Maravot world news

10.17.05 Strikes kill 70 insurgents, US says, as vote count continues

RAMADI, Iraq, October 17 – American air strikes killed about 70 suspected insurgents in a series of operations near the volatile western Iraqi city of Ramadi on Sunday, the day after a referendum on a new constitution, the military said today. The strikes targeted Sunni-led insurgents, who tried to intimidate voters in the run-up to Saturday's balloting by killing scores of Iraqis with suicide attacks and roadside bombs in recent weeks. But within hours of today's announcement by the United States military, news agencies reported that dozens of the dead were civilians.

As officials continued to count ballot papers today, some initial results appeared to indicate that the charter had passed, with officials in two crucial swing provinces saying a majority of voters there had approved the document. The passage of the draft charter would constitute a significant step toward restoring Iraq's full independence and pave the way for a new round of elections for a permanent government on Dec. 15.

The military said in its statement today that 20 men were killed east of Ramadi, when a fighter jet fired a precision-guided bomb on a group of people suspected of placing a roadside bomb at the site of a bomb attack that killed five American and two Iraqi soldiers on referendum day. An estimated 50 others died in raids by helicopters and fighter jets dispatched to observe a suspected safe house in the Abu Faraj region north of Ramadi, where a group of men was loading vehicles with weapons, the statement said. [More>>nytimes.com]

10.17.05 Text of the draft Iraqi Constitution

October 17 – The following is the introduction to the Iraqi Constitution: (Translated from the Arabic by The Associated Press)

We the sons of Mesopotamia, land of the prophets, resting place of the holy imams, the leaders of civilization and the creators of the alphabet, the cradle of arithmetic: on our land, the first law put in place by mankind was written; in our nation, the most noble era of justice in the politics of nations was laid down; on our soil, the followers of the prophet and the saints prayed, the philosophers and the scientists theorized and the writers and poets created.

Recognizing God's right upon us; obeying the call of our nation and our citizens; responding to the call of our religious and national leaders and the insistence of our great religious authorities and our leaders and our reformers, we went by the millions for the first time in our history to the ballot box, men and women, young and old, on January 30 2005, remembering the pains of the despotic band's sectarian oppression of the majority; inspired by the suffering of Iraq�s martyrs - Sunni and Shiite, Arab, Kurd and Turkomen, and the remaining brethren in all communities - inspired by the injustice against the holy cities in the popular uprising and against the marshes and other places; recalling the agonies of the national oppression in the massacres of Halabja, Barzan, Anfal and against the Faili Kurds; inspired by the tragedies of the Turkomen in Bashir and the suffering of the people of the western region, whom the terrorists and their allies sought to take hostage and prevent from participating in the elections and the establishment of a society of peace and brotherhood and cooperation so we can create a new Iraq, Iraq of the future, without sectarianism, racial strife, regionalism, discrimination or isolation. [More>>iraqigovernment.org via defenselink.mil]

10.17.05 Russian foreign minister surprised by reports of missile technology sharing with Iran

MOSCOW (RIA Novosti) October 17 – Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Monday he was surprised by media reports alleging that Russia was secretly supplying Iran with missile technology. "Similar reports appeared about 10 years go," he said. "The Russian government dealt with each case. I have not heard of any similar problems since then."

"It seems strange that the western press recollected those events today," he said, adding that there could be similar claims against western companies. Lavrov advised Russian journalists to ask their western colleagues "who had helped Iran develop its nuclear program."

"The Iranian nuclear program is a key issue today," the minister said, adding that it was necessary to focus on non-proliferation. [rian.ru]

10.17.05 More Bird flu found in Siberia

MOSCOW, October 18 – The bird flu virus has infected fowl in two Siberian villages, while 19 other villages are being kept under observation due to suspected cases. The two infected villages are located in the west Siberian province of Kurgan, while those under observation are in the Novosibirsk and Altai provinces, Russia's agriculture ministry said in a statement. The statement did not specify whether the bird flu found in the two villages was of the H5N1 strain that has killed more than 60 people in Asia and which is feared could mutate into a form easily transmissible between humans and trigger a major health crisis. Officials have on previous occasions confirmed the presence of H5N1 in some Siberian villages. [More>>theaustralian.news.com.au]

10.16.05 Quake toll leaps past 53,000

MUZZAFFARABAD, October 17 – The death toll from the earthquake soared past 53,000 on Sunday and could rise still far higher as relief workers struggle to reach survivors.

"With all responsibility, I can say that not less than 40,000 are killed," AJK Prime Minister Sikandar Hayat Khan told AFP. "There are still cities which are not cleared of debris and the death toll could go to 70,000 or 80,000. It is the worst tragedy in our history," he said.

The federal government had earlier said that more than 13,000 people were killed in the NWFP. "Some areas along the Line of Control and the areas where the snow is falling there is still debris. Helicopters have not reached there," he said and added but the military is doing its best in conditions that some relief workers have said are the most difficult they have ever encountered in a natural disaster.

"We have not been able to clear the debris. But the Army is doing its maximum. They are picking out the areas. They are providing relief and help to the affected people," he said. Meanwhile, thousands of quake survivors face death from cold and disease unless help reaches them fast, rescuers said on Sunday as heavy rains drenched homeless victims and grounded nearly all vital helicopter airlifts.

Frantic efforts to reach remote mountain villages, cut off by landslides and still in dire need of help a week after the quake, were dealt another blow with the crash of one of the helicopters flying relief missions.

"It�s absolutely urgent right now to send tents to give people shelter. If nothing is done there will be thousands of deaths," said Thierry Velu, head of the French aid organisation Groupe de Secours Catastrophe Francais. [More>>jang.com.pk]

10.16.05 My four hours testifying in the Federal Grand Jury room
Judith Miller

October 16 – Judith Miller posted this article in the New York Times: In July 2003, Joseph C. Wilson IV, a former ambassador, created a firestorm by publishing an essay in The New York Times that accused the Bush administration of using faulty intelligence to justify the war in Iraq. The administration, he charged, ignored findings of a secret mission he had undertaken for the Central Intelligence Agency - findings, he said, that undermined claims that Iraq was seeking uranium for a nuclear bomb. It was the first time Mr. Wilson had gone public with his criticisms of the White House. Yet he had already become a focus of significant scrutiny at the highest levels of the Bush administration.

Almost two weeks earlier, in an interview with me on June 23, Vice President Dick Cheney's chief of staff, I. Lewis Libby, discussed Mr. Wilson's activities and placed blame for intelligence failures on the C.I.A. In later conversations with me, on July 8 and July 12, Mr. Libby, who is Mr. Cheney's top aide, played down the importance of Mr. Wilson's mission and questioned his performance.

My notes indicate that well before Mr. Wilson published his critique, Mr. Libby told me that Mr. Wilson's wife may have worked on unconventional weapons at the C.I.A.

My notes do not show that Mr. Libby identified Mr. Wilson's wife by name. Nor do they show that he described Valerie Wilson as a covert agent or "operative," as the conservative columnist Robert D. Novak first described her in a syndicated column published on July 14, 2003. (Mr. Novak used her maiden name, Valerie Plame.)

This is what I told a federal grand jury and the special counsel investigating whether administration officials committed a crime by leaking Ms. Plame's identity and the nature of her job to reporters...As I told the grand jury, I recalled Mr. Libby's frustration and anger about what he called "selective leaking" by the C.I.A. and other agencies to distance themselves from what he recalled as their unequivocal prewar intelligence assessments. The selective leaks trying to shift blame to the White House, he told me, were part of a "perverted war" over the war in Iraq. [Full story>>nytimes.com; See also the washingtonpost.com article, "Miller gives her side of the story."]

10.16.05 Children pulled alive from quake rubble

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan, October 16 – Eight days after a powerful earthquake shook South Asia, Pakistani soldiers recovered four children -- including two babies, one only 7 months old -- from the rubble of their remote home in hard-hit Balakot. The bodies of their parents were also recovered in the mountain-top home on Sunday, army spokesman Maj. Gen. Shaukat Sultan told CNN. The soldiers, on rescue and relief operations in the region, heard the children's voices and started digging through the toppled house.

On Saturday, authorities rescued a 10-year-old girl from a house in Pakistani-controlled Kashmir, which was also hard hit by a 7.6-magnitude earthquake that killed thousands and left millions homeless. Bad weather has hampered rescue efforts in recent days. Torrential rains caused authorities to temporarily ground relief flights Sunday following the crash of a Pakistani army helicopter that killed six people. [More>>cnn.com; See also related story, abcnews.go.com, "Death toll in Pakistan quake up to 54,000."]

10.16.05 Google satellite photos worry India leader

HYDERABAD, India (AP) October 15 – Indian President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam expressed concern Saturday about a free mapping program from Google Inc., warning it could help terrorists by providing satellite photos of potential targets.

Google Earth, an Internet site launched in June this year, allows users to access overlapping satellite photos. Although not all areas are highly detailed, some images are very high resolution, and some show sensitive locations in various countries.

At a meeting of top police officials in the southern Indian city of Hyderabad, Kalam said he worried that "developing countries, which are already in danger of terrorist attacks, have been singularly chosen" for providing high resolution images of their sites. The governments of South Korea and Thailand and lawmakers in the Netherlands have expressed similar concerns. [More>>abcnews.go.com]

10.16.05 Al-Qaeda chief sets up UK network

October 16 – The head of Al-Qaeda in Iraq has established a new terror network in Britain which is recruiting young Muslim fanatics to fight coalition troops. Abu Musab al-Zarqawi has recently set up the group to recruit and train would-be suicide bombers and gunmen, counter-terrorism officials have said.

The new group, Ansar al-Fath — Partisans of Victory — is an offshoot of Ansar al-Islam, an organisation that is to be banned under new anti-terror rules announced by Charles Clarke, the home secretary, last week. Ansar al-Fath provides logistical support to foreign fighters in Iraq and uses the internet to find new recruits for Zarqawi. Government officials say a �steady trickle� of about 70 young Muslim men have travelled to Iraq from Britain in the past two years. [More>>timesonline.co.uk]

10.16.05 Revealed: IRA bombs killed eight British soldiers in Iraq

October 16 – Eight British soldiers killed during ambushes in Iraq were the victims of a highly sophisticated bomb first used by the IRA, The Independent on Sunday can reveal. The soldiers, who were targeted by insurgents as they travelled through the country, died after being attacked with bombs triggered by infra-red beams. The bombs were developed by the IRA using technology passed on by the security services in a botched "sting" operation more than a decade ago. This contradicts the British government's claims that Iran's Revolutionary Guard is helping Shia insurgents to make the devices.

The Independent on Sunday can also reveal that the bombs and the firing devices used to kill the soldiers, as well as two private security guards, were initially created by the UK security services as part of a counter-terrorism strategy at the height of the troubles in the early 1990s.

According to security sources, the technology for the bombs used in the attacks, which were developed using technology from photographic flash units, was employed by the IRA some 15 years ago after Irish terrorists were given advice by British agents. "We are seeing technology in Iraq today that it took the IRA 20 years to develop," said a military intelligence officer with experience in Northern Ireland. He revealed that one trigger used in a recent Iraqi bombing was a three-way device, combining a command wire, a radio signal and an infra-red beam – a technique perfected by the IRA.

Britain claims that the bomb-making expertise now being used in southern Iraq was passed on by Iran's Revolutionary Guard through Hizbollah, the revolutionary Islamist group it sponsors in Lebanon. But a former agent who infiltrated the IRA told The Independent on Sunday that the technology reached the Middle East through the IRA's co-operation with Palestinian groups. In turn, some of these groups used to be sponsored by Saddam Hussein and his Baath party.

The former agent added: "The photographic flashgun unit was replaced with infra-red and then coded infra-red, but basically they were variations of the same device. The technology came from the security forces, but the IRA always shared its equipment and expertise with Farc guerrillas in Colombia, the Basque separatists, ETA and Palestinian groups. There is no doubt in my mind that the technology used to kill our troops in Basra is the same British technology from a decade ago." [More>>independent.co.uk]

10.16.05 Rally condemns Katrina response

October 16 – Tens of thousands of African-Americans have been taking part in a rally in Washington to mark the 10th anniversary of the Million Man March. Many of the crowd voiced their anger at what they perceive as the unequal treatment of black people in the US. Speakers said this was highlighted by the fate of poor black communities following Hurricane Katrina. Correspondents say the number attending the rally appears to be down on the original march in 1995.

Neither the police nor the organizers gave an estimate for the size of the crowd.

The leader of the Nation of Islam movement, Louis Farrakhan, told the audience the federal government was guilty of failing to react more quickly to the disaster. "I firmly believe if the people on those rooftops had blond hair and blue eyes and pale skin, something would have been done in a more timely manner," he said. "We charge America with criminal neglect." [More>>bbc.co.uk]

10.16.05 Some US Christians say Katrina was God's handiwork

NEW ORLEANS (Reuters) October 16 – When Hurricane Katrina slammed into New Orleans, submerging entire neighborhoods for weeks with its ferocious tidal surge, some say it was not a freak act of nature but a message from an angry God.

That's the belief of some Christians in the United States, who have been warning the Mardi Gras capital, long known for its hedonistic ways, was bucking for a good dose of divine retribution. "There's been a black spiritual cloud over New Orleans for years," the Rev. Franklin Graham, son of influential American preacher Billy Graham, said during an appearance this month at Liberty University, a Christian school in Lynchburg, Virginia.

Saying New Orleans is a city known for Satan worship, orgies and widespread drinking and drug use, the younger Graham spoke about how some believed God was using the hurricane to spark a religious revival there.

That the death and destruction visited on residents of the city in late August could have been the product of divine intervention even found its way into the halls of government. "Maybe God's going to cleanse us," Oliver Thomas, president of the New Orleans City Council, told reporters after the storm.

...Indeed, millions of people, particularly in the Southern Bible Belt states, believe the physical world will come to an end as the result of a supernatural event, such as those described in the Bible's Book of Revelation. Those who embrace this Apocalyptic vision – about 15 to 20 percent of US Christians by some accounts – have been bolstered in their beliefs by what they see as a spiritual decay in America that has lasted for decades.

From their perspective, legalized abortion, gay rights and the widespread availability of pornography are an affront to God and proof the world has descended into the darkness the Bible says is supposed to occur before the end of the world. "Their rhetoric is that perhaps God's blessing has been removed and we can't expect to be protected," said Nancy Ammerman, a sociology professor at Boston University who has written about conservative Christians. [Full story from a major Malaysian newspaper>>thestar.com.my]

10.16.05 Bush to Blair: First Iraq, then Saudi

October 16 – (Maravot News has observed other reports of this story that have appeared in many newspapers around the world during the past week) George Bush told the Prime Minister two months before the invasion of Iraq that Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, Iran and North Korea may also be dealt with over weapons of mass destruction, a top secret Downing Street memo shows. The US President told Tony Blair, in a secret telephone conversation in January 2003 that he "wanted to go beyond Iraq." He implied that the military action against Saddam Hussein was only a first step in the battle against WMD proliferation in a series of countries.

Mr. Bush said he "wanted to go beyond Iraq in dealing with WMD proliferation," says the letter on Downing Street paper, marked secret and personal.

No 10 said yesterday it would "not comment on leaked documents." But the revelation that Mr. Bush was considering tackling other countries over WMD before the Iraq war has shocked MPs. Saudi Arabia and Pakistan have been close allies of the US in the war against terror and have not been considered targets in relation to WMD.

The confidential memo recording the President's explosive remarks was written by Michael Rycroft, then the Prime Minister's private secretary and foreign policy adviser. He sent the two-page letter recording the conversation between the two leaders on 30 January 2003 to Simon McDonald, who was then private secretary to Jack Straw, the Foreign Secretary. Mr. Rycroft said it "must only be shown to those with a real need to know."

The revelation that Mr. Bush told the Prime Minister Iraq should be seen as a first step comes in the American edition of Lawless World, a book by the leading international lawyer Philippe Sands QC, who is also a professor of law at University College London and senior barrister at Matrix chambers, which he shares with Cherie Blair. [More>>independent.co.uk]

10.16.05 Russia's Islamic revolt is spreading

October 16 – The diehard gang of Muslim extremists responsible for last week�s attack on the southern Russian city of Nalchik consisted mainly of local militants intent on creating a strict Islamic state independent of Moscow, according to security sources in the region. The disclosure that the gunmen were not sent from the war-torn republic of Chechnya but belonged to a group from Kabardino-Balkaria, the Russian republic of which Nalchik is the capital, will be of great concern to the Kremlin. It provides alarming evidence that far from dying down — as claimed by President Vladimir Putin — the bloody Chechen conflict is spreading.

�Most of the militants who were killed and those caught alive are local,� said an officer with the Nalchik anti-terrorism police unit. � The ferocity of the attacks has shocked the city.�

The onslaught, which turned the town of 280,000 into a war zone, was the most daring raid by pro-Chechen Islamic militants since last year�s Beslan school siege in which 330 hostages were killed. It came less than a month before parliamentary elections in Chechnya, hailed by Putin as evidence that the region is becoming stable. The 24 hours of gun battles in which several police stations and other security forces buildings were attacked left at least 108 dead, including more than 60 militants. Nearly 30 others were detained. Most of the gunmen were thought to be members of Yarmuk, a homegrown fundamentalist group that the local authorities twice claimed to have destroyed.

Composed mainly of young extremists from the region�s two main ethnic groups, the Kabardins and the Balkars, Yarmuk has close ties with Shamil Basayev, Russia�s most wanted terrorist, who was behind the Beslan attack and appears to be extending his influence in an attempt to open up a new front in his war with Moscow. [More>>timesonline.co.uk]

10.16.05 US sees victory as Iraq counts votes

BAGHDAD (Reuters) October 16 – Iraqi voters look almost certain to have approved a new US-backed constitution, overcoming Sunni opposition in a vote seen by Washington as boosting its beleaguered Iraq strategy, results showed on Sunday. Early results from Saturday�s referendum indicated the vote split as expected along largely communal lines. Tight security kept the polls mostly peaceful although five US soldiers were killed in the Sunni west, the military said.

Despite high turnout in some Sunni Arab areas, partial counts suggested that the charter�s opponents were unable to muster enough �No� votes to veto it. According to the referendum rules, a two-thirds �No� vote in three of Iraq�s 18 provinces could block the constitution even if most Iraqis backed it.

US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, speaking in London as the vote-count in Iraq was in progress, said the constitution had probably passed. That angered some Sunni leaders, who accused her of pressuring Iraqi officials to fix the result.

...The five soldiers killed by a roadside bomb that wrecked their vehicle in the insurgent stronghold of Ramadi took the number of Americans to die in the Iraq war to at least 1,970.

The high toll from the blast suggested the use of more powerful devices that US commanders say insurgents have developed this year. Electoral Commission chief Hussein Al Hendawi told Reuters turnout was running at 63-64 percent, well above the 58 percent seen in January when many Sunnis boycotted the country�s first elections after the fall of Saddam Hussein. Local election officials gave a picture of a strong �Yes� vote in the Shia Muslim provinces of the south and of massive rejection in the Sunni Arab heartlands of the north and west. Sunni nationalist leader Saleh Al Mutlak said he estimated more than 80 percent of Sunni Arabs who make up 20 percent of the population voted �No� despite a US-brokered deal with one Sunni political party which backed the constitution in return for a promise to consider amendments next year.

Mutlak questioned the validity of any result: �Condoleezza Rice made a statement,� he told reporters. �I believe it is a signal to the Electoral Commission to pass the constitution.� Salahaddin province, one of at least three with a Sunni Arab majority that might help veto the referendum, voted �No� by 70 percent, an electoral official said on Sunday. Another province, Anbar, whose capital is Ramadi, was also likely to reject it.

...In Falluja, where insurgents battled US troops a year ago, 90 percent of registered voters turned out, local election chief Saadullah Al-Rawi said, and 99 percent of them voted �No�. South of the capital, despite some surprisingly strong rejection by nationalist followers of radical Shia cleric Moqtada Al Sadr, the �Yes� camp was clearly ascendant. In the provinces of Najaf and Kerbala, local officials said the constitution was approved by about 85 percent. Many Iraqis expressed relief the vote had been completed in an orderly and virtually bloodless fashion. [Full story>>khaleejtimes.com]

10.15.05 Iraq vote turnout

October 15 – Iraqthemodel blog posted these turnout levels recorded in the 18 provinces in Iraq according to the electoral commission in the latest press conference (posted at 19:25 by Omar):

High= more than 66%
Moderate= 33% - 66%
Low= less than 33%

Duhok: moderate.
Erbil: moderate.
Sulaymania: high.
Mosul: high.
Kirkuk: high.
Diyala: high.
Anbar: unknown.
Baghdad: high.
Babil: high.
Kerbala: high.
Wasit: moderate.
Salahiddin: high.
Al-Muthana: moderate.
Al-Qadisiya: low.
Najaf: high.
Thi Qar: moderate.
Maysan: moderate.
Basra: moderate.

10.15.05 Iraqis begin charter vote amid violence

October 15 – Iraq's referendum on a draft constitution has opened on time, but violence including a bombing at a Baghdad polling station struck early in the day. Amid intense security, including a ban on all traffic on Saturday, voters walked to polling stations in Baghdad as they opened at 7am (0400 GMT).

Iraqi journalist Walid Khalid told Aljazeera from Baghdad that the voting process was going calmly though slowly. However, there were little signs of voting in the Baghdad districts of al-Ghazaliya, al-Mansur, al-Amiriya and Dora. In the southern city of Basra and the northern oil-rich city of Kirkuk, voter participation was reported to be strong. Falluja, which was the site of heavy fighting between US forces and Iraqi fighters in 2004, also reported a large voter turnout.

However, the town of Ramadi west of Baghdad, and the northern city of Mosul reported very little voting. Iraqi journalist Muhammad Abd al-Rahman told Aljazeera that in Hiyt, in western al-Anbar, some residents did not know where the polling centres were. In Mosul, Iraq's third largest city, threatening fliers urged people to keep away. The fliers showed an American Uncle Sam figure looming over a voter depicted as a donkey placing a ballot paper into a voting box that is shown at the bottom to be a meat shredder. "Stay home; don't believe in the constitution," the caption read. [More>>aljazeera.net; See latest report, cnn.com, 10:21am EDT, "Poles close in historic referendum" : After decades of repression and more than two years of war and insurgency, Iraqis went to the polls Saturday to vote on a draft constitution that would set up a democratic framework to govern the religiously and ethnically disparate nation. The vote was conducted amid tight security. National and provincial borders were closed and nighttime curfews ordered. Iraqi President Jalal Talabani and Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari were among the first to cast ballots.

CNN correspondents in different parts of the country reported that voting was brisk. CNN's Nic Robertson, who covered the January vote for the transitional National Assembly and is in Iraq now, said voting appeared to be heavier this time.]

10.15.05 Romanian bird flu is lethal strain

October 15 – The bird flu virus detected in Romania is the same lethal strain which struck in Asia. Confirmation came following tests at the Veterinary Laboratory Agency in Weybridge in the UK. The H5N1 strain has caused heavy losses of livestock in south-east Asia since 2003 and more than 60 human deaths. Although its human victims contracted the disease from contact with birds, there are fears a mutant form of the virus may start passing between humans. The WHO has warned millions could die in a global pandemic if this happens. Cases of bird flu were reported in two villages in eastern Romania earlier this month. [More>>bbc.co.uk]

10.15.05 Al Qaeda "barber" arrested in Iraq, US forces say

BAGHDAD (Reuters) October 15 – US forces in Iraq said on Saturday that they were holding a man suspected of acting as a barber to senior al Qaeda militants and helping them change their appearance to evade capture.

The man, named as Walid Muhammad Farhan Juwar al-Zubayd – aka "The Barber," the US military statement said – was arrested in Baghdad on Sept. 24, the day before US troops caught up with and killed a militant they described as the most senior al Qaeda leader in the capital, Abu Azzam. "The Barber's' duties included altering senior al Qaeda in Iraq members' appearances by dying hair colour, altering hairstyles and changing facial hair in their efforts to evade capture," the military said in the statement.

Also detained on Sept. 24 was Ibrahim Muhammad Subhi Khayri al-Rihawi, the military said, naming him also as Abu Khalil and calling him a "close associate" of Abu Azzam. "(He) served as an executive assistant for the terrorist emir. He also acted as a banker for Azzam and stored the terrorist organization's funds so they would not be confiscated should Abu Azzam be killed or captured," it added. [More>>thestar.com.my]

10.15.05 Quake toll nears 40,000, rain hits relief

MUZAFFARABAD (Reuters) October 15 – Pakistan raised the official death toll from the earthquake to 38,000 on Saturday, making it one of the most devastating earthquakes to hit South Asia in recorded history. Military spokesman Shaukat Sultan said the number of deaths in Pakistani Kashmir and North West Frontier Province was raised to 38,000 from 25,000 after confirming a higher death toll from remote mountain valleys and the town of Balakot. "This number is likely to further rise," Sultan told Reuters. Another 1,300 people are confirmed to have died in Kashmir. [More>>expressindia.com]

10.15.05 Tibet rail construction completed

October 15 – A ceremony is planned on Saturday in Lhasa, capital of Southwest China's Tibet Autonomous Region, to celebrate the completion of the Qinghai-Tibet Railway after four years of construction. The railway, which connects Tibet with the rest of China, is the most elevated track in the world. Once signalling and track testing is completed in the next 15 months, it will be possible to travel from Beijing to Lhasa in 48 hours.

The gigantic project, which involves an investment of 33 billion yuan (US$ 4.7 billion), is part of the nation's efforts to build up the underdeveloped western regions. The railway, linking Lhasa with Golmud in Qinghai, extends 1,142 kilometres on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau. It boasts the world's highest railway station, at Tanggula, located 5,068 metres above sea level. With an average altitude of 4,500 metres, the line has 960 kilometres at 4,000 metres above sea level. [More>>chinadaily.com.cn]

(2) The name, Allah, in Arabic is an expression of surprise. It is not unusual for the God of the Bible to be known by many names. Jewish Midrash quotes passages in the Old Testament (Torah) that cite as many as seventy names of God (and more). But they can all be reduced down to one name.
(5) The Law of the Locrians: "In the legislation of the Locrians, the proposer of a new law, with a halter round his neck, to be instantly tightened if the public assembly did not, on hearing his reasons, then and there adopt his proposition." [Mill, On Liberty, 2.475].

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