By Rana Mubashir
ISLAMABAD: The Bush administration and majority of the Congress members are supportive of weapon’s sale to Pakistan, including P-3 maritime surveillance aircraft and harpoon anti-ship missiles.
The US-Pakistan security ties, which came to a halt after 1990 aid cut-off, have improved after Islamabad’s role in the US-led anti-terrorism campaign.
Giving details about Pakistan-US security co-operation, a diplomatic source said six C-130s from Lockheed Martin for about 75 million dollars under a Foreign Military Financing grant is also on the cards.
The Pentagon had also notified Congress of an additional three pending major arms sales to Pakistan, which are worth more than 300 million dollars. The six air surveillance, six air traffic control radars, and 40 Bell 407 helicopters are meant to enhance Pakistan’s ability to support Operation Enduring Freedom and to secure its borders.
The US Congress also was informed of another pending foreign military sale agreement worth 155 million dollars. Under this deal Pakistan is to receive six Aerostat surveillance radars, marking the first major arms sales to Pakistan in more than a decade.
A high-level US-Pakistan Defence Consultative Group - moribund since 1997 - met in September 2003 and included high-level discussions of military cooperation, security assistance and anti-terrorism.
TOKYO: A fire broke out Saturday on the roof of an out-of-operation Japanese nuclear power plant and was extinguished about 45 minutes later, a spokesman for the plant’s operator said.
There were no injuries and no radioactivity was released in the accident, said Shigehisa Osawa, a spokesman for Chubu Electric Co. The plant in the Japanese central town of Hamaoka had been shut down earlier in the day for regular inspections when the fire was reported at 0236 GMT on the roof of its electricity-generating turbine room, which is separate from the nuclear reactor, Osawa said.
Firefighters were called and the blaze was confirmed extinguished 0321 GMT, Osawa said. Rubber roofing is believed to have caught fire when hydrogen gas used to cool the turbine escaped from a roof duct; Kyodo News quoted firefighters as saying.
Plant workers had been removing the coolant from the turbine as part of their inspection. No further details were immediately available.