NEW YORK: Pakistani investigators have unearthed substantive links between the gunmen who attacked Mumbai in November and a banned militant group, the Wall Street Journal reported Wednesday.
Owais Mughal, Adil Najam, Darwaish, Asma Mirza
From all of us at Pakistaniat.com, and on behalf of all our readers too, we wish these two children in the photograph a wonderful New Year and a prosperous and peaceful 2009.
These children may be shoeshine boys to the world. But they make all our worlds shine with their smiles. May the authenticity of the smiles that dance on their faces never loose its sheen. May the sullenness of the world they inherit never keep them from enjoying the simple pleasures of life. May their fears be few and their enthusiasms be great. May all their aspirations be high. May all their hopes be fulfilled. May their futures be defined by the heights of their potential and not the constraints of their circumstance. May they rise to the challenges of their times better than we have to ours. May they create for their children a world better than the world we created for them. Beta, jeetay raho aur hastay raho.
The photograph, taken by photography ace and an old ATP favorite, Umair Ghani, is more than two years old. But the expression of grace is timeless. And priceless. Today, on New Year’s day, we send them our fondest prayers and our sincerest good wishes. And, through them, we send the same to all the children of Pakistan - and, indeed, the world. Their nourishment is are our biggest responsibility. And they remain our greatest hope!
Owais Mughal, Adil Najam, Darwaish, Asma Mirza
From all of us at Pakistaniat.com, and on behalf of all our readers too, we wish these two children in the photograph a wonderful New Year and a prosperous and peaceful 2009.
These children may be shoeshine boys to the world. But they make all our worlds shine with their smiles. May the authenticity of the smiles that dance on their faces never loose its sheen. May the sullenness of the world they inherit never keep them from enjoying the simple pleasures of life. May their fears be few and their enthusiasms be great. May all their aspirations be high. May all their hopes be fulfilled. May their futures be defined by the heights of their potential and not the constraints of their circumstance. May they rise to the challenges of their times better than we have to ours. May they create for their children a world better than the world we created for them. Beta, jeetay raho aur hastay raho.
The photograph, taken by photography ace and an old ATP favorite, Umair Ghani, is more than two years old. But the expression of grace is timeless. And priceless. Today, on New Year’s day, we send them our fondest prayers and our sincerest good wishes. And, through them, we send the same to all the children of Pakistan - and, indeed, the world. Their nourishment is are our biggest responsibility. And they remain our greatest hope!
HYDERABAD: A city court Wednesday acquitted 21 young men arrested for their suspected involvement in the bomb blasts here in 2007 and charged with criminal conspiracy to wage war against the state.
Pakistani troops killed three militants in an operation to secure the major supply route to U.S. and NATO troops in Afghanistan, an official said Wednesday.
Pakistan`s main bourse continued its downward slide Wednesday, with shares shedding another 2.9 percent, dealers said.
KARACHI: Mr. Tanvir Ahmad Sheikh, the President of the Federation of Pakistan Chambers of Commerce and Industry has expressed his concern as the year 2008 is coming to an end which was a difficult year that has ...
Iran has said it is ready to play its due role in the region to decrease tension between Pakistan and India, escalated after Mumbai terrorist attack.
Adil Najam
News sources around the world are reporting that, however, that we will have to live with the 2008 a full second more than we thought! The way it looks to me, however, in the case of Pakistan - and of all regions ‘ahead’ of Greenwich Mean Time (GMT) - we are actually going to lengthen 2009, not 2008, by a second!
Since the world’s atomic time will be reset on December 31, 2008 at 23:59:59 Greenwich Mean Time (GMT) - or Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) - by the addition of an extra second, that would be 4:59:59 AM in Pakistan on January 1, 2009. The scientific consequence of the additional second are profound, but the practical implications for most Pakistanis will relate only to curiosity and trivia since “Pakistani time” runs to a rhythm entirely its own. However, personally, given what 2008 has been like, I would much rather take my risks with a longer 2009 than stand 2008 even a second longer than needed!
The world’s official timekeepers - the International Earth Rotation and Reference Systems Service (IERS) in Paris - require that a “leap second” be added to the last day of this year so that the stable atomic clocks (TAI or International Atomic Time), remain stable. This adjustment is needed periodically because the rotation of the Earth slows down continually (because of Moon-Sun attractions, tides, snow, polar ice caps, space dust, magnetic storms, etc.) and the atomic clocks have to be matched to this slowing of the Earth’s rotation.
IERS is responsible for deciding when a “leap second” is to be added based on monitoring the Earth’s rotations. The purpose is to ensure that the variance between the Earth’s rotation and our atomic clocks is no more than 0.9 seconds. The implications of these going out of sync can severely impact things like global positioning systems, internet-based time protocols, etc. (Read relevant technical discussion).
The first “leap second” was put in place on June 30, 1972 and the most recent one was on December 31, 2005 (the additions can be made on the last day of June or of December only). 23 seconds have been added in this period; this will be the 24th addition.
Details on this leap second addition were explained in a note from Daniel Gambis, the Director of the IERS in Paris (here):
On December 31, 2008 a “leap second” will be added to the world’s clocks at 23 hours, 59 minutes and 59 seconds Coordinated Universal Time (UTC).
… The Coordinated Universal Time (UTC, replacing GMT) is the reference time scale derived from the Temps Atomique International (TAI) calculated by the Bureau International des Poids et Mesures (BIPM) using a worldwide network of atomic clocks. UTC differs from TAI by an integer number of seconds. It is the basis of all activities in the world. UT1 is the time scale based on the observation of the Earth’s rotation. It is now derived mostly from the observation of extragalactic radio-sources by Very Long Baseline Interferometry techniques (VLBI).
The various irregular fluctuations progressively detected in the rotation rate of the Earth lead in 1972 to the replacement of UT1 by UTC as the reference time scale. However, it was desired by the scientific community to maintain the difference UT1-UTC smaller than 0.9 second to ensure agreement between the physical and astronomical time scales.
Why this extra second? It exists because the rotation of the Earth on its axis, which determines the passing of days and nights, slows down over a long period, mainly as a consequence of Moon-Sun attraction effects. In addition, the Earth is affected by its internal (core, mantle) and external (atmosphere, oceans) constituents. Nowadays, though, time is measured by procedures impervious to our planet’s moods, thanks to around 250 atomic clocks belonging to several countries. Together they are used to calculate UTC. In addition, we have to consider that the length of the day is nowadays 2 ms longer than in the year 1820.
Not surprisingly then, the Earth’s rotation slowly gets out of synchronization with UTC.
In view of a 1972 international agreement stipulating that the difference between the two should never exceed one second, it is necessary from time to time to add intercalated or leap seconds to UTC. On 1st January 2009, the difference will be 34 seconds. Since 1972, leap seconds have been added with a rate interval varying from six months to seven years, with the last being inserted on December 31, 2005.
Since the adoption of this system in 1972, partly due to the initial choice of the value of the second and secondly to the general slowing down of the Earth’s rotation, it has been necessary to add 23 s to UTC.
The decision to introduce a leap second in UTC is the responsibility of the Earth Orientation Center of the International Earth Rotation and reference System Service (IERS).
AFP, Peshawar The death toll from a suicide car bombing at a polling station in northwest Pakistan has risen to 41, police said Monday, as Taliban-linked extremists claimed responsibility for the attack.
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