Obama: 30,000 more troops to Afghanistan

WASHINGTON - President Barack Obama is dispatching 30,000 more troops to Afghanistan, accelerating a risky and expensive war buildup, even as he assures the nation that U.S. forces will begin coming home in July 2011. The first new Marines will join the fight by Christmas.

The escalation - to be completed by next summer - is designed to reverse significant Taliban advances since Obama took office 10 months ago and to fast-track the training of Afghan soldiers and police toward the goal of hastening an eventual U.S. pullout. The size and speed of the troop increase will put a heavy strain on the military, which still maintains a force of more than 100,000 in Iraq and already has 68,000 in Afghanistan.

Obama's Tuesday evening speech to cadets at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, N.Y., to be broadcast nationally, ends three months of exacting deliberations that won praise from supporters and criticism from opponents. Former Vice President Dick Cheney said Obama was ‘‘dithering,'' too inexperienced to make a decision on the troop buildup requested in September by commanding Gen. Stanley McChrystal.

Senior officials said Obama would underscore his commitment to stabilizing Afghanistan and scouring corruption out of the government of President Hamid Karzai. Obama has vowed to prevent Afghanistan from again becoming a safe haven for al-Qaida boss Osama bin Laden and his terrorist organization.

Soldier killed in Afghanistan

A British soldier from 1st Battalion The Coldstream Guards has been killed in southern Afghanistan.

The Ministry of Defence confirmed the soldier was killed by an explosion near Camp Bastion in central Helmand Province on the morning of 8 October 2009.

A spokesman for Task Force Helmand, Lieutenant Colonel David Wakefield, said:

"It is my sad duty to confirm the death of a soldier from the 1st Battalion, The Coldstream Guards here in Helmand Province this morning. He was one of us, one of our own, and we will remember him."

Next of kin have been informed and have asked for a 24 hour period of grace before further details are released.

Obama in Afghanistan

AFGHANISTAN -- Iraq's Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki is not backing Barack Obama's troop withdrawal plan. The statement comes in response to an article that quoted al-Maliki as favoring a 16 month withdrawal window. Iraq's government spokesman says al-Maliki's views were misunderstood and he backs a general vision of a pull out.

Pakistani news channels banned in Kashmir

FIVE MAJOR Pakistani news channels, whose signals were being beamed illegally in Jammu and Kashmir through cable network over a quite long time, have finally been banned by the government there.

The ban has come following the directions from the union information ministry, asking state government to put off all these foreign news channels in Kashmir.

This ban has ironically come at a time when India and Pakistan crave for so-called people to people contact in a bid to have more confidence building measures between the

Deputy commissioner Srinagar, Ajaz Iqbal, in a order to all TV cable operators, has asked them to immediately stop beaming of Pakistani channels like Aaj TV, Geo TV, ARY news and Dawn news besides government owned Pakistan Television (PTV). It has been pointed out that all these channels were being aired without any proper permission from the union information ministry.

Further, those operators, who ignore this order, will face serious consequences under Section 11 of 1995 Cable Network Act, the order said.

Beaming of television channels in Kashmir has always been a controversial issue for every one. Over the past few years, it has been observed that when militants get annoyed, they ’order’ all cable operators in Kashmir to stop beaming of Indian channels, on many pretexts, including the one that such channels try to ’Indianise’ Kashmiri culture and its people.

The strong signals of PTV, which are easily available in Kashmir, even without cable operators, have been carrying venom against India and security force personnel. The Pakistani radio stations, (some underground too), have also the same one point agenda --- to tarnish image of India. Sadai-e-Hurriyat was one such underground radio station, which was listened in Kashmir in 1990s when militancy was at its peak.

The union information and broadcasting ministry has taken a number of measures to counter Pakistani propaganda, apart from erecting towers and spending crores of rupees on hardware. However, all such measures have not yielded good results. It is understood that banning of these five Pakistani channels at this time is a step in the direction.

But will such ban orders --- be that from militants or government --- have any sense? At a time when we talk of global world and expect Pakistanis to watch ’Star Plus’ and all other Indian entertainment channels, how can we stop all these banned news channels to air their programmes in Kashmir skies? So far, there is a question of obtaining permission, the same can be obtained any time but banning does not suit any purpose.

Southwest Air tops best places to work: survey

General Mills, which topped the list in 2008, slipped to second place although Chief Executive Ken Powell won the highest approval rating among the top company executives, said the analysis by Glassdoor.com, a jobs website.
Glassdoor.com collected and compiled reviews from U.S.-based company employees throughout 2009.
Third place went to Slalom Consulting, followed by Bain & Co and McKinsey & Co.
What the top companies had in common was providing opportunities for employees to grow, said Robert Hohman, co-founder and chief executive of Glassdoor.com.
"What I saw again and again in the reviews is employees referred to their ability to grow in their jobs. In an economic downturn like this, employees feel good if they're growing as individuals and they're becoming more marketable," he said.
"Conversely at some of the companies that haven't done so well, you see things like employees feeling like they still have a job but with no opportunity," he said.
Listed as the worst place to work was Gibson Guitar, followed by United Airlines, Spherion, AutoZone and Rain Bird.
"In many cases they mishandled the instability so there was a constant threat of layoffs and unclear vision of where the company was going," Hohman said.
This marked the first time Southwest was listed among the best places to work. In 2008, it did not receive enough reviews to be eligible, a spokeswoman said. Slalom also was new to the list this year.
Among the companies whose rankings shifted dramatically, FedEx moved up to 21st from 49th place in 2008. Employees felt FedEx handled downsizing well, Hohman said.
Whole Foods Market Inc fell to 48th from sixth place last year. While the company remained a good place to work, employees expressed distaste for Chief Executive John Mackey, who in 2007 was found posting messages on a Yahoo! chat forum under an alias, criticizing Wild Oats Markets Inc, a rival that Whole Foods was seeking to acquire

SCdeclares NRO unconstitutional

ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court of Pakistan has declared National reconciliation ordinance (NRO) unconstitutional, Chief Justice of Pakistan Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry announced the verdict of 17 member larger bench of Supreme Court on Wednesday.The short verdict of the Supreme Court has declared NRO unconstitutional. And all the cases which have been sidelined after NRO have been revived once again. NRO is against the interests of the country. The provincial governments and prosecutors must help courts in NRO cases. All the beneciaries of NRO have to face the trial. Earlier, Chief Justice of Pakistan Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry said that the provisional decision regarding NRO petitions will be announced at 4:30 pm, after the completion of the hearing of the NRO petitions.The larger bench of Supreme Court consisting of 17 members started hearing the petitions on NRO. Chief Justice of Pakistan Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry said to care taker Attorney General to produce the original file of the Swiss cases. The care taker Attorney General responded that the government has no availability of the original file of the Swiss cases. Justice Javed Iqbal made remarks on the reply of care taker Attorney General that this is not the time when the things are being hidden and not being produced before the courts as was done in the past. The principal secretary of Presidential House explained in the Supreme Court that there is no original file of Swiss cases in the Presidential House. Chief Justice said on the reply of principal secretary of Presidential House that if there is no original file of Swiss cases in the Presidential House then it means that Presidential House has given the unconstitutional instructions. The principal secretary of Presidential House Salman farooqi said that the file regarding the Swiss cases belongs to the personal section which is being dealt by military secretary. The man assisting the court Justice (retd) Allah Nawaz said that that NRO is immoral and it was brought to safe guards the thieves and robbers. Justic Ramday said in his remarks that 8000 people were given immunity from criminal cases. The man assisting the court Shaiq Usmani said that it was not the right way to give immunity to people involved in the criminal cases.REACTIONFarhatullah Babar, Presidential Spokesman said that Pakistan People’s Party government respects the courts and the verdict of the court.President of Pakistan Asif Ali Zardari has immunity given by the constitution from all the cases. Under article 242 of the constitution the President Zardari has immunity from all the cases, he added. Qazi Hussain Ahmed, former Ameer Jamaat-e-Islami said that the verdict of Supreme Court is the victory of the people of the country. President of Pakistan Asif Ali Zardari has the legal obligation to resign. All the corrupt people have to face accountability at the present moment. The judiciary has been independant and now it would provide justice to the public of the country, he added.Rana Sanaullah, Punjab Law Minister said that the decision of Supreme Court of Pakistan to declare NRO as unconstitutional is a very good step. Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) has welcomed the decision of the Supreme Court of Pakistan. The President of Pakistan Asif Ali Zardari has the constitutional immunity from the cases. But it is the moral responsibility of President Zardari that it should resign from presidency, he added.34 POLITICIANS AMONG NRO BENEFICIARIESThe National Reconciliation Order's (NRO) beneficiaries include 34 politicians, Federal State Minister for Law Mohammad Afzal Sindhu told media.The list also includes the major politicians of the country including Pakistan People's Party leader President of Pakistan Asif Ali Zardari and Mutahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) leader Altaf Hussain. There were 248 beneficiaries include politicians, bureaucrats and three ambassadors, he added. The NRO beneficiaries include President Asif Ali Zardari, Begum Nusrat Bhutto, Rehman Malik, Chaudhry Shaukat Ali, haji Kabeer Ahmed, Jahangir badar, Malik Mushtaq Awan, rana Nazeer Ahmed, mian Mohammad Rasheed, Tariq Anees, Chaudhy Abdul Hameed, Mian Tariq Mehmood, Haji Mohammad NawazAnwar Saifullah Khan, Chaudhry Ahmed Mukhtar, Sardar Masood Leghari, Agha Siraj Durrani, ftab Ahmed Sherpao, Ghani-ur-Rehman, Haji Gul Sher Khan, Habibullah Kundi, Mirbaz Khan Khatran, Farooq Sattar, Babar Ghuri, Ishrat-ul-Ibad, Noman Sehgal, imran farooq, Shoaib Bokhari, waseem Akhtar, Saleem Shehzad, Qamar Khalid Younis and Safdar Bakri. There are seven cases on President Asif Ali Zardari and 72 cases on MQM leader Altaf hussain, he added.REACTIONThere are no corruption cases on the leaders and activists Mutahida Qaumi Movement (MQM), Haider Abbas Rizvi told SAMAA. MQM has always faced the cases. We are prepared to face our cases in the courts and we also advise to all the beneficiaries of NRO to face the courts, he added.Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz's (PML-N) Information Secretary Ahsan Iqbal told SAMAA that PML-N have faced the cases. Therefore, we also advise Pakistan People's Party leaders to resign from their posts and face the cases in the courts, he added.Pakistan Muslim league-Quaid (PML-Q) leader Mushahid Hussain told SAMAA that there is no one in the PML-Q who had been benefited from NRO. The government must sacrifice and the NRO beneficiary ministers must resign and face their cases in the courts, he added.Haji Adeel, leader of Awami National Party said that there were many cases on the politicians who had not been proved since long and many of the politicians had faced imprisonment for years. It was the responsibility of the courts to decide cases immediately, he added.