|
| 31 January 2005 | Monday | 20 Zilhaj 1425 |
Welcome to DAWN, Pakistan's most widely circulated English language newspaper.
Updated round-the-clock, with a major update before 10:00 PST (05:00 GMT).
|
Low Graphics Site
|
Welcome to DAWN, Pakistan's most widely circulated English language newspaper. Updated round-the-clock, with a major update before 10:00 PST (05:00 GMT).
|
|||||||||
 
 
   
 
|
 
Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz to propose project deals with India - FT LONDON, Jan 31: Government will propose a series of confidence-boosting joint projects with India, which it hopes will pave the way to progress in ending difficulties such as the dispute over Kashmir, the Financial Times reported today. A gas pipeline to connect India with Iran via Pakistan and a move to open banking links were among possible measures which "would improve the atmospherics", Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz told the FT in an interview. The paper quoted Aziz as adding there were "many other possibilities which we want to explore". Aziz would make the proposals to Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh at a regional summit in Bangladesh next weekend. (Reuters) (Posted @ 22:55 PST) 
Pakistan rejects reports of contacts with Israel: ISLAMABAD, Jan 31: Pakistan has rejected reports of any contacts with Israel Tel Aviv and said Tel Aviv will have to ful fill certain conditions if it wants relations with Pakistan. "Pakistan has not received any direct message from the government of Israel. The message has come indirectly through newspapers," Foreign Office spokesman Masood Khan today told weekly press briefing in Islamabad. He was replying to questions about an interview in a Pakistan newspaper by Israeli Deputy Prime Minister Shimon Perez. "Pakistan has no clandestine relationship with Israel but if Tel Aviv wants direct relations with Pakistan it will have to ful fill certain conditions including stopping human rights violations, implementation of Middle East roadmap and emergence of an independence Palestinian state," Masood Khan said. (PPI) (Posted @ 23:35 PST)
Bomb Blast on Railway track: MULTAN, Jan 31: A Bomb of high intensity exploded near village Darvesh Lashari (Shadan Lund) some 125 kilometre north west of Multan today, a three feet deep hole occurred and four feet long railway track from both sides blown up. "It was a sabotage and we are investigating the case and a case has been registered by Kot Mubarak police station and bomb disposal squad had collected the splinters of the bomb," said Ahmed Mukhtar SSP Railway Multan. Divisional Superintendent Railway Ahsan Mehmood said," This incident took place today when no train was due on the track between Kotadu- Dera Ghazi Khan-Kashmore Section which damaged the track badly. (PPI) (Posted @ 23:40 PST)
Babri Mosque demolition was pre-planned: Book - SRINAGAR, Jan 31: A book authored by a former senior Indian intelligence officer revealed that demolition of the historic Babri Mosque at Ayodhya was planned 10 months in advance by Hindu extremist leaders of Rashtriya Sevak Sang (RSS) Bharatiya Janta Party (BJP) and Vishwa Hindu Paradesh (VHP). Kashmir Media Service reported that the author, a former IB Joint Director, Maloy Krishna Dhar in his book "open Secrets-India's intelligence un-veiled" pointed out that the blue print for demolition of the mosque was drawn in a meeting held in February 1992 attended by leaders of the extremist Hindu groups. (PPI) (Posted @ 16:40 PST)
Afghans in New Push to Collect Stingers : KABUL, Jan 31: Authorities are launching a new push to collect U.S.-made Stinger missiles distributed to Afghans fighting Soviet troops in the 1980s in an effort to keep the weapons from terrorists and governments - including Iran, an Afghan official said. The Afghan intelligence service is offering to buy the anti-aircraft missiles for an undisclosed sum, taking up a CIA program to recover weapons given to Islamic fundamentalists who battled the Soviets alongside Osama bin Laden in the 1980s. Hussein Fakhri, a senior intelligence official, confirmed a report of the offer on Afghan state television but would not elaborate. Gen. Mohammed Zahir Azimi, a spokesman for the Afghan Ministry of Defense, said authorities had recovered four Stingers and other surface-to-air missiles from the south and east under a U.N.-sponsored disarmament program started after the Taliban fell in late 2001 after a U.S.-led invasion. "Stingers are valuable and important weapons. Nobody gives up such a weapon easily," he told The Associated Press. U.N. spokesman Rick Grant confirmed the disarmament program had directed several militia commanders with Stingers toward American officials. (AFP) (Posted @ 22:55 PST)
Judge declares military tribunals in Guantanamo unconstitutional: WASHINGTON, Jan 31: A US federal judge ruled that military tribunals for international terror suspects at the Guantanamo Bay Naval base are unconstitutional, leaving in doubt the fate of hundreds of detainees at the US-run detention center in Cuba. After considering court appeals filed by 11 "enemy combatants" held at the facility, "the court concludes that the petitioners have stated valid claims under the Fifth Amendment to the United State Constitution," Judge Joyce Hens Green wrote in her ruling, adding that the detentions "violate the petitioners rights to due process of law." The Fifth Amendment to the US Constitution states that no one under US jurisdiction can "be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law." The court also found that some of the detainees, are in fact, covered by the Geneva Conventions. "The court holds that at least some of the petitioners have stated valid claims under the third Geneva Convention," according to a declassifed version of the federal ruling which was posted today on the court's website. Green ruled that US officials withheld from detainees access to evidence used against them, and that the US government has tended to rely on statements obtained by torture. She also determined that the government's definition of "enemy combatant" was vague and overly broad. Suspects captured in the US-led war on terrorism, most of whom were taken prisoner in Afghanistan after US-led forces toppled the Taliban regime, or Pakistan, are being held as illegal combatants without Geneva Convention protections. In a statement after the ruling, attorneys for the detainees called today's court decision a "smashing defeat for the Bush administration" and "a momentous victory for the rule of law, for human rights, and for our democracy." "Now it's time for this administration to act. We're calling on the White House to cease its tactics," the attorneys said. (AFP) (Posted @ 23:25 PST)
Iraq won't need foreign troops in 18 months: interior minister - LONDON, Jan 31: Flush with the successful voting in Sunday's elections, Iraq's interim interior minister said US and British troops would not be needed anymore in as soon as 18 months from now. "I think we will not need the foreign forces in this country within 18 months," interim interior minister Falah al-Nakib told Britain's Channel 4 television. "I think we will be able to depend on ourselves, if everything goes in the right direction," he said. (AFP) (Posted @ 10:30 PST)
Abbas to present Sharon with four demands at meeting: GAZA, Jan 31: President Mahmoud Abbas will submit four demands when he meets Israeli Premier Ariel Sharon next week, sources close to the Palestinian leader said in Gaza today. They said Abbas will ask Sharon to free 8,000 Palestinians from Israeli jails, will demand Israel respect any truce he manages to extract from Palestinian militant factions and will demand Israel withdraw to positions held in September 2000, when the Palestinian uprising broke out. The last major demand will be that Sharon coordinate with the Palestinians Israel's intended withdrawal from the Gaza Strip, slated to begin this summer. (DPA) (Posted @ 16:40 PST)
Al-Jazeera news television to be privatised: DUBAI, Jan 31: The Qatari government is looking for a purchaser for al-Jazeera, the controversial Arab news television network, according to local media reports today citing a spokesman for the broadcaster. Jihad Ballout, the spokesman, labelled as "baseless" a recent story in The York Times that Qatar's government is under pressure from the U.S. to sell the station. American officials have complained to Qatari leaders that al- Jazeera broadcasts have been inflammatory, especially on Iraq. The station has been a prime outlet for videotaped messages from Osama bin Laden, the terrorist most wanted by the U.S. (DPA) (Posted @ 14:00 PST)
Sen. Clinton Collapses During Appearance: BUFFALO, Jan 31: Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton collapsed today during a speech on Social Security a radio station reported. Colleen DiPirro, president of the Amherst Chamber of Commerce told WBEN-AM radio that Clinton told the crowd she was feeling weak and had had a stomach virus. Clinton started to speak then collapsed, DiPirro told the radio station. Clinton, 57, was treated by an emergency crew at the scene and declined to be taken to a hospital, the radio station said. She was scheduled to speak later Monday at a Catholic college about health care. Several hundred people were waiting to hear that address. There were also hundreds of anti-abortion protesters waiting at the college. (AP/AFP) (Posted @ 23:40 PST)
Spiritual leader of Kuwaiti militants arrested: KUWAIT CITY, Jan 31: Amer Khlaif al-Enezi, the spiritual leader of Kuwaiti militants involved in a series of clashes with security forces, was arrested during a gunbattle today, the interior ministry said. Four "terrorists" were killed, three arrested and three wounded in the gunbattle in Al-Qurain region south of Kuwait City, during which three security men were also injured, ministry spokesman Adel al-Hashah told state television. (AFP) (Updated @ 14:40 PST)
At least one killed in Tajikistan car bomb blast: official - DUSHANBE, Jan 31: At least one person was killed and four injured when a car bomb exploded in front of Tajikistan's emergencies ministry in the capital Dushanbe today, a ministry official told AFP. (AFP) (Posted @ 11:30 PST)
Mongolia to hold presidential elections on May 22: ULAN BATOR, Jan 31: Mongolia will hold presidential elections on May 22, with former prime minister Nambar Enkhbayar emerging as the front-runner, government officials said today. (AFP) (Posted @ 16:40 PST)
Strong earthquake strikes off Western Greece, no casualties: ATHENS, Jan 31: A strong earthquake measuring 5.6 on the Richter scale struck off western Greece in the Ionean Sea today, but no casualties were reported, officials said. (AFP) (Posted @ 10:30 PST)
11 killed in Kashmir during civic elections: SRINAGAR, Jan 31: Eleven people, including seven civilians, were killed in fresh violence a day ahead of a crucial phase of municipal polls in occupied Kashmir, officials said today. (AFP) (Updated @ 16:40 PST)
Karachi Stocks down 49.39 points: KARACHI, Jan 31: At close of trading the KSE-100 index was at 6748.62, down 49.39 points from Friday's close. The Pakistani Rupee was traded at Rs 59.40 to the US Dollar in the open market. (Bureau Report) (Updated @ 16:10 PST)   Editor: Tahir Mirza The DAWN Group of Newspapers Haroon House, Dr. Ziauddin Ahmed Road, Karachi 74200, Pakistan. Phone:+92 (21) 111-444-777 Fax: +92 (21) 568-3188 webmaster@dawn.com Make sure to reload these pages so you're viewing the current version. |
|
|
|||
|
Privacy Policy © DAWN Group of Newspapers, 2005 |
