Combined Force Arrests Insurgent in Kandahar

From an International Security Assistance Force Joint Command News Release KABUL, Afghanistan, May 29, 2013 - A combined Afghan and coalition security force arrested an insurgent during a search for a Taliban facilitator in Kandahar province's capital of Kandahar today, military officials reported. The facilitator builds improvised explosive devices and distributes them to insurgents operating in the Arghandab River Valley and the provincial capital. He also oversees weapons caches and plans attacks against Afghan and coalition forces. In Afghanistan operations yesterday: -- A combined force in Balkh province's Chimtal district arrested a senior Taliban leader who plans and conducts IED attacks against Afghan government officials and Afghan and coalition forces. He also facilitates the transfer, manufacturing and testing of IEDs, coordinates and conducts kidnappings for ransom to fund insurgent operations, and coordinates the movement of insurgent fighters. -- In Logar province's Muhammad Aghah district, a combined force wounded an insurgent during a search for a Taliban facilitator who transports fighters, weapons and suicide bombers. He also controls a group that attacks Afghan and coalition forces, equips suicide bombers with IEDs and coordinates the locations of their attacks. -- A combined force in Paktia province's Gardez district arrested a Haqqani network leader who coordinates and directs attacks against Afghan and coalition forces and facilitates the movement of weapons, equipment and money to local insurgent cells. He also serves as an intelligence operative for senior Haqqani leadership.

Related Sites: NATO International Security Assistance Force

Face of Defense: Soldier Aspires to Medical Degree

05/06/2013 09:53 AM CDT                                                                  Mon, May 6, 2013 at 8:29 PM

By Army Sgt. Tanya Van Buskirk
78th Training Division

FORT MCCOY, Wis., May 6, 2013 - Taking care of the force is something Army Staff Sgt. Megan Appleby feels is her lifelong calling.

Army Staff Sgt. Megan Appleby, left, draws blood from a soldier during Warrior Exercise at Fort McCoy, Wis., May 4, 2013. The 4215th U.S. Army Hospital, based out of Richmond, Va., is providing medical support for the exercise. U.S. Army photo by Sgt. Tanya Van Buskirk

The 30-year-old Army veteran of 11 years, who has served both on active duty and in the Army Reserve as a laboratory technician, aspires to be an obstetric gynecologist.

A Lisbon, Iowa, native, Appleby is assigned to the 4215th U.S. Army Hospital command based in Richmond, Va. She said her passion for helping people started when she was very young.

"When I was little, the doctor that delivered my sisters and me was actually our doctor until we were 18 years old," she explained. "Having that doctor who knew you from inside your mom's stomach, and [having] that connection, is really amazing."

Joint Base Lewis-McChord, Wash., was Appleby's first duty station from 2002 to 2006, and where she earned a bachelor's degree in microbiology. In mid-2006, she transferred to the Army Reserve and began attending battle assemblies with the 7229th Medical Support Unit. She then transferred to her current unit.

Appleby was deployed to Kuwait in 2003. Being in an environment where there is a feeling of constant danger was scary, she said, but knowing she was surrounded by medical experts allowed her to focus on her job of caring for patients arriving for lifesaving care. That, she added, is the driving force behind her pursuit of a medical career in the military.

Appleby is taking her medical school entrance exam and applying to the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences to continue her service and military career. The program is a 14-year commitment, she said: four years of classroom studies, three years of residency and seven years of service and commissioning as a captain.

"I look forward to the challenge," she added, "because I enjoy both medicine and serving my country."

Dempsey Visits South Korea

04/21/2013 06:49 AM CDT                              Sun, Apr 21, 2013 at 5:01 PM China on Weeklong Asia Trip By Karen Parrish American Forces Press Service Beijing, April 21, 2013 - Army Gen. Martin E. Dempsey, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, arrived in South Korea today for meetings with senior U.S. and South Korean commanders. Hours later the chairman was airborne again, heading for a weeklong series of engagements in China and Japan. En route to Beijing, Dempsey spoke to reporters traveling with him about his meetings in Seoul with Army Gen. James D. Thurman, commander of U.S. forces in South Korea, and South Korean chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Jung Seung-jo. Dempsey said the three discussed several issues important to the U.S.-South Korea alliance, but the current si tuation with North Korea was their central topic. North Korea conducted an illegal nuclear test in February, and since has issued a series of threats and provocations aimed chiefly at the United States. "Seoul is rather normal," the chairman said, noting soccer games, bike races, and other everyday activities were readily observable today. The South Korean military is, however, on a heightened state of readiness, he added. In particular, the allies are focusing on intelligence gathering, the maritime domain, ballistic missile defense and counter-battery artillery fire, he said. The chairman said the "newest insight" he gained from today's discussion came from both Jung and Thurman, who noted the actions of Kim Jong Un, the young, hereditary leader of North Korea, bear marked differences from those of his father, Kim Jong Il, or his grandfather, Kim Il Sung. While the youngest Kim is following suit with them by continuing the "military first" policy under which the nation's scant resources go first to supporting the military and its weapons programs, Dempsey said one key difference is in the provocations most recently heard from Pyongyang. "We're not into a series of cyclic provocations," as has been typical in the past, he said, but instead the allies now see a prolonged campaign of provocative words and actions.  According to numerous reports North Korea has cut military communications between the two nations, blocked access from the south to the joint North-South industrial area of Kaesong near the demilitarized zone, and threatened various "sea of fire" attacks while moving missiles into launch-ready positions. "The question that we were discussing today primarily was, 'How do we posture ourselves for a period of prolonged provocation? How do you sustain [that]?'" Dempsey said the likeliest approach Thurman and Jung will take is to increase joint operations, bringing their forces into yet closer alignment to share the responsibilities of prolonged, heightened tension. Dempsey said along with the demands of a sustained, high-readiness force posture, the meetings also touched on the transition to the South Korean military's operational control of wartime alliance activities on the peninsula, set to take place in December of 2015. South Koreans currently lead normal, peacetime military operations, but the U.S. commander would assume control in a wartime setting. Dempsey said he's received a lot of military advice over the last few months, most of it boiling down to "avoid war." "From a military perspective, the best way to avoid war is to prepare for it," he said. While the alliance is not seeking to provoke the North, he said, U.S. forces will keep up the "fairly steady pattern" of training exercises, port calls and other activities on the peninsula and in the region. "We have a sustained presence here that I think is assuring to our allies," he added. Later today the chairman arrived in Beijing, where he will spend a few days in high-level meetings before moving on to Tokyo.

Biographies: Army Gen. Martin E. Dempsey

Shameful day for Washington

A few hours ago, President Obama stood with parents who lost children in the Newtown tragedy and said: "All in all, today was a pretty shameful day for Washington." That's because a minority of senators blocked legislation that would have made America safer and better protected our kids. Forty-five lawmakers stood in the way of improvements to the background check system that would keep guns out of the hands of violent criminals and the mentally unstable -- something that 90 percent of Americans support. You're going to want to hear President Obama explain why he thinks this happened. Watch the video or read the transcript below, then share this so that everyone knows what comes next: http://www.whitehouse.gov/issues/preventing-gun-violence/action -- The President's Remarks -- A few months ago, in response to too many tragedies -- including the shootings of a United States Congresswoman, Gabby Giffords, who's here today, and the murder of 20 innocent schoolchildren and their teachers -- this country took up the cause of protecting more of our people from gun violence. Families that know unspeakable grief summoned the courage to petition their elected leaders -- not just to honor the memory of their children, but to protect the lives of all our children. And a few minutes ago, a minority in the United States Senate decided it wasn't worth it. They blocked common-sense gun reforms even while these families looked on from the Senate gallery. By now, it's well known that 90 percent of the American people support universal background checks that make it harder for a dangerous person to buy a gun. We're talking about convicted felons, people convicted of domestic violence, people with a severe mental illness.  Ninety percent of Americans support that idea. Most Americans think that's already the law. And a few minutes ago, 90 percent of Democrats in the Senate just voted for that idea. But it's not going to happen because 90 percent of Republicans in the Senate just voted against that idea. A majority of senators voted "yes" to protecting more of our citizens with smarter background checks. But by this continuing distortion of Senate rules, a minority was able to block it from moving forward. I'm going to speak plainly and honestly about what's happened here because the American people are trying to figure out how can something have 90 percent support and yet not happen. We had a Democrat and a Republican -– both gun owners, both fierce defenders of our Second Amendment, with "A" grades from the NRA -- come together and worked together to write a common-sense compromise on background checks. And I want to thank Joe Manchin and Pat Toomey for their courage in doing that. That was not easy given their traditional strong support for Second Amendment rights. As they said, nobody could honestly claim that the package they put together infringed on our Second Amendment rights. All it did was extend the same background check rules that already apply to guns purchased from a dealer to guns purchased at gun shows or over the Internet. So 60 percent of guns are already purchased through a background check system; this would have covered a lot of the guns that are currently outside that system. Their legislation showed respect for gun owners, and it showed respect for the victims of gun violence. And Gabby Giffords, by the way, is both -- she's a gun owner and a victim of gun violence. She is a Westerner and a moderate. And she supports these background checks. In fact, even the NRA used to support expanded background checks. The current leader of the NRA used to support these background checks. So while this compromise didn't contain everything I wanted or everything that these families wanted, it did represent progress. It represented moderation and common sense. That's why 90 percent of the American people supported it. But instead of supporting this compromise, the gun lobby and its allies willfully lied about the bill. They claimed that it would create some sort of "big brother" gun registry, even though the bill did the opposite. This legislation, in fact, outlawed any registry. Plain and simple, right there in the text. But that didn't matter. And unfortunately, this pattern of spreading untruths about this legislation served a purpose, because those lies upset an intense minority of gun owners, and that in turn intimidated a lot of senators. And I talked to several of these senators over the past few weeks, and they're all good people. I know all of them were shocked by tragedies like Newtown. And I also understand that they come from states that are strongly pro-gun. And I have consistently said that there are regional differences when it comes to guns, and that both sides have to listen to each other. But the fact is most of these senators could not offer any good reason why we wouldn't want to make it harder for criminals and those with severe mental illnesses to buy a gun. There were no coherent arguments as to why we wouldn't do this. It came down to politics -- the worry that that vocal minority of gun owners would come after them in future elections. They worried that the gun lobby would spend a lot of money and paint them as anti-Second Amendment. And obviously, a lot of Republicans had that fear, but Democrats had that fear, too. And so they caved to the pressure, and they started looking for an excuse -- any excuse -- to vote "no." One common argument I heard was that this legislation wouldn't prevent all future massacres. And that's true. As I said from the start, no single piece of legislation can stop every act of violence and evil. We learned that tragically just two days ago. But if action by Congress could have saved one person, one child, a few hundred, a few thousand -- if it could have prevented those people from losing their lives to gun violence in the future while preserving our Second Amendment rights, we had an obligation to try. And this legislation met that test. And too many senators failed theirs. I've heard some say that blocking this step would be a victory. And my question is, a victory for who? A victory for what? All that happened today was the preservation of the loophole that lets dangerous criminals buy guns without a background check. That didn't make our kids safer. Victory for not doing something that 90 percent of Americans, 80 percent of Republicans, the vast majority of your constituents wanted to get done? It begs the question, who are we here to represent? I've heard folks say that having the families of victims lobby for this legislation was somehow misplaced. "A prop," somebody called them. "Emotional blackmail," some outlet said. Are they serious? Do we really think that thousands of families whose lives have been shattered by gun violence don't have a right to weigh in on this issue? Do we think their emotions, their loss is not relevant to this debate? So all in all, this was a pretty shameful day for Washington. But this effort is not over. I want to make it clear to the American people we can still bring about meaningful changes that reduce gun violence, so long as the American people don't give up on it. Even without Congress, my administration will keep doing everything it can to protect more of our communities. We're going to address the barriers that prevent states from participating in the existing background check system. We're going to give law enforcement more information about lost and stolen guns so it can do its job. We're going to help to put in place emergency plans to protect our children in their schools. But we can do more if Congress gets its act together. And if this Congress refuses to listen to the American people and pass common-sense gun legislation, then the real impact is going to have to come from the voters. To all the people who supported this legislation -- law enforcement and responsible gun owners, Democrats and Republicans, urban moms, rural hunters, whoever you are -- you need to let your representatives in Congress know that you are disappointed, and that if they don't act this time, you will remember come election time. To the wide majority of NRA households who supported this legislation, you need to let your leadership and lobbyists in Washington know they didn't represent your views on this one. The point is those who care deeply about preventing more and more gun violence will have to be as passionate, and as organized, and as vocal as those who blocked these common-sense steps to help keep our kids safe. Ultimately, you outnumber those who argued the other way. But they're better organized. They're better financed. They've been at it longer. And they make sure to stay focused on this one issue during election time. And that's the reason why you can have something that 90 percent of Americans support and you can't get it through the Senate or the House of Representatives. So to change Washington, you, the American people, are going to have to sustain some passion about this. And when necessary, you've got to send the right people to Washington. And that requires strength, and it requires persistence. And that's the one thing that these families should have inspired in all of us. I still don't know how they have been able to muster up the strength to do what they've doing over the last several weeks, last several months. And I see this as just round one. When Newtown happened, I met with these families and I spoke to the community, and I said, something must be different right now. We're going to have to change. That's what the whole country said. Everybody talked about how we were going to change something to make sure this didn't happen again, just like everybody talked about how we needed to do something after Aurora. Everybody talked about we needed change something after Tucson. And I'm assuming that the emotions that we've all felt since Newtown, the emotions that we've all felt since Tucson and Aurora and Chicago -- the pain we share with these families and families all across the country who've lost a loved one to gun violence -- I'm assuming that's not a temporary thing. I'm assuming our expressions of grief and our commitment to do something different to prevent these things from happening are not empty words. I believe we're going to be able to get this done. Sooner or later, we are going to get this right. The memories of these children demand it. And so do the American people. Thank you very much, everybody.

Students learnt the success secrets

A special seminar held for the students by Kapri Institute
Ashwin Pandey of British Council taught the key secrets of English speaking

Life is not easy according to our dreams and imagination. In real life we have to rise and work to fulfill our dreams. We can change our life...and the world also but skill of English speaking is an urgent condition for the success. A seminar cum special training held at Ludhiana by the Kapri Institute of English speaking. Mr. Ashwin Pandey market manager, examination service British Council was the key speaker in the seminar.More than 150 students benefited from this special session. 

Mr. Ashwin Pandey announced that two new British Council IELTS test centresare started in Punjab. From 16the May students can also take tests in Moga and Bathinda with the British Council. He also announced scholarships given by the British Council. He told the students about road to IELTS which is free online training session for all IELTS aspirants. he also guided the candidates about all the steps and modules of IELTS. 

Speaking on the occasion, Anjali Chawla, Head of the Department of IELTS at the Kapri Institute said that teachers are trained by British Council. She said that Kapri has also a test registration centre for the British Council and has already trained more than 16,000 students.

Nitin Chawla, director marketing Kapri Institute said kapri held such workshops every year to help students to update skills. He also thanked Mr. Ashwin Pandey and Miss Harjot Kalsi for delivering the wonderful presentation to the students. 

Two days national convention at New Delhi

Calling all progressive, democratic, secular organisations to join us at the National Convention

 ‘India’s Descent into Fascism: How Do We Stop It?

April 17 & 18, 2013

New Delhi

ANHAD

A DECADE OF RESISTANCE: 2003-2013

Anhad is observing the completion of its ten years. Formed in March 2003 in the aftermath of Gujarat 2002 , ANHAD has actively contested the ideology of hate, the growing authoritarian character of the state, the growth of communal and fascist forces along with doing huge amount of work for the marginalised sections of the society especially women & minorities. ANHAD has intervened at the policy level, has done advocacy work from the grass root to the national level.

Today when the national consciousness is tilting towards the communal ideology and communal thought process has become common sense we feel there is a need to urgently call upon all secular and democratic forces in the country to stop India’s Descent into Fascism.

The falling economy, growing unemployment, displacement of people from their natural habitats and the joblessness created by the bursting of the IT bubble is creating a class which ,not being engaged with any ideological people’s movement and not having the skills to form a united struggle, is bound to turn towards fascism, and it is under these conditions when the ideas of fascism and dictatorship gain ground.   

ANHAD is organising a two day national convention ‘India’s Descent into Fascism: How Do We Stop It?’at the Constitution Club, Rafi Marg, New Delhi on April 17 & 18, 2013.

The convention will have representatives from a large number of states to present an over view of the situation from their states, experts who have worked on the questions of how terror has been used as a tool to demonise the minorities, communalisation of public and private spaces, culture, educational institutions and media & different segments of the society, it will look at recent cases of communal violence and the way forward. 

A special panel of academicians, jurists, activists will at the end come out with recommendations for the government and the civil society.

Convention Schedule

APRIL 17, 2013

8.00-9.00am Breakfast for outstation participants and Registration

9.00-9.30am- Welcome

9.30-11.15- Session 1: Voices from the Ground: An Overview of the Situation from different states:

Chair: Gagan Sethi

Speakers : Deepak Bhatt- MP,   Dr Anil Panikkar-Haryana,  Faisal Anurag- Jharkhand,  Kedar Misra-Orissa, Ramzan Chodhury-Haryana, Prof Haragopal- Andhra Pradesh, Dr. A Suneetha, Andhra Pradesh

11.15-1.00pm: Session 2: Voices from the Ground: An Overview of the Situation from different states:

Chair: Aruna Roy

Speakers: Anwar Ali- Kerala,   Mohd Arif _UP,  Neeraj Jain-Maharashtra,  Pritha Kejriwal- West Bengal,  Rajendra Sail- Chattisgarh, Shujaat Bukhari-Kashmir , Eric Pinto – Goa

1pm-2pm: Lunch

2pm-3.45pm-Session 3: Voices from the Ground: An Overview of the Situation from different states:

Chair: Prof. Rooprekha Verma

Speakers : Zakia Soman-Gujarat, Uttam Parmar-Gujarat, Yusuf Sheikh-Gujarat, Zamser Ali-Assam, Kavita Srivastava-Rajasthan, Arshad Ajmal-Bihar

3.45-5.30pm:  Session 4: Terror a Tool to Demonise Minorities and Sangh Terror Network

Chair: Dr. Ram Puniyani

Speakers: Manisha Sethi, Shahnawaz Alam, Subhash Gatade, Rajeev Yadav, Ajit Sahi

5.30pm -TEA

7.00- 10pm: Celebrating Diversity: An Evening of Poetry, Music and Dance

Welcome: Safeguarding and Celebrating Cultural Diversity: Kamala Bhasin

ANHAD CULTURAL GROUP, URI, JAMMU & KASHMIR, AVNI SETHI, DHRUV SANGARI, GAUHAR RAZA, GOVT GIRLS SENIOR SECONDARY SCHOOL, BHALOUT, ROHTAK, KHURSHID AKRAM, MANGLESH DABRAL, MAXFORT SCHOOL, DWARKA, NAMRATA PAMNANI, SIDDHI GOMA TRIBAL DANCE GROUP, VIDYA SHAH, VISHNU NAGAR, Documentaries on Anhad by Anhad Production House and Arma Ansari

April 18, 2013

8.00-900am: Breakfast

9.00- 11.15: Session 5: Communalisation of Public and Private Spaces, Cultural, Educational institutions and Media, Globalisation and Communalism

Chair: Colin Gonsalves

Speakers: Amit Sengupta,  Anil Choudhry, Dr. Anupam Gupta, Avinash Kumar,  Dr Harvardhan Hegde, Prof Atul Sood, Sukumar Muralidharan

11.15-1.00pm: Session 6: Political Response to Growing Communalism

Chair: Mahesh Bhatt

Speakers: D Raja-CPI,  Digvijay Singh-Congress, DP Tripathi-NCP, Kavita Krishnan-CPI(ML), Ramvilas Pawan-LJP, Sitaram Yechury-CPM

1.00pm-2pm-Lunch

2.00-4.30pm: Session 7:  The Way Forward and Recommendations

Chair: Prof KN Panikkar

Speakers: Syeda Hamid, Vrinda Grover, Seema Mustafa, Dr. KM Shrimali, Harsh Mander, Dr John Dayal, Dr. Apoorvanand

Ms. Sunita Williams

Indian origin NASA Astronaut, Ms. Sunita Williams interacting with the press, in Mumbai on April 04, 2013. (PIB)

04-April-2013