HomeNewsletterEditorial
Volume No. 7,   Issue No. 2,   July 2008


How We Are Going

The year 2008 began with a bang in India – the camp of a central paramilitary force suffered a ‘jihadi’ attack on January 1, 2008. A minister was killed in Srilanka the same month. The ceasefire agreement between the Srilankan Government and the LTTE has been called off and the ‘simmering’ war between the two has broken out in the open again. The monarchy in the two Himalayan Kingdoms made way to forces of history in different ways. The King in Bhutan voluntarily gave up his throne to usher in a democratic form of government. The ‘Maoist revolution’ in Nepal forcibly crushed the only Hindu Kingdom in the world, leading to the emergence of a secular republic. After a spell of heightened violence, culminating in the assassination of Benazir Bhutto, Pakistan got a new Prime Minister in its historic election on February 18, 2008, which certainly marked a set-back for religious and fundamentalist forces in Pakistan. A new President took over in Taiwan, whereas the incumbent Chinese President got a second five year term.

The ‘asymmetric war’ between the Indian State and the Maoists in India has shown definite signs of aggravation. While wide and intensive networking of the Student Islamic Movement of India (SIMI) was unearthed, the Deoband leadership, Asia’s leading Islamic Seminary, issued a fatwa declaring terrorist activity as anti-Islamic. Al Qaeda leadership appeared fine-tuning their methodology by recruiting both women and children in their ranks in more numbers and hunting for cyber-savvy jihadis. And, a Washington Post report spoke of the risk of nuclear attack on rise.

The trend seems to continue. Not only the violence quotient in the Srilanka situation escalated last month, the governments in Canada and Italy had to intervene against LTTE sympathisers in their countries. The ‘Red Flag’ in Nepal has been taken as a morale booster by the Maoists in India, who have come up with a new blueprint for both expanding and intensifying their movement. In a daring act, the Maoists sank the motorboat of the elite Greyhound, the most successful anti-Maoist force in India. A new outfit under the banner of PLFI (Peoples’ Liberation Front of India) has come to notice. Pro-Khalistani slogans were heard inside the Golden Temple in Amritsar. But, perhaps the bigger threat looming large before the internal security forces in India was the report on the Maoists and Muslim fundamentalists joining hands to fight what they alleged ‘state terror’ against them. Strategic planners dealing with the overall terrorist threat at the international level may have to sit up with the information gathered from the home computer of an associate of Dr. A.Q. Khan that blueprints of N-bombs are now available in the black market. The MI5 of UK have warned about the possibility of the terrorists making good use of old ambulances. On the brighter or positive side, the Darul Uloom seminary organized an anti-terror conference in New Delhi and reiterated the fatwa against terrorism being against true Islam. The government in UK have plans to win over terrorists through imparting training to women and utilising the services of the Imams.

History seems to beckon Barrack Obama – he becomes the first coloured nominee for the contest for the White House in the US. China and Taiwan signed a historic agreement for establishing direct flights between these two countries. Israel and Hamas agreed to Gaza truce – thanks to Egyptian intervention. May also like to read the stories in the General File on: True Confidence, Love and Anger Have No Limit, Nails in the Fence, True Meaning of Black Belt as also the Obituary to Commonsense.

We also consider it worthwhile to share with you some interesting pieces on: “Terror is Evil” & “God and Science” from two established national dailies of Delhi.


D. C. Nath, IPS (Retd.)
Former Special Director, IB (MHA), Govt. of India,
Executive President & CEO,
International Institute of Security and Safety Management,
New Delhi, India.

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Terror is Evil: Declaration at the Anti-terrorism Global Peace Conference in New Delhi

The blast outside the Danish embassy in Islamabad is a chilling reminder that jehadis are alive and kicking even in the hearts of Pakistan’s city. The Danes were targeted presumably because a Danish newspaper was the first to publish in 2006 controversial cartoons depicting Prophet Mohammad, which attracted a wave of protests in the Islamic world. The Islamabad blast comes in the wake of reports that suggest a churning in the Islamic world. The fatwa issued by Jamiat Ulama-I-Hind and various Islamic organisations last week against terrorism reflects the mindset, presumably, of a majority of Muslims. The fatwa, issued on the letterhead of Darul Uloom Deoband, came during an anti-terrorism rally in the capital, mentioning therein that Islam is a religion of peace and security, and rioting, breach of peace, bloodshed are inhuman crimes. The fatwa is welcome, for it could blunt ideologues who claim religious sanction for their terrorist activities. Similar efforts are on the rise in other parts of the world. Influential theologians in the Arab world are questioning the ideology and strategy of jehad, as enunciated by Osama bin Laden and others. From a high security prison cell in Egypt, al-Sharif, commonly known as ‘Dr Fadl’, has issued a new book that rejects Al-Qaeda’s methods. Support of Al-Qaeda has fallen sharply in the Muslim world in recent years, according to global polls conducted by Pew Research Centre. There are positive signs, which could eventually help end a bloody phase in human history.

The Times of India – June 4, 2008

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God and Science

For Millennia, human kind comfortably believed that God had created the world and was up there in the heavens guiding its destiny. The Copernicus “uncentred” the earth and Charles Darwin argued that humans had evolved from lower animals through millions of years. Other men of science also started chipping away at the edifice of institutionalized religion and everything came under a cloud of doubt. We could no longer comfortably sing with the poet that, “God is in heaven and all is right with the world.” But that is just one version of the story. A closer look would reveal that not all scientists had denied God. The great ones had just redefined him. Johannes Kepler, for instance, believed that God was the creative “Geometer,” while Sir Isaac Newton in his Principia stated “the most beautiful system of the sun, planets, and comets, could only proceed form the counsel and dominion of an intelligent and powerful Being.” Albert Einstein did not believe in a personal god but spoke in ecstasy about a God who revealed himself in the wonderful harmony of the universe, and the genius Stephen Hawking has described his whole scientific venture as an attempt to read the mind of God. So one need not be wonderstruck at the results of a recent survey which proved that majority of Indian scientists believe in God. But here too closer look is needed, for the faith of most Indian scientists seem to be guided by tradition rather than the insights provided by their disciplines. According to the survey, a majority of them subscribe to the beliefs of the general populace on karma, destiny and rebirth. Some even believe in ghosts and evil spirits. A large percentage believes in the efficacy of prayer (as is evident from Isro scientists praying at Tirumala before launching space vehicles). They wear their faith on their sleeves (and on their foreheads), unlike their Western counterparts who are more nuanced and combative. Indian scientists are probably more comfortable with God because of the absence of furious controversies such as the “creationist-evolutionist” debate in the United States, where scientists and ideologians are attacking each other in the vilest of terms. Thank God for that.

The Asian Age – June 19, 2008

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HomeNewsletterIISSM News
Volume No. 7,   Issue No. 2,   July 2008




Terrorism File

Car bomb kills 2 near Iran embassy...
Baghdad – June 1, 2008 – A police official said at least two civilians were killed and five wounded when a car bomb exploded near the...







Security File

Maoists blow up railway tracks...
Patna – Activists of the outlawed CPI (Maoist) blew up railway tracks between Narganjo and Ghorparan railway stations on Patna-Howrah...







Science & Technology

US airport designs specialise in ‘security that you can’t see’...
Indianapolis – June 3, 2008 – Nine bulky baggage scanners worth $1 million each wait silently beneath the new terminal, poised to check...







Industry News

Secure 2009 – Exhibition and Conference...
Services International will be holding Secure 2009 – Exhibition and Conference on February 18-20, 2009 at Bandra Kurla Complex, Mumbai...







General Information

Italy’s mafia worth more than GDP of some nations...
Rome – The ‘Ndrangheta, the Italian organised crime group, does yearly business equivalent to some three percent of Italy’s economy...




HomeNewsletterIISSM NewsTerrorism File
Volume No. 7,   Issue No. 2,   July 2008

 

Car bomb kills 2 near Iran embassy

Baghdad – June 1, 2008 – A police official said at least two civilians were killed and five wounded when a car bomb exploded near the Iranian Embassy. The bombing underscores military warnings that insurgents remain a dangerous threat despite recent security gains that have pushed the number of Iraqi civilian casualties to their lowest level.

AP
The Asian Age – June 2, 2008.

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Suicide blast kills eight – Car bomb blows up outside Danish embassy in Islamabad

Karachi – June 2, 2008 – Eight people were killed and about 25 seriously wounded when a high-intensity car bomb exploded outside the Danish embassy in Islamabad on Monday afternoon. Some eyewitnesses say the blast occurred in a car that was parked within the embassy grounds. The embassies of Denmark and Norway were under threat following the publication of cartoon that many Muslims found offensive.

Kamal Siddiqi & Agencies
Hindustan Times – June 3, 2008.

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Colombo rail blast injures 18 people

Colombo – The Sri Lankan capital was rocked by an explosion along the Galle railway station on Wednesday even as the Air Force claimed to have bombed three “key positions” of the LTTE in Killinochchi. The police said a suspected LTTE cadre detonated an improvised explosive device (IED), “slightly damaging” the track between Wellawata and Dehiwala. Eighteen civilians were injured.

Muralidhar Reddy
The Hindu – June 5, 2008.

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6 injured in Colombo train explosion

Colombo – At least six people were wounded on Wednesday in a bomb attack on a packed train just outside Sri Lanka’s capital, officials said. The bomb exploded between Colombo Wellawattre and Dehiwela area.

Hindustan Times – June 5, 2008.

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Al-Qaeda urges Palestinians to carry out more attacks on Israel

Dubai – In an Internet audio message, Al-Qaeda number two Ayman al-Zawahiri urged Palestinian militants in the Gaza Strip to escalate attacks on Israel over its crippling siege of the territory. “To those who try to make you despair, tell them….America is being defeated by our brothers in Iraq and Afghanistan. Why should we despair?” said Zawahiri.

AFP
The Hindu – June 6, 2008.

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Algeria: Soldiers killed in bomb attack

Algiers, 6 June (AKI) - At least six Algerian soldiers were killed and four others injured in a bomb attack in the coastal village of Cap Djinet, east of the capital Algiers. Reports say that local authorities have blamed al-Qaeda's north African wing, the Al-Qaeda Organisation in the Islamic Maghreb, for the incident which took place on Thursday. The soldiers were returning to their barracks when their vehicle was hit by a roadside bomb. The attack occurred just two days after a suicide bomber blew himself up in front of an army barrack in Burj al-Kiffan, on the outskirts of Algiers, killing one person and injuring six others.

Email dated 7.6.2008 from Mr. Mayer Nudell, USA.

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Two bus blasts kill 23 in Lanka

Colombo – June 6, 2008 – Suspected LTTE terrorists struck twice on Friday, targeting public transport buses, which left at least 23 dead and 75 injured. At 7.35 a.m., an exploding mine killed 21 people and injured more than 60 in a bus in the Katubedda area, about 12 kms from Colombo. Around 4.10 p.m., a second bomb went off inside another bus near the Mahaweli National College of Education kin Kandy, 100 kms from the capital.

Sutirtho Patnanobis
Hindustan Times – June 7, 2008.

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Pro-Khalistan slogans raised

Chandigarh – June 6, 2008 – Nearly a quarter century after Indian army troops killed the Sikh separatist leader Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale and scores of his heavily armed followers, inside the holy precincts of Amritsar’s Golden Temple, a handful of radicals continuing to cling to the radical ideology, carrying unleashed swords, raised the almost customary slogans to mark the 24th anniversary of his death. They held the annual function to commemorate Operation Bluestar inside the Golden Temple Complex on Friday morning.

Asit Jolly
The Asian Age – June 7, 2008.

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5 killed in NWFP blast

Peshawar – June 7, 2008 – Five people including three policemen were killed when a bomb apparently targeting a police party exploded in northwestern Pakistan, the police said on Saturday. The remote-controlled device, planted on a bicycle detonated on Friday in Dera Ismail Khan town.

AFP
The Asian Age – June 8, 2008.

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Wave of bomb attacks kills 12

Baghdad – June 8, 208 – A wave of bomb and mortar attacks, including a strike on Baghdad’s heavily fortified government and embassy compound, killed at least 12 people in Iraq on Sunday, officials said. At least four civilians were killed and 23 wounded in the deadliest attack at a police centre in the Al-Yarmuk district of west Baghdad. Another three people were killed and seven wounded today in a mortar attack on the Green Zone, which houses the US embassy as well as Iraqi government offices.

Agence Ferance-Presse
The Statesman – June 9, 2008.

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BBC scribe killed in Afghanistan

Kabul – June 8, 2008 – An Afghan journalist working for the BBC was found dead today, a day after gunmen abducted him in the volatile southern province of Helmand, an Afghan media union said.

AFP
The Statesman – June 9, 2008.

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No letup in ISI ops: report

New Delhi – An internal 68-page document of the government, meant for restricted circulation, has painted a worrying security scenario with no let up in threats to India expected till at least 2025. It warns not only against ISI’s plans to keep terrorism in Kashmir alive and stoke fundamentalism but also against the increasing belligerence of leftwing extremists. Despite recent efforts at peace, there is no change in ISI’s objectives, which include the “liberation” of Kashmir, revival of militancy in Punjab; use of Bihar-Nepal border for smuggling arms, explosives and fake currency; cooperation with ULFA; control of insurgent networks from Bangladesh and using certain madrasas in border states like West Bengal. The overview of internal security challenges in “perspective plan of training in CRPF” provides a hard-headed analysis of the emerging challenges to the security establishment. It argues that big changes in demographics in terms of an illegal influx from Bangladesh cannot be ignored. The document speaks of the continuing influence of two major covert operations – operation Topac and Operation Pin code – launched by ISI to destabilize India which the Pakistani establishment still holds valid.

Vishwa Mohan/TNN
The Times of India – June 9, 2008.

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Five BRO workers killed in ambush in Jammu

Jammu – June 13, 2008 – Armed militants believed to be of the Lashkar-e-Tayyeba killed five officials of the Border Road Organization in Sinthan Top in Kishtwar district, Jammu, on Friday. A team of officials associated with the BRO’s Project Beacon was returning after a road inspection when they were ambushed and all the five officers were killed in the ambush.

Zorawar Singh Jamwal
Hindustan Times – June 14, 2008.

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Maoists’ new blueprint to terror

Raipur – Emboldened by an effete administration and their own increased firepower for a war of attrition against the Indian state, Maoist rebels are now beginning to show flexibility in strategy – from striking against police and paramilitary forces in dense forests, they are now targeting infrastructure around urban areas to cripple Chhattisgarh’s economy. In May last year, the Maoists struck vital power infrastructure in the state’s tribal region of Bastar for the first time that left it in darkness for a fortnight. This year too, the red brigade has struck in the same manner, blasting high tension power transmission towers and uprooting poles, causing losses worth crores of rupees to the state government. Chhattisgarh State Electricity Board (CSEB), whose towers and transmission lines have been targeted by the Maoists, maintains that it is losing around Rs.2 crore a week because of power failures, apart from other costs involved in restoring towers and transmission lines. The Director of Institute of Conflict Management, New Delhi, said, “The Maoists’ real aim is to carry out such operations nearer India’s economic and political hubs – like Mumbai and Delhi – to spread panic and create an impression of lawlessness and anarchy.”

Amitabh Tiwari/TNN
Sunday Times of India – June 15, 2008.

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Taliban storm jail in Kandahar, free 1,100

Kandahar – June 14, 2008 – Taliban militants attacked the main prison in southern Afghanistan late on Friday, blowing up the gate and helping over 1,100 prisoners flee, officials said. Many police officers were reported killed. A Taliban spokesperson said 30 insurgents on motorbikes and two suicide bombers attacked Sarposa Prison and freed about 400 Taliban members.

Sunday Hindustan Times – June 15, 2008.

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Blasts in Srinagar

Srinagar – June 14, 2008 – Three grenade blasts rocked Srinagar on Saturday, injuring a CRPF head constable and two civilians. One grenade exploded near the civil secretariat. In another incident, militants hurled a hand grenade towards an under construction house, housing a platoon of 158 battalion CRPF at Botshah Mohallah Lal Bazar in the city, but the grenade missed its target, the police said. The militants threw another hand grenade at Firdous.

Rashid Ahmad
Sunday Hindustan Times – June 15, 2008.

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Iran says gunmen kidnap 16 police officers

Tehran - June 14 (Reuters) - Armed bandits kidnapped 16 Iranian police and took them to Pakistan, an Iranian news agency reported on Saturday. Iranian media said they attacked a police station on Friday in the border town of Saravan in the volatile province of Sistan-Baluchestan, notorious for frequent clashes between security forces and drug smugglers.

Email dated June 15, 2008 from Mr. Mayer Nudell, USA.

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Kurdish rebels escalate bomb attacks in southeast Turkey
The Associated Press
Saturday, June 14, 2008

ANKARA, Turkey: Kurdish rebels detonated three remote-controlled bombs on Saturday in southeast Turkey, wounding three soldiers in an attack against a military vehicle and damaging a freight train in a separate assault, authorities said. The escalation attacks followed a rebel rocket attack on an apartment building housing police families in Yuksekova the region that wounded five people late Friday.

International Herald Tribune
Email dated June 15, 2008 from Mr. Mayer Nudell, USA.

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Afghan cop killed in bomb blast

Kandahar – A police chief was killed and a governor injured in a bomb blast in Afghanistan’s southern Helmand province, the police said on Sunday. The officials were preparing for the religious ritual ablution on a river bank when the bomb exploded in Marja district on Saturday.

AFP
The Asian Age – June 16, 2008.

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Suicide blast kills 12 Lanka cops

Colombo – June 16, 2008 – A suspected LTTE suicide bomber on a motorcycle blew himself up in front of heavily guarded police complex in the strategically located Vavuniya town about 250 kms north of Colombo on Monday morning, killing 12 police personnel and inuring more than 20.

Sutirtho Patranobis
Hindustan Times – June 17, 2008.

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Taliban fighters take over villages outside Kandahar

Islamabad – June 17, 2008 – Hundreds of Taliban fighters have swarmed into a strategically important district just outside Kandahar in Afghanistan, in an apparent push for control just days after 400 Taliban members escaped in a spectacular breakout from the Kandahar prison, officials said on Monday.

Caarlotta Gall/The New York Times
Hindustan Times – June 18, 2008.

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Lanka kills 11 Tigers after blast

Colombo – Security forces shot dead at least 11 Tamil Tiger rebels in northern Sri Lanka shortly after the guerrillas staged a suicide bombing against police, the defence ministry said on Tuesday. Troops in Mannar district attacked three bunkers of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) on Monday, killing at least 11 and wounding two more, said the ministry, which put its losses at two soldiers. A Tiger suicide bomber hit a police complex in Kvavuniya district and killed 12 police.

AFP
The Asian Age – June 18, 2008.

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Baghdad Bombing Death Toll Mounts to 63

The death toll from a devastating truck bombing in Baghdad rose to 63 on Wednesday and US forces blamed a rogue Shia militia for the attack. Another 75 people were hurt in the deadliest bombing in the Iraqi capital for three months.

Hindustan Times – June 19, 2008.

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Italy nabs 33 Tamils for suspected LTTE links

Rome – Italian police on Wednesday arrested 33 Sri Lankan Tamils charged with belonging to the LTTE, an official said. Twenty-eight were held in a series of raids on the mainland, suspected of being members of the LTTE and of providing funding, and five other Tamils were detained by authorities in Palermo, Sicily, also on suspicion of belonging to LTTE.

Hindustan Times – June 19, 2008.

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Woman bomber kills 15 in Baghdad

Baghdad – A female suicide bomber struck near a government compound northeast of Baghdad on Sunday, killing at least 15 people and wounding 35, the police said. The bomber detonated her explosives in front of a heavily guarded area that includes the court house, the post office and the government’s offices in the city.

Hindustan Times – June 23, 2008.

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4 LeT militants, jawan killed in J&K encounters

Srinagar – Four Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) terrorists and a Central Reserve Police Force jawan were killed and three security men injured in two encounters in Jammu and Kashmir on Sunday. Two LeT terrorists and the CRPF jawan were killed and two policemen and a CRPF jawan injured in a five-hour-long gunbattle in Chaterhama-Burzahama area on the Srinagar-Ganderbal road, the police said. Two LeT terrorists were killed in a separate encounter at Narwan Sadhav forest area in South Kashmir’s Shopian district.

TNN
The Times of India – June 23, 2008.

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Chinese govt demolishes mosque over Olympic row

Beijing – Chinese authorities in Xinjiang have demolished a mosque for refusing to put up signs in support of this August’s Beijing Olympics, an exiled group said on Monday. The mosque was in Kalpin country near Aksu city in Xinjiang’s rugged southwest, the World Uyghur Congress said. “China is forcing mosques in East Turkistan to publicise the Beijing Olympics to get the Ulghur people to support the Games (but) this has been resisted by the Ulghurs,” World Uyghur Congress spokesman said. Beijing says al-Qaeda is working with militants in Xinjiang to use terror to establish an independent state called East Turkistan.

Reuters
The Times of India – June 24, 2008

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Rebels kill four Bihar migrants in Imphal

Rebels shot dead four migrant workers and injured two others in Manipur’s Imphal valley on Tuesday. At Natam Chingkhong in Imphal East district, rebels gunned down 15 Hindi-speaking people in the state. Rebels also kidnapped two migrants and shot them after tying their hands with ropes, at Natum Chingkhong in Imphal East district, the police said.

TNN
The Times of India – June 25, 2008.

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19 killed in clashes in Pakistan

Islamabad – June 24, 2008 – Nineteen people, including a top Taliban commander, were killed in incidents of violence and clashes between security forces and militants in Pakistan’s North Frontier Province and the adjoining tribal belt bordering Afghanistan, officials said on Tuesday. Pakistani Taliban commander Khan Agha was killed and two militants were injured when retaliated against an attack on them by militants in the restive Swat valley in NWFP early on Tuesday.

The Asian Age – June 25, 2008.

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Pak Taliban militants kill 28 tribesmen

Islamabad – June 25, 2008 – The Pakistan Taliban have executed at least 28 tribal elders of a pro-Government peace committee abducted two days ago from North West Frontier Province (NWFP). Members of the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan, led by Baitullah Mehsud, kidnapped 30 members of the peace committee two days ago from Kariwam and Jandola in Tank district, they were kept hostage and later killed.

Agencies
The Indian Express – June 26, 2008.

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Baghdad bombing kills 3 US soldiers

Baghdad – A roadside bomb killed three American soldiers and an interpreter in north of Baghdad, Iraqi police said. 14 Shia gunmen were arrested after fighting in south of Baghdad. The roadside bomb occurred at about 10.45 p.m. on Tuesday in Nineveh province, where Al-Qaeda and other Sunnni extremist groups remain active.

Sinan Salaheddin/AP
The Asian Age – June 26, 2008.

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Taliban torch Pak’s only ski resort, kill 3

Islamabad – Pakistani Taliban militants torched the country’s only resort and killed three people in northwestern tourist valley, despite a recent truce with security forces, officials said. The attack on the government-run hotel happened at Malama Jabba. Residents said a large portion of the resort had been reduced to ashes and the militants also damaged chairlifts and a tower belonging to the meteorological department.

AFP
The Times of India – June 27, 2008.

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At least 33 killed in two Iraq bombings

At least 33 people were killed in two massive attacks in Iraq, including 18 people who died when a car bomb ripped through the northern city of Mosul, Iraq and US officials said. 71 civilians and nine policemen were wounded in the car bomb attack.

The Times of India – June 27, 2008.

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Car bomb kills 7 Iraqi policemen

Baghdad – A car bomb in the central Iraqi town of Dhuluiya on Sunday killed at least seven policemen and wounded two more, the police said. The explosion occurred at about 7.30 A.M. The latest attack came as the Salaheddin authorities gave insurgents until July 8 to surrender to US and Iraqi forces.

AFP
The Asian Age – June 30, 2008.

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11 killed in Afghan violence

Heart (Afghanistan) – About 150 Taliban militants stormed a government building in southwestern Afghanistan on early Sunday, killing at least four policemen and losing seven of their own fighters, officials said. The rebels stormed the building in Farah province in an attempt to capture a remote town, the deputy provincial governor said.

AP
The Asian Age – June 30, 2008.

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Maoists sink Greyhounds motorboat in Orissa, 40 feared drowned

Bhubaneswar – June 29, 2008 – Maoists in Orissa’s Malkangirii district today attacked and sank a motorboat carrying mostly personnel of the Greyhounds, the elite anti-Naxalite force of Andhra Pradesh. At least 40 people were feared dead. The motorboat carrying 62 policemen and two boat operators, was on its way across the Balimela reservoir from Chitrakonda for a joint operation against the Maoists when it came under heavy gunfire from atop a nearby hill in Alampeta village.

Debabrata Mohanty
The Indian Express – June 29, 2008.

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Food for Thought

Use what talents you have. The woods would be silent if no birds sang there except those that sang best.

- Henry Van Dyke


He who wants a rose must respect the thorn.

- Anonymous


The best way to cheer yourself up is to try to cheer somebody else up.

- Mark Twain

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HomeNewsletterIISSM NewsSecurity File
Volume No. 7,   Issue No. 2,   July 2008

   
 

Maoists blow up railway tracks

Patna – Activists of the outlawed CPI (Maoist) blew up railway tracks between Narganjo and Ghorparan railway stations on Patna-Howrah section under Asansol division of Eastern Railway and blasted a portion of the office of the sub-divisional officer of Kharagpur in Munger district on Monday during their 24-hour east Bihar bandh call which was given to protest the arrest of five supporters in Lakhisarai district recently.

Hindustan Times – June 3, 2008.

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Maoists blast vital power line in Bastar

Hyderabad – Security forces, who scanned the Bastar forests from helicopters on Friday, located the high-tension power supply tower blasted by Maoists, plunging hundreds of villages into darkness in Jagdalpur, Bijapur, Dantewada and Narayanpur districts. “The total loss to NMDC could be Rs.10-11 crore a day,” a senior official of the National Mineral Development Corporation said in Hyderabad.

K. Srinivas Reddy.
Hindustan Times – June 7, 2008.

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BJD leader shot dead by Maoists

Bhubaneswar – June 7, 2008 – Suspected Maoists shot dead a Biju Janata Dal leader at Sorupali village in Orissa’s Koraput district late on Friday night. Armed Maoists called out Mr. Jana Bidika, president of Bandhugaon block unit of BJD, from his house and pumped bullets into his body and he died on the spot.

Rabindra Nah Choudhury
The Asian Age – June 9, 2008.

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Naxals set off landmine, 2 CISF men die

Raipur – June 8, 2008 –Two jawans of the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) were killed and three seriously injured on Sunday when a powerful landmine blast triggered by Naxalites blew up their vehicle in Durg, the district adjoining state capital Raipur. The CISF personnel were on their way to the Mahamaya mining area in Durg when Naxals exploded landmines near Orjhar village and the ultras managed to flee with the CISF personnel’s rifles and ammunition.

Ejaz Kaiser
Hindustan Times – June 9, 2008.

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Essar Steel plant attacked by Maoists

Raipur – A huge fire is raging in the Essar Steel Plant in Chhattisgarh’s Kirandul, after Maoists attacked it and set the trucks parked inside the premises on fire. Sources said as there weren’t enough policemen at Kirandul station and there has been a complete blackout in the entire area, they have been waiting for additional force to reach the town. During the last four days, Maoists blew up the 220 KV high tension electricity lines near Barsur.

Amitabh Tiwari/TNN
The Times of India – June 10, 2008.

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Naxals uproot tracks, goods train derails

Raipur – Two diesel engines and some bogies of a goods train were derailed on Sunday night after Naxals uprooted railway tracks on the Jagdalpur Vishakhapatnam route, State police spokesman Raj Kumar Devangan said. The railways had made alternate arrangement by pressing diesel engines into service following disruption in power supply in Bastar region after the rebels blew up transmission lines in Dantewada district four days ago.

TNN
The Times of India – June 10, 2008.

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Maoist rebels begin urban push

New Delhi – June 10, 2008 – Maoist rebels, who are now observing “Jan Pituri Saptah (revolutionary week)” in Chhattisgarh, have blown up power lines and disrupted communication links, targeting industries and power stations in the Abhujmar and Bastar regions and plunging much of the state into darkness. A senior state police officer, in a telephonic conversation with this newspaper, said that he Maoists, who had declared a “parallel government” some time back, were now trying to move from the jungles to urban areas. He also added that there were intelligence inputs that the Maoists were trying to teach Hindi to their Gondi-speaking “red cadres” from south Bastar as it was getting difficult for them to interact with Maoist leaders from Andhra Pradesh.

Sanjay Basak
The Asian Age – June 11, 2008.

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Maoist attack in mineral district

Bhubaneswar – June 11, 2008 – The Maoists force have now made their presence felt in Keonjhar district, the richest mineral district of Orissa. At least 10 armed Maoists on Tuesday night swooped on the office of a non-government organisation at Anlapal village near Anandapur in the district, around 160 km from here, and completely destroyed the establishment. This is the first time the ultras have displayed their existence on the eastern part of the district which borders the country’s upcoming steel Kalinga Nagar.

The Asian Age – June 12, 2008.

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Maoists want their combatants to form fifth security wing in Nepal

Kathmandu – June 14, 2008 – With Nepal’s three main parties now locking horns over the proposed integreation of about 19,000 Maoist combatants into the national army, a top commander of the guerrilla force has suggested that it be developed into a separate security outfit. “There are four security wings and we can make this five by adding the PLA (People’s Liberation Army),” Maoist central leader and commander Barsaman Pun told reporters.

Press Trust of India
The Sunday Express – June 15, 2008.

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Maoists, police exchange fire

Jamshedpur – Maoist militants on Sunday exchanged fire with the police near Koira village in Patamda block of East Singhbhum district, the police said. The Maoists triggered two landmines and opened fire on personnel from Patdamda and Kamalpur police stations. Maoists killed a vegetable vendor on Saturday night near Koira village.

PTI
The Hindu – June 15, 2008.

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Maoists abduct 17 traders in C’garh

Raipur – June 15, 2008 – Seventeen traders, who were going to Badgaon weekly market in a truck, were abducted by Maoists in Kanker district of Chhattisgarh, the police said. Out of them, three were untraced who were believed to have been taken by Maoists with them as the remaining 14 had returned to their home safely.

PTI
The Asian Age – June 16, 2008.

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Maoists blow up road bridge in Dhanbad

Ranchi – Maoists blew up a portion of a road bridge near Tundi in Dhanbad during their 24-hour North Chottanagpur bandh on Monday which affected life in Maoist pockets. Superintendent of Police, Dhanbad, said the Maoists used explosives to blow up the bridge between Dhanbad and Girdih around 1.a.m.

PTI
The Hindu – June 17, 2008.

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Naxals storm marriage function, kill bridegroom

Raipur – June 17, 2008 – Naxals stormed a marriage function and killed the bridegroom by slitting his throat before the guests at Koder village in Maoist infested Bijapur district on Monday night. After killing Laxman Parlipal, who used to assist security forces, the extremists fled the scene.

Express News Service
The Indian Express – June 18, 2008.

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Cop killed, 8 missing in Maoist encounter

Raipur - June 18, 2008 - One Head Constable was killed and eight Special Police Officers (SPOs) were missing after a fierce encounter which resulted after the naxal ambush on Wednesday in the insurgency-hit Dantewada district of Chhattisgarh. Superintendent of Police, Dantewada, told Hindustan Times that Head Constable Dasru Ram Bhoganj along with nine SPOs were escorting the staff of state electricity board near Murliguda when the armed Maoists opened fire. The police claim a naxal was also killed in the exchange of fire.

Ejaz Kaiser
Hindustan Times – June 19, 2008.

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CPI (Maoist) Plan

Agenda: CPI (Maoist) plan is to ‘liberate’ 35 per cent of India by 2009.

Red Corridor: They have a presence in 22 states, but 13 states witnessed violence last year. Following are the states that accounted for 98 percent of the incidents: Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Orissa, Andhra, Maharashtra, West Bengal.

Their Strength: 39 Left Wing extremist groups are active, having an estimated 20,000 underground cadre. An estimated 50,000 over-ground workers. More than a lakh in frontal organisations – Armed cadre is around 9,700.

Hindustan Times – June 19, 2008.

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3 security men killed in Bastar

Raipur – Three security personnel were killed on Wednesday when Maoist rebels ambushed a police party at a village, under Orchha police station area, in Naxalite infested Narayanpur district of Chhattisgarh’s tribal Bastar region. The police party was returning to Orochha after providing security cover to state electricity board staff.

The Indian Express – June 26, 2008.

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2 ULFA units declare ceasefire in Assam

Guwahati – June 25, 2008 - Two companies of the ULFA responsible for past attacks on Hindi-speaking people and school children in Dhemaji, declared unilateral ceasefire with security forces in Assam. The Assam chief minister welcomed the move and appealed to all other ULFA cadres and other insurgent groups to give up the path of violence and come forward for talks within the framework of Indian Constitution. A statement signed by rebel leaders said, “Our decision today follows a deep desire of the people of Assam for peace talks and we would appeal to the ULFA’s central committee and the government of India as well as the government of Assam to initiate peace talks immediately.”

Manoj Anand
The Asian Age – June 26, 2008.

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ULFA chief warns of attack on ministers

Guwahati – June 27, 2008 – Two days after two companies of its dreaded 28th Battalion split from the outfit and announced a ceasefire, ULFA armed wing chief issued a veiled threat of targeting ministers in the Gogoi Government. Baruah, in a statement emailed to the media, accused the Government of trying to engineer a split in the ULFA and said Tarun Gogoi was toeing the same line as that of former chief ministers Hiteswar Saikia and Prafulla Kumar Mahanta. Meanwhile, five persons were injured in an explosion at Haibargaon in Nagaon district of central Assam at around 7.15 P.M. on Friday, a police official said.

Samudra Gupta Kashyap
The Indian Express – June 28, 2008.

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Second Assam blast in 3 days leaves six dead

Guwahati – June 29, 2008 – Six people were killed and more than 80 injured in a powerful blast at a weekly market in Kumarikata in Baska district of Assam on Sunday. Security forces recovered one unexploded bomb from the area. The explosion occurred at 1.15 p.m. The bomb had been planted on a bicycle that was parked nearby. Assam Police IG (Special Branch) suspects the blast to be the handiwork of ULFA.

Digambar Patowary
Hindustan Times – June 30, 2008.

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Food for Thought

When one door closes, another opens; but we often look so long and so regretfully upon he closed door that we do not see the one which has opened for us.

- Alexander Graham Bell


The wise man in the storm prays god, not for safety from danger, but for deliverance from fear.

- Ralph Waldo Emerson


Every great man of business has got somewhere a touch of the idealist in him.

- Woodrow Wilson

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HomeNewsletterIISSM NewsScience & Technology
Volume No. 7,   Issue No. 2,   July 2008

 

US airport designs specialise in ‘security that you can’t see’

Indianapolis – June 3, 2008 – Nine bulky baggage scanners worth $1 million each wait silently beneath the new terminal, poised to check for explosives at a combined rate of 3,600 bags an hour. Concrete bollards guard the man doors. Blast-resistant glass fills the front windows of the $1 million terminal at Indianapolis International Airport, which will open this fall. In Indianapolis, the widows fold like a drape when broken rather than exploding into shards of flying glass and a 249-feet-wide strip of lawn will separate the front entrance of the new terminal form its five-storey parking garage. Blast analysis, which looks at how a building withstands an explosion, has become a routine part of airport design, said Tom Darmody, senior vice president of aviation and transportation for the design firm HOK. Planners at Indanapolis terminal also spent $24 million to build an inline baggage screening system beneath the terminal’s main floor.

Tom Murphy/AP
The Indian Express – June 4, 2008.

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Experts make paper stronger than iron

Researchers in Sweden and Japan have developed a much stronger paper, made from much smaller fibrils of cellulose. This “nanopaper” has a tensile strength greater than that of cast iron. Marielle Henriksson of the Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm and colleagues used enzymes and a gentle beating technique to produce fibrils on the order of tens of nanometers wide, roughly one thousandth of the width of conventional fibers. They were then mixed with water, and the suspension was vacuum filtered to make paper.

Henry Fountain
The Times of India – June 11, 2008.

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Pentagon eyes ‘mind-reading’ binoculars

Washington – The Pentagon has awarded $6.7 million in seed money to try to develop binoculars that would tap a user’s brain waves to home in on threats, Northrop Grumman Corp said on Monday. The company said it was leading an academic and industry consortium assembled for the project, known as the Cognitive Technology Threat Warning System program, or CT2WS. The plan features a custom helmet equipped with electrodes placed on the scalp to record neutral responses to the presence or absence of potential threats, Los Angeles-based Northrop said in a statement.

Reuters
The Times of India – June 11, 2008.

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New detector sniffs out biological chemical threats

A new kind of mass spectrometer can sniff out biological, chemical and nuclear threats, all at virtually the same time, US government researchers said on Thursday. Their process, called Single-Particle Aerosol Mass Spectrometry, also detected illicit drugs and explosives without being reset in between tests, they said. The detector was tested against spores of a nonpathogenic strain of Bacilius anthracis, a relative of the anthrax bacteria; diethyl phthalate, which shows up as a nerve agent; natural cobalt powder, a surrogate for Cobalt 60 and other radioactive metals; and the explosive RDX, it identified each accurately in less than a minute.

The Times of India – June 14, 2008.

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CCTV that’ll listen and watch

CCTV cameras might soon be able to capture a crime taking place not just because they ‘see’ it but because they also ‘hear’ it, thanks to researchers at the University of Portsmouth. The sounds of breaking glass, someone shouting, or the noise of a crowd gathering are being ‘learned’ by artificial intelligence software already being developed by researchers at the university’s Institute of Industrial Research to identify visual partners. The software is so sophisticated that it can identify minor visual cues such as whether a car aerial is up or if the car has a dent as well as more complex cues such as violent behaviour. The research team is now working on using the same software to ‘learn’ sounds and react to them by swinging the CCTV camera towards in them at the speed a person would turn their head if they heard someone scream, which is about 300 milliseconds.

Times News Network
The Times of India – June 26, 2008.

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Food for Thought

Dignity consists not in possessing honors, but in the consciousness that we deserve them.

- Aristotle


Opportunity is missed by most people because it is dressed in overalls and looks like work.

- Thomas Edison


I observed that nine out of ten things I did were failures. So I did ten times more work.

- George Bernard Shaw

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HomeNewsletterIISSM NewsIndustry News
Volume No. 7,   Issue No. 2,  July 2008

   
 

Secure 2009 – Exhibition and Conference

Services International will be holding Secure 2009 – Exhibition and Conference on February 18-20, 2009 at Bandra Kurla Complex, Mumbai, India. For further details, please contact Services International at their email: secure@serivcesinternational.co.in; secure@servintonline.com; or servicesmumbai@servintonline.com.

Email dated 13.6.2008 from Services International

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Coal India Limited (A Govt. of India Enterprise)

Coal India Limited has come out with an interesting ‘recruitment notice’, (attached). For E-2 Grade Security Officer, the qualification stipulates: Captain, Dy. S.P., Asstt. Commandant equivalent or fresh candidate with competence. This should throw open great opportunity to many.

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Food for Thought

As long as there is one upright man, as long as there is one compassionate woman, the contagion may spread and the scene is not desolate. Hope is the thing that is left us in a bad time.

- E.B. White


It is easier to resist at the beginning than at the end.

- Leonardo Da Vinci


The human brain is unique in that it is the only container of which it can be said that the more you put into it, the more it will hold.

- Glenn Doman

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HomeNewsletterIISSM NewsGeneral Information
Volume No. 7,   Issue No. 2,   July 2008

   
 

Italy’s mafia worth more than GDP of some nations

Rome – The ‘Ndrangheta, the Italian organised crime group, does yearly business equivalent to some three percent of Italy’s economy and more than the total of that of some small European nations, says a study. This crime group, which has overtaken the Sicilian Mafia for control of drug trafficking, was responsible for killing six Italians in a pizzeria in Germany last August. The Euripses research group estimated that the ‘Ndrangheta’s turnover – ranging from drugs and extortion to arms trafficking and prostitution – was valued at 44 billion euros in 2007, which was equivalent to 2.9% of Italy’s gross domestic product in the same year and about equal to GDP of two small EU countries – Slovenia and Estonia – combined.

Reuters
The Times of India – May 22, 2008.

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True Confidence : Read Along

A business executive was deep in debt and could see no way out. Creditors were closing in on him. Suppliers were demanding payment. He sat on the park bench, head in hands, wondering if anything could save his company from bankruptcy. Suddenly an old man appeared before him. "I can see that something is troubling you," he said. After listening to the executive's woes, the old man said, "I believe I can help you." He asked the man his name, wrote out a check, and pushed it into his hand saying, "Take this money. Meet me here exactly one year from today, and you can pay me back at that time." Then he turned and disappeared as quickly as he had come. The business executive saw in his hand a check for $500,000, signed by John D. Rockefeller, then one of the richest men in the world! "I can erase my money worries in an instant!" he realized. But instead, the executive decided to put the uncashed check in his safe. Just knowing it was there might give him the strength to work out a way to save his business, he thought. With renewed optimism, he negotiated better deals and extended terms of payment. He closed several big sales. Within a few months, he was out of debt and making money once again. Exactly one year later, he returned to the park with the uncashed check. At the agreed-upon time, the old man appeared. But just as the executive was about to hand back the check and share his success story, a nurse came running up and grabbed the old man. "I'm so glad I caught him!" she cried. "I hope he hasn't been bothering you. He's always escaping from the rest home and telling people he's John D. Rockefeller." And she led the old man away by the arm. The astonished executive just stood there, stunned. All year long he'd been wheeling and dealing, buying and selling, convinced he had half a million dollars behind him. Suddenly, he realized that it wasn't the money, real or imagined, that had turned his life around. It was his newfound self-confidence that gave him the power to achieve anything he went after.

Email dated May 28, 2008 from Mr. Rakesh Goyal.

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Right to Emergency Care

Many a times we are confronted with dilemma of helping a road accident victim (who may be needing emergent helping hand) or leaving the scene of accident with remorse of helplessness, being afraid of inviting unwarranted trouble of police harassment like why, what, when, who...., including attending to courts etc..

The attached information may provide courage to help some one in such a situation.

Date of .Judgment : 23.02.2007
Case No.: Appeal (civil) 919 of 2007

The Supreme Court has ruled that all injured persons especially in the case of road traffic accidents, assaults, etc., when brought to a hospital / medical centre, have to be offered first aid, stabilized and shifted to a higher centre / government centre if required. It is only after this that the hospital can demand payment or complete police formalities. In case you a bystander and wish to help someone in an accident, please go ahead and do so. Your responsibility ends as soon as you leave the person at the hospital. The hospital bears the responsibility of informing the police, first aid, etc. Please do inform your family and friends about these basic rights so that we all know what to expect and what to do in the hour of need.

Life Insurance Corporation of India
Rohit N. Dhanani
Member C.M’s Club for Agents

Email dated 29.5.2008 from Mr. Rakesh Goyal.

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Apocalypse Capitol - An Islamic militant websites nihilistic vision of Washington DC

WASHINGTON is laid to waste. The Capitol is a blackened, smoking ruin. The White House has been razed. Countless thousands are dead. This is the apocalyptic scene terrorists hope to create if they ever get their hands on a nuclear bomb. The computer-generated image was posted on an Islamic extremists website on Thursday. It appeared as rumours swept the Internet that the FBI was warning that an Al-Qaeda video was about to be released urging militants to use weapons of mass destruction to attack the West. The information was said to be coming from groups that monitor Islamic militant websites. The FBI was quick to say it had not issued any warning and that the video was not an official Al- Qaeda release through its media arm, Al Sahab, but simply an amateur collection of old footage spliced together and posted on the Internet. US analysts said alot of effort had been put into the video entitled Nuclear Jihad, The Ultimate Terror with graphics, music, and clips of different leaders and groups. The same expertise seems to have gone into creating this image of adevastated Washington. Al Sahab puts out more than 80 officially sanctioned videos ayear to keep up the propaganda on the West. And the Internet shows how easy it is to stir up militancy. On Thursday night, FBI sources said Al- Qaeda was desperate to get its hands on aweapon of mass destruction —nuclear, chemical, or biological. So far, thats only adream... or, as this picture suggests, anightmare. The CIA was also quick to react, with its chief Michael Hayden, in an interview published on Friday, saying Al- Qaeda is essentially defeated in Iraq and Saudi Arabia and on the defensive elsewhere.

Mall Today – May 31, 2008.

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Superb comment from Bill Gates

This should be posted in all schools and work places.

Love him or hate him, he sure hits the nail on the head with this! Bill Gates recently gave a speech at a High School about 11 things they did not and will not learn in school. He talks about how feel-good,politically correct teachings created a generation of kids with no concept of reality and how this concept set them up for failure in the real world.

Rule 1: Life is not fair - get used to it!

Rule 2: The world won't care about your self-esteem. The world will expect you to accomplish something BEFORE you feel good about yourself.

Rule 3: You will NOT make $60,000 a year right out of high school. You won't be a vice-president with a car phone until you earn both.

Rule 4: If you think your teacher is tough, wait till you get a boss.

Rule 5: Flipping burgers is not beneath your dignity. Your Grandparents had a different word for burger flipping: they called it opportunity.

Rule 6: If you mess up, it's not your parents' fault, so don't whine about your mistakes, learn from them.

Rule 7: Before you were born, your parents weren't as boring as they are now. They got that way from paying your bills, cleaning your clothes and listening to you talk about how cool you thought you were. So before you save the rain forest from the parasites of your parent's generation, try delousing the closet in your own room.

Rule 8: Your school may have done away with winners and losers, but life HAS NOT. In some schools, they have abolished failing grades and they'll give you as MANY TIMES as you want to get the right answer. This doesn't bear the slightest resemblance to ANYTHING in real life.

Rule 9: Life is not divided into semesters. You don't get summers off and very few employers are interested in helping you FIND YOURSELF. Do that ony our own time.

Rule 10: Television is NOT real life. In real life people actually have to leave the coffee shop and go to jobs.

Rule 11: Be nice to nerds. Chances are you'll end up working for one. If you agree, pass it on. If you can read this - Thank a teacher!

Email dated 1.6.2008 from Mr. Rakesh Goyal.

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Now, you are just a touch away fro