Michael Jackson's personal physician will be charged with manslaughter within the next two weeks, a law enforcement source told FOXNews.com.
The source initially said Dr. Conrad Murray could be arrested as soon as next Wednesday -- but investigators have decided to execute one more search warrant, likely at a Los Angeles pharmacy, next week in an attempt to gather more evidence against him. The arrest is now expected the following week.
Murray isn't the only doctor who faces criminal charges in connection with Jackson's death on June 25. A law enforcement source told FOXNews.com that Jackson's longtime dermatologist, Dr. Arnold Klein, will be hit with charges related to medical malpractice. Investigators are still building their case against Klein, and he will not be arrested for at least another two weeks, the source said.
Now we know, so we won't look ignorant of the important things discussed over lunch.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/20/2009 00:00 ||
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#2
Don't send me no doctor
Fillin' me up with all a those pills
Got me a man named Doctor Feelgood
And oh! Yeah!
That man takes care of all my pains and my ills
His name is Doctor Feeeeeelgood in the morning
Takin' care o business is really this man's game
And after one visit to Dr. Feelgood,
You'll understand why Feelgood, is his naaaaaame.
Ooooh, yeah! Good God a-mighty
The man sho makes me feel real........
Goooooooood!
-- Aretha
Survivors of a 1972 plane crash who resorted to cannibalism to stay alive are urging fellow Uruguayans to sign up for a government-run organ donation program.
The 16 crash survivors, who spent 72 days on a remote mountain in the Andes before being rescued, have agreed to lead an awareness campaign with the state-run National Donation and Transplant Institute, crash survivor Jose Luis Inciarte said. Actually quite classy of these gentlemen to work for a good cause, but . . . really, kids, that headline . . . .
Posted by: Mike ||
08/20/2009 14:51 ||
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Zimbabwean police on Wednesday arrested 10 opposition parliamentarians from Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai's MDC, a party spokesman said, a move likely to raise tensions in the new unity government.
Cooperation between the MDC and President Robert Mugabe's ZANU-PF is crucial as the six-month-old administration tries to win vital funding from donors who are demanding faster political and economic reforms.
"I have received a report to the effect that 10 of our MPs have been detained by the police. We are still unclear as to the circumstances and motive of the arrest," MDC spokesman Nelson Chamisa said.
The MPs' lawyer, Tafadzwa Mugabe, told reporters the politicians were arrested and accused of disorderly conduct at the offices of a senior official in the finance ministry.
"I do not have details as to what sort of disturbances they were involved in. I am not sure what the charges will be," said Mugabe. The police were not immediately available for comment.
Mugabe's opponents and the small remaining community of white farmers still complain of detentions and harassment, but the unity government has functioned better than many believed possible.
Tsvangirai's Movement for Democratic Change, which defeated Mugabe's ZANU-PF in last year's parliamentary polls, accuses Mugabe of plotting to whittle down its majority by arresting its lawmakers on various charges.
Before Wednesday's arrests, at least seven MDC MPs faced charges that the party described as trumped up, and five have already been convicted of various crimes.
Four of them were sentenced to more than six months in jail, which automatically disqualifies them from holding their parliamentary seats, according to Zimbabwean law.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/20/2009 00:00 ||
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It would be good to hear that the trees, what trees? have regrown, and houses are selling. They are, but only as get outa-jail cards for the last ones left.
Apparently, Zimbos cross the border, (Beitbridge?), into SA with a Zim Police stamp on a piece of A4 paper. The Zimbabwification of South Africa as a failed state led by and founded by terrorists, abetted by and admired, approved of in the UK.
[Bangla Daily Star] Bangladesh Rifles (BDR) will soon become Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) while laws governing the border security force, and its uniform will also see some changes as the prime minister okayed most of the proposals for restructuring the force yesterday.
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina gave the go-ahead after BDR Director General (DG) Maj Gen Md Mainul Islam presented the set of recommendations to her at the Prime Minister's Office.
The new uniform of the border security force will be of 'brown combat colour' while slight changes will also come to the force's insignia, keeping its theme 'Shimante Atondro Prohori' unchanged. "The prime minister chose the new name from several proposed names. She also chose the brown combat colour for the uniform, and directed to bring slight changes to the BDR insignia," Commerce Minister Faruk Khan who was present at the meeting told The Daily Star afterwards.
A proposal for changes in the BDR Order 1972, says that serious offences like murder, attempt to murder, looting, and arson, cannot be tried under the law because those offences are not mentioned in it.
Besides, departmentally promoted officers like assistant directors, deputy assistant directors, and civilian employees of BDR cannot be tried under that law because it has no provision for trying those persons.
The highest punishment for mutiny under the BDR Order is seven years' rigorous imprisonment, which the recommendations found inadequate in light of the gravity of the February 25-26 mutiny, saying the offences committed during the mutiny deserve capital punishment.
Highly placed sources said a three-layer intelligence unit equipped with modern equipment has been proposed instead of the single layer Rifles Security Unit (RSU) as it had failed to get advance intelligence about the recent mutiny and the subsequent carnage at the force's Pilkhana headquarters that left 74 persons including 57 army officials killed.
As a part of the first layer of the new intelligence network, special desks will be set up at the National Security Intelligence (NSI), and Directorate General of Forces Intelligence (DGFI) for BGB. The second layer will carry out counter intelligence, working under a regional head, similar to that of the army and Rapid Action Battalion (Rab). The third layer will collect internal field intelligence and cross-border intelligence, like the field intelligence unit of the army.
Keeping the force's reserved arms and ammunition in nearby cantonments instead of with its battalions has also been recommended. Fixing rank based retirement ages for its members, like in the army, has been proposed as well. "The premier asked the BDR chief to place a formal proposal to the government for taking appropriate measures to go into the implementation phase," said Faruk who has been heading a high-powered government committee for coordinating the activities of the Prime Minister's Office, and the ministries of home and defence, following the bloody mutiny.
Talking to The Daily Star, one of the meeting sources said the prime minister assured the BDR chief that changes will be brought to the BDR Order through the parliament, saying the existing law is quite weak.
Sheikh Hasina asked the BDR DG to submit a draft of amendments to the existing BDR law to the cabinet through the home ministry.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/20/2009 00:00 ||
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While they are at it, the should get some personnel who are like, you know, on their side.
Officers from HM Revenue & Customs searched both residential properties and offices in both Gravesend and London targeting an alleged network of organised crime. Members are believed to have been trading large volumes of high-value carbon credits from overseas sources free of VAT.
Trading credits for emissions that aren't created, using a mechanism that isn't regulated, isn't validated, isn't verified, and has no watchdog. What could possibly go wrong?
Tax investigators believe these may then have been sold on to businesses in the UK charging VAT that is never paid to the authorities. Officers said further arrests are likely, adding that the proceeds of this alleged crime have been "used to finance lavish lifestyles and the purchase of prestige vehicles".
Paging Mr. Gore, Mr. Al Gore, to the green courtesy phone please ...
The Treasury removed VAT from carbon credits on July 31 as a temporary measure until the European Union works out a common policy to tackle fraudsters.
You'd wonder why the EU wouldn't have a policy to "tackle fraudsters" in place before trading carbon emission credits, but you're a lowly prole, and the EU apparatchiks are so much smarter than you. They have a diploma that says so ...
The tax dodge appears to be a variation of "carousel" VAT fraud. Carousel fraud, also known as "missing trader" fraud, typically involves goods such as mobile phones and computer chips imported VAT-free from EU member states. These are then sold in the UK, including a VAT charge, but the trader then going missing without paying the taxman.
There's always a way to dodge the taxman ...
Companies now need permits to emit carbon dioxide as part of the global fight against climate change and polluters are granted a certain number of emissions allowances that can be traded.
Verified by no one, rated by no one, trusted by no one, and adding no net value to the economy.
"The Government took decisive action to prevent this type of fraud recurring by zero rating carbon credits for VAT," said Les Beaumont, deputy director of criminal investigation for HMRC.
Posted by: Steve White ||
08/20/2009 10:53 ||
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Would this fraud ring encompass just about everybody dealing Teh Carbon Credit?
The U.S. is going to lend billions of dollars to Brazil's state-owned oil company, Petrobras, to finance exploration of the huge offshore discovery in Brazil's Tupi oil field in the Santos Basin near Rio de Janeiro. Brazil's planning minister confirmed that White House National Security Adviser James Jones met this month with Brazilian officials to talk about the loan.
The U.S. Export-Import Bank tells us it has issued a "preliminary commitment" letter to Petrobras in the amount of $2 billion and has discussed with Brazil the possibility of increasing that amount. Ex-Im Bank says it has not decided whether the money will come in the form of a direct loan or loan guarantees. Either way, this corporate foreign aid may strike some readers as odd, given that the U.S. Treasury seems desperate for cash and Petrobras is one of the largest corporations in the Americas.
But look on the bright side. If President Obama has embraced offshore drilling in Brazil, why not in the old U.S.A.? The land of the sorta free and the home of the heavily indebted has enormous offshore oil deposits, and last year ahead of the November elections, with gasoline at $4 a gallon, Congress let a ban on offshore drilling expire.
The Bush Administration's five-year plan (2007-2012) to open the outer continental shelf to oil exploration included new lease sales in the Gulf of Mexico. But in 2007 environmentalists went to court to block drilling in Alaska and in April a federal court ruled in their favor. In May, Interior Secretary Ken Salazar said his department was unsure whether that ruling applied only to Alaska or all offshore drilling. So it asked an appeals court for clarification. Late last month the court said the earlier decision applied only to Alaska, opening the way for the sale of leases in the Gulf. Mr. Salazar now says the sales will go forward on August 19.
This is progress, however slow. But it still doesn't allow the U.S. to explore in Alaska or along the East and West Coasts, which could be our equivalent of the Tupi oil fields, which are set to make Brazil a leading oil exporter. Americans are right to wonder why Mr. Obama is underwriting in Brazil what he won't allow at home.
TOKYO, Aug 20 (Reuters) - Japan's opposition Democratic Party could win about 300 seats in an Aug. 30 election for parliament's 480-seat lower house, trouncing the conservative party that has ruled for most of the past half-century, a newspaper said on Thursday. But the Asahi newspaper also said that some 30 to 40 percent of voters in its survey of electoral districts had not revealed how they would vote while 25 percent might change their minds, so results could shift significantly in the final days.
Previous opinion polls have shown the Democrats well ahead of the conservative Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), raising the prospect that the business-friendly LDP will lose power for only the second time in its 54-year history.
Democratic Party leader Yukio Hatoyama, now looking likely to become the next prime minister, has pledged to revive the economy by putting more money in the hands of consumers, hold off on raising the 5 percent sales tax for four years and adopt a diplomatic stance less subservient to top security ally the United States.
If only our winning party had a similar economic plan... and the reduced subservience is probably a good idea during the tenure of the current goverment. Oh well, 2010 is not so far away.
Even the Japanese have figured out that there isn't much mileage in being Bambi's friend ...
A solid Democratic Party victory would end a deadlock in parliament, where the party and its allies already control the less powerful upper chamber -- a prospect financial markets would likely welcome as it would smooth policy-making as Japan shakes off a recession. But some market participants worry that the Democrats' ambitious spending plans would inflate already high public debt and push up long-term interest rates.
The Asahi said its survey showed the LDP, which had 300 seats ahead of the election, could see its presence halved in the powerful lower house, while its junior partner, the New Komeito party, was likely to keep somewhere around 31 seats.
Experts say predicting the outcome of the election is made difficult by Japan's electoral system, in which 300 of the seats are from winner-take-all, single member districts. The remaining 180 come from multiple-seat proportional representation blocks in which voters cast ballots for a party.
Popular leader Junichiro Koizumi led the LDP to a huge victory in 2005 on a platform pledging market-friendly reforms. But the party's support then slid as his two successors each quit after less than a year and incumbent Prime Minister Taro Aso came under fire for a series of gaffes and policy flip-flops.
The Democrats and two small allies won control of the upper house in 2007, enabling them to stall legislation and creating a policy deadlock as Japan struggled with deep-seated problems due to its shrinking, ageing population and the global financial crisis.
Aso has been stressing the success of the LDP's economic stimulus packages in helping Japan weather the global financial crisis and attacked the Democrats as weak on security policy and irresponsible on financial issues. But analysts said that news on Monday that Japan's economy returned to growth in the second quarter would probably do little to rescue the LDP, even though the figures marked the end of the country's longest recession since World War Two.
Posted by: Steve White ||
08/20/2009 00:00 ||
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The Japanese Democratic Party is Japan's left-wing party. If it wins, Uncle Sam's bases in Japan may be history, and Japan may be well on its way to becoming a Chinese vassal state. 60 years of a postwar alliance with the US hang in the balance. Just as well, anyway. It's about time Orientals got off American military welfare.
#1
One sales manager said she will not close new deals until reimbursement arrives. Even though she knows she is losing sales because of that, she said she can't afford to do otherwise given how much cash is needed to run a dealership. So C4C is having a cash flow problem even after more Congressional action. Who'da thunk it?
#3
Some of it is going back to the Gubmint. According to some New York dealers if the buyer owes money on a student loan or any taxes the Gubmint witholds the ammount owed. The dealers wind up loosing because they have already paid out the money to the buyer. As always when dealing with Government programs someone gets screwed.
Posted by: Deacon Blues ||
08/20/2009 12:33 Comments ||
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#6
Rush had this idea. lets replace a few things here:
Cash for Chemo, the very successful federal program that has brought cancer patients back to hospitals, is about to reach a very rough end of the road.
Oncologists, among the biggest supporters of the program, are pulling out in large numbers, worried that they won't be reimbursed for the chemo treatments they have advanced to each patient.
Oncology groups are complaining that slow processing of paperwork by the Department of Health has put them in a cash flow bind, requiring them to advance well over $1 billion so far.
They also worry that the delays in processing their applications could mean there are far more cancer patients in the pipeline, a problem since the $3 billion allocated to Cash for Chemo is already close to exhausted.
Dr Standish, managing partner of Cascade Oncology Group in Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio, said she had done about 31 chemo treatments, but only has gotten money back on three of them.
She said she will not perform new procedures until reimbursement arrives. Even though she knows people will die, she said she can't afford to do otherwise given how much cash is needed to run a practice
MOSCOW (Reuters) - The hijackers of a cargo ship that disappeared off the coast of France threatened to blow it up if their ransom demands were not met, Russian news agencies said on Wednesday. Russia on Tuesday arrested eight people on suspicion of hijacking the Arctic Sea off the Swedish coast and sailing it to the Atlantic Ocean, ending weeks of silence about the fate of a ship which has intrigued European maritime authorities.
"To put it plainly: The Arctic Sea was carrying some sort of anti-aircraft or nuclear contraption intended for a nice, peaceful country like Syria, and they were caught with it."
-- Yulia Latynina
Limited information from Russian officials has failed to satisfy skeptics who voiced doubts about whether the piracy actually took place or was a convenient cover story to conceal a possible secret cargo of arms or nuclear material.
"The crew members have already confirmed that the captors demanded a ransom and threatened to blow up the vessel if their orders were not obeyed," Interfax quoted a Russian Defense Ministry spokesman as saying. "The crew members also claim that the people who seized the Arctic Sea were armed and got rid of their weapons when the ship (Russian navy ship) Ladny ordered the dry cargo carrier's crew to stop the vessel," he said.
Climbing gear, flares and a high-speed inflatable boat supposedly used in the hijack were found aboard the Arctic Sea, RIA news agency quoted the spokesman as saying at a briefing for Russian media. The agencies did not say what ransom was demanded. Nobody answered the phone when Reuters called the ministry's press service to attempt to verify the reports.
How clever of the Russian ministry to get caller id.
The Maltese-registered, Russian-crewed vessel and its $1.3 million cargo of timber disappeared from radar screens three weeks ago, prompting speculation ranging from an attack by an organized crime gang to a top-secret spy mission.
Where's the 'timber' now?
The Malta Maritime Authority said on Tuesday, without elaborating, that the Arctic Sea had "never really disappeared," a comment which increased speculation that security services might have been involved in the affair.
Russia has said the eight detainees were citizens of Estonia, Latvia and Russia who on July 24 boarded the ship, forced the crew to change route and turned off its navigation equipment.
After heading through the Channel between England and France in late July, radio contact was lost and the 4,000-tonne ship did not deliver its cargo to the Algerian port of Bejaia on August 4. The Russian navy found the missing ship on Monday in the Atlantic Ocean near Cape Verde.
Russian military personnel were arranging on Wednesday to fly the eight suspected hijackers and 11 crew members to Russia from the Cape Verde island off the west coast of Africa near where the vessel was intercepted, according to Cape Verde authorities. Russian media reports earlier this month had said there were 15 crew on board the Arctic Sea and marine news site www.odin.tc reported the ship had a crew of 13.
The Arctic Sea was also on its way back to Russia, sailing with a replacement crew, the authorities said.
The official version of events was questioned by Yulia Latynina, a leading Russian opposition journalist and commentator. "The Arctic Sea was carrying something, not timber and not from Finland, that necessitated some major work on the ship," she wrote in the Moscow Times newspaper on Wednesday.
During two weeks of repair works in the Russian port of Kaliningrad just before the voyage, the ship's bulkhead was dismantled so something very large could be loaded, she wrote.
"To put it plainly: The Arctic Sea was carrying some sort of anti-aircraft or nuclear contraption intended for a nice, peaceful country like Syria, and they were caught with it," she said.
Posted by: Steve White ||
08/20/2009 00:00 ||
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it takes most of the the mystery out of this one.
I still have a couple of questions:
- What exactly was the 'contraption' in question
- Was the 'hijacking' a third party taking advantage of some inside information or simply a cover for the operation.
THE anti-immigration mayor of a northern Italian city has barred Muslim women from wearing the controversial body-concealing swimsuit known as a burqini, it was reported.
Women wearing the garment made up of a veil, a tunic and loose leggings face a fine of 500 euros ($850) if spotted at swimming pools or riversides in the northern Piedmont town of Varallo Sesia, said the ANSA news agency today. "The sight of a 'masked woman' could disturb small children not to mention problems of hygiene," mayor Gianluca Buonanno was quoted as saying. "We don't have to be tolerant all the time," he said.
Justifying the move, Mr Buonanno said: "Imagine a Western woman bathing in a bikini in a Muslim country. The consequences could be decapitation, prison or deportation. We are merely prohibiting the use of the burqini."
Last week a swimming pool in Paris refused entry to a burqini-clad Muslim on similar grounds, adding to tensions over Muslim dress in France. The incident came as French MPs conducted hearings on whether to ban the burqa after President Nicolas Sarkozy said the head-to-toe body covering and veil was "not welcome" in France, home to Europe's biggest Muslim minority.
Mr Buonanno belongs to Italy's Northern League, a party allied with the centre-right People of Freedom led by Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi. It has backed several initiatives hostile to Muslims.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/20/2009 00:00 ||
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#3
The supply of doctors has been lowered for years by limiting the number of Americans accepted into med school. The gap has been filled with H1B visas, especially in rural areas. They accept Medicare patients, with lower than cost reimbursements, when others won't.
The US has 131 medical schools and a 25 osteopathic schools. They get some capitation money from the feds. The feds haven't been giving more, the state legislatures haven't been putting more money into the public schools, and the private schools are stretched.
It's not just money -- you also need a certain number and size of hospitals, etc to train the students, and a city, even a major city, only has so many of those. We have six medical schools in Chicago and we couldn't fit a seventh in.
So we graduate ~ 16K docs a year and can't increase that easily.
So we import ~ 5-6K international medical grads (IMGs) a year to meet demand. That number is going to go up over time but it's also limited by the total number of graduate medical (residency) training slots that are available. That's ~ 22K a year right now, and capped by -- you guessed it -- the Feds, who pay capitation money to the training programs under Medicare Part A.
The IMGs do take practice positions that American grads generally won't take, and that's why you see them more in rural and inner-city practice situations. When your choice is Detroit or Peshawar, it's an easy decision.
Posted by: Steve White ||
08/20/2009 9:40 Comments ||
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#5
Don't forget the absolutely exorbitant insurance coverage medical professionals must pay to protect themselves from "malpratice" lawsuits. Crooked lawyers and our 'win the lawsuit lotto' collective greed is doing us in and deservedly so!
#6
Reading the Gateway Pundit comments is a real hoot, btw. Realtor Sheila Leavitt, known for her liberal bumperstickers wnd Support the Iraq Oppisition posters, must have been brain damaged when a redneck trucker rear-ended her at the toll booth.
#8
During the Vietnam War, DoD had an interest in getting doctors. So, it got funding and built a medical school to train docs and nurses. That's when the AMA stepped in and through political muscle stipulated you can have it, but 'we' will never accredit those who graduate. They viewed it as a threat to their income which had seen a major increase since the end of WWII. You know - supply and demand. End of program. Just another agent in the cost of medical care that generated this issue.
#9
This is one idea that Fidel Castro had that paid off in spades. That is, *anybody* in Cuba can go to specifically medical school. And of course the vast majority of the doctors produced are mediocre, but that's the rub--most of what doctors *do* is mediocre.
So Cuba has so many doctors, that it actually makes a fortune by exporting them. Countries (and even rural areas in the US) with a severe doctor shortage are far happier to have mediocre doctors than none at all.
The zinger is that even before Castro, Cuba had a much higher per capita number of doctors than usual. Even Americans went there to get their MD when American schools wouldn't let them in, even though they were capable students.
Importantly, while the AMA is the largest doctor organization, it is not the only one. There are 26 major ones in the US, and several are "general" associations like the AMA.
#11
Perhaps Dr. White could add some info about how doctors' incomes, as a result of the artificial supply squeeze, have risen commensurate with the cost of insurance. Oh, wait ....
Well then, perhaps the insurance industry's profits must have risen commensurate with the meteoric increase in medical .... oh, wait ...
I think ATLA (the ambulance chasers' outfit down in Georgetown) might know if THEIR membership has seen revenues increasing above the rate seen elsewhere in the economy - surely a "yes". Just one part of the puzzle.
Costs for non-insured medical care (elective plastic surgery, non-ag veterinary) have held steady or even declined recently; a few firms like Safeway that instituted head-smackingly obvious common sense provisions like out-of-pocket-then-reimbursement for most medical events combined with self-insurance have seen costs level off or drop.
Costs have zoomed becasue they CAN; they CAN because of the de facto subsidy of almost all medical "care" (tax system, corporate taxes, company connection only due to arbitrary WWII policy, and other things). When prices aren't allowed to rise - through reconnecting cost and service, as it is in all other areas of life, and eliminating all the subsidies inherent in the system - then cost increases will probably resemble those in other sectors. Not before.
Our medical care is far and away the best of any large country; its financial organization is insane and unsustainable, mostly for the usual reasons: subsidies (disconnect between cost and service) and lack of competition.
#12
The limiting factor for physician supply is not medical schools but postgraduate training. The financial incentives to set prices for care are truly counterproductive. However, I have read that even if all US physicians' fees for service are not the largest part of all US health care expenditures. That part is: record-keeping and reporting.
#13
Anguper: we have more GME positions than we have medical school positions. We fill the balance of GME positions with IMGs. If we increase med school enrollments we'd need fewer IMGs. Or if we increase residency positions but not med school, then we need more IMGs.
The limiting factor for physician supply then is 1) med school seats 2) GME seats and 3) IMG supply.
Posted by: Steve White ||
08/20/2009 15:43 Comments ||
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The health care reform bill approved by the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee (HELP) would provide federal grants to state and local governments and a "national network of community-based organizations" to "promote healthy living and reduce disparities" and to monitor people's weight, eating, exercise habits and other individual behaviors that affect health at the community level.
In a section entitled, "Community-Based Prevention Health Activities," the bill calls on grant recipients to measure weight loss, physical activity, smoking and other activities of people in the neighborhood.
"In carrying out subparagraph (A), the eligible entity shall, with respect to residents in the community, measure--
decreases in weight;
increases in proper nutrition;
increases in physical activity;
decreases in tobacco use prevalence;
other factors using community-specific data from the Behavioral Risk Surveillance Survey; and
other factors as determined by the Secretary [at HHS]."
"'Smith!' screamed the shrewish voice from the telescreen. '6079 Smith W.! Yes, you! Bend lower, please! You can do better than that. You're not trying. Lower, please! That's better, comrade. Now stand at ease, the whole squad, and watch me.'"
#2
Note the totally open-ended 'other factors' and the goal of 'reduce disparities'.
This opens the door to unbridled government control of our daily lives. Where there are no limits on government, corruption and the human lust for power WILL eventually take deep root.
ndia is planning to establish a naval base and listening post in the Maldives, the tropical holiday islands in the Indian Ocean, in an attempt to contain growing Chinese influence in the regio
Its naval chiefs and military strategists have become increasingly alarmed by China's expansion in South Asia where it has established a series of bases in neighbouring countries.
It is currently developing a deep water harbour for its expanding fleet of nuclear submarines in Gwadar, Pakistan, and is developing ports in Sri Lanka and Bangladesh. Indian strategists have described its growing number of ports as a "string of pearls" around its neck.
Officials are now in talks with their counterparts in the Maldives to boost security for the tiny island, which has been targeted by drug smugglers, terrorists and pirates, and also to develop a new vantage point to protect its own coastal waters.
Under the plan, India wants to develop a former Royal Air Force base on the islands, and integrate the Maldives into its own coastguard system.
The Indian defence minister, A.K. Anthony, visited the islands to discuss the deployment of surveillance aircraft and ships.
The Maldivian government has found it impossible to police its own waters. It has more than a 1,000 tiny islands, only 200 of which are inhabited, with just under 400 miles separating the northernmost island from its most southerly.
"India wants to reinforce and expand its perimeter defence and an active surveillance from a naval base will contribute to that important strategic objective," said Dr Anupam Srivastava, director of the Asia Programme at the University of Georgia's Centre for International Trade and Security.
Posted by: john frum ||
08/20/2009 10:21 ||
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#1
There are so damn many submarines in the Pacific that it hearkens back to the great naval buildup prior to WWI.
#2
China's been sponsoring and encouraging the Maoists in India, and would dearly love to remove Indian influence in the area. Wasn't it just a few days ago that a Chinese official suggested dismantling India into a bunch of smaller (powerless) states?
India is completing work on a second home-built submarine intended to carry nuclear-armed ballistic missiles, the Indo-Asian News Service reported yesterday (see GSN, Aug. 14).
"The second one will be ready and will take lesser time" to place into service, said retired Vice Adm. Mihir Roy, a former Indian navy officer once involved with the submarine project.
The INS Arihant, India's first indigenously developed submarine, formally began three years of planned sea trials late last month
Posted by: john frum ||
08/20/2009 09:24 ||
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Roy, who is now 84, was the first head of the Advanced Technology Vessel (ATV) that was launched in 1984 and guided it during its first four years.
"I said that I wanted to report directly to the defence minister, with no interference from secretaries and bureaucrats. It worked. Decisions were made across the table," said Roy, a submariner and former chief of the Eastern Naval Command.
He noted that extra security precautions had to be taken to maintain the secrecy of the project to prevent triggering an arms race on the subcontinent.
"We did not even have a name plate (outside the office). Nobody in my family, not even my wife, was aware what I was doing. On July 26 (when INS Arihant was launched) my grandchildren said: 'You never told us!' " Roy said.
Posted by: john frum ||
08/20/2009 9:29 Comments ||
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NEW DELHI: The Bharatiya Janata Party on Wednesday expelled Jaswant Singh, its veteran leader and an MP.
A meeting of the Parliamentary Board in Shimla unanimously decided to remove the former Union Minister from the primary membership. The decision came even as a three-day Chinthan Baithak or brainstorming session of the party started at the hill station. The decision is being read in the party as a stern message of zero tolerance to ideological deviation and indiscipline. These were among several messages clearly conveyed only on Tuesday to the BJP by Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh chief Mohan Bhagwat in a television interview.
It was stated that initially the party leadership was of the view that Mr. Jaswant Singh should be merely stripped of his membership of the Parliamentary Board. But tempers ran high among senior leaders. They viewed his praise of Pakistan founder Mohammad Ali Jinnah, and his adverse comments on Indias first Home Minister Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, as ideological heresy. They called for the sternest action.
BJP president Rajnath Singh conveyed the decision to mediapersons outside the Peterhoff state guest house and hotel, the venue of the brainstorming conclave. Mr. Rajnath Singh noted that he had issued a statement in Delhi on Tuesday dissociating the party from the contents of Mr. Jaswant Singhs new book Jinnah: India-Partition Independence that was released on Monday. The Board, he said, decided to end his primary membership. So he has been expelled. From now onwards he will not be a member of any body of the party or be an office-bearer. Mr. Rajnath Singh said he had conveyed the decision to Mr. Jaswant Singh.
There has been a series of expulsions of BJP leaders over the years, including of Kalyan Singh, Uma Bharti, Babulal Marandi and Shankersinh Waghela.
Posted by: Steve White ||
08/20/2009 00:00 ||
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The Indian press reports that Rafael Armament Development Authority has agreed a huge deal with the Indian Army to supply advanced anti-aircraft systems with a range of up to 45 kilometers. The deal, worth $1 billion, was reportedly approved by the Indian cabinet yesterday.
Rafael will supply the Indian army with its Spyder low-level quick-reaction surface-to-air missile system capable of engaging aircraft, helicopters, unmanned air vehicles, drones and precision-guided munitions.
The Indian Army acquired Spyder systems worth $270 million a year ago. The system incorporates a pilot's helmet (display head-up HVD) manufactured by Elbit Systems Ltd., which automatically locks onto targets.
In the latest deal, Israel Aerospace Industries Ltd. (IAI) will serve as a sub-contractor of Rafael. In another recent contract with the Indian army for the supply of Barak ship defense missiles, Rafael is acting as a subcontractor for IAI.
Israel's defense exports to India have now reached $3 billion, making it the largest arms supplier to India, even surpassing Russia.
Posted by: john frum ||
08/20/2009 09:31 ||
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its Spyder low-level quick-reaction surface-to-air missile system capable of engaging ... and precision-guided munitions.
That's one hot little missile if it can shoot down artillery shells.
For the first time, people in Saudi Arabia will be able to use telescopes, not just the naked eye, to see the crescent moon that marks the start of the holy fasting month of Ramadan.
Entering the eighteenth century, sort of. This should cause some interesting discussions over there.
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
Michael Jackson's personal physician will be charged with manslaughter within the next two weeks, a law enforcement source told FOXNews.com.
[Bangla Daily Star] Bangladesh Rifles (BDR) will soon become Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) while laws governing the border security force, and its uniform will also see some changes as the prime minister okayed most of the proposals for restructuring the force yesterday.
THE anti-immigration mayor of a northern Italian city has barred Muslim women from wearing the controversial body-concealing swimsuit known as a burqini, it was reported.
