U.S. Dismantles Last of Big Cold War Nuclear Bombs

WASHINGTON - Nuclear experts in Texas prepared Tuesday to dismantle the oldest, biggest and most powerful bomb in the U.S. nuclear arsenal from the Cold War era.
The last B-53 bomb - built in 1962, the year of the Cuban missile crisis - will be taken apart at the Pantex facility in Amarillo, the only place in the U.S. that builds, maintains and dismantles nuclear weapons.

Grey in color, weighing 10,000 pounds and as big as a minivan, the device had the power to wipe out a metropolitan area with its nine megaton yield when dropped from a B-52 bomber.
By comparison, the atomic bomb that destroyed Hiroshima, Japan, in the final days of World War II packed a yield of 12 kilotons, or 0.012 megatons.
"It's significant in the sense that it's the last of these multimegaton weapons that the nuclear powers used to build during the height of the Cold War," said Hans Kirstensen, director of the nuclear information project at the Federation of American Scientists.
Dismantling the B-53 bomb - retired from service in 1997 - involves separating 300 pounds of high explosive from the uranium "pit" at the heart of the weapon, Pantex spokesman Greg Cunningham told AFP.
"The world is a safer place with this dismantlement," Thomas D'Agostino, director of the National Nuclear Security Administration, said in a Pantex statement.

4 Killed in Yemeni Military Plane Crash: Pilot

ADEN - A Yemeni military cargo plane crashed Oct. 25 while landing at a base in the southern province of Lahej killing at least four of 15 people on board, a military pilot said.
"Three Syrian technicians and one Yemeni were killed," the source at Al-Anad base told AFP, adding that eight Syrian engineers and seven Yemenis were on board the Russian-made plane.

"It exploded upon hitting the runway," he said.
The pilot stressed that the Antonov plane was not carrying weapons.
Al-Anad airbase was built by the British who ruled south Yemen until it became independent in 1967.
Lahej and several southern and eastern provinces of Yemen have also become an operation zone for militants of an al-Qaida branch believed to be taking advantage of a weakening central authority following nine months of nationwide protests against President Ali Abdullah Saleh.
Military officials have said that authorities in Sanaa have withdrawn military planes from the main Dailami air base, near Sanaa airport, to other bases, including Al-Anad, due to nearby confrontations between Saleh forces and his opponents.
The elite Republican Guard, led by Saleh's son Ahmed, has repeatedly clashed with anti-Saleh tribes in Arhab, north of the airport, while Saleh loyalists are frequently engaging in deadly confrontations in north Sanaa with dissident troops and tribes backing protests.
Despite domestic and international pressure, including a U.N. Security Council resolution last week urging Saleh to sign a deal to quit office, the veteran leader has refused to relinquish power.

India to Announce MMRCA Winner Next Month

NEW DELHI - India's $10 billion Medium Multirole Combat Aircraft (MMRCA) contest has entered its last stage, with the Indian Defence Ministry alerting the two competitors that the commercial bids will be opened Nov. 4.
Letters were sent Oct. 24 to France's Dassault Aviation and European company EADS, a ministry source here said. After the commercial bids are opened, the lowest bidder will be decided and price negotiations with the winner will begin.

The MMRCA program has picked up momentum in the Defence Ministry, and a contract is likely to be sealed by March 2012.
Based on flight trials of all the MMRCA competitors, the aircraft proposed by U.S. companies Lockheed Martin and Boeing, Sweden's Saab and Russia's MiG Aircraft were ejected from the race, leaving the Dassault Rafale, the Eurofighter Typhoon in the fray.
The Indian Defence Ministry floated its biggest global tender, worth $10 billion, for the acquisition of 126 MMRCAs in August 2007.
The Indian Air Force intends to replace its aging Russian-built MiG-21 fighter aircraft with the MMRCA because the Indian-designed and -built Light Combat Aircraft has been delayed by more than a decade.
Under the MMRCA proposal, India would buy 18 ready-to-fly fighters off the shelf and the remaining 108 would be built in India under technology transfer from the contract winner.

Japan cyber attackers may have military info

TOKYO - Information on military aircraft and nuclear power plants may have been stolen in a series of cyber attacks on Japanese defense contractor Mitsubishi Heavy, a report said Oct. 24.
Mitsubishi Heavy said in late September that 83 computers at 11 of its facilities had been hit by cyber attacks but no leakage of information on products and technologies had been confirmed.

The Asahi Shimbun newspaper reported that additional checks on other computers at Mitsubish Heavy facilities had shown traces of transmissions of information through some of the computers.
The daily, quoting unidentified officials, said part of the information concerned fighters and helicopters that the company is contracted to manufacture for the defense ministry.
"It is not known if these are classified as defense secrets," Asahi said.
Other pieces of information taken are likely to include the design, equipment and earthquake-resistant nature of nuclear power plants in which Mitsubishi Heavy was involved, the daily said.
Mitsubishi Heavy's public relations office said it could not confirm or deny the report.
Defense minister Yasuo Ichikawa said in September there was no indication that sensitive information had been stolen as a result of the attacks on the firm's computers, which came to light in August.

U.N.: 'Critical time' for Iraq as U.S. withdraws

BAGHDAD - Iraq faces a "very critical time" as U.S. forces leave, the United Nations envoy to Baghdad said Oct. 24, calling on Iraqis to work together to address the myriad challenges the country faces.
"We are in a very critical time, a very important period and phase of the history of Iraq, after the announcement of President [Barack] Obama ... to withdraw troops completely," Martin Kobler, the U.N. secretary general's special representative for Iraq, told a news conference.

Obama said Oct. 21 that all American troops will leave Iraq by the end of 2011, bringing to a close a war that has stretched for over eight years.
"Many are already speculating about what will happen in Iraq come January the first," Obama said in a speech at a ceremony marking the 66th anniversary of the U.N's founding. "Yes, [it] may be there will be challenges ahead. But I do see a tremendous opportunity for Iraqis to prove to the world that they are able to deliver on the commitment they made to themselves and the international community to ensure a democratic, stable, peaceful and prosperous Iraq."
"It is an opportunity for all Iraqis to come together and build the Iraq they can be proud of," Kobler said.
During the news conference, he emphasized the importance of dialogue between Iraq's autonomous Kurdistan region and the central government, which are at odds over control of swathes of north Iraq.
"Wherever there is a chance to support the dialogue between Baghdad and Arbil, we are doing it," he said, referring to the capital of the Kurdistan region.
"The question of the ... disputed internal boundaries is a very important one," Kobler said, adding that one of the U.N.'s main focuses "will be the Baghdad-Arbil relations."
He also said that "for the government of Iraq, it's very important to improve relations with Kuwait" so it can exit "the Chapter VII resolutions."
Sanctions against Iraq were imposed following its 1990 invasion of Kuwait, under Chapter VII of the U.N. Charter.

Kabul: An ally in war

President Hamid Karzai, who is accustomed to blowing hot and cold in his attitude towards Pakistan, is apparently passing through a kindlier phase. In an interview with a private Pakistani TV channel, he voiced brotherly feelings towards the country. His remark, "Afghanistan will stand by Pakistan, if attacked by the US," astonished the audience and apparently the interviewer as well. Probed further, he declared that even in the case of an attack by India, or for that matter, by any other quarter, Afghans would side with Pakistan. Seen in the context of the climate of tension between the US and Pakistan, the strategic partnership agreement he signed with India not long ago, and on top of it all, his periodic outburst against Islamabad, most recently accusing it of masterminding and even carrying out the murder of former President Burhanuddin Rabbani, his statement is, indeed, a significant about-turn.
Mr Karzai argued that Pakistan’s generous treatment of the five million Afghan refugees, who had fled the country during the Soviet invasion and provided shelter and taken care of by Pakistan, had strengthened the spirit of brotherhood among the people of Afghanistan for their Pakistani counterparts. He added that he could not possibly overlook that help extended at a critical juncture of Afghanistan's history and “betray a brother...despite all that the Pakistan establishment has done to Afghanistan.” But notwithstanding all his goodwill gestures, Pakistan may be forgiven for wondering how long the Afghan President will continue to hold such kindly sentiments for Pakistan. During the very same interview, he seemed to be toeing the American line about the location of terrorist sanctuaries in Pakistan. He said that the so-called Taliban Shura was headquartered at Quetta and the Haqqani network and other terrorist groups were based in Pakistan. Despite the serious nature of the allegations about terrorist strongholds in Pakistan, our government should seize the opportunity of his commitment to defend the territorial integrity of our country and build further brotherly relations on the basis of this overture. In the process, it should be possible to convince him that no terrorist group is operating from the Pakistani soil for the nefarious purpose of destabilizing Afghanistan.
President Karzai also vented his grievances against the US, asking it to stop entering Afghan homes. US and NATO troops are reported to enter ordinary people’s homes on the pretext of conducting night raids to get hold of Taliban suspects, but in reality they cause not only civilian casualties, but also outrage among the population that regards the sanctity of homes as a matter of honour. The Americans have dismissed the feeling, perhaps, on the ground that the invasion of their land has, in any case, turned the Afghans against them. Mr Karzai should realise that stabilising Afghanistan without the presence of US and other foreign troops is the only long-term solution that can pave the way for reconciliation within estranged sections of Afghan society.

Karzai’s pledge of support to Pakistan jolts America: WSJ

NEW YORK - President Hamid Karzai’s statement over the weekend that he would back Pakistan if it went to war with the US gave an ‘unexpected jolt’ to Washington’s latest attempts to strengthen its relationship with the Afghan leader, a major American newspaper said Sunday.
“The prospects for a US war with Pakistan are remote, and Mr Karzai’s comments were viewed by some Afghan and Western officials in Kabul as a poorly executed effort to blunt his recent angry comments about Pakistan’s support for Afghan insurgent groups,” The Wall Street Journal said in a dispatch from the Afghan Capital.
“This is not about war with each other,” Gavin Sundwall, spokesman for the US Embassy in Kabul, was quoted as saying by the Journal. “This is about a joint approach to a threat to all three of our countries.”
“Mr Karzai’s comments came as a surprise to some Western officials in Kabul, who were heartened by the success of last week’s visit by US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton,” the dispatch said.
In the past, the Journal pointed out that Karzai has alienated his Western allies with comments suggesting that he might side with the Taliban, or that America could come to be seen as an occupier if its forces didn’t stop killing Afghan civilians.
“Mr Karzai’s latest remarks struck a nerve with some Afghan and Western officials in Kabul who were reminded of the president’s penchant for criticising the US-led coalition that supports and funds his government,” the dispatch said.
“It was totally careless, unnecessary and, yes, irresponsible,” an unnamed Afghan official was quoted as saying. “He hasn’t pleased anyone except, maybe, a few Pakistani generals.”
American officials said, however, that Karzai’s remarks wouldn’t overshadow Mrs Clinton’s visit. “Mr Karzai and Mrs Clinton were united during her trip in demanding that Pakistan stop supporting the Taliban and other Afghan insurgent groups.”
Relations between Afghanistan and Pakistan have vacillated over the past year between spells of political chill and attempts at a rapprochement, the Journal pointed out.
Karzai and the US have sought to pressure Pakistan in recent weeks to clamp down on the Haqqani insurgent network suspected of staging a series of deadly attacks on American and Afghan targets.
Afghan officials also accused Pakistan’s intelligence agency of involvement in last month’s assassination of Burhanuddin Rabbani, the former Afghan president who had been leading the country’s peace entreaties to the Taliban. Pakistan denied these accusations.
Earlier this month, Karzai flew to New Delhi to sign a strategic agreement with India. The move angered Pakistani officials, who viewed it as political provocation, the dispatch said.