US standoff with Pakistan over nuclear fuel: leaks

NEW YORK: The United States has led top secret efforts to remove highly enriched uranium from Pakistan for years, worried it could be used to make an “illicit” nuclear device, according to leaked US cables.

The New York Times said they were among quarter of a million confidential American diplomatic cables released by whistleblower WikiLeaks in what Pakistan condemned as an “irresponsible disclosure of sensitive official doucments”.

The country’s nuclear arsenal is one of the most sensitive topics for the United States as it tries to improve relations with the conservative Muslim nation on the front line in the campaign against Al-Qaeda and the Taliban.

Parts of Pakistan’s northwest is gripped by a homegrown Taliban insurgency. Its semi-autonomous wild border area with Afghanistan is subject to a covert US drone war targeting Taliban and Al-Qaeda

Pakistan steps up nuclear construction

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan appears to have stepped up construction of a new atomic reactor that could help the country produce easier-to-deliver nuclear weapons, a US research institute said.

Pakistan’s nuclear arsenal is one of the most sensitive topics for the United States as it tries to improve relations with its frontline partner in the campaign against Islamic extremism.

The Institute for Science and International Security, a private US group which is critical of nuclear weapons, said Tuesday it observed progress at Pakistan’s tightly guarded Khushab site which is key to plutonium production.

In a September satellite image of the site in Punjab province, the institute said it observed a completed row of mechanical draft cooling towers at a third reactor, where construction began in 2006.

It marks a faster pace than for the second reactor, where such

Khamenei slams Obama”s ”nuclear threat”

TEHRAN: Iran”s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei condemned on Sunday US President Barack Obama for issuing what he said was a threat of a nuclear attack against the Islamic republic.

“He (Obama) has implicitly threatened Iranians with nuclear weapons,” Khamenei was quoted by state television as telling Iran”s top military officials in Tehran.

“These comments are very strange and the world should not ignore them because in the 21st century… the head of a state is threatening a nuclear attack,” said the all-powerful Iranian leader.

“The US president”s statements are disgraceful. Such comments harm US and they mean that the US government is wicked and unreliable.”

On Tuesday, Washington unveiled its new nuclear policy which limits the nation”s use of nuclear arsenal but indicated the United States could make exceptions to “outliers” such as Iran and North Korea.

Khamenei condemns Obama”s ”nuclear threat”

TEHRAN: Iran”s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei condemned on Sunday US President Barack Obama for issuing what he said was a threat of a nuclear attack against the Islamic republic.

“He (Obama) has implicitly threatened Iranians with nuclear weapons,” Khamenei was quoted by state television as telling Iran”s top military officials in Tehran.

“These comments are very strange and the world should not ignore them because in the 21st century… the head of a state is threatening a nuclear attack,” said the all-powerful Iranian leader.

“The US president”s statements are disgraceful. Such comments harm US and they mean that the US government is wicked and unreliable.”

On Tuesday, Washington unveiled its new nuclear policy which limits the nation”s use of nuclear arsenal but indicated the United States could make exceptions to “outliers” such as Iran and North Korea.

Iran warns of ”tooth-breaking response” to Obama

TEHRAN: Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on Wednesday warned his US counterpart Barack Obama of a “tooth-breaking” response, as he condemned Washington”s new nuclear policy.

“I hope these published comments are not true… he (Obama) has threatened with nuclear and chemical weapons those nations which do not submit to the greed of the United States,” Ahmadinejad said in speech broadcast live on state television.

“Be careful. If you set step in Mr. (George W.) Bush”s path, the nations” response would be the same tooth-breaking one as they gave Bush,” he said.

The United States unveiled new limits on the nation”s nuclear arsenal on Tuesday, saying it would only use atomic weapons in “extreme circumstances” and would not attack non-nuclear states.

In a policy shift, the United States said for the first time that countries without atomic weapons that complied with non-proliferation treaty obligations need not fear a US nuclear attack.

But Obama warned exceptions could be made for “outliers” such as Iran and North Korea, both accused by the West of flouting UN resolutions.

FIR of Peshawar Car Blast Registered Against Mangal Bagh

Peshawar, Pakistan: The FIR of car bomb blast at Pushta Khara Chowk in Peshawar has been registered against seven people including Mangal Bagh.
At least 11 people including policemen were killed and 28 others sustained injuries in a suicide car bomb blast at Pushta Khara chowk in Peshawar when an explosive-laden red car struck the police check post yesterday. According to bomb disposal squad, at least 50-60 kg explosive material was used in the blast and artillery shells were also put in the car.
Peshawar city has become the main target of the terrorists as more than 6 blasts have been occurred in the city in a month including one of the biggest blast in Peepal Mandi on October 28 in which more than 110 people were killed and almost 200 got injuries.

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FIR of Peshawar Car Blast Registered Against Mangal Bagh was first posted on November 15, 2009 at 10:55 am.

PM Gilani Denies Military Operation in Balochistan

MULTAN, Pakistan: PM Gilani Denies Military Operation in Balochistan, Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani has said that no military operation is being carried out in Balochistan.

Talking to newsmen during a visit to his hometown here Sunday, the PM maintained that the national defence and country’s nuclear arsenal are in ‘safe hands’.

The PM said that the government had asked the US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton during her visit to Islamabad earlier this month to take Pakistan into confidence as well while reviewing and changing United States’ Afghan policy.

Gilani said that no timeframe could be given for the completion of military ongoing offensive in South Waziristan, expressing the hope that the operation will soon be ended in the region.

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PM Gilani Denies Military Operation in Balochistan was first posted on November 15, 2009 at 12:59 pm.