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Hyderabadi woman gets new lease of life

     Dubai: Fatima Begum Abdul Qayum, 22, who was convicted of murdering her 80-year-old Arab husband, got a new lease of life when the relatives of her husband dropped their demand for the death penalty and asked her to pay blood money. The Indian Association in the Emirate of Ras Al Khaimah in the UAE paid an advance of 10,000 Dirhams towards the 75,000 Dirhams demanded by the relatives. A written agreement was then secured, sparing the life of the Hyderbad-born woman, who was married off at the age of 15. A Sharia Court had sentenced Fatima to death in 1997, which the Appeal Court had subsequently upheld. Fatima had denied the crime and claimed one of her family members had killed her husband but could not provide proof to the court. The association is now making arrangements for Fatima to fly home.

US female soldiers bare busts in Iraqi prison mud-fest (Go To Top)

     London: American female soldiers are in the midst of a controversy again, as photographs taken by colleagues show them exposing their bare breasts at a party in an Iraqi prison. According to The Sun, some of the 30 pictures reveal male soldiers cheering on two women in bras and panties in a mud- filled paddling pool. In others photographs, military police women bared their breasts and flashed thongs for male soldiers with cameras. Investigators probing a breakdown of discipline at the US Army's Camp Bucca jail were informed that sergeants also lent their rooms to soldiers for sex. Ironically, the soldiers had been assigned to guard Iraqi inmates being transferred there from scandal-hit Abu Ghraib jail. The party was organised last year in October by sergeants of the 160th Military Police Battalion reserve unit to celebrate the end of their tour of duty. "It let people blow off steam before coming home after a year in a combat zone," the report quoted sergeant Amil Ganim, who is seen in some pictures refereeing the mud-wrestling soldiers, as saying. Another participant told investigators that two sergeants had let Army friends use their rooms for sex, which is a serious breach of military rules. A female witness revealed that the two sergeants had been drinking and were noticeably drunk. US Army spokesman Lt Col Barry Johnson said he was not sure if excessive alcohol consumption had led to the mud-wrestling party, but added, "Alcohol is banned."

Nuke-armed terrorists can attack US: Expert (Go To Top)

    Washington: The United States can be attacked by nuclear-armed terrorists, a Washington Post correspondent has said, adding that it would be foolish on the part of Washington to ignore such a possibility in the immediate future. "In Pakistan today, some Islamist insurgents, such as those in the frontier territory where Bin Laden is presumed to be hiding, receive almost-state sponsorship or failed-state sponsorship. Individual officials or sections of a corrupt bureaucracy join with these radicals for a variety of reasons - cash payoffs, ideology, venality, or a blend of all three. These fluid relationships threaten to render irrelevant the traditional postures of nuclear deterrence, in which governments frighten other governments into nuclear restraint, usually by credible threats of massive retaliation, the Daily Times quoted Steve Coll as saying in his latest book titled "Ghost Wars".

      "If it had been discovered that the AQ Khan network intended to carry out a direct attack on the United States, who in its ranks would be deterred by Bush's threat? The Government of Pakistan, which today claims it did not know what Khan was doing? Khan himself, who seems to have been in it for money and glory? His business partners in Malaysia and Dubai, with no political assets to defend?" According to Coll, America needs to come up with some answers. In his view, a sustained campaign to contain the jihadi nuclear threat might draw on diverse approaches. "More aggressive efforts to secure nuclear materials, a reformulation of deterrence strategy to address gray networks, and a broad reduction in the sources of jihadi radicalisation would be places to start. National laboratories such as Los Alamos helped identify Soviet nuclear weapons scientists after the collapse of communism; they are needed now in the Middle East. Helpful above all would be to elevate all these issues to the prominence accorded Iran and North Korea," he concludes.