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| 16 February 2005 | Wednesday | 06 Muharram 1426 |
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).
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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).
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India, Pakistan agree to start Kashmir bus service: ISLAMABAD, Feb 16: India and Pakistan agreed today to start a long talked about bus service across a ceasefire line dividing the disputed territory of Kashmir on April 7. Other bus services, including one between the Indian city of Amritsar and Lahore in Pakistan, would also be started. (Reuters) (Posted @ 16:15 PST)
Government receives delivery of 24 Bell Helicopters: WASHINGTON, Feb 16: Government has received delivery of 24 two-engine Bell Helicopters in support of war on terrorism, Ambassador Jehangir Karamat said. Pakistan would get 8 P-3C Orion aircraft and TOW missiles, he said in response to a question at a periodic meeting with Pakistani journalists at the Pakistan Embassy. About Pakistan-U.S. Defense Consultative Group (DCG) meetings, he said the DCG met in Islamabad recently, taking stock of the bilateral defence relations. It also reviewed the international military education and training requirements, in keeping with our needs. (APP) (Posted @ 10:50 PST)
Iranian TV Reports Explosion Near Deylam: TEHRAN, Feb 16: Iranian state television reported today that an explosion near the southwestern town of Deylam, about 110 miles from a nuclear facility, may have been caused by a fuel tank dropping from an Iranian plane. A government spokesman said the blast may have been caused by friendly fire. Rescue teams were sent to the area, state-run al-Alam television said, without providing details on casualties. The network provided few details of the blast, but it said officials in the area said the cause may have been a fuel tank dropped from a plane. A spokesman for Iran's Interior Ministry said the explosion was heard minutes after an Iranian airplane flew over the city and had not been caused by a hostile attack. ``An airplane flew over Deylam today. Minutes later, there was an explosion,'' spokesman Jahanbakhsh Khanjani told The Associated Press. (Guardian) (Posted @ 21:30 PST)
Iran Threatens to Shoot Down U.S. Drones : TEHRAN, Feb 16: Iran's intelligence chief today accused the United States of flying spy drones over its nuclear sites and threatened to shoot down the unmanned surveillance crafts. Intelligence Minister Ali Yunesi comments backed a report in The Washington Post on Sunday that quoted unidentified U.S. officials as saying the drones have been flying over Iran for nearly a year to seek evidence of nuclear weapons programs. "U.S. spying activities over Iranian airspace have been going since a long time ago," Yunesi told reporters. "Most of the shining objects that our people see in Iran's airspace are American spying equipment used to spy on Iran's nuclear and military facilities," the minister told reporters. He said they would not reveal anything the United States doesn't already know. "Our nuclear activities are open and very transparent. Our military activities are all legal," Yunesi said. He spoke while visiting a prison for dissidents under the shah that has been turned into a museum. In London, meanwhile, Israeli Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom said Iran will have the knowledge to build nuclear weapons within six months. "This is not only Israel's problem, but an international problem, as the long-range missiles can reach Europe," Shalom said. The United States accuses Iran of having a secret program to manufacture nuclear weapons. Iran denies this, saying its nuclear program is entirely for the generation of electricity. (AP/AFP) (Posted @ 21:50 PST)
Palestinian Leaders Approve New Cabinet : RAMALLAH, Feb 16: Palestinian officials approved a new Cabinet today that is expected to put strong allies of Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas in charge of key portfolios. The makeup of the government was agreed upon at a meeting of Abbas' Fatah movement. Qureia declined to say who was named to the Cabinet. Earlier, Brig. Gen. Nasser Yousef confirmed to The Associated Press that he would be appointed interior minister and Mohammed Dahlan, a former Gaza security chief, said he would be named Cabinet secretary. Both men are allies with Abbas, who was elected Palestinian leader last month. Nasser al-Kidwa, the current Palestinian envoy to the United Nations and Yasser Arafat's nephew, had been discussed as a likely foreign minister, Palestinian officials said on condition of anonymity before the meeting. The current foreign minister, Nabil Shaath, likely would be the new planning minister and deputy prime minister, officials said. (AP/AFP) (Posted @ 21:50 PST)
Israeli Army Chief to Leave Post : JERUSALEM, Feb 16: Israel's defense minister unexpectedly cut short the term of his outspoken army chief, with a new commander to take over just days before the start of a planned withdrawal from the Gaza Strip. The curt dismissal of Lt. Gen. Moshe Yaalon, announced in the middle of the night, triggered wall-to-wall criticism today, with many politicians and commentators accusing Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz of endangering the Gaza pullback because of personal tensions with his army chief. Yaalon, widely seen as a successful commander, has frequently criticized government policy in public. Israel's parliament was expected to give final approval to the pullout plan later today, after a two-day debate. Some 70 of 120 legislators were to vote in favor, while about 40 lawmakers were to vote no, including more than a dozen from Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's Likud Party. The Gaza pullout is expected to be accompanied by violent confrontations between Israeli soldiers and settlers, and the army should not be focusing on a shakeup in its top brass when Israel is facing "one of the most problematic, difficult and complex tests" in its history, Cabinet minister Haim Ramon said. Yaalon, widely referred to by his nickname Boogie, has also been credited for leading a successful campaign against Palestinian militants during more than four years of fighting. (AP/AFP) (Posted @ 15:10 PST)
Lebanese Vent Wrath on Syria at Hariri's Funeral: BEIRUT, Feb 16: At least 150,000 Lebanese turned the funeral of former Prime Minister Rafik al-Hariri today into an outpouring of public anger against Syria, blamed by opposition leaders for the bomb that killed him. Men wept uncontrollably as the procession wound through Beirut streets plastered with posters of the Sunni Muslim billionaire slain in a suspected suicide car bombing on Monday. In tears, Hariri's sons and relatives bore his flag-draped coffin from the ambulance into an unfinished mosque Hariri had financed in Beirut's once war-shattered downtown. Hariri's family spurned government offers of a state funeral and made clear top Syrian-backed officials were not welcome. French President Jacques Chirac, a personal friend of Hariri, arrived in Beirut and went straight to the Hariri family mansion to "pay homage to a man who was my friend and also a great democrat, a statesman, a man of peace." (Reuters) (Posted @ 21:30 PST)
Yemen arrests five Al-Qaeda suspects: SANAA, Feb 16: Yemeni security forces have detained five people, including a woman, suspected of belonging to Al-Qaeda and plotting attacks on embassies and Western targets in the country, security sources said today. "The security services had received last week threats from unknown terrorists who threatened to attack Western embassies and interests in Sanaa if the authorities would execute those accused in the cases of the French tanker Limburg and the USS Cole destroyer," the source said. (AFP) (Posted @ 15:25 PST)
US moves to freeze assets of suspected Kuwaiti terror financier: WASHINGTON, Feb 16: The United States has moved to freeze assets of a Kuwaiti man suspected of raising money for an anti-American insurgency in Iraq and financing a 2002 bombing of a French tanker off the coast of Yemen. An executive order issued by the Treasury Department designated Muhsin al-Fadhli a supporter of terrorism and instructed US financial institutions to freeze all assets he might have in the country. (AFP) (Posted @ 10:10 PST)
Corruption trial opens for former Turkish PM: ANKARA, Feb 16: Former Turkish Prime Minister Mesut Yilmaz went on trial today to face corruption charges over a banking scandal, becoming the first head of government to be tried by the Supreme Court. (APP/AFP) (Posted @ 13:40 PST)
Six hurt in blasts hours ahead of Thai PM's visit: NARATHIWAT, Feb 16: Two bomb blasts rocked southern Thailand today, with one injuring six people, just hours ahead of a visit by Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, police said. (AFP) (Posted @ 09:45 PST)
Earthquake jolts Tokyo from bed, 27 people hurt: TOKYO, Feb 16: An earthquake measuring 5.4 on the Richter scale shook the Tokyo area before dawn today, jolting many residents out of bed and causing minor injuries to at least 27 people in a fresh reminder of Japan's seismic dangers. (AFP) (Posted @ 09:45 PST)
1 Killed 6 injured in grenade attack: JAMMU, Feb 16: In occupied Kashmir, one person was killed and six others injured when some unidentified assailants hurled a hand grenade on a shop in Kishtwar area of Doda district, reports Kashmir Media Service. (APP) (Posted @ 15:50 PST)
Karachi Stocks up 106.96 points: KARACHI, Feb 16: At close of trading the KSE-100 index was at 7509.76, up 106.96 points from Tuesday's close. The Pakistani Rupee was traded at Rs 59.55 to the US Dollar in the open market. (Bureau Report) (Updated @ 16:15 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. |
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