Columbia Lost in Flames

          WASHINGTON: US space shuttle Columbia, returning to earth after its 16-day mission, disintegrated into balls of flames, then vapour trails and possibly some debris, on Saturday morning just 16 minutes before it was scheduled to land at Cape Canaveral, Florida. The seven-strong crew included commander Rick Husband, flight engineer India-born Kalpana Chawla, and Israeli astronaut Ilan Ramon.

           NASA lost contact ... (Contd)

US Jet Intrudes into Chennai Skies

          CHENNAI: A US Air Force plane flew at a speed of about 150 nautical miles east of Chennai for over two hours on Friday and did not respond to any radio signals, airport sources said on Saturday. The jet flew at a height of around 35,000 feet from 12.00 pm to 2.00 pm and the radar at the airport tracked its movement, the sources said. They said the plane did not respond to any radio signals of the air traffic control and then went off the radar screen, the sources said.

           In a similar incident on November 20, a Lufthansa cargo aircraft flew low in the prohibited airspace over the Prime Minister's house, Rashtrapati Bhawan and Parliament House for about a minute.

Iraq Threatens to Unleash Suicide Attacks on Americans (Go To Top)

          BAGHDAD: Iraq threatened to unleash suicide attacks against US nationals in the Middle East and to wipe out any invading force should Washington wage a new war against it, sources said on Saturday. The warnings by Iraqi President Saddam Hussein and vice-president Taha Yassin Ramadan were made public on Saturday, the day after US President George W Bush met British prime minister Tony Blair and declared that a likely conflict was "weeks, not months" away.

          "The whole region will be set ablaze. This part of the world will become a sea of resistance and danger for Americans. It will be much worse for them than anything that has happened so far, especially in places where US soldiers are stationed, meaning in Saudi Arabia and Kuwait," Ramadan said.

Be Ready to Face Crisis, Cautions PM (Go To Top)

          NEW DELHI: Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee on Saturday asked his countrymen to be ready to face a crisis in case of a US-led military strike on Iraq. "With the current situation ... , no one can speculate when there will be a war in the Middle East. I don't want to discuss as to who is responsible for the crisis. But we should have faith. We will have to face the crisis," Vajpayee said while inaugurating a religious centre in New Delhi.

           India, which complements a UN supervised 'Oil-for-Food' deal with Iraq, has opposed any unilateral action against Baghdad outside the Security Council mandate. India imports much of its oil from the Middle East, including Iraq. Vajpayee's statement came a day after US President George W Bush rejected any bid to delay disarming Iraq, saying a new Security Council resolution authorising war would be welcome but not necessary. US has accused Iraq of defying the UN over its weapons programmes, and expressed frustration at calls from France and Germany to give the UN weapons inspectors more time to search for evidence of weapons of mass destruction in Iraq.

Kasuri Warns US of Backlash (Go To Top)

          NEW YORK: After talks with US President George W Bush and National Security Adviser Condoleeza Rice, Pakistan foreign minister Khurshid Mehmood Kasuri has warned that a war (against Iraq) could lead to an anti-American backlash among Muslims. "There has been a reaction to the events in Afghanistan which the Government of Pakistan is doing its best to control," the minister was quoted as saying by the New York Times. He said: "There will be a reaction to the events in Iraq, and I want our friends in the United States to be mindful of those. There will be reaction not only in Pakistan, also all the Islamic world - there'll be reaction even in Europe."

           The Times also said that Saudi foreign minister Saud Al Faisal had brought a formula to provide exile to President Saddam Hussein in order to avoid a war. The paper said that after meeting Bush on Thursday, the Saudi ambassador here Prince Bandar bin Sultan and Saud Al Faisal told reporters that they had not discussed the idea floated by other Saudi officials, of offering Hussein exile in another country. But the NYT said that another diplomat familiar with the Saudi proposal said it was "absolutely still a valid idea."

Anti-US Protest Rallies in Six Pak Cities (Go To Top)

          KARACHI: : Supporters of several political and religious parties took out anti-US protest rallies in Islamabad, Lahore, Multan, Kushab, Sargodha and Karachi, condemning the American move to strike against Iraq and drive against terrorism which they called "drive against Muslims." In Karachi, the demonstrators gathered and marched through the streets after prayers on Friday, a common practice followed in Pakistan to stage protest. Expressing solidarity with Iraqis and other Muslims all over the world, they slammed the US drive against terrorism which, according to them, meant targetting the Muslims.

'Deported' Bangladeshis Stranded in No-man's-land (Go To Top)

          SATGARCHI (West Bengal): India reinforced its eastern border with Bangladesh after preventing more than 200 Bangladeshis from entering its territory. The Bangladeshis who India says were "pushed" into its side on Friday by the Bangladesh Rifles, are now stranded on the zero line (no man's land) near Satgachi, 700 km north of Kolkata.

           Relations between India and Bangladesh have soured in recent weeks after New Delhi ordered a crackdown on illegal immigrants, who it regards as a security threat. The stranded Bangladeshis maintained that their country was not accepting them, even though they had proof of their identity. "I am from Bangladesh, I have got papers to prove that I am from Bangladesh, if they want I can show them, if they call up on the phone number, that is there in my papers, they will be able to get information about me. We don't have anything to eat, not even drinking water, we are under arrest, we didn't have food for the past two days, we are having small children with us," said Mujbir Mohammad, a Bangladeshi national. Most of these people live in the border villages and earn their living as snake charmers.

Cellphone Radiation Burns Hole in Rat's Brain: Researchers (Go To Top)

          LONDON: To shed some light on whether cellphone use is harmful to callers, Swedish scientists have now revealed that radiation emitted by most common mobile phones burns holes in the brains of rats, thus proving life-threatening.

           According to reports in Environmental Health Perspectives, a publication of the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, Swedish neurosurgeon Leif Salfold and his team tested the radiation emitted from Global System for Mobile communications phones on 12 to 26-week old rats. The age group of the animals tested, researchers say, is equivalent to that of human teenagers - who tend to lead the pack in cell-phone use world-wide, reports Wired News.

24 Killed in Zimbabwe Train Collision (Go To Top)

          HARARE: Twenty-four people were killed and many more injured when a passenger train collided with a goods train carrying inflammable substances near Dete in western Zimbabwe, a report said on Saturday. "Twenty four bodies have so far been retrieved from the wreckage," the report said, adding that the injured were being taken to a hospital in the nearby town of Hwange. Several bodies were still trapped in the wreckage and rescue operations were continuing, the report added. The accident occurred early in the morning along the railway line that links the southern city of Bulawayo to the western resort town of Victoria Falls.

Gwalior Fountain Emitting Chemicals, Gases (Go To Top)

          GWALIOR: A fountain inside a local farm field has suddenly started emitting some chemicals and gases. As a precautionary measure, the district authorities have sealed the area and imposed Section 144 to keep away the people. Water has been gushing out of the bore well for the past 12 days. The 40-feet high fountain erupted when the farmer, who owns the field, was trying to irrigate his field with the help of the borewell.

          ONGC officials have come and taken samples. Report is awaited. Meanwhile, the fountain has become a centre of attraction for people from nearby areas. Parasram Mali, the farmer in whose field the fountain has erupted, said, "water is gushing out like this. Some say it is water, some say it is gas. For the last 12 days, water is gushing."

Pak Mines Recovered from Punjab Border Village (Go To Top)

          SEHJRA BULGE (Punjab): The security personnel on Saturday recovered several landmines bearing markings of Pakistan Ordnance in a border village in Punjab. Border Security Force (BSF) in Shehjra Bulge village along the international border recovered 16 anti-personnel mines and one anti-mine tank with names of Pakistani ordnance factories engrossed. Deputy inspector-general of BSF IL Mal said the first of these mines were detected last month. "These mines are made in an ordnance factory, they even have Pakistan Ordnance Factory (POF) written on them. They also have marking which we term as "lot number", they have the manufacturing date etc on it. These mines can be handled only by the Pakistan army. Mal blamed Pakistan for dumping mines in Indian territory.

Indian Researchers Hope to 'Bring Back Cheetahs' With Iran's Help (Go To Top)

          HYDERABAD: The Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology in Hyderabad has requested Iran to loan it a pair of cheetahs or offer some cells to help Indian scientists clone the animal which has been extinct in the country for over 50 years. The organisation made the proposal to Iranian President Mohammad Khatami during his visit to the city earlier this week.

           Lalji Singh, CCMB director, was quoted by BBC as saying that "I have asked Iran for a pair of cheetahs and proposed cloning where it is not possible to multiply them by regular or assisted breeding." The cheetah is similar to the leopard and is the fastest animal on land, capable of covering a distance of 100 km per hour (60 mph) in short spurts. It disappeared from India following large-scale hunting during British rule that ended in 1947 but is still found in parts of Iran.

           The institute is setting up a large laboratory to revive endangered species like the cheetah as part of a project worth 2.3 million dollars, according to Singh. He said an Indian leopard will be able to serve as a surrogate mother for a cloned cheetah. Iranian cheetahs, though small in number, were identical to the species that has vanished from India. Singh hopes the project could pave the way for the conservation of other endangered species such as tigers and lions.

Columbia Lost in Flames (Go To Top)

          (Contd) ... with the space shuttle minutes before it was due to land. The shuttle's landing was overdue after it was scheduled to arrive at the Kennedy Space Centre in Florida at 0916 (1416 GMT). Mission Control reported no communication with the shuttle after 9 am EST. The shuttle was carrying the first astronaut from Israel, and authorities had earlier feared of terrorist attacks.

          Fifteen minutes after the expected landing time, and with no word from the shuttle, NASA announced that search and rescue teams were being mobilized in Dallas and Fort Worth areas. NASA, while not saying the shuttle had exploded, broken up or crashed, warned that any debris found in the area should be avoided and could be hazardous.

           The relatives of the astronauts who had been waiting at the landing strip were gathered together by NASA and taken to a separate place. Columbia was at an altitude of 200,700 feet over north-central Texas at 9 am., travelling at 12,500 mph when mission control lost contact and tracking data. Reporters at the landing strip were ordered away 7 minutes after the scheduled touch-down with still no sign of the shuttle.

           In 42 years of human space flight, NASA has never lost a space crew during landing. In 1986, space shuttle Challenger exploded shortly after lift-off. Security had been tight for the 16-day scientific research mission that included the first Israeli astronaut. Ilan Ramon, a colonel in Israel's air force and former fighter pilot, became the first man from his country to fly in space, and his presence resulted in an increase in security, not only for Columbia's January 16 launch, but also for its landing. Space agency officials had feared his presence might make the shuttle more of a terrorist target.

          On the launch day, a piece of insulating foam on the external fuel tank came off during lift-off and was believed to have struck the left wing of the shuttle. NASA said as late as Friday that the damage to the thermal tiles was believed to be minor and posed no safety concern during the fiery descent through the atmosphere.

-ANI