RACE TO WHITE HOUSE - HILLARY FEARS COUP IN PAK MAY SPAWN SUICIDE N-BOMBERS

RACE TO WHITE HOUSE - Hillary fears coup in Pak may spawn suicide N-bombers

Jihadis Could Take Over Its Govt: Clinton

New Delhi calling Pakistan's nuclear bluff -with Indian special forces breaching the LoC to neutralise terror launch pads -- barely made a public ripple in a country that has long evoked fearful scenarios of a South Asian Armageddon. But Pakistan's nuclear adventurism and domestic vulnerability are never far from the mind of the American leadership going by comments from the two princi- ple Presidential candidates that predate this week's action. After Republican nominee Donald Trump pledged to secure Pakistan's nuclear arsenal because of the country's chronic instability, his Democratic rival Hillary Clinton is concerned about the spectre of Pakistani nuclear suicide bom bers. In comments at a fundraiser in Virginia reproduced in a conservative publication after a 50-minute audio was hacked from Democratic Party computers, Clinton is heard worrying about Pakistan "running full speed to develop tactical nukes in their continuing hostility with India". Clinton's remarks came in response to a question about modernising the US arsenal with nuclear-armed cruise missiles, (which she says he is against), but she goes beyond that to reflect on nuclear issues worldwide, zeroing in on the vulnerability of Pakistan's weapons as a major threat. "We live in fear that they're going to have a coup, that jihadists are going to take over the government, they're going to get access to nuclear weapons, and you'll have suicide nuclear bombers. So, this could not be a more threatening scenario," she says.

Her remarks sets the stage for further isolation of Islamabad regardless of who wins the November election.

Notwithstanding the setback in the US, Pakistan's UN envoy Maleeha Lodhi sought to bring to the attention of the UNSC president "the dangerous situation building up ...as a result of Indian provocation". "Pakistan is showing maximum restraint but there are limits to our restraint if India continues with provocations," she told reporters.

On Friday , even as India turned its attention to the regional grouping BIMSTEC, which is essentially Saarc minus Pakistan and Afghanistan plus Myanmar, Pakistani analysts were gushing about support from China, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Turkey , and Indonesia, which they count as their new allies. But not one among the five countries has shown the slightest hint of backing Islamabad in its face-off with India.

Trump accused of embargo breach

A new report has said Donald Trump sought to invest in Cuba in the late 1990s, raising the possibility that he violated US law. According to a Newsweek report, Trump Hotel executives visited the island in 1998 to meet with officials there about doing business. His firm reportedly spent over $68,000 on the trip.

Under a five-decades-old trade embargo US citizens are banned from spending any funds on the island. IANS

Watch ‘sex tape’ of diva backing Hillary: Don

In a clash that took the presidential contest into the gutter, Donald Trump on Friday urged voters to check out an alleged “sex tape” of former Miss Universe Alicia Machado, who backs Hillary Clinton, provoking the Democrat to fire back that he is “unhinged”. Trump accused Clinton of helping her get US citizenship so as to exploit her during their presidential debate this week. Machado says Trump called her “Miss Housekeeping”, apparently because she is Latina.

(toi)