Author Archives: Gunjan Priya

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WikiLeaks chief says ‘he would be killed’ if extradited to US

London: WikiLeaks chief fears that he would be killed if extradited to US on spying charges, according to a published report. He is currently staying in Britain after being released on bail last week.

Julian Assange is on bail in UK resisting Sweden’s effort to extradite him over rape charges, but US administration is also mulling ways to prosecute him on the charges of disclosing thousands of secret documents, which have tarnished US image worldwide.

The Australian has said in an interview that the UK can not extradite him for political crimes against the United States, but it remains at the will of the Britain government whether to take a call on US request or follow its own extradition policy.

Assange further said that the US authorities were ‘trying hard to finalize a plea pact’ with Bradley Manning, the US soldier suspected of providing WikiLeaks with secret documents.

WikiLeaks chief went on to state that if the US finally succeeded in its aim of extradition

from the UK, then there was a high probability of him being killed in the US prison.

The Australian has earlier said that several WikiLeaks staff have been threatened since the day the website started to publish a cache of around 250,000 secret US State Department documents in November.

Assange has been living at a friend’s residence in Britain since his bail last week on conditions that he will report to police on a daily basis and wear an electronic tag.

WikiLeaks chief’s case hearing would be starting again from February 7, 2011, on the extradition plea made by Sweden.

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US calls on West African nations to support peacekeeping force

peacekeeping force in Ivory Coast

Buttressing of peacekeeping forces and imposing financial sanctions against President Laurent Gbagbo could help prevent a civil war in Ivory Coast.

State Department spokesman Philip J. Crowley says that Gbagbo had lost the last election and he should step down making way for the elected party to form government.

While the presence of US forces is not discussed now, USA wants Nigeria and West African nations to augment the existing UN peacekeeping force. Gbagbo has already questioned the presence of UN peace keeping force in Ivory Coast. His next move could be to resist the peacekeeping force with his own force, which could lead to a civil war.

Opposition leaders are already requesting for the removal of Gbagbo who is still clinging on to power despite losing the elections. France and Germany have warned their citizens to leave the country. The UN refugee commissioner has reported that nearly 6000 people of Ivory Coast have fled the country.

World Bank President Robert Zoellick confirmed that the bank has frozen loans to the Ivory Coast. The Central Bank of West African States has also stopped lending to Ivory Coast. UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has expressed concern over the possibility of Ivory Coast slipping in to a civil war. US is urging and hoping that sanctions and increase presence of peacekeeping forces could stop a civil war there.

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Senate approves nuclear arms treaty with Russia

Washington — The Senate approved the New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty, or New START, signed between USA and Russia, by a 71-26 vote.  For this important security issue even Republicans joined hands and ensured that the treaty was passed.

The treaty will allow each nation to verify nuclear installations of the other country. Each country will have to bring down their number of nuclear warheads to 1550 and nuclear launchers to 700.

President Barack Obama said after the treaty was approved, He further added that it was the most important arms control deal in last two decades. He hoped that the agreement would enhance US leadership to stop growth of nuclear armament and establish peace in the world without them. The agreement clearly shows unity between Republicans and Democrats on the matter of security.” Obama had singed the treaty with Russian President Medvedev in April.

This treaty was hailed by many senior political and had the support of military leaders. The treaty is expected to end the nuclear race between Russia and the USA. It would also prod other countries to regulate their nuclear arsenal plans.

The treaty also had the approval of a majority of Americans. A very recent poll result revealed that 73 percent of people polled approved the treaty and 24 percent rejected the treaty.

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California Gains No seat in House for Low Population Growth

California's shares of House of Representative seats remains same

A recent population tally figure of California unveiled by the US Census Bureau denies the state any new seat in the House of Representatives. The 2010 decennial population figures are in conflict with a higher population count carried out by the state.

California has been gaining new seats every ten years after it attained statehood in 1850. But this time the census figures show a very small percentage increase over the growth in the last decade. This denial has happened for the first time in the last 90 years.

In this regard, Hans Johnson, director of research at the Public Policy Institute of California said, “You might consider this an indicator of the maturation of the state. At some point, it had to stop growing as much as it had. California has always had a growing piece of the pie, and this is the first time we haven’t had that. That’s certainly going to disappoint some people.”

California is still the most populous state of the nation with a head count of 37,253,956, which is 10 percent more than the 2000 census count of 33,871,648.

The Census Bureau figures don’t match with the California’s state Department of Finance population figures. Earlier in December the state Department of Finance put the population tally at 38.8 million. While the Census Bureau sends questionnaires to households the state department takes housing, tax, and school data to count population and hence the difference.

California will have to contend with the 53 seats in the House of Representative. As per the Department of Finance’s figures it would have earned two more seats taking the number to 55. Ratcheting up the issue will be of no use as the Supreme Court has ruled in a lawsuit in 2000 that the Census Bureau’s figures are final.

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Indefinite Detentions: Suspected Terrorists could Question Periodically

Prisoners at Guantánamo

Washington: The issue of detaining suspected terrorists is a dicey issue and the Obama administration plans to deal with it in a way that would allow suspected terrorists held indefinitely to challenge their imprisonment periodically.

A White House official spoke on conditions of anonymity that the executive order, which has not been presented to the President yet, covers prisoners who can’t be tried in civilian courts and prisoners who cannot be tried in military commissions such as the one set up in Guantánamo Bay, Cuba.

The President had mooted about and had pledged in 2009 to give suspected terrorists legal access and a fair chance of proving their innocence. This intention is a fall out of the Supreme Court’s decision in 2008, which stated that prisoners held in camps such as the Guantánamo Bay could challenge their detention. But the decision did not specify how often detainees could challenge in a court of law.

The Obama administration attempts to fill the lacuna. Obama had said in a 2009 speech at the National Archives, “We must have clear, defensible and lawful standards for those who fall in this category. We must have fair procedures so that we don’t make mistakes. We must have a thorough process of periodic review, so that any prolonged detention is carefully evaluated and justified.”

The latest proposal could bring top Al Qaeda figures such as Khalid Sheikh Mohammed in to the ambit of a civilian court trial within the USA for his alleged involvement in the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks. This could secure political support for the Obama administration.

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Obama wins as Senate poised to pass Nuclear Treaty

Obama signs on START Treaty in Prague

Washington: The New START treaty between the United States and Russia is poised for ratification in the Senate giving a victory to the Obama administration and the White House campaign that tried hard for the approval of the treaty.

Even Republicans who are opposing the treaty are divided. The schism in the Republican Party got pronounced as eleven members of the party joined the Democrats on the issue and the party’s third most important leader, Sen. Lamar Alexander of Tennessee declared his support for the treaty.

The Obama administration has worked hard to see the treaty ratified. Efforts included the firming up of commitment to secure $80 billions for nuclear modernization in the USA.

The treaty restricts the signatory countries to limit their long-range nuclear missiles to 1550 from 2200 in seven years of signing it. Countries that ratify the treaty will limit the number of nuclear launchers to 700.

The treaty will have modes effects on the nuclear capabilities of the USA and Russia. But it can strengthen security relations with Russia and help in persuading other countries to reduce their nuclear arsenal.

Sen. John F. Kerry (D-Mass.), chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said after the 67-28 vote, “We are on the brink of writing the next chapter in the 40-year history of wrestling with the threat of nuclear weapons.”

Alexander, rendered his support because he felt that the pact “leaves our country with enough nuclear warheads to blow any attacker to kingdom come. I’m convinced that Americans are safer and more secure with the New START treaty than without it.”

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Toyota fined $32 mn over violating US vehicle safety norms

Japanese automaker Toyota Motor Corporation will pay a penalty of $32.4 million to the US government in two different cases of product issues. The auto company failed to meet the terms laid down by the vehicle safety norms.

After adding this penalty, Toyota has so far been imposed $48.8 million as fines to be paid to the US government. The auto company faced a series of humiliations over serious defects in its vehicles. The latest fine will be the optimum could be levied under US legislation.

US transportation official announced late on Monday the decision to impose the fine on Toyota, confirmed later on.

Toyota recalled 55,000 cars to fix the floor mats issue in 2007, but two years later the lethal accident of a Lexus Sedan model again raised a serious concern over an outdated floor mats design. It was found that fixing floor mats was not enough and there was a greater need for paying attention to redesign of accelerator pedal in the vehicles.

Another case of breaching safety norms involved the issues with steering control in selective models of Toyota. The auto company had issued a statement in which it said that the issue was confined to vehicles in Japan, but later on similar problem surfaced in numerous Toyota vehicles in the US. The steering control defect led to a recall of about 1 million vehicles.

The auto major accepted that the recall of vehicles after detecting certain defects had tarnished its reputation especially when it was facing a stiff competition in the US from other Japanese and South Korean automobile companies.

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NATO refutes US troops mulling raids in Pakistan

Kabul, Afghanistan: The coalition forces in Afghanistan has denied the media reports that US military wants to boost special activities and raids in the tribal regions of Pakistan to get hold over the extremists launching attacks on allied troops working in adjoining border areas of Afghanistan.

While denying the report published in a leading US daily, NATO’s deputy chief of communications, U.S. Rear Adm. Gregory Smith, clarified on Tuesday that the report was baseless and there was no validity in it whatsoever.

Earlier the published report had gathered a huge attention in which it mentioned that the NATO forces were thinking of launching raids in Pakistan’s tribal areas to catch militants taken refuge there to protect themselves.

Meanwhile, Pakistan’s envoy to the US Husain Haqqani said that Islamabad would not allow any foreign military crossing its border and its forces were capable enough to teach lessons to extremists operating in the tribal areas. He further said that Pakistan was ready to give all possible supports to the allied forces fighting war against terror but under no circumstances would want to see foreign army on its soil.

Haqqani further said that chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Adm. Mike Mullen went on a visit to Pakistan and appreciated its efforts and contributions in a global war on terror; during his trip, he never gave any indication of NATO troops’ special activities in Pakistan.

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Bad weather continues to affect UK flight operations

British Airways

Adding further to agonies of travelers, several airlines in UK thinking of cancellation of flights amidst nonstop snowfall and decreasing temperatures across Europe.

It would be a big disappointment for those who had planned to go on a Christmas vacation.

In a statement, British Airways has said that if weather continues to deteriorate further then there will be no other option than to cancel more flights to avoid any mishaps. The airline has said that its flights will be operated from Heathrow airport of London on Tuesday with just one of its two runways. As of now Heathrow airport is not fully functional as the major portion of the airport covered with snow.

As the number of international and domestic flights has been canceled, thousands of stranded passengers are forced to take refuge in the waiting room of the Heathrow airport, which is also known to be the world’s busiest airport.

The weather department has forecast severe snowfall and low temperatures in the coming week for most of the UK. Keeping in view the weather warnings, one can expect the travel disruptions to worsen further.

Meanwhile, the UK government has given a relaxation at Heathrow airport to night flights, can land until 0100 GMT each day until Christmas. The severe weather conditions have forced several airlines to cancel flights across Europe for many days.

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N. Korea not to retaliate over South’s drills

Yeonpyeong Island, South Korea: Despite Pyongyang’s threat for disastrous outcome, South Korea conducted live-fire military drills on an island just few kilometers away from North Korea’s shores on Monday. South Korean administration evacuated the adjoining land border and instructed the island residents to hide themselves in case of military attack.

The military exercise, which lasted for few hours, was conducted nearly after a month since North Korean army bombarded Yeonpyeong Island. The attack targeting civilian areas, killing marines and construction workers, was the first since the Korean War of 1950-53. Since then the Korean peninsula remained volatile and disturbed.

The UN diplomats organized a meeting on Sunday to fins a solution to the problem but in vain. North Korea described the military drills an irresponsible act of Seoul but said that it would hold own fire as South Korean army had changed its firing zones. North Korea has been claiming the waters around Yeonpyeong as its region. After the exchange of firings last month, Pyongyang accused the South Korean army of firing missiles into its waters but Seoul refuted the claim by saying that artilleries were fired in the southern direction.

North Korea, however, issued another boiling statement in which it vowed to go for military attack.

Meanwhile, South Korean president Lee Myung-bak has said that Seoul is equipped enough to tackle untoward circumstances if any arising out of military clash with North Korea.

The US and others wanted the United Nations Security Council to condemn military firing of North Korea and blamed the North for igniting the already tensed atmosphere in the peninsula.