Mumbai shootout 26 Nov

The November 2008 Mumbai attacks were a series of ten coordinated attacks which began across Mumbai (Bombay), the largest city in India and the country’s financial capital, on 26 November 2008 and ended on 29 November 2008 when Indian security forces finally regained control of all attack sites.

Location	Type of attack	Casualties	Rescued
Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus (Victoria) railway station	Shootings; grenade attacks.	55	none
Leopold Café, Colaba	Shootings, grenade explosion.	10	none
Taj Mahal Palace & Tower hotel	Shootings; six explosions; fire on ground, first, and top floors; hostages;RDX found nearby.	50 approx	around 250
Oberoi Trident hotel	Shootings; explosions; hostages; fire.	24	143
Metro Cinema	Shooting from carjacked police jeep
Cama Hospital	Shootings; hostages	3 policemen	none
Nariman House (Mumbai Chabad House)	Siege; shootings hostages.	6	9
Vile Parle suburb, North Mumbai	Car bomb blast.	3	none
Mazagaon docks	Explosion; boat with armaments seized.	none	none
Girgaum Chowpatty	1 terrorist killed and 1 arrested by a team from the Gamdevi police station.	2	none

Terrorists involved

* Azam Amir Kasav & Abu Ismail Dera Ismail Khan, (attacked CST, police vehicle in cama hospital, Metro cinema, Vidhan Bhavan, Girgaum Chowpatty)
* 4 Terrorists in Taj Hotel, 2 Terrorists in Oberoi Hotel, 2 Terrorists in Nariman House ( Abu Ali, Fahad, Omar, Shoaib, Umer, Abu Akasha, Abdul Rahman (Bara), and Abdul Rahman).

Entry into India

Date	Estimated Time (+0530 UTC)	Event
Nov 21	evening	Ten terrorists leave Karachi, Pakistan in a boat & travel for thirty-eight hours, remaining undetected by the Indian Navy.
Nov 22		Each of the 10 men are given 6-7 magazines of 30 rounds each plus 400 rounds not loaded in magazines , 8 hand grenades, one AK-47 assault rifle, an automatic loading revolver, credit cards and a supply of dried fruit.
Nov 22		A separate group check in to the Taj Hotel with arms and ammunition.
Nov 23		The terrorists hijack an Indian trawler, Kuber, killing four fishermen and ordering the captain to sail to India.
Nov 24		The terrorists kill the captain and sail to Gujarat and raise a white flag. Two coast guard officers approach and question them. They kill one of the officers and force the other to sail them to Mumbai.
Nov 26		They reach within four nautical miles (7 km) of Mumbai and kill the other coast guard officer. They then proceed to board three inflatable speedboats and reach Colaba jetty at dusk.
Nov 26		The ten men get off at Badhwar Park, Cuffe Parade, three blocks away from Nariman House.
Nov 26		Four of the men enter the Taj Mahal Hotel, two enter the Oberoi Trident, two enter Nariman House, and the other two men, Azam and Ismail, take a taxi to Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus.

At the Taj Mahal Palace and Tower Hotel

Sources: NDTV, Evening Standard, and BBC

Date	Estimated Time (+0530 UTC)	Event
Nov 26	11:00 PM	Terrorists enter Taj hotel.
Nov 27	12:00 AM	Mumbai Police surrounds the hotel.
Nov 27	01:00 AM	Massive blast in the central dome, fire in the building.
Nov 27	02:30 AM	Army soldiers arrive in two trucks and enter the front lobby. Fire spreads across the top floor.
Nov 27	03:00 AM	Fire Engines arrive. Shootings heard inside lobby and heritage building.
Nov 27	4:00 AM	Firemen rescue people with ladders. More than 200 people evacuated
Nov 27	4:30 AM	Terrorists reported to move from central dome to new tower.
Nov 27	5:00 AM	Commandos and Bomb squad arrive. Police step up heat.
Nov 27	5:30 AM	Fire brought under control but terrorists holed up in new tower with 100–150 hostages.
Nov 27	6:30 AM	Security forces say they are ready for encounter.
Nov 27	8:00 AM	People are brought out of the lobby.
Nov 27	8:30 AM	Another 50 people brought out of Chambers club.
Nov 27	9:00 AM	More rounds of firing, many more people reported to be stuck inside.
Nov 27	10:30 AM	Gunbattle reported from inside
Nov 27	12 Noon	50 evacuated
Nov 27	4:30 PM	Militants set fire to a room on the 4th floor
Nov 27	7:20 PM	More NSG commandos arrive, enter hotel
Nov 27	11:00 PM	Operations continue
Nov 27	2:53 PM	Six bodies recovered
Nov 27–28	2:53 PM – 3:59	Ten grenade explosions
Nov 28	3:00 PM	Marine commandos recover explosives from Taj.
Nov 28	4.00 PM	12–15 dead bodies recovered from the Taj by Naval Commandos.
Nov 28	7:30 PM	Fresh explosions and gun shots at Taj Hotel.
Nov 28	8:30 PM	Reported that one terrorist left at the Taj.
Nov 29	3:40 AM – 4:10 AM	Reports of five explosions at the Taj.
Nov 29	5:05 AM	Revised estimate of one terrorist remaining.
Nov 29	07:30 AM	Fire raging on first floor. Black smoke from second floor. Gunshots heard frequently—apparent gun battle.
Nov 29	08:00 AM	Indian commandos state that the Taj Hotel is now under control. However they are still conducting room to room searches. People celebrate on the streets.

At the Oberoi Trident

Date	Estimated Time	Event
Nov 27	6 AM	NSG arrives, storms hotel.
Nov 27	8:40 AM	Firing heard, Top army, navy officers arrive and take stock.
Nov 27	1:30 PM	Two small explosions. More reinforcements enter building.
Nov 27	3:25 PM	Some foreign hostages rescued
Nov 27	5:35 PM	Sikh regiment arrives, fierce gunbattle.
Nov 27	6 PM	27 hostages come out of Air India building, four foreigners taken to hospital.
Nov 27	6:45 PM	Explosion heard. Two NSG guards, 25 army personnel suspected injured. More people rescued, in all 31.
Nov 27	7:10 PM	1 terrorist arrested.
Nov 27	7:25 PM	Fire breaks out on 4th floor
Nov 27	11 PM	Operations continue
Nov 28	10 AM	Many hostages evacuated from the Trident building.
Nov 28	3:00 PM	Commando operations at Oberoi over, 24 dead bodies recovered. 143 hostages rescued alive. Two militants shot dead.

At Nariman House

Date	Estimated Time	Event
Nov 27	7 AM	Police began evacuating adjacent buildings.
Nov 27	11 AM	Cross-firing between terrorists and police; one militant injured.
Nov 27	2:45 PM	Terrorists threw grenade into nearby lane; no casualties.
Nov 27	5:30 PM	NSG commandos arrive, naval helicopter took aerial survey.
Nov 27	11 PM	Operations continued.
Nov 27	12 PM	9 hostages rescued from first floor.
Nov 28	7:30 AM	NSG commandos airdropped onto the top of Nariman house.
Nov 28	7:30 PM	All 6 hostages including the Rabbi and his wife found killed by the terrorists.
Nov 28	8:30 PM	NSG commandos declared the operations over, 2 terrorists killed.

Casualties

At least 172 people had been killed in the attacks and 293 wounded. Among the dead were 124 Indian civilians, 17 policemen and 31 foreigners. The breakdown of the foreigners was as follows: four Americans, four Australians, three Canadians, three Germans, two Israeli-Americans, two Israelis, two French, two Italians, one British-Cypriot, one Dutch, one Japanese, one Jordanian, one Malaysian, one Mauritian, one Mexican, one Singaporean and one Thai.

In addition, nine terrorists were killed and one was captured.

27 other foreigners of different nationalities were injured in the terror strikes and were admitted to the Bombay Hospital. Hospital sources said the injured foreigners were from Australia, USA, UK, Canada, Germany, Canada, Spain, Norway, Finland, Oman, China, Japan, the Philippines and Jordan.

Andreas Liveras, a British yachting tycoon (of dual Greek Cypriot and British citizenship), was among those confirmed killed. German TV producer Ralph Burkei, and French lingerie tycoon, Loumia Hiridjee and her husband, were also among the dead. Husband and wife, Rabbi Gavriel Noach Holtzberg and Rivka Holtzberg, both of whom were hostages in Nariman House, also died during the attack.

According to Maharashtra chief minister Vilasrao Deshmukh, 14 policemen and three NSG commandos were killed, including the following officers:

• Mumbai Anti-Terrorism Squad Chief Hemant Karkare, who headed the team investigating the politically sensitive 2006 Malegaon blasts. Karkare had also been receiving death threats recently, including a threat to bomb his residence, but it is unclear if these were related to his death.
• Additional Commissioner of Police: Ashok Kamte
• Encounter specialist: Vijay Salaskar
• Senior inspector Shashank Shinde, who had recently been involved in investigating many of India’s recent bombings.
• NSG Commando, Major Sandeep Unnikrishnan
• NSG Commando Hawaldar Chandar
• NSG Commando Gajendra Singh

Three railway officials of Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus had also been killed in the terror strikes.

The Government of Maharashtra announced Rs. 5 lakh (about 10,000 USD) compensation to the kin of those killed in the terror attacks and Rs. 50,000 (about 1,000 USD) to the seriously injured.

Nationality	Deaths	Injured
Indian	141	256
American	4	2
Australian	4	2
Canadian	3	2
German	3	3
American-Israeli	2	–
Israeli	2	–
French	2	–
Italian	2	–
Cypriot-British	1	–
Dutch	1	–
Japanese	1	1
Jordanian	1	1
Malaysian	1
Mauritian	1	–
Mexican	1	–
Singaporean	1	–
Thai	1	–
Austrian	–	1
British	–	7
Chinese	–	1
Omani	–	2
Filipino	–	1
Spanish	–	2
Finnish	–	1
Norwegian	–	1

Muslim Council refuses to bury militants in India

The Muslim Council of India decided not to allow burial of the bodies of the nine terrorists killed during the Mumbai siege in the Marine Lines Bada Qabrastan (cemetery). The council said it was trying to send a message to all cemeteries in India that none of the bodies should be buried on Indian soil.

Strong Nationalism among general public

The attack has put challenges for the Congress-led Indian government ahead of general elections, and also to persuade Pakistan to act against militants. Many general public want some kind of clear response to the attack that killed 183 people, from identifying and punishing the masterminds to trade sanctions against Pakistan, or passing firm anti-terrorism laws within India

Terrorism in Mumbai

The city of Mumbai, India has suffered several terrorist attacks, mostly bombings, including:

* 12 March 1993 – Series of 13 bombs go off killing 257
* 06 December 2002 – Bomb goes off in a bus in Ghatkopar killing 2
* 27 January 2003 – Bomb goes off on a bicycle in Vile Parle killing 1
* 14 March 2003 – Bomb goes off in a train in Mulund killing 10
* 28 July 2003 – Bomb goes off in a bus in Ghatkopar killing 4
* 25 August 2003 – Two Bombs go off in cars near the Gateway of India and Zaveri Bazaar killing 50
* 11 July 2006 – Series of seven bombs go off in trains killing 209
* 19 October 2008 – North Indians killed in various part of Maharastra. (killed 20 people).
* 26 November 2008 to 29 November 2008 – Coordinated series of attacks killing at least 189

 

Nehru nominated for Nobel prize not once, but 11 times

New Delhi: The Nobel Foundation ignored not only Mahatma Gandhi but also India’s first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru, one of 20th century’s leading statesmen, for the peace prize, not once but on 11 occasions.

Though the details of past nominations are kept confidential, the foundation has opened the database for 1901-56. A search through it shows that the name of Nehru was under consideration during the early 1950s when he was building the foundations of a modern India.

In 1950, there were two nominations considered by the Nobel Committee. L R Sivasubramanian, a Delhi University professor of law, and M Venkatarangaiya, a Bombay University professor of political science, sent in the nominations.

Jens Arup Seip, a professor of the university of Oslo, did the evaluation of the nomination.

Coincidentally, the committee also considered nominations of Maharshi Aurobindo, a radical freedom fighter turned spiritual leader, and S. Radhakrishan, another freedom fighter and statesman who was to later become India’s president (1962-67).

In 1950, the most coveted prize in the world went to Ralph Bunche, an American political scientist and diplomat, for his late 1940s mediation in Palestine.

In 1951, Panditji, as he was popularly known, was nominated thrice. The nominations were sent in by Emily Greene Balch of the US, Nobel Peace Prize laureate of 1946, Lewis Hoskins on behalf of the American Friends Service Committee and Shrinavala Sarma on behalf of the “Professors at the University of Madras.”

All three nominations were evaluated by Seip.

Léon Jouhaux, a French trade union leader, won the peace prize in 1951.

Three more nominations in favour of Nehru were sent to Sweden two years later – all from Brussels. “Several Members of the Belgian National Assembly,” “Several Members of the Belgian Senate” and “Several Professors of the university of Bruxelles” were the nominators. K Getz Wold was the evaluator and August Schou also wrote an additional evaluation, according to the database.

The 1953 Peace laureate was George C Marshall, who led the US Army during World War II.

The year 1954 saw two nominations for Nehru, both along with British Prime Minister Clement Attlee “for their work for the peaceful settlement between Great Britain and India in 1947”. Seip himself was one of the nominators.

The honour that year went to the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees.

Edmond Privat, a professor of the Neuchatel university in Switzerland, again nominated Nehru in 1955. That year, no winner was announced and the prize money was “allocated to the Special Fund of this prize section.”

 

Testing for a new ‘Cold War’ in Crimea

Testing for a new ‘Cold War’ in Crimea

By Paul Reynolds World affairs correspondent, BBC News website

Cheers for a Russian warship as it enters Sevastopol

The Russian military operation against Georgia and its recognition of Abkhazia and South Ossetia have led to concerns amounting at times to near panic about whether a new Cold War is under way. The Russian President Dmitry Medvedev has said that he does not want a new Cold War but is not afraid of one either. So is the conflict a turning-point heralding a new age of confrontation or just a limited Russian action to resolve two border disputes left over from the Soviet era? Or something in between, a sign of uncertainty on both sides which will mean tension but not the kind of ideological struggle and military stand-off that was the Cold War itself? New test A good test of Russian intentions could come in Crimea, the territory jutting out in the Black Sea. It is part of Ukraine.

The French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner said: “It’s very dangerous. There are other objectives that one can suppose are the objectives of Russia, in particular Crimea, Ukraine and Moldova.” The problem over Crimea is this. Crimea was handed over to Ukraine from the Russian Soviet Republic by Nikita Khrushchev in 1954. However ethnic Russians still make up the majority of its nearly 2 million inhabitants. It is also home to the Russian navy’s Black Sea Fleet at Sevastopol, on which Russia has a lease until 2017. Sevastopol has resonance in Russian history, from the siege by the British and French in 1854-55. There have been small demonstrations there recently calling for Crimea to be returned to Russia. Valery Podyachy, head of the Sevastopol-Crimea-Russia Popular Front, said: “While Russia sent aid to flood-hit Ukrainian regions, Ukraine failed to help Russia to force Georgia to peace, and took an openly hostile stance.” There is the potential therefore for trouble. If Russia started to agitate on behalf of its “brothers” in Crimea and argued that it must have Sevastopol (even though it is building another base), Crimea could provide certainly a test of Russian ambitions and possibly a flashpoint. Western worries This fear of future Russian actions partly explains the Western worries. The British Foreign Secretary David Miliband has gone to Ukraine talking of forming “the widest possible coalition against Russian aggression in Georgia”. Mr Miliband is positioning himself at the hawkish end of the Western response. He said in a speech in Kiev that events in Georgia had been a “rude awakening” and that a “hard-headed engagement” with Russia was needed. But he added: “The Russian President says he is not afraid of a new Cold War. We don’t want one. He has a big responsibility not to start one.” The US Vice President Dick Cheney is going to Georgia. Nato has met to declare that there can be no “business as usual” with Russia. People are looking up the principles laid down by US diplomat George Kennan after World War II that called for the “containment” of an aggressive Soviet union. The other view There is another view, though, and this holds that while Russian intentions are not to be trusted, it cannot be wholly blamed for what happened in South Ossetia. The former British ambassador to Yugoslavia, Sir Ivor Roberts, said: “Moscow has acted brutally in Georgia. But when the United States and Britain backed the independence of Kosovo without UN approval, they paved the way for Russia’s ‘defence’ of South Ossetia, and for the current Western humiliation. “What is sauce for the Kosovo goose is sauce for the South Ossetian gander.” The borders issue Behind all this also lies the problem of European borders. During and after the Cold War, it was held (and still is) that borders, however unreasonable to the inhabitants, could not be changed without agreement. This has given governments a veto. Serbia tried to veto the break-up of Yugoslavia. Georgia has not allowed Abkhazia and South Ossetia to secede. Ukraine holds on to Crimea etc. The potential for a clash between the competing interests of local people and central governments is obvious. The fear that borders may unravel also helps explain why the Russian recognition of Abkhazia and South Ossetia has upset Western governments so much. Their problem, however, is that they offer no solutions to those disputes beyond best intentions and a status quo policed by peacekeepers, a status quo that can easily be upset.   September 10, 2008 A Wednesday. Will the world survive it? Image: A woman passes behind layers of the world’s largest superconducting solenoid magnet, one of the experiments preparing to take data at European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN)’s Large Hadron Collider particule accelerator. It is one of the biggest and most controversial experiments to be carried out in recent times. On September 10, a machine costing a staggering $7.75 billion (Rs 31,000 crore) will be fired up to recapture conditions not seen since the birth of the universe almost 14 billion years ago. The machine, located at CERN, a Geneva-based nuclear research lab, will carry on the experiment inside a 27-km tunnel deep beneath the French-Swiss border.   September 10, 2008 A Wednesday. Will the world survive it? Image: A woman passes behind layers of the world’s largest superconducting solenoid magnet, one of the experiments preparing to take data at European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN)’s Large Hadron Collider particule accelerator. It is one of the biggest and most controversial experiments to be carried out in recent times. On September 10, a machine costing a staggering $7.75 billion (Rs 31,000 crore) will be fired up to recapture conditions not seen since the birth of the universe almost 14 billion years ago. The machine, located at CERN, a Geneva-based nuclear research lab, will carry on the experiment inside a 27-km tunnel deep beneath the French-Swiss border.   August 16, 2008 Rank NOC Name Men Women Open/Mixed Total   G S B T G S B T G S B T G S B T 1 CHN – China 10 6 3 19 17 7 4 28         27 13 7 47   2 USA – United States 11 4 11 26 5 11 11 27   1   1 16 16 22 54   3 GER – Germany 3 4 2 9 2 1 3 6 3     3 8 5 5 18   4 KOR – Korea 5 5 2 12 2 4 2 8         7 9 4 20   5 AUS – Australia 2 3 7 12 5 4 3 12   1   1 7 8 10 25   6 JPN – Japan 4 3 2 9 3 2 3 8         7 5 5 17   7 GBR – Great Britain 4 2 3 9 3 1 2 6     2 2 7 3 7 17   8 ITA – Italy 2 4 2 8 4 1 3 8         6 5 5 16   9 RUS – Russian Fed. 4 3 7 14 1 5 1 7         5 8 8 21   10 UKR – Ukraine 3   3 6 2 2 2 6         5 2 5 12   11 FRA – France 3 8 8 19   1 2 3         3 9 10 22   12 SVK – Slovakia 2     2 1 1   2         3 1   4   13 CZE – Czech Republic 1 2   3 1 1   2         2 3   5   14 NZL – New Zealand   1 2 3 2     2         2 1 2 5   14 ROU – Romania     1 1 2 1 1 4         2 1 2 5   16 SUI – Switzerland 2   2 4     1 1         2   3 5   17 ESP – Spain 2   1 3                 2   1 3   17 GEO – Georgia 2     2     1 1         2   1 3   19 CUB – Cuba 1   2 3   3 2 5         1 3 4 8   20 ZIM – Zimbabwe         1 3   4         1 3   4   21 NED – Netherlands     2 2 1 1 2 4   1   1 1 2 4 7   22 AZE – Azerbaijan 1 2 1 4     1 1         1 2 2 5   23 NOR – Norway 1 2   3     1 1         1 2 1 4   24 PRK – DPR Korea     1 1 1 1 2 4         1 1 3 5   25 CAN – Canada   1   1 1   1 2         1 1 1 3   26 MGL – Mongolia 1     1   1   1         1 1   2   26 POL – Poland 1 1   2                 1 1   2   28 BRA – Brazil 1   3 4     1 1         1   4 5   29 INA – Indonesia 1   2 3     1 1         1   3 4   30 BUL – Bulgaria     1 1 1     1         1   1 2   30 FIN – Finland     1 1 1     1         1   1 2   32 ETH – Ethiopia         1     1         1     1   32 IND – India 1     1                 1     1   32 JAM – Jamaica 1     1                 1     1   32 THA – Thailand         1     1         1     1   36 HUN – Hungary   4   4     1 1           4 1 5   37 KAZ – Kazakhstan   1 2 3   2 1 3           3 3 6   38 SWE – Sweden   2   2   1   1           3   3   39 BLR – Belarus   1 2 3   1 4 5           2 6 8   40 TUR – Turkey     1 1   2   2           2 1 3   41 AUT – Austria   1   1     2 2           1 2 3   42 ALG – Algeria   1   1     1 1           1 1 2   42 COL – Colombia   1   1     1 1           1 1 2   42 KGZ – Kyrgyzstan   1 1 2                   1 1 2   42 SLO – Slovenia           1 1 2           1 1 2   42 SRB – Serbia   1 1 2                   1 1 2   42 UZB – Uzbekistan   1 1 2                   1 1 2   48 ECU – Ecuador   1   1                   1   1   48 EST – Estonia   1   1                   1   1   48 TRI – Trinidad/Tobago   1   1                   1   1   48 VIE – Vietnam   1   1                   1   1   52 ARM – Armenia     5 5                     5 5   53 DEN – Denmark             1 1     1 1     2 2   53 TPE – Chinese Taipei             2 2             2 2   55 ARG – Argentina             1 1             1 1   55 CRO – Croatia             1 1             1 1   55 EGY – Egypt     1 1                     1 1   55 LTU – Lithuania     1 1                     1 1   55 MEX – Mexico             1 1             1 1   55 TJK – Tajikistan     1 1                     1 1   55 TOG – Togo     1 1                     1 1   Total: 69 69 86 224 58 58 67 183 3 3 3 9 130 130 156 416     August 14, 2008   US warns Russia of lasting impact   The US defence chief has warned relations with Russia could be damaged for years if Moscow does not step back from “aggressive” actions in Georgia. Russian troops have begun handing back the town of Gori to the Georgians   But Robert Gates said he did not see a need for US military force in Georgia. His words came as Moscow said the idea of Georgian territorial integrity was an irrelevance. Georgia’s breakaway regions – Abkhazia and South Ossetia – would never agree to being part of Georgia again, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said. Earlier, Russia said it had began handing back the town of Gori to Georgian police but insisted its troops would stay in the area. A Russian general said his forces were there to remove weaponry and help restore law and order in Gori, which lies some 15km (10 miles) from South Ossetia and on a key route to the Georgian capital, Tbilisi. Elsewhere, eyewitnesses in the Georgian Black Sea port of Poti said that Russian troops had entered the town in armoured vehicles. Moscow had earlier denied the reports but Russia’s deputy chief of staff, Gen Anatoly Nogovitsyn, told a televised news conference it was legitimate for Russians to be in Poti as part of intelligence-gathering operations. Meanwhile, Reuters reported that more than 100 Russian vehicles, some of them armoured, had gathered outside the major western Georgian town of Zugdidi. Despite concerns that Moscow may not be keen quickly to leave Georgian territory, Mr Gates said the Russians did seem to be pulling back. “They appear to be withdrawing their forces back towards Abkhazia and to the zone of conflict… towards South Ossetia,” he said. Gen James Cartwright, vice-chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, also said he believed Russia was “generally complying” with the terms of the truce, which called for its withdrawal from hostilities. But, Mr Gates warned: “If Russia does not step back from its aggressive posture and actions in Georgia, the US-Russian relationship could be adversely affected for years to come.” The Russians were trying to redress what they regarded as the many concessions forced on them after the breakup of the Soviet Union and were trying to “reassert their international status”, Mr Gates said. Georgia was also being punished for its efforts to integrate with the West and in particular to join Nato, the defence secretary went on. The BBC’s Justin Webb in Washington says Mr Gates’s address was the first effort by a senior member of the Bush administration to set out what the Americans believe is happening in Russia. But while Mr Gates said Russia’s aggressive posture was not acceptable, our correspondent says, he took an unusual step for the Bush administration in ruling out the use of US force. This is not a fight that America wants to have. Withdrawal Georgia attacked the rebel region of South Ossetia from Gori a week ago, prompting Russian retaliation. The Georgians say it followed continuous provocation. Both sides agreed to a French-brokered ceasefire on Tuesday, amid international concern, but it has seemed fragile so far. Earlier on Thursday in Moscow, Russia’s President Dmitry Medvedev said Russia would respect any decision South Ossetia and Abkhazia made about their future status. His words followed warnings from the US that Russia had to respect Georgia’s territorial sovereignty and withdraw its forces. Meanwhile, the US has sent its second shipment of humanitarian aid into Georgia. Russia has questioned whether the deliveries contain only humanitarian supplies.   Russia has questioned what is in US aid deliveries to Georgia   July 24, 2008   Concern over French nuclear leaks A French nuclear monitoring body has expressed concern at the number of leaks from French nuclear power stations in recent weeks. The director of Criirad, an independent body, said the organisation was worried by the numbers of people contaminated by four separate incidents. In the most recent leaks, about 100 staff at Tricastin, in southern France, were exposed to low doses of radiation. It came two weeks after a leak forced the temporary closure of a reactor. There has also been a 10-fold increase in the number of incidents reported by people working in the French nuclear power industry, Criirad director Corinne Castanier said. “This type of contamination is a recurring problem. But that many people in such a short period of time, this worries us,” she said, adding that most incidents rated fairly low on a scale used to judge the potential danger of nuclear incidents. Ms Castanier linked the high number of incidents to an increased pressure to deliver energy quickly and suggested that working conditions were getting worse at power facilities. ‘No health problem’ Electricite de France says Wednesday’s incident at Tricastin – a huge nuclear complex near the town of Avignon – was not connected to the earlier uranium leak at the plant. The Tricastin nuclear site contains a power plant and a treatment facility The staff at Tricastin were “slightly contaminated” by radioactive particles that escaped from a pipe at a reactor complex, an EDF spokeswoman said. The company says sensors detected a rise in the radiation level while maintenance work was being carried out at a reactor that had been shut since 12 July. The rise in radiation prompted 97 EDF and maintenance subcontractors to be evacuated and sent for medical tests. “Seventy of them show low traces of radioelements, below one 40th of the authorised limit,” EDF said, adding that the incident would not affect people’s health or the environment. “What concerns us is less the level of the people contaminated than the number of people contaminated,” EDF spokeswoman Caroline Muller told the Associated Press news agency. Safety concerns Two weeks ago, the authorities had to issue a ban on fishing and water sports in two local rivers after 30 cubic metres of liquid containing unenriched uranium leaked from a broken underground pipe onto the ground and into the water. The environment minister has since ordered tests of all France’s nuclear power plants to ensure such leaks have not gone undetected elsewhere. On Friday, energy company Areva said liquid containing slightly enriched uranium leaked at another of its sites in south-east France. The same day, 15 EDF workers were exposed to what the company called “non-harmful” traces of radioactive elements at the Saint-Alban plant in the Alpine Isere region. The incidents have raised questions about the state-run nuclear industry, at a time when some countries are considering nuclear energy because of the soaring price of oil, correspondents say. France derives more than 75% of its electricity from its 59 nuclear power plants, and President Nicolas Sarkozy has recently announced plans to expand the nuclear programme. Here is The Tricastin nuclear site contains a power plant and a treatment facility Source: BBC   July 24, 2008   Concern over French nuclear leaks A French nuclear monitoring body has expressed concern at the number of leaks from French nuclear power stations in recent weeks. The director of Criirad, an independent body, said the organisation was worried by the numbers of people contaminated by four separate incidents. In the most recent leaks, about 100 staff at Tricastin, in southern France, were exposed to low doses of radiation. It came two weeks after a leak forced the temporary closure of a reactor. There has also been a 10-fold increase in the number of incidents reported by people working in the French nuclear power industry, Criirad director Corinne Castanier said. “This type of contamination is a recurring problem. But that many people in such a short period of time, this worries us,” she said, adding that most incidents rated fairly low on a scale used to judge the potential danger of nuclear incidents. Ms Castanier linked the high number of incidents to an increased pressure to deliver energy quickly and suggested that working conditions were getting worse at power facilities. ‘No health problem’ Electricite de France says Wednesday’s incident at Tricastin – a huge nuclear complex near the town of Avignon – was not connected to the earlier uranium leak at the plant. The Tricastin nuclear site contains a power plant and a treatment facility The staff at Tricastin were “slightly contaminated” by radioactive particles that escaped from a pipe at a reactor complex, an EDF spokeswoman said. The company says sensors detected a rise in the radiation level while maintenance work was being carried out at a reactor that had been shut since 12 July. The rise in radiation prompted 97 EDF and maintenance subcontractors to be evacuated and sent for medical tests. “Seventy of them show low traces of radioelements, below one 40th of the authorised limit,” EDF said, adding that the incident would not affect people’s health or the environment. “What concerns us is less the level of the people contaminated than the number of people contaminated,” EDF spokeswoman Caroline Muller told the Associated Press news agency. Safety concerns Two weeks ago, the authorities had to issue a ban on fishing and water sports in two local rivers after 30 cubic metres of liquid containing unenriched uranium leaked from a broken underground pipe onto the ground and into the water. The environment minister has since ordered tests of all France’s nuclear power plants to ensure such leaks have not gone undetected elsewhere. On Friday, energy company Areva said liquid containing slightly enriched uranium leaked at another of its sites in south-east France. The same day, 15 EDF workers were exposed to what the company called “non-harmful” traces of radioactive elements at the Saint-Alban plant in the Alpine Isere region. The incidents have raised questions about the state-run nuclear industry, at a time when some countries are considering nuclear energy because of the soaring price of oil, correspondents say. France derives more than 75% of its electricity from its 59 nuclear power plants, and President Nicolas Sarkozy has recently announced plans to expand the nuclear programme. Here is The Tricastin nuclear site contains a power plant and a treatment facility Source: BBC   Search for: Donation Pages About Us Contact Us! Feedback Feedback My Album My Resume Services Bihar Chhath Puja Culture! Economy! Flood Folksongs & music! Folksongs & music! Geography & climate! Government ! Government ! History: Ancient! History: Modern! Hot News! Maoist Letter Moaists New Face Police Vs. Naxals Politics of Bihar! Religion! thawewaalimaa Timeline for Bihar! Transport & travel! Continents ASIA Afghanistan Afghanistan India 1993 Bombay bombings 1993 Bombay bombings A poem for Madame President Assassination! Bangalore Blast Co-Ordinates! 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