Gujarat News Today blog is written by Dilip Gadhvi to keep people of world aware about the activity and news happening
across the Gujarat and World. I would try to provide you best information that is interesting.
San Diego: California-based NRG Raj Patel would have never imagined that he would witness such an accident in his restaurant! Patel, owner of the Miramar restaurant at Artesia, saw a car suddenly entering into his restaurant at 2 pm on Friday. It literally plowed into a restaurant, hitting one customer who was walking out the door and two others who were seated. A third woman was pushed aside by the impact holding her knee in pain.
The interesting aspect is that none of the people involved were seriously injured. The driver, a regular customer at the Surati Farsan Mart, was stopping by to place an order for her daughter’s birthday. She accidentally hit the gas pedal instead of the brakes, she told the cops. She told the cops that she was shaken and felt awful about the incident. San Diego police said that the accident was under investigation, they were unclear if the driver will face any charges.
San Diego Police Department Lieutenant Jerry Hara said, “Looks like they probably stepped on a little bit of the gas pedal as well, causing the car to actually go into the restaurant.”
“When I first pulled it out, I was shocked, it was crazy-looking. Luckily, I am surprised nobody was hurt with all of the force of the impact,” said Patel. Damage to the restaurant is estimated at about $25,000.
Washington: Republican Doug Lamborn of Colorado and commentator Pat Buchanan, a former candidate for the president, have both apologised for using racially charged terms to describe President Barack Obama.
Both Lamborn and Buchanan had called Obama, the first African-American president, alternately a “tar baby” and “boy”, giving new fuel to speculation that underneath much of the criticism of the president and his policies, lurks the shadow of racism.
Lamborn had made his comment on a Denver talk radio show on Tuesday. Referring to Obama, he said that it was like touching “a tar baby and you get it, you’re stuck, and you're a part of the problem now and you can’t get away”.
The term tar baby comes from the 19th century Uncle Remus stories, where B'rer Fox uses a doll made of a lump of tar to trap B'rer Rabbit, who gets more stuck the more he pummels and kicks the tar baby. In more recent parlance, tar baby is widely considered racial slur.
Former GOP presidential candidate and MSNBC contributor Pat Buchanan, in a tête-à-tête with the Rev Al Sharpton, referred to Obama as “your boy”. “My what?” Sharpton shot back. “My president, Barack Obama? What did you say?”
Buchanan hinted that he was using a boxing analogy, replying that the president was “your boy in the ring”. Lamborn, who apologised to Obama in a letter, said in a separate statement on Wednesday that he shouldn’t have used a term “that some find insensitive”.
“Some folks took what I said as some kind of a slur,” Buchanan said on Wednesday. He added: “None was meant, none was intended, none was delivered.”
Revealed: fascinating details of the Abbottabad raid, including the SEAL’s first words after he killed the world’s most-wanted man: “For God and country — Geronimo, Geronimo, Geronimo”
Washington: Osama bin Laden’s killing in a covert US operation in Pakistan on May 2 was the culmination of months of meticulous planning during which the US explored options like tunnelling in and an attack by B-2 Spirit bombers.
Tunnelling would have avoided ground troops sneaking through the town of Abbottabad as they penetrated the walled compound, The New Yorker magazine reported. But they determined from satellite photos that a water table was probably just below the surface of the building land and that tunnelling was highly unlikely to be successful.
A less exotic option for striking bin Laden was to bomb from the sky. The article detailed how then secretary of defense Robert Gates preferred a strike by B-2 Spirit bombers. But President Barack Obama disliked that idea and said the helicopter raid should go ahead.
In the end, bin Laden was shot by a SEAL, who gave his account of the assault in an interview with The New Yorker magazine.
When he pulled the trigger on his silenced rifle in a darkened bedroom and shot a tall, unarmed man with a straggly beard, he ended a nine-year manhunt for bin Laden, the man who claimed 2,973 lives on September 11, 2001.
But no one — not even President Barack Obama — will ever know the name of that SEAL, nor of the comrade who wrapped bin Laden’s wives in a huge bear hug and dragged them aside in case they were wearing suicide bomb vests, knowing he would absorb most of the blast and save the men behind him.
In the interview, for the first time, the fascinating details of that raid have been revealed, including the SEAL’s first words after he killed the world’s most-wanted man: “For God and country — Geronimo, Geronimo, Geronimo”.
The SEAL told The New Yorker, “There was never any question of detaining or capturing him — it wasn’t a split-second decision. No one wanted detainees.”
He told the magazine how he stepped into the terror leader's bedroom and “trained the infrared laser of his M4 [rifle] on bin Laden’s chest. “The al Qaeda chief, who was wearing a tan shalwar kameez and a prayer cap, froze; he was unarmed.” The SEAL fired, hitting bin Laden once in the chest and above the left eye.
Moments earlier, the SEAL told The New Yorker, another SEAL had entered the room and was confronted by two of bin Laden’s wives. One screamed and appeared to charge at him. The SEAL shot her in the calf and then, “fearing that one or both of women were wearing suicide jackets, he stepped forward, wrapped them in a bear hug and drove them aside.
The report also revealed that the SEALs were not wearing cameras on their helmets, and Obama and his colleagues spent 25 minutes waiting to hear the news.
After the first dramatic words from Abbottabad, the SEAL added: “Geronimo E.K.I.A — enemy killed in action”. Geronimo was the codename for a hit on bin Laden. The president pursed his lips, and speaking to no one in particular said: “We got him”.
The SEALs then put bin Laden in a body bag and carried him out of the house, where a medic took two bone marrow samples and DNA swabs.
Five days after the May 2 operation, Obama went to Kentucky where he met the assault team and spoke to each one in turn, but he never asked one crucial question — who pulled the trigger.
The men didn’t volunteer the information either. Known as ‘the best of the best’, whoever shot bin Laden is likely to have received acclaim within the unit, but will never be revealed outside it.
Instead, The Daily Mail reported, Obama settled for a flag, taken from one of the Chinooks, which the team had framed, signed, and inscribed. The message read: “From the Joint Task Force Operation Neptune’s Spear, 01 May 2011: For God and country. Geronimo.”
JK Rowling on Potter and the future of print and digital books Continue reading the main story Related Stories
Rowling launches 'mystery' site The seven Harry Potter novels are to be sold as e-books for the first time in October.
Author JK Rowling announced the series will also be available as audiobooks through a new website, Pottermore.
The interactive website will also feature new material which Rowling says she has been "hoarding for years".
"This is such a great way to give something back to the fans who made Harry Potter such a huge success," the author said.
The Harry Potter novels have sold more than 450 million copies through Bloomsbury in Britain, and Scholastic in the United States.
However the e-books - which will be available in several languages - will be published through Rowling's Pottermore Publishing, rather than her print publishers which do not own the digital rights.
'New stuff'
Pottermore will go live on 31 July - Harry Potter's birthday.
Rowling told the BBC that the new material was being released online, rather than in a new book, because she did not have "a new story".
"Most of this writing is material I generated while I was writing the books initially," she said.
"It's background, and lots of details that didn't make it into the book.
"Some of it is new stuff in response to things fans have asked me over the years."
The site, which Rowling said she had been working on for two years, promises to immerse users in the boy wizard's world, offering opportunities for computer gaming, social networking and an online store.
Sections let users shop for wands in Diagon Alley, travel to Hogwarts from the imaginary platform at London's King's Cross train station and be sorted into Hogwarts' school houses using the Sorting Hat.
One million users will initially be chosen to help develop the online world, before it is open to all users from October.
Rowling told reporters at the London Pottermore launch she had no intention of writing an eighth Harry Potter book.
"I do have closure with Harry. I'm pretty sure I'm done on the novel front, but it was fun while it lasted," she said.
American diplomats have expressed concern over Thailand's royal succession, according to leaked cables.
The documents suggest Crown Prince Vajiralongkorn, who is next in line to the throne, is suffering from health problems. US officials are also worried about how the Thai public regards him.
His father, 83-year-old King Bhumibol Adulyadej, has been in hospital for much of the past two years.
Thailand has strict laws prohibiting any criticism of the monarchy.
Offences under lese majeste laws are punishable by up to 15 years in prison.
The concerns of the US embassy officials were publicised by journalist Andrew MacGregor Marshall in several British newspapers.
He left his job at Reuters news agency because they would not publish the claims.
He told the BBC: "The Thai people - most of them - genuinely love and respect King Bhumibol. It's not fake.
"They really do love him and they are very protective of him and that, I think, has caused people to be against anybody saying anything that appears to attack the monarchy."
But he said that the military and palace courtiers had been meddling in politics for years.
"And they have somehow allowed themselves to hide under the same umbrella of lese majeste as the king," he said.
The documents, publicised just days before Thailand's general election, were reportedly written by US diplomats over several years.
They air concerns about the prince and how he is perceived in the country, suggesting that Thailand will face "a moment of truth" when the king dies.
One embassy cable in 2009 is quoted as saying: "It is hard to overestimate the political impact of the uncertainty surrounding the inevitable succession crisis which will be touched off once King Bhumibol passes."
Many of the issues raised in the cables are known about and discussed privately in Thailand.
But there is a taboo around their public discussion in the country.
Who wins in the border area could win the entire Afghan war Continue reading the main story Taliban Conflict
Will US cut reverse Afghan gains? Eight weeks to face the Taliban Taliban tactics spark panic Can the insurgents be defeated? Watch Afghan intelligence officials in the province of Nuristan have accused the central government and Nato forces in particular of ignoring insurgents there and in other strategically important areas close to the Pakistani border.
They say that increasing violence in Nuristan - and in the provinces of Laghman, Kunar and Nangarhar - poses a significant security threat.
"Nuristan is now al-Qaeda and Taliban central," said one senior police official in the province. "They attack in hundreds, they have blocked key roads. We need to retake these areas from them."
The problem has become so acute that Gen Aminullah Amarkhel of the Afghan border police says the border with Pakistan is like a "house without a door".
The general commands Afghan forces along the 450km (280 mile) international border that cuts across Nangarhar, Kunar and Nuristan.
Poor security in this area makes it not only harder to fight insurgents - it also makes life easier for smugglers who also operate in the border areas and know its terrain only too well.
Meanwhile relations between the Afghan army and Pakistani forces remain tense on the border. Only recently Afghan officials in Kunar said close to 200 rockets landed in the province from Pakistan.
Separately, foreign and Afghan insurgents targeted a wedding party, killing 12 people - relatives of a powerful tribal elder who is also a district governor.
The police chief of Kunar, Gen Ewaz Mohammad Naziri, accused Pakistani forces of firing the rockets.
In recent months, Afghan and Pakistani border forces have clashed in the district of Goshta. Both sides exchanged heavy weapons fire.
'Enough is enough' Like much of Afghanistan's armed forces, the border police are heavily dependent on their coalition partners.
The American military has helped them by providing armoured Humvees, heavy weapons and radios. More recently they have supplied sniper rifles.
"Since they have helped us, things have improved a lot. Their training is the most effective. But I need helicopters, I need mine-clearing machinery, I need better radios, I need more troops on the ground," says Gen Amarkhel.
Tribes in the region are helping security forces A former Mujahideen fighter, Gen Amarkhel fought the Soviets in the 1980s for the National Islamic Front of Afghanistan and later against the Moscow-backed government of President Najibullah.
It could be that he is receiving help in his battle to control the border from some unlikely sources.
Various powerful tribes who reside in the area often help to defend it, an officer with the country's spy agency, the NDS, told the BBC.
Recently the Pakistani and Afghan Taliban killed nine members of a family on a wedding night.
"These tribes now have decided enough is enough," says the spy.
In order to get some idea of just how dangerous this part of the world is, Gen Amarkhel allowed me to accompany him as his troops launched an operation to seize illegally-held hashish.
The mission was top secret and the general had chosen not to disclose the programme even to his personal staff. Just before dawn, a heavily armed convoy of 20 vehicles was ready to move.
"There's been an exchange [of fire] last night with drug smugglers in the border district of Dehbala," Gen Amarkhel said. "We will know more on the way."
This is a mountainous region covered with dense vegetation. The tough terrain, thick forests, poor roads and non-existent communication network provides a perfect sanctuary to drug dealers, arms smugglers, the Taliban and al-Qaeda.
The government has never been in total control of this region. Nangarhar in particular is notorious for the illegal drug trade. Poppy and hashish are grown here and it is known to have several heroin processing laboratories.
Under-resourced Like much of rural Afghanistan, Nangarhar's border districts have never had asphalted roads. There are few schools or heath clinics, making it easier for the smugglers and militants to recruit into their ranks.
The hashish discovered on the mules is estimated to be worth millions of dollars After a two-hour drive, we arrive in the border village of Gorgoray. On the previous night, smugglers had used heavy machine guns and grenades on the border police.
But the police drove them back and the blood of the the smugglers could still clearly be seen on the ground. Although they escaped, they left behind 10 mules loaded with hashish estimated to be worth about $15m in London or New York.
"The Taliban and al-Qaeda charge a 10% tax on the smugglers," Gen Amarkhel said. "I am happy that we have denied them such huge revenue."
"In the past seven months, we have seized 7.5 tonnes of hashish and 60kg of heroin," the 46-year-old general said.
But he has his hands full. There are 5,000 soldiers under his command, mostly under-resourced and under-equipped. They have to guard one of the most treacherous areas in the country.
Back in his office, the general was trying to call in Nato air strikes to help one of his police posts, which was coming under attack from the Taliban.
''I will send you help very soon," the general said into his mobile phone. "We have asked for close air support. Keep fighting back.''
But as aides frantically tried to find the location, they realised that the insurgents were only a few hundred metres away from the district headquarters. Calling an air strike at this point could endanger civilians. The jets were ordered to turn back.
Hours later, dozens of heavily armed insurgents attacked a post not very far from the Pakistani side of the border. Border police reinforcements were again dispatched.
This is a part of the world that is literally in the line of fire - whoever wins here could win the entire Afghan war.
The top US military officer has said President Barack Obama's plan to withdraw troops from Afghanistan is "more aggressive" than he had advised.
Adm Mike Mullen said leaving troops in place was "the safer course", but added he supported the president's decision.
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said Mr Obama had kept a pledge to begin withdrawals by July 2011.
On Wednesday Mr Obama announced the withdrawal of 33,000 troops from Afghanistan by September 2012.
Afghan President Hamid Karzai welcomed the move, but the Taliban dismissed it as "symbolic" and vowed to continue fighting until all foreign forces left.
In a series of interviews and congressional hearings on Thursday, senior US officials lent their support to Mr Obama's decision to remove about one-third of the US troops from Afghanistan by the end of next summer.
Defence Secretary Robert Gates acknowledged that the president had taken account of waning domestic political support when making the decision, AFP news agency reported.
Meanwhile, President Obama visited Fort Drum military base in New York state on Thursday, where he reiterated the messages conveyed in his speech on Wednesday evening.
'Broken momentum' The newly announced US reductions are larger and faster than military commanders had advised.
Continue reading the main story “ Start Quote
Few love the plan, but I suspect a lot of this is beltway chatter, and I suspect many Americans will welcome the President refocusing on what he called 'nation building at home'”
Mark Mardell BBC North America editor Military grumbles over Afghan plan At a House of Representatives committee hearing, Adm Mullen, the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, said Mr Obama's decisions were "more aggressive and incur more risk than I was originally prepared to accept".
"More force for more time is, without doubt, the safer course. But that does not necessarily make it the best course," he said.
"Only the president, in the end, can really determine the acceptable level of risk we must take."
Mr Mullen told lawmakers Mr Obama considered the views of senior military officials, and said the drawdown would not jeopardise the effort to quash the insurgency.
President Obama's nominee to head the Central Intelligence Agency, General David Petraeus, echoed Mr Mullen's remarks on Thursday, while testifying on his nomination before members of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence.
"The ultimate decision was a more aggressive formulation in terms of the timeline than what we had recommended," Mr Petraeus said, adding that he would stand by the president while he remained commander of coalition forces in Afghanistan.
Separately, in a Senate committee hearing, Mrs Clinton said the 10-year-old US military effort in Afghanistan had "broken the Taliban's momentum".
"We do begin this drawdown from a position of strength," she said.
'Unnecessary risk' At least 68,000 US troops will remain in the country after the 33,000 have been withdrawn, but they are scheduled to leave by 2013, provided that Afghan forces are ready to take over security.
Meanwhile, Republican Senator John McCain, who lost the 2008 presidential election to Mr Obama, vigorously opposed the troop withdrawal in a speech on the Senate floor.
Continue reading the main story US troops in Afghanistan
Dec 2004: 19,200 Dec 2005: 22,400 Dec 2006: 22,200 Dec 2007: 25,700 Dec 2008: 31,400 Dec 2009: 71,000 Dec 2010: 103,700 March 2011: 111,000 Source: US defence department
Q&A: Foreign forces in Afghanistan He said Mr Obama had opted to deny military commanders in Afghanistan the capability finally to defeat "a battered and broken enemy".
"I'm very concerned that the president's decision poses an unnecessary risk to the progress we've made thus far, to our mission, and to our men and women in uniform," he said. "Our troops are not exhausted, they are excited that after 10 years" they are finally approaching victory.
Correspondents say the enormous cost of the deployment - currently more than $2bn (£1.25bn) a week - has attracted criticism from congressional leaders, while the public is weary of a war that seems to have no end and has left at least 1,500 personnel dead and 12,000 wounded.
There have also been changes on the ground, notably the killing in May of al-Qaeda leader Osama Bin Laden by US forces in Pakistan.
On Thursday, French President Nicolas Sarkozy followed Mr Obama's lead by announcing the phased withdrawal of 4,000 French soldiers serving in Afghanistan.
SURAT: The '360 Modena Ferrari', which once occupied pride of place in batting icon Sachin Tendulkar's fleet of premium cars, is now a prized possession of a city businessman.
Jayesh Desai, Chairman of Raj Hans group, said he purchased the car a fortnight ago.
"I have bought the 360 Modena Ferrari car directly from Sachin Tendulkar with all legal documents," Desai said, but declined to reveal the price.
"It was my dream to drive a Ferrari and now my dream has come true," Desai, who has a passion for driving luxury cars, said.
The Ferrari, which was presented to Tendulkar by racing legend Michael Schumacher, will be the first racing car in his fleet of luxury vehicles, Desai said, adding that his latest acquisition was a prized possession as it was owned by the batting great.
"Kindly ask me only about the car and nothing about Sachin," he said when asked if he and Tendulkar were friends or had known each other.
The Ferrari had got mired in a controversy in 2003 after it was reported that Tendulkar had requested for a customs duty waiver despite getting it as a gift and not winning it as a prize in a tournament.
In August 2003, the finance ministry had exempted Tendulkar from paying around Rs 1.13 crore (approximately $245,000) towards import duty for the vehicle, valued at Rs 75 lakh (approximately $162,600).
The car was gifted to him by FIAT, which manufactures the premium Ferrari cars and endorsed by Tendulkar, after the Indian batting legend equalled Don Bradman's tally of 29 Test centuries.
Ferrari's Formula One driver Schumacher presented the car on behalf of the company to Tendulkar when the two met in 2002 at Silverstone, England.
Tendulkar has taken a break from cricket after playing in IPL and is away on a vacation in England with family.
American diplomats have expressed concern over Thailand's royal succession, according to leaked cables.
