December 23, 2008 :: Anjika Sridhar :: No Comment Yet
Pakistan’s defense minister, Ahmed Mukhtar, has said there will be no nuclear conflict with India, in the event that armed conflict breaks out over last month’s Mumbai terrorist seige. Indian authorities and other intelligence agencies have alleged that Lashkar-e-Taiba, a militant group outlawed by Pakistan, had launched the attack from Pakistani soil, and pressure is on both governments to reach an agreement for peaceful political cooperation to eliminate the threat of another attack and find those responsible for the deaths of nearly 200 people in Mumbai.
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December 21, 2008 :: J.E. Robertson :: No Comment Yet
There are over 230 million people suffering from hunger or undernourishment in India. No other nation has so many people suffering chronic malnutrition, and the undernourished in India represent 27% of the worldwide hunger-stricken population. While India’s economy develops and the potential for an expanded middle class takes root, the total number of Indians going [...]
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November 30, 2008 :: J.E. Robertson :: No Comment Yet
Throughout the siege of Mumbai, we have been hearing that India suspects the plot must have had its roots in Pakistan. Between Friday and Saturday, we began to hear Indian diplomats expressing concern that reflexive anger might cause people not to distinguish between Pakistan’s government and militant groups operating out of Pakistan. Now, we are seeing increasing concern that the attack could be designed to destabilize Pakistan itself and create an opportunity for Taliban-linked groups to seize control of some parts of the country.
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November 30, 2008 :: Anjika Sridhar :: No Comment Yet
For days, news reports heralded the end of the Mumbai siege, though it continued, with fierce gunbattles and intermittent explosions, amid a raging inferno, at the Taj Mahal Palace hotel. There was death and destruction at no less than 9 separate locations in what some headlines termed “the battle for Mumbai”. Diplomatic tensions were high throughout, as foreign governments sought to ensure the safety of their citizens. The dead were of many distinct nationalities, including highly publicized French, American and Israeli victims.
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November 30, 2008 :: J.E. Robertson :: One Comment
The three-day siege of Mumbai has come to a fateful, bloody end, leaving at least 183 dead and over 270 injured. The Taj Mahal Palace Hotel, a 105-year-old landmark, the scene of the worst fighting, was described by one witness as “totally burnt”, with bodies bloodied and badly damaged by fire, strewn around. The attack began Wednesday evening as 8 to 10 gunmen reportedly landed in a small inflatable boat on a city beach, and proceeded to assault civilians at cafes and hotels, using high-powered automatic weapons and grenades.
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November 30, 2008 :: Denver Lessing :: One Comment
We have to think very carefully about what it would mean if we took the accusations of some political leaders in India seriously when they say the origin of the attacks can be linked to Pakistan. More careful, more thoughtful intellectual lights in the Indian diplomatic corps or in party politics, have noted that while it is likely fair to say the official government of Pakistan was not responsible, it may also be true that there are militant “roots” somewhere in Pakistani society that supported or enabled the attacks. It must be said, there is no publicly known evidence to date.
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November 27, 2008 :: staff :: No Comment Yet
Gunmen have taken positions in at least nine sites across Mumbai, where civilians have been killed and Indian security forces now battle to regain control. Media reports suggest there are confirmed attacks at the following locations: Chowpatty Beach, Dockyard Road, Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport, Gokuldas Tejpal Hospital, Cama and Albless Hospital, Municipal Corp. of Greater [...]
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November 27, 2008 :: staff :: No Comment Yet
A band of as yet-unidentified terrorists have attacked between 7 and 9 locations around Mumbai, India’s financial capital and a city roughly twice the size of New York. One group of gunmen reportedly came ashore in an inflatable dinghy, while authorities have suggested others were lying in wait to rise up and contribute a significant amount of stockpiled weapons to the fight. Indian authorities are struggling to regain control of various locations where hostages have reportedly been killed in large numbers.
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November 17, 2008 :: Denver Lessing :: No Comment Yet
The cloud of soot and smog choking India and China and their neighbors is worsening. The massive brown cloud hovering over Asia now poses serious long-term health risks and environmental dangers to much of the continent, according to a new UN report. The world’s largest pollution phenomenon already drastically reduces the amount of daylight reaching ground level in many Chinese cities, and there is concern the sunlight-blocking effects could impede agricultural production.
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October 24, 2008 :: staff :: No Comment Yet
The city of New Delhi, the Indian capital, is reporting it has reached over 1,000 new cases of dengue fever this year. Dengue is a “vector-borne” disease, meaning it is transmitted from one host to another by way of an intermediary such as a microbe or small insect. There have only been two reported cases of deaths this year from the disease, in the capital, and authorities suggest a prolonged rainy season and consequent chronic humidity are to blame for the increase in cases.
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January 13, 2008 :: admin :: No Comment Yet
13 January :: IHT reports from Beijing “Prime Minister Manmohan Singh of India will arrive in Beijing on Sunday for a three-day visit to China, with each country eager to increase bilateral trade, promote mutual friendship and offer reassurances that Asia is big enough to accommodate the ambitions of both rising powers”; the two nations [...]
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October 24, 2007 :: admin :: No Comment Yet
24 October :: More than 500,000 Californians have been evacuated as wildfires blaze out of control, more than 1,000 structures destroyed; firefighters admit they cannot control the fires, can only hope at present to protect people; Gov. Schwarzenegger has warned the White House the fires are too vast to be dealth with by state agencies… [...]
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October 6, 2007 :: admin :: No Comment Yet
6 October :: Guardian reports “Craig Venter, the controversial DNA researcher involved in the race to decipher the human genetic code, has built a synthetic chromosome out of laboratory chemicals and is poised to announce the creation of the first new artificial life form on Earth“; if achieved, breakthrough will spur heated ethical debates on [...]
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