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Blast and rocket find spark fears of plot to kill Musharraf
Security officials in Pakistan have defused two rockets found pointing towards President Pervez Musharraf’s official residence in Islamabad, hours after a blast in a park near his army home.
The rockets, which were discovered by a construction worker, were hidden in bushes and trees at a building site less than a kilometre from the Presidency building, security officials said. The device was attached to wires and mobile phones, apparently intended to launch the rockets.
General Musharraf’s position has become increasing tenuous as he walks a thin line between his support for the US and his military’s continuing links with the Islamists.
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The military has dismissed suggestions that the blast was related to Gen Musharraf.
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Information recovered from safe houses when al Qaeda's leader in Iraq was killed six months ago placed the group's leadership in the Waziristan region of Pakistan, The Washington Post reported on Monday.
A member of Osama bin Laden's high command said in a Dec. 11 letter to Abu Musab al-Zarqawi that he was writing from al Qaeda headquarters in the semiautonomous tribal region where Taliban and al Qaeda fighters have been active, the report said.
Zarqawi was killed in June when U.S. warplanes bombed his hide-out in a village north of Baghdad.
The letter to Zarqawi was signed by "Atiyah," a person counterterrorism officials believe is Atiyah Abd al Rahman, a 37-year-old Libyan who joined bin Laden during the 1980s, The Washington Post said.
If accurate, the letter would confirm their location at the time it was written, the newspaper said.
Bin Laden is believed to be hiding somewhere along the porous Afghan-Pakistan border.
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Originally posted by Ram
wow! cool Avatar there - Jen
I read that thread..
I feel nothing about that thread..
Japan-China summit warns N Korea
Shared alarm over N Korea's threat may be fuelling improved ties
The leaders of China and Japan have both said that a nuclear test by North Korea would be "unacceptable".
The statement came after Japan's new Prime Minister Shinzo Abe met Chinese leaders in their capital Beijing - the first such contact in five years.
North Korea's threat last week to test a nuclear weapon may have given greater urgency to improved relations between the two countries, correspondents say.
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North Korea said Monday it has performed its first-ever nuclear weapons test. The country's official Korean Central News Agency said the test was performed and there was no radioactive leakage from the site.
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North Korea has carried out an underground nuclear test, the North Korea's Central News Agency (KCNA) said on Monday.
"Our science research section has safely and successfully conducted an underground nuclear test on October 9," it said.
It added that there was no leak or danger from the test.
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Originally posted by runetang
don't be too concerned about the nuke test.. at least, concerned about the US starting a new war.
Defense relations with the United States
Japan conducts a significant amount of cooperation with the United States, which in turn helps provide a significant portion of Japan's defensive capability. The Treaty of Mutual Cooperation and Security declares that both nations will maintain and develop their capacities to resist armed attack in common. Also, it maintains that an armed attack on either country in territories administered by Japan will be considered dangerous to the safety of the other.
In November 2005, constitutional revisions were proposed which would create a cabinet level Defense Ministry while keeping the old clauses mandating official pacifism. Under the proposed revisions, the JSDF would also be formally referred to as a military force for the first time since its establishment. The new wording proposed is "In order to secure peace and the independence of our country as well as the security of the state and the people, military forces for self-defense shall be maintained with the prime minister of the cabinet as the supreme commander." The amendment is gaining more and more public support recent years.
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Japan announced new sanctions against North Korea on Wednesday over its reported nuclear test and U.S. President George W. Bush said Washington was working to ensure there would be "serious repercussions" for Pyongyang.
The reclusive communist state held out the threat of more tests and its KCNA news agency, known for blustering anti-U.S. rhetoric, said pressure from Washington to rein in its nuclear programme would be tantamount to a declaration of war.
Japan's Chief Cabinet Secretary Yasuhisa Shiozaki said new sanctions, underpinning those imposed after Pyongyang test-fired missiles in July, included barring all North Korean ships from Japanese ports and banning imports.
"The country whose security is most affected by these actions by North Korea is Japan," Shiozaki told a news conference. "Considering the gravity for our country, we made this decision based on a comprehensive judgement."
In Washington, Bush told a news conference he saw a new consensus emerging among the world's major powers that it was vital to act now. China and Russia, North Korea's main trading partners, have been more tolerant of Pyongyang in the past.
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