NEW DELHI, India, Dec. 15 -- Asserting that his sympathies lay with the Indian people, Democratic Senator John Kerry on Sunday said US President-elect Barack Obama should visit India "very soon". Kerry said he was satisfied for the responsible manner in which the Government of India had conducted itself after the 26/11 terrorist strikes in Mumbai. Kerry, who will meet Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Monday before leaving for Islamabad, talked to selected journalists on Sunday. Pledging to work  more

Los Angeles, Dec. 14 -- (IANS) The plot to the fourth instalment in the "Terminator" franchise has been revealed. Set in post-apocalyptic 2018, "Terminator Salvation: The Future Begins" will release May 22, 2009, reports Hollywood.com. The film picks up the story of John Connor, son of Linda Hamilton's character from the previous "Terminator" films, as he sets out to avenge his mother's murder at the hands of the terminators. He leads the human resistance against skynet that is the army of t  more

SOUTHWEST ASIA, Dec. 13 -- The U.S. Air Force issued the following press release: Coalition airpower integrated with coalition ground forces in Iraq and International Security Assistance Force troops in Afghanistan during operations Dec. 12, according to Combined Air and Space Operations Center officials here. In Afghanistan, an Air Force A-10 Thunderbolt II and an Air Force F-15E Strike Eagle performed shows of force to deter enemy activities against an Afghan National Army checkpoint tha  more

Dec. 14 -- Ever since the Pakistan link in the Mumbai attacks was traced, many strategic analysts have been rooting for punitive action against Pakistan - also referred to as pre-emptive strikes and hot pursuit. This is not the first time such suggestions have been mooted. After the parliament attack in December 2001, India launched Operation Parakram to mobilize its troops along the international border with the assumed intention of a frontal response to Pakistan-sponsored terrorism. Internat  more

Guwahati, Dec. 14 -- (IANS) The recent terror attacks in Mumbai and Assam have brought into focus the need to train Indian security forces to combat urban terrorism, officials said. Anti-terror experts at the Counter Insurgency & Jungle Warfare School (CIJWS) at Vairengte in Mizoram have already taken the lead in imparting specialised training to army, paramilitary, and police personnel, in tackling urban terrorism. "The training schedule involves a rigorous drill on how to tackle urban terro  more

GUWAHATI, Dec 14 -- City Police yesterday arrested Chandan Debnath (28) for illegally selling medicine meant for Indian Army to private medical stores situated in Barpeta district. Debnath, according to police, sold medicine worth over Rs 2 lakh, supplied from a city-based pharmaceutical company, to several medical store owners. The medicines that were sold to the private medical stores were exclusive to Indian Army only. Police also arrested three other persons including Pradeep Kumar Boro (  more

GUWAHATI, Dec 14 -- General-Officer-Commanding (GOC) 4 Corps headquarters Lieutenant General BS Jaswal paid a two-day visit to the Red Horns Division at Rangiya and reviewed the insurgency situation in Lower Assam. Major General Chander Prakash, GOC Red Horns Division, who is responsible for countering terrorist operations in Lower Assam, briefed the Corps commander during the latter's visit, which began on December 13. Chander Prakash, while apprising Jaswal about the existing law-and-order s  more

Guwahati Dec. 15 -- The serial blasts in Assam and the dreaded terrorist attacks in Mumbai exposed the loopholes in the security system in the country but the question is whether the Assam and Central Governments have learnt the lessons from the attacks to put a fool proof security system in place to prevent such attacks. It is a fact that no security system can be described as totally foolproof as former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi was shot down by her own security men, but the Government must  more

NEW DELHI, India, Dec. 15 -- Authorities in Delhi may have forgotten Kuldeep Singh, the bus driver who saved many lives during the serial bomb blasts in 2005 and lost his eyesight in the process, but a group of visually impaired children in the city seem to remember his bravery. Children from a blind school in Noida honoured Singh on Sunday even as he waits for the compensation promised to him by the government. Singh, a Delhi Transport Corporation bus driver, had picked up the bag containing t  more

New Delhi/Islamabad, Dec. 14 -- (IANS) Pakistan has claimed that Indian fighter jets violated its airspace late Saturday night, an allegation that India Sunday termed as "untrue". Meanwhile, Geo TV reported that Pakistan has declared an emergency at its airbases at Shorkot and Sarghoda following reports that Indian jets violated Pakistan air spaces twice - in Pakistani-administered Kashmir and in Lahore. "India violated Pakistani air space and our air force is on high alert to defend any viola  more

New Delhi/Islamabad, Dec. 14 -- (IANS) Indian airforce officials Sunday morning rubbished reports that its fighter jets had violated Pakistan's air space and said they had received no complaint from the Pakistani side. Responding to Pakistani allegations that Indian fighter jets had violated their airspace late Saturday night by entering two places - Pakistani Kashmir and Lahore sectors - and were forced to turn back, a senior Indian Air Force (IAF) official in the Western Air Command told IANS  more

New Delhi/Islamabad, Dec. 14 -- (IANS) Tension escalated in Pakistan Sunday after reports that Indian fighter jets had violated its airspace, an allegation that India swiftly denied. Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari has now termed it a "technical incursion" and said the media "overhyped" it. Media reports were rife in Pakistan early Sunday saying that Indian fighter jets had violated its airspace late Saturday night and early Sunday in Lahore and Pakistan-administered Kashmir sectors, and an  more

NEW DELHI, India, Dec. 14 -- The undue sensitivity of politicians from Tamil Nadu to being called "political jokers" by the Sri Lankan army chief doesn't quite gel with their low stock at the moment. Matters are no different across the sea either as they were considered a bunch of bandicoots by a former Indian Army Chief! However, it should console them that they are in exalted company of the country's planners who, too, were derisively dismissed as a bunch of jokers during the 1980s by a forme  more

GUWAHATI, Dec 14 -- The Lamp lighting ceremony of third batch of nursing students of Army Institute of Nursing, Guwahati was held yesterday. Total 29 first year students took the 'Nightingale Pledge' on this auspicious occasion. Major General K S Sethi, GOC, 101 Area was the chief guest for this ceremony.  Lamp lighting ceremony signifies that as light illuminates its surrounding, a nurse should give a ray of hope to the sick and needy.  It also tries to impart the divine aspect of nursing serv  more

Colombo, Dec. 14 -- (IANS) Sri Lankan ground troops operating in the coastal forest district of Mullaitivu fought fierce gunbattles with Tamil Tiger rebels and recovered a "suicide boat" during a subsequent search, the military said here Sunday. The military authorities said that a fierce gunbattle broke at Kumulamunai in the rebel heartland of Mullaitivu Saturday and lasted nearly two hours, and the rebels suffered "heavy damages" during the confrontation. "Troops sustained minor damages. Tro  more

London, Dec. 14 -- (ANI): The brother-in-law of British Nobel Laureate novelist V S Naipaul was murdered last month after threatening to expose Pakistani army generals who had made deals with Taliban militants. According to The Times, Major-General Faisal Alavi, a former head of Pakistan's special forces, whose sister Nadira is Lady Naipaul, named two generals in a letter to the head of the army. He warned that he would "furnish all relevant proof". Aware that he was risking his life, he ga  more

Colombo, Dec. 14 -- (IANS) Vowing to press ahead with the ongoing military thrust against the Tamil Tiger rebels in the north, President Mahinda Rajapaksa has said that "no force can reverse the unparalleled victories achieved" by the Sri Lankan security forces against the LTTE. Addressing an annual event to mark the 'War Heroes' of the army's Sinha Regiment at Ambepussa, about 60 km northeast of Colombo, President Rajapaksa said Saturday that the Sri Lankan forces were "fighting a war setting   more

Lahore, Dec. 14 -- (ANI): The Pakistan Army moved medium and heavy military artillery vehicles from the Lahore Cantonment area to the north of Punjab on Saturday, causing a scare in the minds of the general public about an eminent offensive with India. However, the Director-General of the Inter-Services Public Relations, Major-General Athar Abbas, described the military movement as being part of routine winter military exercises. A statement issued by the ISPR said the 10th Corps was returnin  more

Lahore, Dec. 13 -- Former Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has said that in the wake of the terrorist attacks in Mumbai and the pointing of fingers by the international community at Pakistan, the country should go that extra mile to combat terrorism. In an interview to the New Delhi-based Tehelka magazine, Sharif said: "Nobody should be prepared to spare any organisation" that is "playing havoc both here and in India." "We should take serious action and we should let India know that .   more

Kathmandu, Dec. 13 -- Nepal Prime Minister Prachanda has said there is need to educate people about the positive aspects of violence in order to ensure that the recent political achievements are not endangered. Addressing a seminar titled, "The need for cultural transformation and its direction," here on Friday, Prachanda said the political changes that have come about in the country so far have taken place on the basis of violence including the declaration of a federal democratic republic.   more

London, Dec. 14 -- (ANI): Scientists have developed a super-wipe that can easily decontaminate spills of chemical warfare agents or industrial acids. Traditional methods to soak up harmful chemicals involve powdered carbon, which is itself a health risk if breathed in, reports New Scientist. Therefore, the US army, working alongside Texas Tech University in Lubbock and the Lawrence Livermore lab in California, has embedded the activated carbon in a super-absorbent wipe. This can clean up any  more

Agartala (Tripura), Dec. 14 -- (ANI): Tripura capital Agartala recently played host to a two-day conference on Community-based Disaster Risk Reduction (CBDRR). The National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) and the Tripura Government organized the conference jointly, which was attended by representatives from the government, engineers, army, paramilitary, police personnel, students, teachers and NGOs. Tripura Chief Minister Manik Sarkar in the presence of NDMA vice-chairman and former army  more

MIAMI, Dec. 14 -- The U.S. Navy issued the following press release: By Mass Communication Specialist 1st Class Michael Wimbish, U.S. Southern Command Public Affairs U.S. Navy doctors recently embarked aboard a Brazilian Navy hospital ship for a month-long humanitarian medical outreach mission through the heart of the Amazon, helping to bring care to remote jungle villages along a 600-mile stretch of the Madeira River. The Nov. 7-Dec. 5 exchange was the first time U.S. military doctors  more

NEW DELHI, India, Dec. 15 -- Constable Vinay Dandgawal(40) looked calm and focussed as he and others from Azad Maidan Police's detection staff tried to solve a theft at Pydhonie on Saturday evening. But his mind was far from peaceful. A terrorist bullet had grazed Dandgawal's back at CST station on November 26. Blood was spurting out of the cut but he valiantly continued his duty till the next afternoon when the pain became unbearable. His family was hysterical because they were watching the t  more

London, Dec. 14 -- (ANI): Scientists have developed a super-wipe that can easily decontaminate spills of chemical warfare agents or industrial acids. Traditional methods to soak up harmful chemicals involve powdered carbon, which is itself a health risk if breathed in, reports New Scientist. Therefore, the US army, working alongside Texas Tech University in Lubbock and the Lawrence Livermore lab in California, has embedded the activated carbon in a super-absorbent wipe. This can clean up any  more