Adhir Urges ‘Dialogue’ With Left Over Seat Sharing

West Bengal Congress leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury on Friday urged the Left Front for a dialogue over the proposed seat sharing in the upcoming Assembly polls in the state.
Earlier it has been reported in the media that impatient over the delay of a final framework with Congress the Left Front is planning to declare the candidate list without a prior dialogue.
Both the Congress and left front has joined hands although informally to counter chief minister Mamata Banerjee led Trinamool Congress in the state.
Stating over the differences Adhir said, “There is absolutely no reason to believe that a trifle difference over mere 2 or 3 seats will be of any major problem for the Left-Congress coalition.”
However, all is not well as severe opposition against the coalition emerged within the Congress and Left.
The Election commission will be declaring the poll dates of five states including West Bengal at 3 pm today.
Meanwhile, chief minister Mamata Banerjee has called for a meeting at her Kalighat residence at 4 with the top leadership of the party to chalk out the poll plan of the party.

US Needs To Stay In Afghanistan To Protect Pak Nukes: Trump

The US needs to stay in Afghanistan because its immediate neighbour Pakistan has nuclear weapons which have to be protected, Republican presidential frontrunner Donald Trump has said.

"I think you have to stay in Afghanistan for a while, because of the fact that you are right next to Pakistan, which has nuclear weapons and we have to protect that. Nuclear weapons change the game," he said.
Trump was responding to a question on Afghanistan during the Republican presidential debate on Thursday.
Last year, Trump had called Pakistan the most dangerous country in the world. In an interview, he had indicated that Pakistan needs to be denuclearise.
"You have to get India involved. India's the check to Pakistan," he said in a radio address in September last year when asked what he would do if Pakistan "the most dangerous country in the world other than Iran" became unstable.
"They (India) have their own nukes and have a very powerful army. They seem to be the real check... I think we have to deal very closely with India to deal with it (Pakistan)," Trump had said, setting off intense chatter among Pakistani experts whose approach to Islamabad's recklessness so far has been one of caution and discretion.
US concerned over Pak's growing nuclear weapons: Pentagon
The US is concerned over Pakistan's fast-expanding stockpile of nuclear weapons which combined with its evolving doctrine increases the risk of an "accident", Pentagon's top spy master said on Wednesday.
"Pakistan's nuclear stockpile continues to grow. We are concerned that this growth, as well as the evolving doctrine associated with tactical nuclear weapons, increases the risk of an incident or accident," Lt Gen Vincent Stewart, director of Defence Intelligence Agency had told lawmakers on Wednesday during a Congressional hearing.
"Islamabad continues to take steps to improve its nuclear security, and is aware of the threat presented by extremists to its programme," Stewart said during his testimony before the house armed services committee on worldwide threats.
Pakistan will face internal security threats from militant, sectarian and separatist groups this year, he said, adding that ISIS in Khorasan and al-Qaida in the Indian subcontinent will also remain significant security concerns for Islamabad.

Pakistan's finance minister on Thursday said that his country will never roll back its nuclear programme despite financial hardship and threat of mounting external debt.

Ishaq Dar was briefing the Senate, the upper house of parliament, on the country's economy.

"We did not start this (nuclear) programme to roll it back. This is a programme of our security, and it is a national responsibility to protect it. All political parties of Pakistan share the ownership of our nuclear programme," he said.

"Even if our debts swell to USD 100 billion or USD 100 trillion, we will not roll back our nuclear programme," he said.

(inputs from TOI)

K-4 Missile Set for 'Secret' Test

India is all set to test fire its longest range secret undersea missile, code named K-4, which is capable of delivering nuclear warhead at 3,500 km away. The test is planned to be conducted from a submerged platform in the Bay of Bengal between March 7 and 8. Defence sources on Thursday said preparation was on in full swing for the scheduled test., reports Defence News.

While the tracking systems have already been shifted from the Integrated Test Range (ITR) and two Naval ships taken to the area of mission, another one is likely to be moved to the point of impact to record the terminal events and splashdown.

This test would be conducted from a submerged pontoon, replica of a submarine, positioned nearly 30 feet deep in the sea. The Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO), which has developed the missile, had kept the project secret till its first test in March, 2014.
While the missile’s first test was for a range of 3,000 km, this time the scientists are reportedly trying for its full operational range of 3,500 km. The missile, world’s best in this class, will have to undergo two more developmental trials before being fired from the indigenously developed submarine INS Arihant next year.

A defence scientist said this manoeuvrable missile having an innovative system of interlacing in three dimensions can also cruise at hypersonic speed. This exceptional feature of the weapon system makes it difficult to be tracked easily and destroyed by any anti-ballistic missile defence systems. The missile has a high accuracy of near-zero circular error probable.

The intermediate range submarine launched ballistic missile (SLBM) is about 12 metres tall with a diameter of 1.3 metres. It weighs around 17 tonnes and can carry a warhead weighing upto 2,000 kg. The missile is powered by solid rocket propellant.

India has so far planned three missiles in the K-series. While the 700-km range K-15, renamed as B-05 (launched 10 times) and 3,500-km range K-4 have been developed, the K-5 will have a striking capability of over 5,000 km. All the K-series missiles are faster, lighter and stealthier.