Don’t ask, don’t tell’ repealed, questions remain

Washington: While US President Obama is all set to sign the legislation into law which will allow gays to serve explicitly in the armed forces, the new law will not be implemented immediately and put on hold until certain technical concerns are addressed.

The major concern comes in the minds of US administrators regarding the new legislation is its impact on military operations in Afghanistan and Iraq.The ‘don’t ask, don’t tell’ theory, which stops gays and lesbian serving in the armed forces to reveal their sexual orientation, has been in place for past 17 years. The decision has been taken in the context of social implications to ex-President Truman’s 1948 executive order that recommends freedom and equality for every soldier serving the armed forces.

It will be noticeable that after the legislation taking form of law, how effective it proves and to what extent it is enforced.

Some people opine that there will be a sharp fall in the rate of discharge cases of gays. Military officials have given a clear indication that the law will be executed in a true manner. People believe that the time has changed, now the gay marriage is permitted in several states, views of society toward gays and lesbian have changed.

Most of the people in the United States see nothing wrong in gays and lesbians serving armed forces. The gay issue in the military has been a touchy issue for the administration. Until 1993, all recruits had to fill a column in the questionnaire asking about sexual orientation; if said yes, it means not eligible to join the military. So far, 13,500 military personnel have been dismissed under the law.

Boeing plans to add more 777 aircrafts to its fleet

Boeing aircrafts

Boeing, the world’s largest aircraft manufacturer, has decided to increase the production of Boeing 777, most capable twin-aisle airliner, for the second time in 2010. The decision seems to be a conscious one on the company’s part keeping in view the delays on the Boeing 787 Dreamliner.

The aircraft manufacturer has said that the production of the 777 aircraft will be increased up to 8 percent on a monthly basis until March 2013. It must be noted that in March this year, Boeing had announced its plant to boost production capacity to seven aircrafts every month from 2011.

The Chicago-based company is very keen to expand the production of twin-aisle aircrafts and add a wide variety to its fleet. So far the company has had delayed the production of 787 Dreamliner aircraft because of technical issues and the delay has left the program running late by three years.

Boeing 777 comes in a different set of configurations and can accommodate more than 400 people. It has released so far 907 aircraft since 1995 and still has a backlog order of more than 250 planes.

In October this year, the aircraft manufacturer had announced to raise the production of 737 airplane, world’s most widely used jetliner.

Boeing has strengthened its stock prices this year by gaining 20 percent in the New York Stock Exchange.

Boeing 737 aircraft faces stiff competition from its rival A320 manufactured byAirbus SAS. Airbus issued a statement last month in which it revealed a plan to offer new engines to A320 aircrafts.

Unique Occurrence of Winter Solstice with Lunar Eclipse in 2010

Lunar Eclipse as predicted in December

There will be unique phenomena in the space this year as winter solstice will correspond with a full lunar eclipse.

The occurrence of winter solstice with lunar eclipse will be for the first time in last 456 years.

As NASA reports, this will be first time since 1955 when winter solstice, which is the shortest day in a year will coincide with a lunar eclipse.

Another lunar eclipse had occurred this year on 26 June. Many astrologers and scientist are regarding this incident very special. Many ancient cultures considered winter solstice as a time of revitalization. Many Greco-Roman customs and rituals were performed on occurrence of winter solstice, as it was considered an auspicious day.

Shane Hawkins a university professor in Greek and Roman studies at Carleton University in Ottawa stated that astrologically a solstice in winter is considered a time for rebirth because sunlight reverts back from this point of time and days starts becoming larger every day. People might feel overwhelmed with excitement if the coincidence of winter solstice and lunar eclipse really occurs on December 21.

People in North and South America will be able to see the lunar eclipse post midnight on Tuesday. The eclipse will be visible till 5:30 am. It will be visible in Europe too but for  a very short while.

US calls on agencies to ensure scientific integrity

US President obama talking about scientific memo

Science and Technology advisor of US President Obama delivers a memorandum to federal science agencies so that they can guarantee integration among different research institutes and technology firms for national development.

Al Teich, the director of science policy at the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) revealed that the memo carries instructions in this direction and offers guidance for different scientific agencies for their further actions.

This comes after the Director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, John Holdren, sent out the guidelines basing on a March 2009 memo bearing intentions of Obama with regard to scientific policy. In the memo, Obama had emphasized on building people’s trust in science, which could be achieved through scientific integrity. He had stressed the need for basing his administration’s approach to science policy on scientific integrity.

Guidelines

The White House announced Friday that the new memo provides further guidance to the heads of federal scientific departments and research agencies. Holdren gave department heads 120 days to implement the memo recommendations.

Some of the important topics covered are:

Scientific integrity in government – Guidelines to keep communication open among federal scientists and the public and making data accessible online.

Public communications –The memo directs agencies to establish systems to resolve issues in connection with proceeding with or refusing media interviews.

Federal advisory committees (FAC) – The responsibility of providing scientific advice for policy decisions lies with the Federal Advisory Committees or FACs. The procedures of recruiting committee members should be transparent.

Alaska Supreme Court to decide over senate seat dispute

Lisa Murkowski, Joe Miller,

Anchorage:  The dispute over a seat in the US Senate for Alaska has yet not been solved and finally reached to Supreme Curt. Joe Miller a Republican contestant appealed to the Supreme Court against a lower court’s judgment declaring his political rival Senator Lisa Murkowski as victorious.

Senator Lisa Murkowski had started a campaign against Joe Miller following his defeat in the Republican primary polls. Mr. Miller has appealed against Alaskan court’s decision to overrule his challenge to counting of write –in ballots for Ms. Murkowski.

The appealer Miller wants the Supreme Court to nullify poll results and ensure for fair counting of ballots.

Miller’s lawyer Michael Morley, stated that the state court has misinterpreted law in justifying Ms Murkowski’s victory on the basis of write-in ballots.

The state, court however, allowed for ballots that had many misspellings and favored to Ms. Murkowski’s tally To declarer her a winner.

Scott Kendall, Ms. Murkowski’s lawyer said that Mr. Miller’s legal challenge was based on false grounds. Judge Daniel E. Winfree, faulted Ms Murkowski’s lawyer for calling the case false and supported Miller’s appeal for justice. The justice also clarified that there was no reevaluation of challenged ballots to favor Mr. Miller.

Alaska’ state assistant attorney general, Joanne Grace, justified Mr. Miller’s appeal and stressed that the court should not infer that the will of the Legislature in making the law was to disenfranchise voters.

Bank of America to Stop Processing payments for WikiLeaks

Visa, Mastercard, Bank of America stop services to WikiLeaks

Washington: WikiLeaks has received another major setback for leaking confidential security documents and unveiling many diplomats on national and international level.  The Bank of America seizes all transactions process for WikiLeaks following banning actions by Paypal, Mastercard, Visa Europe and others.

WikiLeaks website has fuelled storm in the entire world

Unemployment Rate increases in Colorado

Unemployemnet remains high in US

The United Sates is still recovering from the aftermath of economic recession with high rates of unemployment. Despite the increasing number of jobs in the state of Colorado, unemployment rate were still on the rise in the state in November.

The southern west state of the US has registered a rise in number of jobless people to 8.6%, that is higher than its previous level in October. Colorado’s Labor and Employment Office stated on Friday that the unemployment rate has grown 8.6 percent within a short span of one month.

There were 3,800 jobs in Colorado in November. However the number of people seeking for jobs also increased by 6,900, to about 230,000 in the state.  Thus, despite an increase in the total number of jobs the rate of increase in number of unemployed youth remained higher than that of job creation.

In previous year, national unemployment rate raised to 10 percent whereas for Colorado it was 9.8 percent this year in November.

Colorado’s chief economist Alexandra Hall commented on this situation as very confusing as people do not know what to do. Despite the increase in jobs in last three months the employment situations have not changed much in Colorado, he added.

Hall further added that it would not be easy for all people to recover from the job loss during recession. Many professionals were found opting for babysitting or other short term jobs after losing their work.

CIA Official Leaves Islamabad Following Identity Exposure

CIA officals

A US intelligence official has been asked to return back from Pakistan after being identified by ISI. The top CIA official has been accused of spying by the Pakistan intelligence agency in reaction to the law suit against a Pakistani secret agent in New York reportedly. Ahmed Shuja Pasha, ISI chief has been accused of being involved in the Mumbai terrorist attacks by a New York court.

The CIA official has been called off in hurry following the US president’s warning to Pakistani diplomats against safeguarding terrorists in the country.

The US security official was continuously receiving life threats on phone after his identity was revealed in Islamabad.

Officials also revealed that they suspected Pakistani intelligence being operated in the United States. They added that the ISI– Directorate for Inter—Services Intelligence—Pakistan’s intelligence agency  had played a great role in identifying the CIA official in Islamabad probably in reaction to the case filed against the ISI chief over Mumbai attacks in Nov 2008.

This is likely to affect the diplomatic relations between the United States and Pakistan adversely.  CIA’s decision to call back its official also indicates the increasing conflict between the two countries which have been regarded as allies so far. There may be further increase in tension between the two nations in future as the United States is expected to pressurize Pakistan over safeguarding terrorists in its territory.

N Korea Threatens Seoul to Attack again

North Korea Threatens Merciless Action Against South

Seoul: North Korea warned South against its planned live firing drill on an island which has been a matter of dispute for both the nations. North Korea threatened to take stern actions against South if the later would not stop its action immediately.

It is reported that tension has aggravated in the Korean peninsula between these two countries following Seoul’s announcement regarding a military drill on Yeonpyeong Island. Prior to it N Korea had warned South Korea responding to its military exercises on the disputed sea border on Nov 23. However, the South called these drills as routine.

N Korea gave the warning following Seoul’s declaration to give a stern response to any attack on its territory.

China too confirmed South Korea’s threatening to attack N Korea, during a talk with U.S. Deputy Secretary of State James Steinberg and appealed for cooperation to defuse tension in the Korean peninsula.

U.S. diplomatic troubleshooter Bill Richardson also visited North Korea to establish peace in the Korean peninsula”.

Dai Bingguo, a Chinese diplomat, called on the United States for cooperation over the Korean peninsula in his meeting with Steinbergon Friday.

The US official had visited China to ask to pressurize N Korea and stop its aggressions against South. The United States have been severely criticizing China over its silence on N Korea’s declaration of its nuclear power.

US says to step up attacks on Al Qaeda, Taliban; asks Pak to do more

Osama Bin Laden, leader Al Queda

WASHINGTON: In a major move that is part of Obama administration’s new Afghan strategies, its leadership has decided to increase military attacks on terror outfits like Al Qaeda and Taliban in the region. US administration has shown concern over insurgent activities in the tribal regions of Pakistan.

It is important to notice that the United States has taken the decision to step up assaults on terror groups across the border areas only after the continued refusal of action by the Pakistan government.

In a statement released by the Obama administration, it has said that Pakistan is now slowly realizing the threat from extremists who have been moving freely till date. The US report says that the extremists operating in the North Waziristan of Pakistan have been indulged in attacks on allied forces.

The US administration, however, has said that it would keep insisting Pakistan government to take actions against terror outfits operating within its territory. US officials have stated that they would ask Pakistani military to launch attacks on extremists’ safe havens in the North Waziristan region.

The majority of work needs to be taken care of by the United States itself at least till the time Pakistani forces really steps in.

However, US Defense Secretary Robert Gates praised Pakistan and said it was good to see that Pakistani forces were coordination form their side of border to increase the scrutiny over the militant activities in the areas.