Pakistan is Centre of Terrorism Activites: Mullen

Breaking News: The Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Admiral Mike Mullen has said that Pakistan is centre of terrorism activities and proper action is vital to end terrorists places from the country.

The top US military officer says coalition forces are continuing to make significant progress against the Taliban in Afghanistan, but is warning there is likely to be more violence this year in many parts of the country than in 2010.

Mullen says local towns are beginning to reject Taliban fighters and the insurgents are losing ground. He is losing and I have every confidence that he will continue to lose so long as coalition and Afghan forces increase their presence and their pressure on his operations and improve their own capacity, he said.

The admiral says he was not surprised that China tested the countrys first radar-evading stealth bomber this week, but says he cannot understand why Beijing continues to invest in expensive weapons that could be targeted against America.

China says North Korea ties have survived "tempest"

SEOUL: China, pushed again by Washington to bring North Korea to heel after last week’s artillery attack on the South, told Pyongyang their relationship had withstood international “tempests.”

On Wednesday, South Korea’s spy chief said it was highly likely the isolated North would attack its wealthy neighbour again. Admiral Mike Mullen, chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, said last week’s bombardment threatened the stability of the region, home to three of Asia’s biggest economies.

China has refused to blame its ally for shelling the South Korean island of Yeonpyeong which destroyed dozens of houses and killed four people, or for the sinking of a South Korean naval vessel in March.

“The traditional friendship of China and North Korea has withstood the tests of international tempests and changes and replenished itself over time,” Wu Bangguo, China’s

US be realistic on Iran engagement: Mullen

The United States needs to be realistic about its efforts to engage Iran, whose regime is lying about its nuclear programme and is on a path to build nuclear warheads for missiles, the top US military officer said.

I still think it’s important we focus on the dialogue, we focus on the engagement, but also do it in a realistic way that looks at whether Iran is actually going to tell the truth, actually engage and actually do anything, Admiral Mike Mullen, chairman of the US military’s Joint Chiefs of Staff, said in an interview with media due to air on Sunday.

US and South Korea Push Ahead With war Games

The sound of new artillery fire from North Korea just hours after the U.S. and South Korea launched a round of war games in Korean waters sent residents and journalists on a front-line island scrambling for cover Sunday.

None of the rounds landed on Yeonpyeong Island, military officials said, but the incident showed how tense and uncertain the situation remains along the Koreas’ disputed maritime border five days after a North Korean artillery attack decimated parts of the island and killed four South Koreans.

As the rhetoric from North Korea escalated, with new warnings of a “merciless” assault if further provoked, a top Chinese official made a last-minute visit to Seoul to confer with South Korean President Lee Myung-bak.

Lee and State Councilor Dai Bingguo, a senior foreign policy adviser, discussed the North Korean attack and how to ease the tensions, according to Lee’s office. Dai also met with South Korean Foreign Minister Kim Sung-hwan on Saturday, the Foreign Ministry said.

Meanwhile, the chairman of North Korea’s Supreme People’s Assembly, Choe Thae Bok, was due to visit Beijing starting Tuesday, China’s official Xinhua News Agency said.

Washington and Seoul have urged China, North Korea’s main ally and biggest benefactor, to step in to defuse the situation amid fears of all-out war.

The Korean peninsula remains in a technical state of war because the 1950-53 war ended in a truce, not a peace treaty. Their border is one of the world’s most heavily fortified, guarded by troops on both sides.

However, North Korea disputes the maritime border drawn by U.N. forces at the close of the war, and considers the waters around Yeonpyeong Island — 50 miles (80 kilometers) from the South Korean port of Incheon but just 7 miles (11 kilometers) from the North Korean mainland — its territory.

The Koreas have fought three bloody naval skirmishes in the waters since 1999, as recently as a year ago. And eight months ago, a South Korean warship, which had been involved in one of those skirmishes, went down in an explosion, killing 46 sailors.

An international team of investigators concluded that a North Korean torpedo sank the ship. The two Koreas have remained locked in a standoff over that incident, with South Korea demanding a show of regret for the attack and North Korea denying any involvement.

Tuesday’s attack — on an island with a civilian population of 1,300 — marked a new level of hostility along the rivals’ disputed sea border. Two marines and two civilians were killed when the North rained artillery on Yeonpyeong Island in one of the worst assaults on South Korean territory since the Korean War.

The attack took place as North Korea carries out a delicate transfer of power from leader Kim Jong Il to a young, unproven son in what many see as the heir’s bid to win the military’s loyalty. It also may reflect Pyongyang’s frustration that it has been unable to force a resumption of stalled international talks on receiving aid in return for nuclear disarmament.

The attack also laid bare weaknesses in South Korea’s defenses against North Korea.

North Korea said Saturday that civilian deaths were “regrettable,” but blamed South Korea for staging military drills in the waters against Pyongyang’s warnings that it would consider such exercises a provocation.

Meanwhile, North Korea mounted surface-to-air SA-2 missiles on launch pads on a west coast base and aimed at South Koreean fighter jets flying near the western sea border, the Yonhap news agency reported, citing an unidentified South Korean government source.

South Korea’s military said it couldn’t confirm the deployments. An official at the Joint Chiefs of Staff said the North already deploys anti-ship missiles on its west coast bases.

The previously planned joint war games that U.S. and South Korea launched Sunday were sure to heighten the tensions.

Washington insists that the drills involving the nuclear-powered USS George Washington supercarrier are routine and were planned well before last Tuesday’s attack.

The exercises kicked off Sunday morning when ships from both countries entered the exercise zone, an official with South Korea’s joint chiefs of staff said on condition of anonymity, citing office rules.

However, a spokesman for the U.S. military in South Korea said U.S. ships were still steaming toward the area and that the drills would not officially begin until later in the day.

North Korea has expressed outrage over the Yellow Sea drills involving a U.S. nuclear-powered supercarrier, and issued a fresh warning Sunday.

“We will launch merciless counter-military strikes against any provocative moves that infringe upon our country’s territorial waters,” the North’s main Rodong Sinmun newspaper said in an editorial carried by the official Korean Central News Agency.

Sunday’s burst of artillery fire in North Korea appeared to be the second in as many days.

Officials were investigating the exact location of Sunday’s artillery fire, an official with South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said. He spoke on condition of anonymity, citing office rules.

U.S thinking military options on Iran

WASHINGTON: The United States needs to be realistic about its efforts to engage Iran, whose leaders are lying about Tehran’s nuclear program and are on a path to building nuclear weapons, the top U.S. military officer said.

Admiral Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said in comments released on Friday that the U.S. military has been thinking about military options on Iran “for a significant period of time” but added that diplomacy remained the focus of U.S. efforts.

“I still think it’s important we focus on the dialogue, we focus on the engagement, but also do it in a realistic way that looks at whether Iran is actually going to tell the truth, actually engage and actually do anything,” Mullen said in an interview with CNN’s Fareed Zakaria GPS due to air on Sunday.

Iran has agreed to meet with a representative of the six big powers over its

PM Gilani meets forces’ chiefs, Senate Chairman to greet Eid

Staff Report

ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani met to the chiefs of the armed forces and the Chairman of Senate to greet Eid in Islamabad.

After performing Eid prayers, the Chairman of Senate Farooq H. Naik, the Chairman of Joint Chiefs of Staff General Khalid Shamim Wyne, the Chief of Army Staff General Ashfaq Pervez Kayani, the acting Chief of Air Staff Air Marshal Tahir Rafique Butt and the Chief of Naval Staff Admiral Noman Bashir called on the Prime Minister separately, in the PM House, and expressed Eid greetings.

Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani performed Eid prayer with the staff in PM House, Islamabad. Trend Pk

Terrorists back broken, says Gen. Wyne

Staff Report

ABBOTTABAD: General Khalid Shamim Wyne, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee, said on Saturday that the army had broken the back of terrorists and that the menace of militancy would soon be weeded out.

Addressing a passing parade ceremony at Kakul Military Academy, General Wyne said that the government was very serious in dealing with the internal and external threats facing the country.

He said that the war against terror was being fought according to available resources and that efforts are being made to equip the army with the most advanced weapons.

The General further said that terrorists would not be allowed to play havoc with the lives and property of people.

The CJCSC said that 334 cadets, including 15 foreigners, had passed the course from the academy.

Senior Under Officer Suhail Akram Gondal

Petraeus phones Kayani, regrets NATO strikes

Staff Report

RAWALPINDI: Top US and NATO commander in Afghanistan David Petraeus called Chief of the Army Staff (COAS) General Ashfaq Pervez Kayani today, and regretted the NATO strike that killed three Pakistani troops.

Three soldiers were killed in an early morning raid on Thursday when a NATO chopper fired at a Pakistani military post 200 metres inside the border in Kurram Agency.

According to details, the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) commander assured the COAS that such an incident would not take place again. He conveyed his sincere feelings over the incident.

He said that it was a sad thing that the incident took place under the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force’s (ISAF) command, the channel reported

The chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, Admiral Mike Mullen, also spoke with Gen. Kayani earlier.

Iran guards warn US against attack over nuclear work

TEHRAN: Iran will make the strategic Gulf region unsafe for all if it comes under attack by the United States over it nuclear programme, the deputy head of the elite Revolutionary Guards said on Sunday.

“If the Americans make the slightest mistake, the security of the region will be endangered. Security in the Persian Gulf should be for all or none,” Yadollah Javani told the official news agency.

“The Persian Gulf is a strategic region and if it is endangered they (Americans) will suffer losses and our response will be firm.

“We will defend ourselves if America or Israel resort to any hostile measures against our vital values,” he added.

The international community led by the United States has stepped up pressure on Iran over its controversial nuclear programme amid concerns that the Islamic republic is engaged in a covert nuclear weapons programme, a charge Tehran vehemently denies.

The United States and Israel have not ruled out a military strike to stop Iran”s alleged atomic ambitions.

Javani”s declaration preceded comments by the top US military officer on Sunday that a plan to attack Iran was ready, if needed to stop the Islamic republic from acquiring a nuclear weapon.

Admiral Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said he was “extremely concerned” about the possible repercussions of such a strike.

Iranian officials have frequently vowed a crushing response to any US and Israeli attacks.

Plane crashes in national park in Alaska

ANCHORAGE: Federal aviation officials say a plane has crashed at Denali National Park in Alaska.

Allen Kenitzer with the Federal Aviation Administration says little is known at this time about the Sunday crash near the entrance of the park, about 180 miles north of Anchorage. He doesn”t know if there are survivors.

He says the plane is believed to be a single-engine aircraft and the crash caused a large fire at the site.

Park spokeswoman Kris Fister did not immediately have information, only that there was a plane crash.

George Clare, of Las Vegas, says he saw the plane flying very low and slow. He says he proceeded to the park”s visitor”s center, thinking it was going to land.

He says the crash caused a column of smoke a few miles west of the visitor”s center.

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