Govt. to ensure better utilization of development funds: PM

ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Syed Yusuf Raza Gilani said the government is planning to merge the development funds of members of the parliament of adjoining constituencies to launch joint projects, which can bring prosperity and generate employment on long-term basis.

He said that consultation with the public representatives would also be held to evolve a strategy in this regard. The Prime Minister was talking to Ministers and Parliamentarians who called on him separately at his Parliament House Chamber here on Tuesday afternoon.

Mentioning his Tuesday’s meeting on People’s Work Programme, the Prime Minister said that priority would be attached to the projects in such a way so as to bring the backward areas at par with the developed regions of the country.

He said that the people’s representatives should identify areas of importance at grassroots level so that could be targeted for the satisfaction of people at that level.

US worst again in healthcare: Study

NEW YORK: While Americans spend on health care twice as much as other countries in the developed world, they get less health services in a less equitable system.

View original here: 
US worst again in healthcare: Study

UK not to interfere in Pak-Iran gas deal: Hague

ISLAMABAD: The new British government on Wednesday said it views Pakistan as a long term strategic partner and desires deeper and stronger bilateral ties in all areas.

Original post: 
UK not to interfere in Pak-Iran gas deal: Hague

US scores dead last again in healthcare study

WASHINGTON: Americans spend twice as much as residents of other developed countries on healthcare, but get lower quality, less efficiency and have the least equitable system, according to a report released on Wednesday.

Go here to read the rest:
US scores dead last again in healthcare study

Nigerian Man Indicted in Plot to Blow up Plane

Nigerian Man Indicted in Plot to Blow up Plane, A young Nigerian was Wednesday charged with attempted murder and trying to use a weapon of mass destruction aboard a US plane, as under-fire security chiefs vowed to revamp intelligence services.
Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, 23, was indicted by a grand jury on six counts arising from a botched Christmas Day plot to blow up a Northwest airliner packed with 279 passengers and 11 crew as it approached Detroit, Michigan.
Michigan district court documents accused him of “carrying a concealed bomb” inside his clothing on board Flight 253 from Amsterdam.
“The bomb consisted of a device containing Pentaerythritol Tetranitrate (PETN), Triacetone Triperoxide (TATP) and other ingredients,” the charge sheet said, adding that both substances were highly explosive.
“The bomb was designed to allow defendant Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab to detonate it at a time of his choosing, and to thereby cause an explosion aboard Flight 253,” the documents added.
If convicted of trying to use a weapon of mass destruction, the young Nigerian faces life imprisonment, the Department of Justice said in a statement. Other charges carry a maximum sentence of 20 years, while two charges of possession of a firearm carry a mandatory 30 years in prison.
“This investigation is fast-paced, global and ongoing, and it has already yielded valuable intelligence that we will follow wherever it leads,” Attorney General Eric Holder said in the statement. He vowed that “anyone we find responsible for this alleged attack will be brought to justice using every tool — military or judicial — available to our government.”

---

Nigerian Man Indicted in Plot to Blow up Plane was first posted on January 7, 2010 at 12:07 pm.

Development Aid key to Terrorism Fight: Clinton

US security depends on a new approach to international aid, so Washington must consult more and dictate less as it dispenses billions of dollars in assistance, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said.
Hillary Clinton’s speech at Peterson Institute for International Economics in Washington marked the Obama administration’s latest effort to persuade the US public that development aid is a foreign policy tool as important as defense and diplomacy. Clinton said aid efforts in places such as Afghanistan and Yemen, where she conceded the odds of success were long and critical components of security strategy. We cannot stop terrorism or defeat the ideologies of violent extremism when hundreds of millions of young people see a future with no jobs, no hope, and no way ever to catch up to the developed world, she said. US aid programs will also focus on programs to assist women and girls in order to eliminate terrorism as women and girls are one of the world’s greatest untapped resources.

---

Development Aid key to Terrorism Fight: Clinton was first posted on January 7, 2010 at 12:12 pm.

Iran Developed Anti-Cruise Missile System: Iranian Military Commander

TEHRAN: A top Iranian military commander has said that the Islamic republic has developed an anti-cruise missile system, the state owned English language television station Press TV reported late on Sunday.

“Despite thirty years of military sanctions by the enemy, the armed forces have taken appropriate steps toward self-sufficiency,” Brigadier General Ahmad Miqani, who heads Iranian army’s air defence office said.

“Today, we are able not only to identify stealth cruise missiles, but also to destroy them,” he added, without elaborating.

Miqani said Iran was also improving its “existing defence system, constructing tens of anti-aircraft artillery pieces… and active and passive radars.”

In May, Iran said it had launched a production line to manufacture cannons for warships which can be used against cruise missiles.

Iran has boasted in the past of developing new weapons systems only for its claims to be met with scepticism by Western defence analysts.

Top military commanders have often said that Iran has developed missiles which can reach any corner of arch-foe Israel.

Ties between Iran and Israel have deteriorated since the first term of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad who said the Jewish state is doomed to be “wiped off the map.”

---

Iran Developed Anti-Cruise Missile System: Iranian Military Commander was first posted on September 7, 2009 at 2:13 pm.
©2009 “News Trends“.