Friday, February 25, 2011

Facebook replacing VOA & BBC?

Facebook replacing VOA & BBC?



Islamabad: Voice of America' (VOA) and British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) are limiting their worldwide media operations after taking higher level decisions to use social media as a tool to spread information about United States and Europe.

According to international media experts, VOA, an ideological product designed for countries with which the US has little communication and interaction, is no longer required given the objective it was established to fulfill. "The same is true for the UK now the BBC World Service has announced it will end several of its foreign language broadcasts, including those in Chinese," they argued.

Chen Weihua, senior media person from China says "VOA's mission is quite obvious as we see the US Information and Educational Exchange Act of 1948, better known as the Smith-Mundt Act, which forbids VOA to broadcast directly to US citizens. The legislation, an attempt to protect the American public from propaganda actions by its own government, speaks much of VOA's credibility."

As the world and modes of communication change with numerous other sources of information it is expected that the US may resort to the Internet and other advanced means to continue its information spreading to other countries.

According to BBC, it will be focusing more on online media and will limit other means of communication in next five years.

This is also evident from current firings of staff from BBC triggering a wave of criticism against the UK state-run broadcasting giant, considered to be a hard supporter of homosexuality.

In the same run, VOA has been hiring news staff on 1-year contract basis instead of any permanent recruiting allover the world.  Established in 1942 during World War II under the Office of War Information, VOA had its heyday in the Cold War years under the State Department when the flow of information between the East and West was like molasses.

Experts are predicting that social media giants like Facebook, Twitter, Digg, Reddit etc. might be the next tool of information spreading replacing global media giants.

"There is a need of more representation from the developing world, such as China, Brazil, India and Africa in a global news media market now dominated by US and European companies for a better flow of information," Chen concluded.


Details: http://www.thenewstribe.co.uk/2011/02/facebook-replacing-voa-bbc/


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Tuesday, February 15, 2011

Your friend invites you to join groupin

Welcome to Groupin

Dear Friend,

Shahzad Afzal invites you to groupin, an enjoyment platform that provides you with an opportunity to explore new products, places and events within your city on unbeatable prices you've ever imagined. Do you want to be the first to know about the best deals in your town? Do you want to win a free iphone? Then here is your chance. Don't wait, Join and gather as many friends as you can and be the winner of a brand new iphone. Just click the link below and get started Click the link below to login now:

http://www.groupin.pk/index.php?Action=groupinpk.home&ref_code=7bd8e&unqid=4d5a1f89128c0

Enjoy!



We respect your privacy! This message was sent to you by shahzadafzal85@hotmail.com via Groupin.pk. If you prefer not to receive email invitations from Groupin.pk, please click here.  Copyright © 2010-2011.
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Your friend invites you to join groupin

Welcome to Groupin

Dear Friend,

Shahzad Afzal invites you to groupin, an enjoyment platform that provides you with an opportunity to explore new products, places and events within your city on unbeatable prices you've ever imagined. Do you want to be the first to know about the best deals in your town? Do you want to win a free iphone? Then here is your chance. Don't wait, Join and gather as many friends as you can and be the winner of a brand new iphone. Just click the link below and get started Click the link below to login now:

http://www.groupin.pk/index.php?Action=groupinpk.home&ref_code=7bd8e&unqid=4d5a17cd4ac15

Enjoy!



We respect your privacy! This message was sent to you by shahzadafzal85@hotmail.com via Groupin.pk. If you prefer not to receive email invitations from Groupin.pk, please click here.  Copyright © 2010-2011.
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Wednesday, February 9, 2011

Wael Ghonim Egyptian Hero, cyber activist

Egyptian Hero, cyber activist...
Wael Ghonim Google executive released in Cairo on Monday

Wael-Ghonim.jpg


2-9-2011_62126_1.gif

Ghonim said after his release that he was picked up by three plainclothes men in a street in Cairo, bundled into a car and taken off for interrogation by state security men.

He said he was blindfolded throughout his detention.

"I am not a symbol or a hero or anything like that, but what happened to me is a crime," he told TV.

"If you want to arrest me, that's your right. But there are laws and I am not a terrorist or a drug-dealer. We have to tear down this system based on not being able to speak out."

"My aunt called me crying after Ghonim's interview saying "I'm going to Tahrir tomorrow! God Bless him! He made us proud!" Twitter user MennaGamal wrote on her account.

"Ghonim just became the mayor of Tahrir Square!" Twitter user AngelSavant wrote.

DFMorrison, another Twitter user wrote, "If you feel recharged by #Ghonim for the Egyptian Revolution to reach its goals, Retweet! #Tahrir #Egypt #25Jan."

Interview:http://www.france24.com/en/20110207-wael-ghonim-google-executive-released-egypt-tahrir-protest-arrest

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Wednesday, August 11, 2010

Google Person Finder: Pakistan Floods

English | ارد

Person Finder: Pakistan Floods

                            What is your situation?
I'm looking for someone                        I have information about someone
                       Currently tracking about 0 records.

PLEASE NOTE: All data entered will be available to the public and viewable and usable by anyone. Google does not review or verify the accuracy of this data.



Hi Everyone,

Google has launched the online tool to track and find lost persons in
Pakistan flood. It can be used in both English and Urdu and is
integrated with Urdu Keyboard for people who are not well versed with
English.

English : http://pakistan.person-finder.appspot.com/
Urdu : http://pakistan.person-finder.appspot.com/?&lang=ur

Please spread the word.



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Tuesday, August 3, 2010

ISI - Tops 10 Best Intelligence Agencies In The World


ISI Tops 10 Best Intelligence Agencies In The World

 

Sunday, 1 August 2010.

Source:WWW.PAKNATIONALITS.COM

 

Topping the Top Ten? "ISI for sure,' says Gren, "No double agents, no agent ever caught on camera, the lowest budget but still affective. In war with 6 big intelligence agencies of the world. ISI has even countered MOSSAD in the 1980s and late '90s when there was a plan of a possible strike on Pakistan's nukes."

 

"It has to be the ISI" says John Smith on the Web site. "It broke down the Soviet Union (which also led to the reunification of Germany; the German Intelligence Chief gave a piece of the Berlin Wall to the Pakistani Intel Chief with a plaque under it saying, 'To the one who struck the first blow'), has protected and developed the country's nuclear assets against all odds, has defeated Al Qaeda/Taliban especially these days with the capture of Baradar, etc. by the ISI, has deep ingress into India. No other agency matches it in efficiency, precision, discipline and professionalism."

 

10. ASIS – Australia

australian-ASIS

Formed

13 May 1952

Headquarters

Canberra, Australian Capital Territory, Australia

Annual budget

$162.5m AUD (2007)

Minister responsible

The Hon. Stephen Smith MP, Minister for Foreign Affairs

Agency executive

Nick Warner, Director-General

Australian Secret Intelligence Service is the Australian government intelligence agency responsible for collecting foreign intelligence, undertaking counter-intelligence activities and cooperation with other intelligence agencies overseas. For more than twenty years, the existence of the agency was a secret even from its own government. Its primary responsibility is gathering intelligence from mainly Asian and Pacific interests using agents stationed in a wide variety of areas. Its main purpose, as with most agencies, is to protect the country's political and economic interests while ensuring safety for the people of Australia against national threats.

9. RAW – India

indian-raw

Formed

21 September 1968

Headquarters

New Delhi, India

Agency executive

K. C. Verma, Secretary (R)

Parent agency

Prime Minister's Office, GoI

Research and Analysis Wing is India's external intelligence agency. It was formed in September 1968, after the newly independent Republic of India was faced with 2 consecutive wars, the Sino-Indian war of 1962 and the India-Pakistani war of 1965, as it was evident that a credible intelligence gathering setup was lacking. Its primary function is collection of external intelligence, counter-terrorism and covert operations. In addition, it is responsible for obtaining and analyzing information about foreign governments, corporations, and persons, in order to advise Indian foreign policymakers. Until the creation of R&AW, the Intelligence Bureau handled both internal and external intelligence.

8. DGSE – France

french_dgse

Formed

April 2, 1982

Preceding agency

External Documentation and Counter-Espionage Service

 

Minister responsible

Hervé Morin, Minister of Defence

Agency executive

Erard Corbin de Mangoux, Director

Directorate General for External Security is France's external intelligence agency. Operating under the direction of the French ministry of defence, the agency works alongside the DCRI (the Central Directorate of Interior Intelligence) in providing intelligence and national security, notably by performing paramilitary and counterintelligence operations abroad. The General Directorate for External Security (DGSE) of France has a rather short history compared to other intelligence agencies in the region. It was officially founded in 1982 from a multitude of prior intelligence agencies in the country. Its primary focus is to gather intelligence from foreign sources to assist in military and strategic decisions for the country. The agency employs more than five thousand people.

7. FSB – Russia

russia fsb

Formed

3 April, 1995

Employees

350,000

Headquarters

Lubyanka Square

Preceding agency

KGB

The Federal Security Service of Russian Federation (FSD) is the main domestic security agency of the Russian Federation and the main successor agency of the Soviet-era Cheka, NKVD and KGB. The FSB is involved in counter-intelligence, internal and border security, counter-terrorism, and surveillance. Its headquarters are on Lubyanka Square, downtown Moscow, the same location as the former headquarters of the KGB. All law enforcement and intelligence agencies in Russia work under the guidance of FSB, if needed. For example, the GRU, spetsnaz and Internal Troops detachments of Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs work together with the FSB in Chechnya. The FSB is responsible for internal security of the Russian state, counterespionage, and the fight against organized crime, terrorism, and drug smuggling. The number of FSB personnel and its budget remain state secrets, although the budget was reported to jump nearly 40% in 2006.

6. BND – Germany

german-bnd

Formed

1 April 1956

Employees

6,050

Agency executive

Gehlen Organization

Parent agency

Central Intelligence Group

The Bundesnachrichtendienst is the foreign intelligence agency of the German government, under the control of the Chancellor's Office. The BND acts as an early warning system to alert the German government to threats to German interests from abroad. It depends heavily on wiretapping and electronic surveillance of international communications. It collects and evaluates information on a variety of areas such as international terrorism, WMD proliferation and illegal transfer of technology, organized crime, weapons and drug trafficking, money laundering, illegal migration and information warfare. As Germany's only overseas intelligence service, the BND gathers both military and civil intelligence.

. MSS – China

chinese-MSS

Jurisdiction

People's Republic of China

Headquarters

Beijing

Agency executive

Geng Huichang, Minister of State Security

Parent agency

State Council

Ministry of State Security is the security agency of the People's Republic of China. It is also probably the Chinese government's largest and most active foreign intelligence agency, though it is also involved in domestic security matters. Article 4 of the Criminal Procedure Law gives the MSS the same authority to arrest or detain people as regular police for crimes involving state security with identical supervision by the procuratorates and the courts. It is headquartered near the Ministry of Public Security of the People's Republic of China in Beijing. According to Liu Fuzhi, Secretary-General of the Commission for Politics and Law under the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and Minister of Public Security, the mission of the MSS is to ensure "the security of the state through effective measures against enemy agents, spies, and counter-revolutionary activities designed to sabotage or overthrow China's socialist system."  One of the primary missions of the MSS is undoubtedly to gather foreign intelligence from targets in various countries overseas. Many MSS agents are said to have operated in the Greater China region (Hong Kong, Macau, and Taiwan) and to have integrated themselves into the world's numerous overseas Chinese communities. At one point, nearly 120 agents who had been operating under non-official cover in the U.S., Canada, Western and Northern Europe, and Japan as businessmen, bankers, scholars, and journalists were recalled to China, a fact that demonstrates the broad geographical scope of MSS agent coverage.

4. CIA – America

american-cia

Formed

September 18, 1947

Employees

20,000

Agency executive

Leon Panetta, Director

Parent agency

Central Intelligence Group

CIA is the largest of the intelligence agencies and is responsible for gathering data from other countries that could impact U.S. policy. It is a civilian intelligence agency of the United States government responsible for providing national security intelligence to senior United States policymakers. The CIA also engages in covert activities at the request of the President of the United States of America. The CIA's primary function is to collect information about foreign governments, corporations, and individuals, and to advise public policymakers. The agency conducts covert operations and paramilitary actions, and exerts foreign political influence through its Special Activities Division. It has failed to control terrorism activities including 9/11, Not even a single top level Al-Queda leader captured own its own in the past 9 years – 'they missed 1 Million' Soviet troops marching into Afghanistan'. Iraq's Weapons of Mass Destruction, Have the found them yet? -Number of defectors/ double agents numbers close to a thousand. On 50th anniversary of CIA, President Clinton said "By necessity, the American people will never know the full story of your courage. Indeed, no one knows that what CIA really does". Highly funded and technologically most advanced Intelligence set-up in the world.

3. M1-6 – United Kingdom

uk-flag

Formed

1909 as the Secret Service Bureau

Jurisdiction

Government of the United Kingdom

Headquarters

Vauxhall Cross, London

Minister responsible

The Rt Hon. William Hague MP, Foreign Secretary

Agency executive

Sir John Sawers KCMG, Director General

Parent agency

Foreign and Commonwealth Office

The British have had a long public perception of an effective intelligence agency (due to the success of the unrealistic, yet entertaining, James Bond movies). This perception matches reality. MI6, the British equivalent to the CIA, has had two big advantages in staying effective: The British Official Secrets Act and D notices can often prevent leaks (which have been the bane of the CIA's existence). Some stories have emerged. In the Cold War, MI6 recruited Oleg Penkovsky, who played a key part in the favorable resolution of the Cuban Missile Crisis, and Oleg Gordievski, who operated for a decade before MI6 extracted him via Finland. The British were even aware of Norwood's activities, but made the decision not to tip their hand. MI6 also is rumored to have sabotaged the Tu-144 supersonic airliner program by altering documents and making sure they fell into the hands of the KGB.

2. Mossad – Israel

http://www.smashinglists.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/07/israel_mossad-600x355.jpg

Formed

December 13, 1949 as the Central Institute for Coordination

Employees

1,200 (est)

Agency executive

Meir Dagan, Director

Parent agency

Office of the Prime Minister

The Mossad is responsible for intelligence collection and covert operations including paramilitary activities. It is one of the main entities in the Israeli Intelligence Community, along with Aman (military intelligence) and Shin Bet (internal security), but its director reports directly to the Prime Minister. The list of its successes is long. Israel's intelligence agency is most famous for having taken out a number of PLO operatives in retaliation for the attack that killed eleven Israeli athletes at the 1972 Olympic games in Munich. However, this agency has other success to its name, including the acquisition of a MiG-21 prior to the Six-Day war of 1967 and the theft of the plans for the Mirage 5 after the deal with France went sour. Mossad also assisted the United States in supporting Solidarity in Poland during the 1980s.

1. ISI – Pakistan

Pakistan ISI

Formed

1948

Jurisdiction

Government of Pakistan

Headquarters

Islamabad, Pakistan

Agency executive

Lieutenant General Ahmad Shuja Pasha, PA Director General

With the lengthiest track record of success, the best known Intelligence so far on the scale of records is ISI. The Inter-Services Intelligence was created as an independent unit in 1948 in order to strengthen the performance of Pakistan's Military Intelligence during the Indo-Pakistani War of 1948. Its success in achieving its goal without leading to a full scale invasion of Pakistan by the Soviets is a feat unmatched by any other throughout the intelligence world. KGB, the best of its time, failed to counter ISI and protect Soviet interests in Central Asia. This GOLD MEDAL makes it rank higher than Mossad. It has had 0 double agents or Defectors throughout its history, considering that in light of the whole war campaign it carried out from money earned by selling drugs bought from the very people it was bleeding, the Soviets. It has protected its Nuclear Weapons and it has foiled Indian attempts to attain ultimate supremacy in the South-Asian theatres through internal destabilization of India. It is above all laws in its host country Pakistan 'A State, within a State'. Its policies are made 'outside' of all other institutions with the exception of The Army. Its personnel have never been caught on camera. It is believed to have the highest number of agents worldwide, close to 10,000. The most striking thing is that it's one of the least funded Intelligence agencies out of the top 10 and still the strongest.

 

© Smashinglists. Some rights reserved.

 

© 2007-2010. All rights reserved. PakNationalists.com

Verbatim copying and distribution of this entire article is permitted in any medium

without royalty provided this notice is preserved. 



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Wednesday, July 28, 2010

A passenger plan carrying 152 people crashed into the hills surrounding Pakistan's capital Islamabad


ISLAMABAD – A passenger jet carrying 152 people crashed into the hills surrounding Pakistan's capital amid rain Wednesday, officials said. At least five people were killed and five wounded, but many more were feared dead.

The cause of the Airblue crash was not immediately clear, said Pervez George, a civil aviation official. He said the plane had left the southern city of Karachi at 7:45 a.m. for a two-hour scheduled flight to Islamabad and was trying to land during difficult weather. Airblue is a private service based in Karachi, Pakistan's largest city.

"The plane was about to land at the Islamabad airport when it lost contact with the control tower, and later we learned that the plane had crashed," George said, adding that the model of the plane was Airbus 321 and the flight number was ED202.

Guards with the forestry service said they had found some wreckage and seen at least five dead bodies, said Imtiaz Inayat Ali, an official with Islamabad's Capital Development Authority. Federal Interior Minister Rehman Malik said at least five wounded passengers had been rescued.

Pakistani news channels showed what appeared to be wreckage of the plane as a helicopter hovered above the heavily forested hills to assess the situation. Fire was visible and smoke was blowing up from the scene. The army said it was sending special troops to the area to help out along with helicopters.

At the Islamabad airport, hundreds of friends and relatives of those on board the flight swarmed ticket counters desperately seeking information. A large cluster of people also surrounded the list of passengers on the flight, which was posted near the Airblue ticket counter.

"Nobody is guiding anyone. People are running from one counter to another," said Arshad Mahmood, whose brother, Maulana Nawab Ulhasan, a prayer leader in a town near Islamabad, was on the flight.

"I'm praying for his survival, but I think there is little hope," Mahmood said.

Arshad Ali said his cousin, Raza Ali, was supposed to be on the flight but missed it in Karachi on his way from Canada.

"We are happy he missed the flight, but things here are in shambles at the airport," Ali said. "For God's sake, take care of the worried people, the relatives of those who were on the unfortunate plane. They have no information and are just running here and there."

Saqlain Altaf told Pakistan's ARY news channel that he was on a family outing in the hills when he saw the plane looking unsteady in the air. "The plane had lost balance, and then we saw it going down," he said, adding that he heard the crash.

Officials at first thought it was a small plane, but later revised that. George said 146 passengers were on the flight along with six crew members.

Raheel Ahmed, a spokesman for the airline, said an investigation would be launched, but that for now the focus was to find survivors. The plane was no more than eight years old, and it had no known technical issues, Ahmed said. He added that to his knowledge, the pilots had not sent any emergency signals.

Airblue flies within Pakistan as well as internationally to the United Arab Emirates, Oman and the United Kingdom.

The only previous recorded accident for Airblue, a carrier that began flying in 2004, was a tailstrike in May 2008 at Quetta airport by one of the airline's Airbus 321 jets. There were no casualties and damage was minimal, according to the U.S.-based Aviation Safety Network.

The Airbus 320 family of medium-range jets, which includes the 321 model that crashed Wednesday, is one of the most popular in the world, with about 4,000 jets delivered since deliveries began in 1988.

Twenty-one of the aircraft have been lost in accidents since then, according to the Aviation Safety Network's database. The deadliest was a 2007 crash at landing in Sao Paolo by Brazil's TAM airline, in which all 187 people on board perished, along with 12 others on the ground.

The last major plane crash in Pakistan was in July 2006 when a Fokker F-27 twin-engine aircraft operated by Pakistan International Airlines slammed into a wheat field on the outskirts of the central Pakistani city of Multan, killing all 45 people on board.

In August 1989, another PIA Fokker, with 54 people onboard, went down in northern Pakistan on a domestic flight. The plane's wreckage was never found.

In September 1992, a PIA Airbus A300 crashed into a mountain in Nepal, killing all 167 people on board. Investigators found the plane was flying 1,500 feet lower than it reported as it approached the Katmandu airport.

____

Associated Press Aviation Writer Slobodan Lekic in Brussels, as well as AP Writers Ashraf Khan in Karachi and Zarar Khan in Islamabad contributed to this report.

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Thursday, July 15, 2010

Pakistan world leader in porn searches: Google

Pakistan world leader in porn searches: Google


Thursday, July 15, 2010
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan has banned content on more than a dozen websites because of offensive and blasphemous material. The Muslim country, which has laws on dress codes, ranks as the top country to proportionally search for certain sex-related terms, writes Kelli Morgan at FoxNews.com.

The Muslim country, which has banned content on at least 17 websites to block offensive and blasphemous material, is the world's leader in online searches for pornographic material, FoxNews.com has learned.

"You won't find strip clubs in Islamic countries. Most Islamic countries have certain dress codes," said Gabriel Said Reynolds, professor of Islamic Studies at the University of Notre Dame. "It would be an irony if they haven't shown the same vigilance to pornography."

So here's the irony: Google ranks Pakistan No. 1 in the world in searches for pornographic terms, outranking every other country in the world in searches per person for certain sex-related content.

Pakistan is top dog in searches per-person for "horse sex" since 2004, "donkey sex" since 2007, "rape pictures" between 2004 and 2009, "rape sex" since 2004, "child sex" between 2004 and 2007 and since 2009, "animal sex" since 2004 and "dog sex" since 2005, according to Google Trends and Google Insights, features of Google that generate data based on popular search terms.

The country also is tops — or has been No. 1 — in searches for "sex," "camel sex," "rape video," "child sex video" and some other searches that can't be printed here.

Google Trends generates data of popular search terms in geographic locations during specific time frames. Google Insights is a more advanced version that allows users to filter a search to geographic locations, time frames and the nature of a search, including web, images, products and news.

Pakistan ranked No. 1 in all the searches listed above on Google Trends, but on only some of them in Google Insights.

"We do our best to provide accurate data and to provide insights into broad search patterns, but the results for a given query may contain inaccuracies due to data sampling issues, approximations, or incomplete data for the terms entered," Google said in a statement, when asked about the accuracy of its reports.

The Embassy of Islamic Republic of Pakistan did not reply to a request for an interview.

In addition to banning content on 17 websites, including islamexposed.blogspot.com, Pakistan is monitoring seven other sites — Google, Yahoo, Bing, YouTube, Amazon, MSN and Hotmail — for anti-Islamic content, the Associated Press reported in June.

But it's not to censor the Pakistani people, Reynolds said. It's to shut out the rest of the world.

"[It] could lead to conversion, which would undermine the very order of the state," he said. "Part of protecting the society is making sure that there is no way it could be undermined in terms of foreign influences."

Pakistan temporarily banned Facebook in May when Muslim groups protested the page containing blasphemous material. The page remains on Facebook, but Pakistani users are unable to view it, said Andrew Noyes, manager of Facebook's Public Policy Communication.

And while Pakistan is taking measures to prevent blasphemous material from being viewed by its citizens, pornographic material is "certainly" contradictory to Islam, too, Reynolds said.

The country's punishment for those charged with blasphemy is execution, but the question remains what — if anything — can be done about people who search for porn on the Web. "It's a new phenomenon," Reynolds said.

http://www.foxnews.com/world/2010/07/12/data-shows-pakistan-googling-pornographic-material/

Source:http://thenews.jang.com.pk/top_story_detail.asp?Id=30056


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Tuesday, May 25, 2010

Additional Session Judge order to register case against the owner of face book.


LAHORE: Additional Session Judge order to register case against the owner of face book.

Detail coming...
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Monday, May 24, 2010

Israel offered nukes to SA apartheid


Mon, 24 May 2010 04:51:35 GMT

A general view of Israel's nuclear plant at Dimona in the Negev desert
Declassified documents cast new light on Israel's nuclear arsenals, revealing an offer by Israel to provide South Africa's apartheid regime with nuclear arms. 

In an article published on Sunday, UK-based daily The Guardian explained how South African officials asked for nuclear warheads and Tel Aviv promised to sell them to the apartheid regime. 

According to the report, in 1975, then South African Defense Minister Pieter Willem Botha held a clandestine meeting with Israeli President Shimon Peres, who served as Israel's defense minister at the time. 

A secret military cooperation agreement was signed at the meeting, during which Botha reportedly requested nuclear weapons and Peres offered three warhead versions for sale. 

The report contains "the first documentary evidence" of Israel's possession of nuclear weapons, said the daily which also published a photo showing the signatures of Peres and Botha on the 1975 military agreement. 

The revelations are further backed by South African documents uncovered by American academic Sasha Polakow-Suransky for his book titled The Unspoken Alliance: Israel's secret alliance with apartheid South Africa. 

The documents confirm accounts by Dieter Gerhardt, a South African naval commander jailed in 1984 for spying for the Soviet Union. Gerhardt, upon his release and the collapse of the Apartheid Regime, said that Israel offered eight Jericho ballistic missiles armed with "special warheads" to South Africa. 

The Guardian report said that financial considerations prevented Botha from going through with the deal. 

Despite Tel Aviv's decades-long policy of ambiguity regarding its nuclear activity, Israel is generally deemed to be the sole wielder of nuclear arms in the Middle East region, with military experts estimating the regime to possess up to 300 warheads. 

Australia expels Israeli diplomat
Mon, 24 May 2010 03:09:06 GMT

Assassinated Hamas commander, Mahmoud al-Mabhouh
The federal government of Australia says it has ordered the expulsion of an Israeli diplomat over fraudulent use of Australian passports by Israel to assassinate a Hamas official. 

Australian Foreign Minister Stephen Smith said on Monday that investigations had led to concrete evidence that Israeli intelligence services were behind the forgery of four Australian passports used in the murder of senior Hamas commander Mahmoud al-Mabhouh in Dubai back in January. 

"These investigations and advice have left the government in no doubt that Israel was responsible for the abuse and counterfeiting of these passports," Reuters quoted Smith as telling the country's parliament. 

"No government can tolerate the abuse of its passports," he added, explaining further that this is not what Canberra expects from Tel Aviv with which it has had "such a close, friendly and supportive relationship." 

The Australian foreign minister said the government had asked that "a member of Israel's Australian embassy in Canberra be withdrawn within a week" without disclosing the individual's identity. 

Al-Mabhouh was killed on January 19 in a hotel room by a hit squad of at least 11 people carrying forged international passport, Dubai authorities have indicated. 

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