Storm over leak of vital sites - The Hindu

AP The internet homepage of Wikileaks is shown in this photo taken in New York on Dec. 1, 2010. Photo: AP A comprehensive inventory of what the United States considers “critical infrastructure and key resources,” has been published online by WikiLeaks, the whistleblower website, raising the pitch of the debate surrounding its exposé of secret U.S. State Department cables.

According to the cable, dated February 18 2009 and sent from Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to all U.S. diplomatic outposts abroad, the State Department requested diplomats to update the “vital” sites list, which included telecommunication infrastructure, gas pipelines, mineral mines, medical research facilities, weapons components manufacturers and transportation hubs.

The sites mentioned in India include chromite mines in Orissa and Karnataka and a company called Generamedix in Gujurat, which the cable suggests is involved in producing chemotherapy agents, including florouracil and methotrexate.

Issuing a request for action to U.S. diplomatic posts world over the Secretary’s cable said the State Department required “compilation and annual update of a of critical infrastructure and key resources that are located outside U.S. borders and whose loss could critically impact the public health, economic security, and/or national and homeland security of the U.S.” The cable added that under the U.S. Patriot Act of 2001 “critical infrastructure” was defined as systems and assets, whether physical or virtual, “so vital to the U.S. [that] the incapacitation or destruction of such systems and assets would have a debilitating impact” on U.S. national security.

Condemnation of the release of the list followed swiftly, particularly in the United Kingdom, where a Downing Street spokesman was quoted as saying, “We unequivocally condemn the unauthorised release of classified information. The leaks and their publication are damaging to national security in the U.S., Britain and elsewhere.”

However Mark Stephens, the lawyer representing WikiLeaks chief Julian Assange, who is on the run from authorities, was said to have denied that Wikileaks was putting people and facilities at risk.

According to the BBC he said, “I do not think there is anything new in that... What I think is new is the fact that it has been published by Wikileaks and of course we have the Wikileaks factor because a number of governments have been embarrassed by what has happened.”

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ADB, World Bank assess Pak flood damage at $9.7 billion - The Hindu

AP Pakistani flood affected people wait to get national identity cards near Peshawar in Pakistan on Tuesday. The floods, that swept across Pakistan since July, has caused an estimated $9.7 billion damage to infrastructure, farms, homes, as well as other direct and indirect losses, the Asian Development Bank (ADB) and the World Bank (WB) have said.

The estimate was presented in the Damage and Needs Assessment (DNA), a survey conducted nationwide by ADB and the World Bank to assess the extent of the flood damage.

The survey was submitted to Pakistan Government and today was made public at Friends of Democratic Pakistan (FoDP) meeting in Brussels.

“$ 9.7 billion is almost double the amount of damage caused by the 2005 Pakistan earthquake,” said Rune Stroem, ADB Country Director for Pakistan.

Rachid Benmessaoud, World Bank Country Director for Pakistan said that now the DNA has been completed “our job as friends of Pakistan is to help the country respond to this enormous reconstruction challenge.”

In carrying out the assessment, ADB and World Bank teams examined the extent of the damage in 15 key sectors across Pakistan, also the direct damage, indirect losses and reconstruction costs.

The DNA found that the agriculture and livestock sectors have been the worst hit, followed by complete or partial damage to a large number of houses.

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Explosions rock Nigerian capital on independence day - The Hindu

The Hindu : News / International : Explosions rock Nigerian capital on independence dayArchivesSubscriptionsRSS FeedsSite MapePaperMobileSocialSEARCHHomeNewsOpinionSportBusinessArtsLife & StyleS & TEducationHealthClassifiedsToday's PaperTopicsInternationalNationalStatesCities: BangaloreChennaiCoimbatoreDelhiHyderabadKochiMaduraiMangaloreThiruvananthapuramTiruchirapalliVijayawadaVisakhapatnam News» InternationalAbuja,October 1, 2010Explosions rock Nigerian capital on independence dayPTIShare  ·  print  ·   Three explosions rattled Nigeria’s independence day festivities on Friday — one of them at the venue of the President’s celebration — killing at least seven people in the capital.

The explosions came after Nigeria’s main militant group sent a warning that there is “nothing worth celebrating after 50 years” as the people of the Niger Delta have had their land and resources stolen.

One of the explosions occurred at the Eagle’s Square where President Jonathan Goodluck was present to witness the military formation.

Several foreign delegates are in the country to attend the celebrations, including Corporate Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid, who arrived here on Thursday.

Another explosion at the millennium park near the Eagle Square, killed at least seven people, an eyewitness told PTI.

The Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND), the rebel group of the Niger Delta, had earlier issued a statement warning that it had planted bombs to stall the 50th anniversary celebrations.

However, the programme continued, with foreign heads of states and delegates in attendance and President Jonathan hosting the Golden Jubilee celebration of the country’s independence from Britain.

MEND had earlier asked for an immediate evacuation of the entire arena before 10:30 a.m. on Friday informing that bombs had been planted.

“Several explosive devices have been successfully planted in and around the venue by our operatives working inside the government security services. In evacuating the area, keep a safe distance from vehicles and trash bins,” MEND had said in a statement, also emailed, to PTI.

The group argued the people of the Niger Delta have been deprived of control over their region’s resources.

“The constitution before independence which offered resource control was mutilated by illegal military governments and this injustice is yet to be addressed,” the group said.

The group which claims to be fighting for resource control in the Niger Delta region claimed responsibility for detonating two car bombs in the Niger Delta city of Warrion on March 15 this year.

MEND, which is part of a group of rebels fighting for resource control in the Delta region, said “a third and most powerful” bomb did not explode but would be used for future attacks.

Militants in the delta have targeted pipelines and resorted to kidnappings, while fighting government troops since 2006.

Late President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua had granted amnesty to the militants but MEND had rejected it, opting for a negotiation with the government through mediators.

Keywords: Nigeria serial blasts, MEND, Niger Delta rebels

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