are probed and tried.He emphasised that the amended Unlawful Activities Prevention ike POTA and that the new measures should not be seen from the "communal prism".Contending that the nation could not afford to "lower its guard" as "eternal vigilance is the price of liberty," he said these measures are aimed at giving a "sense of confidence" to the people as also to the police forces that culprits could not go unpunished.Observing that the country was facing "jihadi terrorism" wherein terrorists are not deterred as they come here to die and kill, the Home Minister acknowledged that the new laws or even the POTA or MCOCA were not a "deterrent" but "punitive" in nature.He said the new laws were aimed at giving sufficient powers to the police forces to ensure that they can investigate and secure convictions.Underlining that the enactment of the new laws should not be seen from the "communal prism", Chidambaram said "all laws are secular, except the personal laws. Criminal laws do not recognise communities but only those who perpetrate crimes." He said the new laws will be "applied uniformly without any discrimination. We are not concerned about caste or creed of a terrorist, if he is a terrorist. They will be prosecuted and punished."To ensure that there is "no misuse", he said an independent authority of judicial experts would be set up to review such cases even before prosecution is launched. "This is an important safeguard. It is for the first time that such a measure has been introduced in a criminal law so that it is not misused," he said."What we have done is that we have tried to balance the requirement of law, the requirement of investigations and fair trial and human rights," Chidambaram said. While the NIA Bill was passed by a voice vote, efforts were made by some Left members to introduce some amendments in the UPA, which were rejected.

120 Tigers, 25 soldiers die in Sri Lanka

Colombo, Dec 16 (IANS) At least 120 Tamil Tiger guerrillas and 25 soldiers were killed and over 400 wounded on both sides in heavy fighting Tuesday between the advancing troops and the rebels in Sri Lanka's north, military officials said.
Military spokesman Brigadier Udaya Nanayakkara said the troops, backed by artillery and mortars, broke out of their defences at Muhamalai and Kilali in Jaffna peninsula and destroyed several forward defence positions of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE).
The soldiers then returned to their original positions.
At the same time, troops operating on the outskirts of Kilinochchi and adjoining villages such as Paranthan and Iranaimadhu launched simultaneous assaults on LTTE bunker lines and captured vast stretches.
According to Brig. Nanayakkara, the troops have breached rebel defences at several locations and captured a five-kilometre stretch of LTTE built earth bund-cum-ditch west of Paranthan and Kilinochchi amid fierce counter attack by the Tigers.
'The LTTE has got a heavy beating at both locations, with over 120 LTTE cadres being killed and 250 more wounded. Twenty-five soldiers were also killed and 10 reported missing in action while 160 soldiers were wounded during the day,' Brig. Nanayakkara told IANS.
He said that fighting in the Kilinochchi-Paranthan-Iranaimadhu areas was still on even as the troops consolidated the newly captured areas.
Meanwhile, a pro-rebel website claimed that the Sri Lankan Army launched the offensive at 1.30 a.m., but the military was forced to pull back after nine hours of heavy fighting with heavy casualties.
'More than 40 soldiers were killed and at least 120 wounded when the LTTE repulsed an offensive by the army in Kilali,' the pro-LTTE TamilNet website quoting LTTE sources as saying.
Sri Lanka is determined to capture the rebel-held districts of Mullaitivu and Kilinochchi. Its troops are advancing from several directions and are now said to be operating on the outskirts of Kilinochchi, a town some 350 km north of Colombo which for long has been the LTTE political hub.
The LTTE is fighting to carve out a separate state for Tamils in the north and east of the island. Thousands have died in escalating fighting since late 2005.

US lawmakers may move stop aid to Pakistan

Washington, dec.17 (ANI): Several American politicians with close links to India have reportedly launched a quiet campaign to persuade the incoming Obama administration to stop US aid to Pakistan.
Some lawmakers may move a resolution in the US Congress after the inauguration of the new president on January 20, strongly condemning last month's terror attack on Mumbai, and urge lawmakers to stop military assistance to Pakistan.
According to the Dawn, a 15 billion dollar, 10-year aid package already proposes to attach US military assistance to Pakistan to its performance in the war against terror, authorising the US administration to stop the aid if it finds that Islamabad was not doing enough to fight terrorism.
"I do not believe in aiding countries that aid terrorism," said US Senator Robert Menendez, a Democrat from New Jersey.
Declaring Pakistan a "failed State" Congressman Frank Pallone, another Democrat, said he opposed giving billions of dollars in aid to Pakistan because he believed it would be used against India.
Gary Ackerman, a pro-Indian Democratic Congressman from New York who has long advocated stopping US military aid to Pakistan, urged Washington to review its policy towards Islamabad after the Mumbai attacks.
One of the primary movers of the bill, Senator Joseph Biden, is now the vice-president-elect. He chaired the Senate's powerful Foreign Relations Committee before the November election.
A former Democratic presidential candidate, Senator John Kerry, will replace him as chairman of the committee and is also expected to back the bill to provide generous economic assistance to Pakistan.
But the move by pro-Indian American politicians can harm this effort.
Diplomatic observers in Washington feel that while it may not be possible to stop US aid to Pakistan because of the country's strategic importance, the lawmakers may succeed in attaching unfavourable conditions.
Senator Menendez, while emphasising the need to attach US aid to Islamabad's performance in the war against terror, also cautioned a gathering of Indian-Americans in New Jersey this week not to stir an India-Pakistan war because such a conflict "might lead to drastic consequences".
He urged India to come out with all the evidence it had to link Mumbai attacks to Pakistan.

Can Osama's fan in Mumbai give leads on 26/11?

Mumbai: Mumbai Police is itching to question an ardent supporter of Osama bin Laden -- Fahim Arshad Ansari -- on suspicions that he could have provided information about important places struck by terrorists on November 26.
Ansari, who was arrested in Uttar Pradesh in February this year and was being taken to Mumbai for interrogation in connection with the terror strikes, has reportedly told interrogators that he was asked by Pakistan's ISI to identify all the terror-hit places on "Googlemap.Com".According to his interrogation report, the 35-year-old Fahim shared the extreme mindset of Osama bin Laden, the Al-Qaeda chief."I was delighted to know the World Trade Centre attack in the US. I used to praise Osama and his activities as well as Pakistani jehadi groups," Fahim was quoted in the report as having told his interrogators.Claiming to be an ardent follower of Laden, Fahim had also grown a beard like the global terrorist. "After joining my job in Dubai, I also used to discuss about Jehadi activities and appreciate the actions of Osama. My co-workers called me as Osama as I was keeping a beard like him," the militant said in hisreport.

Was Karkare killing an outcome of Malegaon probe? Antulay ponders

New Delhi: In remarks that kicked off a controversy, Union Minority Affairs Minister A R Antulay on Wednesday raised doubts whether Pakistani terrorists killed Maharashtra ATS chief Hemant Karkare suggesting it could be due to his investigation of the Malegaon blasts. Maintaining that "there is more than what meets the eyes", he said Karkare was investigating some cases in which "there are non-Muslims also", an apparent reference to the Malegaon blasts case in which sadhvi Pragya Thakur and a Lt Colonel Shrikant Prasad Purohit were 11 persons to be arrested."It may be a separate inquiry how his (Karkare's) end came, Antulay said.The Minister's remarks came under immediate attack from BJP which asked the Prime Minister to clarify whether his remarks are an "individual misdemeanour or the collective wisdom of the Cabinet".
Rudy seeks clarification from PM"The remarks are obnoxious and deserves a clarification from the Prime Minister," BJP spokesman Rajiv Pratap Rudy told reporters.He said "Karkare found that there are non Muslims involved in the acts terrorism during his investigations in some cases. Any person going to the roots of terror has always been the target, he said."Superficially speaking they (terrorists) had no reason to kill Karkare. Whether he (Karkare) was victim of terrorism or terrorism plus something. I do not know," he added.

Fighter jets deployed in National Capital Region

New Delhi: The Indian Air Force has (IAF) has deployed its fighter jets at an airbase adjacent to the capital amidst sub-continental strains in the wake of the Mumbai terror attacks, a senior official said on Wednesday.
The deployment of the fighter jets at the Hindon air base in Ghaziabad, a satellite town of the capital, is part of the preparedness of the armed forces to deal with any eventuality.“MiG-29s were deployed for the air defence of the capital three-four days back. What ever is required for the security of the capital is being done,” said a senior official of the Western Air Command, requesting anonymity.Defence Minister A.K. Antony on Tuesday had ruled out military action against Pakistan but said bilateral relations would not be normal until Islamabad takes action against terrorists operating from its soil. "We are not planning any military action... but at the same time unless Pakistan takes action against those terrorists who are operating from their soil against India and also against all those who are behind the Mumbai terrorist attack, things will not be normal," he added. The comments came amid mounting international pressure on Pakistan to act against the perpetrators of the Mumbai attacks. “I cannot say what course of action we will take but unless Pakistan shows sincerity in whatever they are saying through their actions, one thing is very sure - that there is no question of things as usual," said Antony.
Armed forces on high alertThe armed forces are on "high alert" following heightened tensions between the two neighbours in the wake of the Mumbai terror strikes that left over 170 dead and over 250 injured.Fighters had been regularly deployed at Hindon till about a decade ago when they were shifted out due to the bird menace caused by an abattoir on the air base's flight path. The closest the fighters are now deployed are at Ambala in Haryana and it would take them at least 15 minutes to arrive over the capital after being scrambled in case of an emergency.They could be shifted back to Hindon once a modern abattoir that has been constructed is commissioned.

Ends and means

As he mobilises international pressure on Pakistan to act against the perpetrators of the Mumbai aggression, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has rightly reaffirmed India's commitment to resolving all outstanding disputes with Islamabad, including the Kashmir question, in a violence-free atmosphere. Two important visitors this week, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown and US Democratic Senator John Kerry, who is expected to take over the powerful chairmanship of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee next month in Washington, have both helped reinforce the Indian case against Pakistan. In pointing out that nearly 75 per cent of terror plots in Britain have been traced back to Pakistan, Brown has underlined that it is not just India that wants to see immediate and credible actions against the thriving "non-state actors" next door.
Kerry, for his part, has highlighted the central challenge of dealing with terror groups operating in Pakistan - the enduring patronage from the ISI, which has long instrumentalised these outfits for its jihad strategy in India and Afghanistan. Kerry, who will have a major say in defining the terms of the massive US aid package to Pakistan being currently debated in Washington, has suggested that full civilian control over the ISI could be a key condition. New Delhi, which has said it has no quarrel with the civilian leaders of Pakistan, is warily watching whether they can rein in the state actors like the army and the ISI. From New Delhi's perspective, it is better that the politically sensitive demands for a comprehensive restructuring of Pakistan's civil-military relationship come from the West. It is quite clear that President Asif Ali Zardari will find it easier to accommodate the Western demarches than those from New Delhi.
As he lets the Anglo-Americans define specific anti-terror benchmarks to Zardari, the PM has done well to restate India's firm commitment to revive the peace process and resolve the Kashmir question if Pakistan's civilian government can get its internal act together and dismantle the expansive terror infrastructure on Pakistani soil. Speaking at an election rally in Kashmir on Sunday, the PM underlined the extraordinary progress made on Indo-Pak confidence-building in the contested state under the aegis of the UPA government. In keeping the doors open for peace talks, he is sending an important signal to Zardari that there will be political gains to reap if he does what is right for himself, his people and the region. As India, in cooperation with the Anglo-Americans, constructs a set of risks and rewards for Pakistan after Mumbai, it is now entirely up to Zardari to take the next steps.

Tendulkar is the `Mother Teresa of Cricket’

London/Chennai: Can batting maestro Sachin Tendulkar be regarded as a unifying factor In India. Most certainly yes, if you ask John Etheridge of the Sun.

According to Etheridge, Tendulkar has always been able to unite India and bring joy to its billion inhabitants.

But he says that what he did in Chennai on Monday was extraordinary even by his exalted standards.

“He is the Mother Teresa of cricket, a great little person, and his century helped ease the pain and suffering (of the Mumbai terror attacks).

The Little Master completed his 41st century with the winning boundary that took India to the fourth-highest successful run chase in the history of Test cricket . . . 387.

Forget that England bowled poorly and surrendered by six wickets in a match that they dominated for three days. Remember instead Tendulkar’s innings and what it means to this cricket-obsessed nation.

Perhaps the man himself can explain it best.

He said: “There’s no way I’d say this will make everyone forget what has happened in Mumbai but it was a wonderful match and people are again enjoying cricket the way it is meant to be.

What happened in Mumbai was extremely unfortunate. I don’t think India winning or me scoring a hundred will make the people who lost loved ones feel better. It is a terrible loss and our hearts are with them — but we will try to help them in whatever manner we can.”

“I look at it (the terror strike) as an attack on India, not just Mumbai, and it should hurt every Indian. It was one of the most emotional moments I’ve had on a cricket field. I dedicate this hundred to all the people of India, especially those who have gone through terrible times,” The Sun quotes Tendulkar, as saying.

US stresses need for cooperation between India and Pak

United Nations, Dec 16 (PTI) Pressing for continued cooperation between India and Pakistan to bring the perpetrators of Mumbai terror strikes to justice, the US has said both countries should ensure that such attacks are not repeated. Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice said the United States will continue to cooperate with both India and Pakistan in "every regard".
"The key is that the parties need to focus on - and I think, we are focusing on -- both bringing the perpetrators to justice and prevention of any following on attacks," the top US diplomat told reporters after a meeting of the Middle East Quartet at the UN headquarters here yesterday. Rice, who visited both New Delhi and Islamabad in the aftermath of the November 26 attacks on Mumbai, said the US has made its views very clear on the issue and both parties are continuing to cooperate in this regard.
However, she parried a question posed by a Pakistani journalist about "increasing tensions" between the two countries following reported incursion of the Indian fighter planes into Pakistani air space. India has denied that its warplane made any incursion into the Pakistan airspace.
Later, Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari described it as "technical incursion". "Incursions do happen," he said and added that the planes were flying at about 40,000 feet to 50,000 feet when they executed a turn that "slightly entered Pakistan soil.

Bill on Central anti-terror agency in LS

New Delhi: Gearing up to fight terrorism in a more effective manner, the government today introduced in the Lok Sabha a Bill to set up a National Investigation Agency (NIA) and another legislation to strengthen the law against terror.The Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Amendment Bill aims at strengthening the arrangements for speedy investigation, prosecution and trial of cases related terrorism while at the same time guarding against any possible misuse of such provisions.The National Investigation Agency Bill provides for setting up an agency at the Central level with powers to probe terrorism and other crimes having national ramifications across the country.
The two bills were introduced by Home Minister P Chidambaram, a day after Union Cabinet cleared these in the wake of Mumbai terror strikes.The Agency is being sought to be established in a concurrent jurisdiction framework with provisions for taking up specific cases under specific Acts for investigation, the Bill said. It also envisages provisions for setting up of Special Courts to try terror-related cases.The Bills have been brought forward as the "country has been the victim of large-scale terrorism sponsored from across the border," Chidambaram said."There have been innumerable terrorist attacks, not only in the militancy and insurgency affected areas and areas affected by left wing extremism but also in the form of terrorist attacks and bomb blasts in various parts of the hinterland and major cities," he said.

Kasab is a Pakistani national, confirms FBI

Islamabad: American investigators who questioned Ajmal Amir Iman Kasab, the lone terrorist captured during the Mumbai attack, are convinced he is a Pakistani national and that the terrorist strike was planned and executed by the Lashkar-e-Tayiba, diplomatic sources said on Tuesday.
Investigators from the Federal Bureau of Investigation were given access to Kasab for nine hours and after questioning him, they came to the conclusion that he was a Pakistani national as contended by Indian authorities, the sources told PTI.The sources, familiar with the probe being conducted by the Federal Bureau of Investigation's team dispatched to Mumbai, said American investigators were also convinced that the Mumbai attacks were intricately planned and directed by LeT leaders based in Pakistan."The investigators believe the attacks were planned, coordinated and directed from Pakistan by LeT leaders," a source said.These findings fit in with comments by top American leaders like Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Admiral Mike Mullen, the senior-most US military official, who have asked Pakistan to take quick action against 'non-state actors' based on Pakistani soil who were linked to the Mumbai attacks.Though Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani has ruled out allowing the British police to quiz the suspects Pakistan had detained in connection with the Mumbai attacks, the diplomatic sources said it would be hard pressed to take such a stance if the FBI made a similar request, as India had already given American investigators access to Kasab.The diplomatic sources also provided other details of the FBI investigation that had convinced the US of the complicity of the LeT in the terrorist strike.American investigators were able to extract details of calls made by the terrorists involved in the Mumbai attacks to their LeT handlers in Pakistan by using sophisticated Technology, to examine the burnt and damaged mobile phones of the attackers, the sources said.These phones, which were damaged in gun battles between the terrorists and security forces, were provided to the FBI team by Indian law enforcement agencies, they said.
The US dispatched an investigating team to Mumbai as six Americans were among the 183 people killed in the attacks.
Kasab was captured shortly after he and another terrorist struck at a major railway terminus in India's financial hub. Indian officials said he was a member of the LeT and belonged to Faridkot village in Pakistan's Punjab province. Kasab's father subsequently admitted to a Pakistani newspaper that the gunman whose pictures were beamed around the world by the media was his son.Other residents of Faridkot have said that Kasab last visited the village about five to six months ago, when he told his mother he was going away for 'jehad'.The Pakistan government has said it is awaiting information and evidence from India to confirm the identity and nationality of Ajmal.The sources also said the FBI investigators had found no evidence of linkages between the 26/11 attacks and the Inter Services Intelligence.

Non-state actors are Pak's responsibility: Zardari

New York, Dec 16 (PTI) Acknowledging that non-state actors operating from Pakistan were "its responsibility", President Asif Ali Zardari has said that he will not allow the country's soil to be used to launch an attack on any "friend or foe". "Yes, definitely.
I do not shrug away from that position. Anybody from my soil is my responsibility," he told 'Newsweek' magazine when asked to comment about US Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice's statement that "non-state" actors on Pakistan's soil are still its responsibility.
Zardari said his administration has started combing the whole region (from where the outlawed Lashkar-e-Taiba operates) for all non-state actors and "we have made certain arrests." Asked whether he thinks he can shut the LeT down, the President said he will not allow anybody to have the capability to engage in terror attacks.
"Nobody will be allowed to use Pakistan soil for any form of aggression toward any friend or foe," Zardari said.

Radio Pakistan calls Mumbai terror attack 'a small incident'!

Ferozepur, Dec.16 (ANI): The attack on Taj Mahal and Oberoi-trident hotels in Mumbai during the last week of November hit the headlines in newspapers all over the world, and the issue was raised in the United Nations Security Council, but for the Punjabi Durbar programme of Radio Pakistan the attack was a 'small incident!'
Radio Pakistan also blamed the Government of India for falsely blaming Pakistan and its intelligence agency for promoting terrorism.
The statements made in the Punjabi Durbar programme have shocked the listeners in Punjab. They point out that the terrorist who has been caught alive Mumbai , has admitted that he was trained by ISI in Pakistan. They came here with support of Pakistan Navy. His parents in Pakistan have also accepted before Pakistan Media that he is their son who left home four years back in a fit of fury. Is there any doubt left now?," said Colonel (retd.) Ajit Singh.
"It is well-known today that India is a secular country and it acts with responsibility. There is anger not only in the people of India but everywhere, for Pakistan's actions. America has also supported our view point and is putting pressure on Pakistan to stop them from creating tensions . It is better if Pakistani authorities do some introspection," Colonel (retd.) Ajit Singh added.
Producers of the Punjabi Durbar programme should read their own newspapers like Dawn or watch Geo TV so that they know a bit of reality. It will also help them to understand world opinion about Pakistan after Mumbai terror attack.
The world community has been shocked by the killing of nearly 200 people and wounding of over 300 wounded, including international tourists.
British Prime Minister Gordon Brown criticized Pakistan in front of Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari. He said: "Pakistan's own future depends on its actions against those within its borders who are bent on disruption of the elected government and Pakistan's relations with its neighbours."

Katrina Kaif is the sexiest Asian woman aliveSingle Photo | Multiple Photos

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