Five ‘militants’ held in Karachi with explosives

The CID police on Wednesday claimed to have arrested five members of a banned militant outfit and seized about 150 kilos of explosives of Indian origin, automatic rifles and suicide vests from them. A senior CID police official said that the five suspected militants, all residents of Karachi, were arrested in different parts of Orangi Town and they were planning terror attacks on key installations in the city. ‘Initial investigations suggest that they all are militants and associated with the banned Lashkar-i-Jhangvi. They have a history of police arrests on different charges,’ said CID SP Fayyaz Khan. ‘We have seized two suicide jackets, two sacks containing 150 kilos of explosives made by an Indian company and five Kalashnikov rifles with bullets and magazines.’ The SP was speaking to reporters at the DJ College Ground on Dr Ziauddin Ahmed Road where the seized explosives and suicide jackets were being defused by the officials of the Bomb Disposal Squad. However, he did not offer an explanation when asked why he chose a playground, and that too in the high-security zone of the city, for a site to defuse the seized explosives. When asked whether the arrested suspects had any links with India, the official said that investigations were in an early stage and the CID did not reach any conclusion about the suspects’ connections with the neighbouring country.

Artificial heart ready to be planted by 2011

Cardiac patients everywhere may soon benefit from a new artificial heart that does what none has succeeded in doing before, namely, mimicking closely the natural functions of the human heart. The company which manufactures the heart is starting the production of the hearts which are to be used in the first human patients by 2011. Developed by world-renowned French cardiac surgeon, Dr. Alain Carpentier, the heart has been successfully tested on animals and is now going to be assembled in a new laboratory outside Paris. Carpentier's artificial heart, wrapped in synthetic skin specially designed to keep the body from rejecting it, could help reduce the deadly gap between supply and demand for heart transplants. For Carpentier, it's the start of new episode and the term of many years of research and convincing. Artificial hearts have been developed before, but what makes Carpentier's heart unique and much closer to the real thing is its ability to measure the body's activity levels and change its pace accordingly thanks to the latest electronic sensor technology. The revolutionary sensor technology capable of almost perfectly regulating heart rate and blood flow according to the patient's needs comes from an unlikely source: European aerospace giant EADS engineers who use the electronic sensors in guided missiles. Following further development, the heart will be tested on patients whose lives are at risk and who have no other options for treatment. "We expect to have human implants starting with the clinical trials at the beginning of 2011" said Marcello Conviti the head of Carmat, the company which is to assemble the hearts. According to Marcello Conviti, 100,000 patients in western countries need a new heart. Only 5000 of them are lucky enough to have a real heart transplant. Conviti hopes that this new heart can someday save all of them: In term, it is hoped that the prosthetic replacement could do away with world-wide donor shortage forever.

Troops surround ‘Uzbek base’ in S. Waziristan

Security forces have surrounded Kaniguram, an important base of Uzbek militants in South Waziristan, from three directions and preparing to storm the town. Information Minister Qamar Zaman Kaira and Armed Forces Spokesman Maj-Gen Athar Abbas told newsmen on Wednesday that important fronts around the town had been secured. Gen Abbas said security forces had also achieved substantial successes on two other fronts. He said good progress had been made on the Jandola-Saroragha axis and important heights had been secured in Nawazkot area on the Razmak-Makeen axis. On the Jandola-Sararogha front, he said, troops were making good progress and securing heights along the main Kotkai-Sararogha road, overlooking the town of Sararogha. Troops secured the important the Nullah road junction, 2km north of Ganrakas and the important point 1233 west of the Kotkai-Sararogha road. Besides, Inzar Kalay has been cleared.Three training complexes have been destroyed in Murghabund and 25 centres and nine caves Kotkai.On the Shakai-Kaniguram axis, the military spokesman said, the important front of Karwan Manza about 2km east of Kaniguram had been secured. It dominates Kaniguram from the east and overlooks the town of Karama towards southeast on the Kaniguram-Kotkai road. Karama is a stronghold and training centre of foreign terrorists.

Iran’s response to nuclear deal today

Iran will deliver to the UN atomic watchdog its much-awaited response to a Western-backed nuclear deal aimed at shipping abroad Tehran’s low-enriched uranium. According to Tehran Times, an informed source announced that Iran in its response has accepted the general framework of the proposal drafted by Elbradei in Vienna, but some modifications have been made. UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon welcomed as positive Iran's decision to allow UN nuclear inspectors access to a recently disclosed nuclear enrichment plant in the Islamic Republic. "I also welcome the draft agreement circulated by the IAEA related to the supply of fuel for the Tehran research reactor," he said, adding that it would "constitute an important confidence building measure and could set the stage for further advances in the negotiations."

China website on missing children

Chinese authorities have created a website with photos of dozens of rescued kidnap victims, mostly infants, in an attempt to track down their families. The Babies Looking for Home website is part of a nationwide government crackdown on the widespread trafficking of women and children. The website includes short physical descriptions of each child, the date they were rescued and a contact number for the police station or welfare official in charge of their case. The youngest child profiled appears to be just a few months old, and most of them were boys. State media have reported hundreds of rescues and arrests since the campaign began in April, but the new website shows that at least 60 children were yet to be reunited with their families. In a statement announcing the new website on Tuesday the public security ministry said that 2,008 children had been rescued between April and October.

Obama signs military budget bill

US President Barack Obama has signed into law a 680 billion dollar defense budget for the 2010 fiscal year. The measure includes funds to increase troop deployments to Afghanistan and Iraq. The 2010 defense authorization bill also terminates a number of costly projects. "I have always rejected the notion that we have to waste billions of dollars of taxpayer money to keep this nation secure," Obama said, before signing the defense authorization act at the White House. He said, "In fact, I think that wasting these dollars makes us less secure -- and that's why we have passed a defense bill that eliminates some of the waste and inefficiency in our defense process."

Hillary Clinton visits Badshahi Mosque, Lahore Fort

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has reached Lahore. Governor Punjab Salman Taseer and Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif greeted Hillary Clinton at the Allama Iqbal Airport. The US Secretary of State is visiting Allama Iqbal tomb, Badshahi Mosque and Shahi Qila (Lahore Fort) now. According to the traffic diversion plan, the Mall, Jail Road and Lower Mall are closed for ordinary traffic and motorists are being diverted to alternative routes.  Security of the city has put on high alert while 17 schools along with the University of the Punjab were ordered to remain closed today. Schools at Upper and Lower Mall along with Punjab University were closed due to security concerns. Hillary Clinton will address students of Government College and afterwards she will meet Governor Punjab Salman Taseer and PML-N leader Nawaz Sharif.

UN 'undeterred' by Kabul attack

A deadly attack on a guest house used by United Nations staff in Kabul will not stop the UN from carrying out its mission in Afghanistan, the UN secretary general has said. Speaking at UN headquarters in New York, Ban Ki-moon said the "shameless" attack had cost the lives of "women and men committed to the values of peace, dignity and respect for all." But he said the UN would "not be deterred from this noble mission". Wednesday's dawn attack by Taliban fighters on the privately-run Bekhtar guest house in central Kabul killed five UN workers. The three Taliban attackers and four Afghans were also killed during a fierce gun battle that broke out after the raid. In a statement the Taliban said it had carried out the attack on the UN because of its involvement in organising Afghanistan's presidential elections, the second round of which is due to be held on November 7. Ban said however that the UN would continue its work. "In principle we are not and we should not be deterred by this heinous terrorist attack. We will continue our work, particularly on helping the Afghan government and people carry on this second presidential election," he told reporters.

Death toll rises to 106 in Peshawar car blast

A car bomb struck a busy market in Meena Bazaar of Peshawar on Wednesday, killing 106 people mostly women and children. More than 200 people were wounded in the blast in Peshawar, the deadliest in a surge of attacks by suspected insurgents this month. Wednesday's bomb destroyed much of the Meena Bazaar in Peshawar's old town, a warren of narrow alleys clogged with stalls and shops selling dresses, toys and cheap jewelry that drew many female shoppers and children in the conservative city. The blast collapsed buildings, including a mosque, and set scores of shops ablaze. The wounded sat amid burning debris and parts of bodies as a huge cloud of smoke rose above the city. No group claimed responsibility for the bombing. Three bombs have exploded in Peshawar this month, including one that killed more than 50 people. They are part of at least 10 major attacks in Pakistan that have killed 250 people either claimed by or blamed on Taliban militants. Most have targeted security forces, but some bombs have gone off in public places, apparently to undercut support for the army's assault on the border and expose the weakness of the government.