Washington, Feb 14: Pakistan is developing new types of nuclear weapons, including short-range tactical ones, that bring more risks to the region, America’s intelligence chief warned on Wednesday.
Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats’ remarks came days after a group of Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammad terrorists struck the Sunjuwan Military Camp in Jammu on Saturday, killing seven people including six soldiers.
Pakistan is developing new types of nuclear weapons, including short-range tactical weapons, Coats told lawmakers during a Congressional hearing on worldwide threats organised by the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence.
Pakistan continues to produce nuclear weapons and develop new types of nuclear weapons, including short-range tactical weapons, sea-based cruise missiles, air-launched cruise missiles, and longer-range ballistic missiles, he warned.
These new types of nuclear weapons will introduce new risks for escalation of dynamics and security in the region, Coats said, reflecting on the risks involved in developing such types of nuclear weapons.
Coats said North Korea will be among the most volatile and confrontational weapons of mass destruction (WMD) threats to the US over the next year.
North Korea s history of exporting ballistic missile technology to several countries, including Iran and Syria, and its assistance during Syria s construction of a nuclear reactor — destroyed in 2007 — illustrates its willingness to proliferate dangerous technologies.
In 2017 North Korea, for the second straight year, conducted a large number of ballistic missile tests, including its first Intercontinental Ballistic Missile (ICBM) tests.
Pyongyang is committed to developing a long-range, nuclear-armed missile that is capable of posing a direct threat to the United States.
It also conducted its sixth and highest yield nuclear test to date.
We assess that North Korea has a longstanding Biological Weapons (BW) capability and biotechnology infrastructure that could support a BW programme. We also assess that North Korea has a Chemical Weapons (CW) programme and probably could employ these agents by modifying conventional munitions or with unconventional, targeted methods, he said.
Coats said state efforts to modernise, develop, or acquire WMD, their delivery systems, or their underlying technologies constitute a major threat to the security of the United States, its deployed troops, and its allies.
Both state and non-state actors have already demonstrated the use of chemical weapons in Iraq and Syria.
Biological and chemical materials and technologies — almost always dual-use — move easily in the globalised economy, as do personnel with the scientific expertise to design and use them for legitimate and illegitimate purposes.
Information about the latest discoveries in the life sciences also diffuses rapidly around the globe, widening the accessibility of knowledge and tools for beneficial purposes and for potentially nefarious applications.
Chandigarh, Feb 14: Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar on Tuesday said that over 325 citizen-centric services and schemes would be launched on the SARAL portal on the birth anniversary of Dr B R Ambedkar.
The schemes and services of 31 departments will be launched on April 14 and with this, Haryana will have an online-integrated platform with all the Government to Citizen (G2C) services available, the chief minister said.
Khattar made the announcement during a meeting to review the functioning of the portal here.
Currently, 113 different services are being delivered on the SARAL platform, he said.
The chief minister also reviewed the performance of 10 departments based on their SARAL score. The score depends on compliance with delivery of services under the Right to Services (RTS) Act.
“SARAL ensures delivery of services within the RTS’ time-line and the status of the application can be tracked online as well as through SMS.
“Using SARAL, the leadership at the state level and district level has a visibility of the delivery of services and citizen satisfaction through the rating mechanism. The departments are ranked based on SARAL score,” an official release said.
Terming the 21st Century as an era of information technology, Khattar said the aim of the state government was to fast track the system by removing the bottlenecks in a systematic manner.
He said that it has been decided that schemes for the welfare of marginal section would also be made available through SARAL portal.
To ensure that the benefit of these schemes reach the last person, e-Disha centres at district headquarters, subdivisions and tehsils would be renamed as “Antyodaya SARAL Kendra” to deliver schemes in addition to the services.
New Delhi, Feb 14: The Defence Ministry today cleared a proposal to buy 7.40 lakh assault rifles at a cost of Rs 12,280 crore for the three services, officials said.
The decision was taken at a meeting of Defence Acquisition Council (DAC) presided over by Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman.
The defence ministry will also procure light machine guns worth Rs 1,819 crore, they said.
In other decisions, a proposal for purchase of 5,719 sniper rifles for the army at a cost of Rs 982 crore was also approved.
New York [United States], Feb 13 : American President Donald Trump spoke with Russian President Vladimir Putin over the phone on a series of topics including North Korea’s nuclear threats, the White House confirmed.
President Trump reiterated the importance of taking more steps to ensure that North Korea is denuclearized.
Among the other issues discussed were a potential peace deal between the Palestinians and the Israelis, according to Fox News.
“President Putin noted that he would meet with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas later today, and President Trump said that now is the time to work toward an enduring peace agreement,” Fox News quoted the White House as saying.
Following President Trump’s declaration of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel last year, Abbas had encouraged Putin to assist in peace talks claiming that the U.S. could “no longer play a leading role”.
President Putin also met with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu last month.
Discussions of relations between the Israelis and Palestinians came amid heightened tensions after Israel shot down an Iranian drone earlier this week.
Moreover, the conversation between the two global leaders came a day after a plane crash in Moscow killed all 71 people on board.
President Trump offered his sympathies following the crash of a Russian airline’s plane over the weekend.
Trump reassured Putin that the U.S. was standing by to assist Russian officials in their probe of the deadly event.
New Delhi, Feb 13: Union Minister of State for Personnel, Public Grievances & Pensions Dr Jitendra Singh said on Monday that women government employees who have commissioned surrogacy will now be entitled to maternity leave.
He also said divorced daughter will be eligible for family pension if divorce case has been filed before the death of pensioner/family pensioner, even though the judgment has been passed after the death of the pensioner/family pensioner.
Briefing media at a press conference organised by the Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions, here,he also announced that Constant Attendant Allowance on disability pension has been increased from Rs 4,500 per month to Rs 6,750 per month.
Sunjwan (Jammu), Feb 11 : Security forces have neutralised three terrorists holed up in the Sunjwan Army camp here, while six people, including five Army personnel, have been killed in the attack by suspected JeM militants, Army officials said on Sunday
A defence spokesperson in a statement said three terrorists had so far been killed in the ongoing operation
A group of heavily armed men struck the sprawling camp of the 36 brigade of the Jammu and Kashmir Light Infantry before dawn on Saturday. Five Army men, including two Junior Commissioned Officers (JCOs), were killed in the attack
The spokesperson said the third terrorist was also found wearing Army combats and was heavily armed like the other two
AK-56 rifles, Under Barrel Grenade Launcher, ammunitions and grenades were seized from them, he said
A senior police official had earlier said that four terrorists were killed by security forces
A JCO and a jawan were killed on Saturday
The spokesperson said during sanitation of residential quarters by the Army commandos, bodies of another JCO, two jawans and an elderly man, the father of a soldier, were recovered
All six of them had been killed by the terrorists in the initial stage of the attack on Saturday
Ten people, including six women and children, were injured in the attack, the spokesperson said
One of the injured woman was pregnant. She later delivered a baby girl through a caesarean operation and both the mother and child were stable, the spokesperson said
A 14-year-old boy had suffered a gunshot wound to the head and was in a critical condition
The sanitation and search operations were underway
“The operation is on and the evacuation (of people from the family quarters) is in progress,” Jammu-based Army PRO Lt Col Devender Anand told PTI
He said a number of families were still in the camp and the Army’s aim was to ensure their safety
“There has been no firing since last night,” the officer said
The latest attack on the camp took place nearly 15 months after the Jammu region was hit by a similar attack
On November 29, 2016, terrorists had stormed the Army’s Nagrota camp on the outskirts of the city, killing seven Army personnel, including two officers. Three terrorists were gunned down in the operation
The terrorists had struck before dawn on Saturday and managed to sneak into the camp from the rear end of the base after a brief exchange of fire with the sentry guarding the periphery
“The terrorists entered the family accommodation complex after which quick response teams cordoned off the area and isolated the terrorists, who are holed up in a few houses (inside the camp),” an official said
While there was no action around the main entrance and vehicles were moving along the Jammu-Lakhanpur bypass in front of the camp, Army personnel in bullet-proof vehicles were engaged in the operation to rescue people from the family quarters in the rear side of the base
Contingents of CRPF and police were posted outside the boundary wall and were keeping curious onlookers at bay to prevent civilian casualties
A high alert has been sounded in Jammu and security beefed up in and around the city
Intelligence inputs had warned of an attack on an Army or security establishment by Jaish-e-Mohammed in view of the death anniversary of Afzal Guru, who was hanged on February 9, 2013, for the 2001 attack on Parliament House.
New Delhi [India], Feb 11:: With the nationwide rollout of the India Post Payments Bank (IPPB) Expansion Programme scheduled to begin in April this year, digital payments in post offices are expected to be enabled around the same time.
The Ministry of Communications, in an official statement claimed that once the proposed expansion is completed, IPPB will be providing the largest financial inclusion network in the country, covering both urban as well as rural hinterland with the ability to provide digital payment services at the doorstep with the help of Postmen and Gramin Dak Sewaks (GDS).
IPPB is also expected to enable more than 17 crore active account-holders of post office savings bank to make interoperable digital payments, including the benefit of NEFT, RTGS, UPI and bill payment services.
Additionally, the IPPB aims to enable acceptance of digital payments across post offices in the country, in line with the digital payments initiative of the government.
Refuting earlier media reports, the ministry said no decision has been taken to revise the timelines.
In November last year, Union Telecom Minister Manoj Sinha claimed that the IPPB is slated to be operational in over 650 locations across the country by April.
Sinha, who was present during the recent launch of the Deen Dayal SPARSH scholarship scheme, had said that while such institutions are already operational in two locations- Ranchi and Raipur-many more such facilities will be made available to the nation, and will be linked to 1.55 lakh rural post offices to carry out banking services.
On a related note, the IPPB currently offers savings account up to a balance of Rs 1 lakh, along with digitally-enabled payments and remittance services of all kinds between individuals.
In the near future, IPPB is expected to provide current accounts and access to third-party financial services like insurance, mutual funds, pension, credit products, and foreign exchange.
New Delhi, Feb 11 : Neurosis and stress-related disorders affect 3.5 per cent of the population and was reported to be nearly double among females than in males, official sources say.
Nearly one in 40 people suffer from past depression while one in 20 ail from current depression.
The prevalence of mental morbidity is high in urban metropolis areas, according to the National Mental Health Survey, conducted by the government through the National Institute of Mental Health and Neuro Sciences (NIMHANS), Bangalore in 12 states of the country
The predominance of mental disorders, including common mental disorders, severe types and alcohol and substance (excluding tobacco) use in adults over 18 years of age is about 10.6 per cent.
Abu Dhabi, Feb 11 : Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday laid the foundation stone for the first Hindu temple in Abhu Dhabi, the capital city of United Arab Emirates (UAE).
Addressing the Indian community on the occasion, The PM said the temple will give a message of ‘Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam’ to people across the world.
”I believe this temple will not be only unique in terms of architecture and splendour, but will also give a message of ‘Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam’ to people across the world,” the PM said.
Describing the first temple in Abu Dhabi as a bridge for relationship between India and UAE, Mr Modi said, ”I want to thank His Highness Crown Price on behalf of 125-crore Indians for the grand temple which will be constructed.
New Delhi, Feb 9 : Funds allocated to promote Ayurveda, Yoga and other Ayush systems of Medicine across the world during the past three years have been increased compared to previous years, the Lok Sabha was informed on Friday.
In a written reply, Ayush Minister Shripad Yesso Naik said the amount has been Rs 850 lakh in 2015-16; Rs 1400 lakh in 2016-17 and Rs 1528 lakh in 2017-18.
Ministry of AYUSH has undertaken various measures to promote international cooperation for development of Ayush systems of Medicine including Yoga and Ayurveda, he said.
The Centre has taken up Signing of Country to Country Memoranda of Understanding on Cooperation in the field of Traditional Medicine; Setting up of AYUSH Academic Chairs in Foreign Universities/Institutes; Signing of MoUs for ‘Undertaking Collaborative Research’ to enhance the acceptability of AYUSH systems at International level and setting up of AYUSH Information Cells in the premises of the Indian Missions/ICCR Cultural Centres for dissemination of authentic information.
The Centre is providing incentives to AYUSH drug manufacturers, entrepreneurs, and AYUSH institutions for participating in International exhibitions, conferences and trade fairs for generating awareness amongst the participating public about the AYUSH systems of medicine and registration of Ayush products with regulatory authorities of the foreign countries.