Nuke bombs don’t win wars, neither strengthen economies: Pak defence analyst

October 2nd, 2009 ISLAMABAD - Expressing concern over India's new nuclear-powered submarine, Pakistan's Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi has said that New Delhi should observe nuclear restraint to maintain stability in South Asia. Addressing the Los Angeles World Affairs Congress, Qureshi said Pakistan had proposed a 'Strategic Restraint Regime' to India with the three inter-locking principles of dispute settlement, conventional balance and nuclear and missile restraint.

September 22nd, 2009 MOSCOW - Russia's defence budget will rise by 8 percent in 2010 to reach $36 billion, Deputy Prime Minister Sergei Ivanov said Tuesday. The defence allocation in 2009 is expected to fetch $33 billion, with $10.9 billion being spent on purchases and maintenance of military equipment.

September 20th, 2009 LONDON - In a chilling revelation, it has been disclosed that it was former Pakistan Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto who had asked disgraced nuclear scientist Dr.Abdul Qadeer Khan to hand over the nuclear know-how's to Iran. According to The Times, Qadeer had written a letter in which he had mentioned everything about how he was made a scapegoat in the nuclear proliferation controversy.

August 3rd, 2009 KUALA LUMPUR - A recent move to close the Indian Studies Department at Universiti Malaya (UM) is being resisted by Malaysians of Indian origin. Closing the department is "disrespectful to the heritage of the Indian community", two NGOs of ethnic Indians have said.

July 31st, 2009 WASHINGTON - The US House of Representatives passed a $636-billion defence bill Thursday after removing money to continue production of the F-22, meeting a key demand by President Barack Obama. The bill, for fiscal 2010 and including $128 billion for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, passed by a 400-30 vote.

July 21st, 2009 ISLAMABAD - Leading English dailies in Pakistan Tuesday front-paged the news but otherwise downplayed the confession of Ajmal Amir Kasab, the lone gunman captured alive during the Mumbai terror attacks, owning up to his role with the only comment being a statement from defence minister dismissing the admission. There were no editorials but this was not surprising as Pakistani newspapers normally take 48 hours to comment on important developments.

July 15th, 2009 WASHINGTON/CHICAGO - Boeing's Integrated Defence Systems said Wednesday it is cutting 1,000 jobs to accommodate the drop in demand in the federal defence budget. The lost jobs represent about 1.5 percent of the 70,000 employees in the defence branch.

July 14th, 2009 PARIS - India and France on Tuesday reiterated their commitment to strengthen cooperation on countering the menace of terrorism. A statement released after Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's working lunch with French President Nicholas Sarkozy said that there was a "strong convergence of interest on the threats posed by terrorism and measures to counter it." Both leaders also expressed their satisfaction over the implementation and cooperation between the two countries in the fields of civil nuclear energy,space and defence.

June 25th, 2009 WASHINGTON - The US House of Representatives passed a $680-billion defence spending bill Thursday despite President Barack Obama's threat to veto the measure. The bill for the fiscal 2010 year, which begins Oct 1, contains $369 million to continue production of the F-22 fighter jet the Obama and Defence Secretary Robert Gates say is not needed.

June 13th, 2009 ISLAMABAD - Pakistan has hiked its defence spending for fiscal 2009-10 to Rs.347 billion ($4 billion) in the budget presented in parliament Saturday. Of this, Rs.343 billion has been allocated for the armed forces, Rs.463 million for defence production and Rs.840 million for the defence division, Minister of State for Finance Hina Rabbani Khar said while delivering the first budget speech by a woman in Pakistan's history.

June 10th, 2009 WASHINGTON - US Defence Secretary Robert Gates wants Congress' support for 700 million dollars for the Pakistan Counter-insurgency Capability Fund (PCCF) for 2010, as part of a massive 130 billion dollars request for overseas contingency operations for Afghanistan and Iraq wars. "This programme will be carried out with the concurrence of the Secretary of State and will complement existing and planned State Department efforts by allowing the CENTCOM commander to work with Pakistan's military to build counterinsurgency capability," he said.

June 7th, 2009 LAHORE - Pakistan's political and defence analyst Ejaz Haider has predicted that the Pakistan Army would soon launch a military operation in Waziristan, the "centre of gravity" for the Taliban. The Daily Times quoted Haider as saying that the military operation is inevitable, as it is essential to neutralize the Taliban's power in the tribal agencies of North and South Waziristan.

May 23rd, 2009 WASHINGTON - The chances of a deal between the Afghan government and the Taliban are remote as long as the insurgents enjoy momentum on the battlefield, US Defence Secretary Robert Gates said. "The time was not yet ripe for the kind of reconciliation that occurred in Iraq with armed opponents of the Baghdad government," Geo TV reported Saturday, citing Gates.

April 30th, 2009 LONDON - British troops are leaving Iraq today and returning home after over six years. Britain will formally hand over operational authority in southern Iraq to the US.

April 22nd, 2009 NEW YORK - The world's largest defence firm, Lockheed Martin Corp, demonstrated its sturdiness Tuesday in the face of a sharp downturn in the US and global economies, reporting first-quarter sales growth of 3.9 percent to $10.4 billion. The company credited increased non-defence sales of computer services to US government agencies for the revenue improvement.