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| July 13, 2005 | Wednesday | Jumadi-us-Sani 5, 1426 |
Updated round-the-clock, with major updates after 10:00 PST (05:00 GMT)
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Air Chief Kaleem Saadat awarded legion of honour by france ISLAMABAD, Jul 13 (APP): Chief of the Air Staff, Air Chief Marshal Kaleem Saadat has been conferred with the "Legion of Honour", award by the President of France.The investiture ceremony was held at Islamabad. On behalf of the President of France, the French Ambassador Mr. Pierre Charasse decorated Air Chief Marshal Kaleem Saadat.(Posted @ 22:10 PST)
Indian government has to fix date,venue for talks: MirWaiz ISLAMABAD, July 13 (APP): Mir Waiz Umer Farooq has said it is up to the Indian government to fix a date and venue for the next round of talks. According to Door Darshan, Hurriyat Chairman Mir Waiz Umer Farooq speaking to the mediamen in Srinagar said that Indian government must fix date and venue for talks.(Posted @ 20:50 PST)
President announces huge industrial infrastructure development package for city KARACHI, July 13 (APP)- President General Pervez Musharraf on Wednesday announced an industrial infrastructure development package including creation of three new industrial sites to facilitate rapid industrialisation in the metropolis. Speaking at a joint presentation by leading industrialists and businessmen belonging to all industrial estates and KCCI on the problems facing industries and businesses in Karachi at Governor House here,the President said a new industrial estate will be developed at Landhi over an area of 250 acres of land for small and medium enterprises (SMEs).Another industrial estate will be created on the land of Pakistan Steel for the downstream industries over an area of 1,500 acres, he said. Similarly, an industrial park will be established on 2,000 acres of Port Qasim land on public-private partnership basis. Private sector will develop this park according to international standards, he added. He said the ground breaking for these industrial areas will be performed in September this year. He said the government will install effluent treatment plants in Landhi, SITE and Korangi industrial areas. The federal government will fund these projects and industrialists will run them, he added. Responding to the demand for infrastructure development in existing industrial areas, he said the federal government will contribute Rs 1 billion. The provincial government will match the federal grant while industrialists will be urged to also contribute their share for this project, he noted. President Musharraf said Karachi Port Trust and Port Qasim Authority will install desalination plants by December 31, 2005 to provide water to industrial units as well as citizens.(Posted @ 20:45 PST)
Two persons drown in sea KARACHI, July 13 (APP)- Two personswere drowned near Hawkesbay beach Wednesday afternoon in the sea, police said.They were identified as Umer 23 of PECHS and Ehsan 24, Of Clifton. Edhi divers have recovered the body of Ehsan . Sindh government has imposed a ban on swimming at beaches due to rough weather(Posted @ 20:40 PST)
Pakistan militant camps endanger peace process, says India NEW DELHI, July 13 (AFP) - India warned Wednesday that Pakistan must dismantle militant training camps and curb infiltrations into the Indian zone of divided Kashmir or risk endangering the countries' fledgling peace process. "Time and again this government has said that there is infrastructure of terrorism across the border which has not been dismantled," India's Foreign Secretary Shyam Saran told reporters in New Delhi. "There are training camps across the border which have not been dismantled and attempts at infiltration continue from across the border and this of course will impact the peace process," Saran said.(Posted @ 20:30 PST)
Indian troops engage militants in major gunbattle, eight die in occupied Kashmir SRINAGAR, July 13 (AFP) - A fierce day-long gunbattle between Indian troops and militants raged Wednesday in the glacial heights of Gurez in (northern) Baramulla district," army spokesman Vijay Batra told AFP. Adverse weather conditions were hampering operations against the rebels. "The terrain is very difficult. Troops are trying to encircle the militants from all sides as they (militants) have taken positions on hilltops," Batra said, adding reinforcements were being sent to the area He would not say how many militants were engaged in the battle but Indian media reports quoting army sources put the number at about 35.Three militants were meanwhile killed early Wednesday in the Tangdar sector of northern Kupwara district, the army spokesman said. Another was killed by troops during an operation in the same district while police statement said two more militants died in clashes in southern Doda and Anantnag district late Tuesday. Two more people died in separatist-related violence, one of them in a roadside bomb blast, it said. Meanwhile, shops and businesses in the Muslim majority Kashmir Valley were closed Wednesday by a one-day strike to mourn 21 Kashmiris slain 74 years ago by the army of Maharaj Hari Singh while they were staging a protest outside the central jail in Srinagar against the king's autocratic rule. The strike was called by All Parties Hurriyat Conference. Syed Ali Geelani and Shabir Shah were detained by police to prevent them from visiting the graveyard of the martyrs.(Posted @ 20:30 PST)
Rice optimistic N. Korea talks can bear fruit SEOUL, July 13 (Reuters) - The United States and South Korea are optimistic North Korea, enticed by energy aid, might agree to scrap its nuclear plans and so defuse one of the world's most dangerous crises, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said on Wednesday. Her comments, the most upbeat by a U.S. official on North Korea in months, came two weeks before stalled six-way nuclear talks resume and after South Korea offered to supply electricity to the North if it dismantled its nuclear programmes. "We are very optimistic that our joint efforts to improve the security situation on the Korean peninsula could indeed bear fruit, although, of course, there is still much work to be done," she said after meeting South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun and Foreign Minister Ban Ki-moon.(Posted @ 20:15 PST)
Blair says need to combat extremist Muslim ideology LONDON, July 13 (AFP) - Prime Minister Tony Blair proposed a mixed package of dialogue and tougher measures to combat what he branded the "evil ideology" embraced by the alleged Muslim extremists behind the London terror attacks. Blair told parliament his government would consider tougher action against people who incite or instigate terrorism, including tighter entry procedures, as well as try to promote the voice of moderate Islam at home and abroad. "We will look urgently at how we strengthen the procedures to exclude people from entering the UK who may incite hatred or act contrary to the public good, and at how we deport such people, if they come here, more easily," Blair said. Blair also said his government would begin talks immediately with British Muslim leaders about combating the "poisonous and perverted misinterpretation of the religion of Islam" by mobilising moderate opinion. He added his government was talking to Muslim and non-Muslim governments on how to mobilise the "moderate and true voice of Islam." Blair also sought to ease concerns among Muslims in Britain that they were now the target of a backlash. He added that his government condemned any attack against Muslims "unreservedly." Blair also said any attempts by the extreme right to use the aftermath of the attacks to stir up racism was "particularly revolting".(Posted @ 18:50 PST)
Sri Lanka Tigers quit key town, bomb hurled at tsunami relief centre COLOMBO, July 13 (AFP) - A bomb was thrown at a tsunami relief centre in the Muslim town of Muttur in volatile northeastern Sri Lanka Wednesday, wounding nine civilians, including a four-year-old girl, and two soldiers, police said. The pre-dawn attack came amid mounting fears for the island's fragile truce between government forces and Tamil Tiger rebels, who without warning Wednesday quit their offices in the government-held town of Trincomalee. "They have taken their flags, closed the offices and withdrawn their cadres to areas held by them," a local military official said. There was no immediate reaction from the Tigers to the latest developments. Police said another soldier was wounded Wednesday when a second sentry point in the same district was attacked by suspected Tiger gunmen. (Posted @ 18:40 PST)
Triple Pakistan train crash leaves 150 dead
GHOTKI, Pakistan, July 13 (AFP) – Death toll in triple train collision at the dead of the night near Ghotki (Sindh)Wednesday has mounted to a least 132 with hundreds injured, officials said. Twelve hours after the crash rescuers were still pulling bodies from the mangled carriages of the three trains, which lay scattered amid piles of debris and pieces of flesh. Local hospitals reported that 132 bodies had been brought in so far, with more thought to be in the wreckage, while officials said between 150 and 250 were injured, 50 critically. Many of the victims were women and children. The accident happened when one of the trains, the Quetta Express, stopped at Sarhad station, seven kilometres (four miles) from Ghotki, and the Karachi Express coming from Lahore smashed into it at 4:00 am (2300 GMT). A number of carriages were catapulted onto a parallel track and a third train, the Tez Gam heading for Islamabad's twin city Rawalpindi, then careered into them. Railway officials blamed the Karachi Express driver for misreading a signal at Sarhad station that turned green to allow the Quetta Express to move off. The train was travelling at a speed of 120 kilometers (75 miles) an hour when it hit and the driver and his assistant were both killed, Junaid Qureshi, a senior railway official, told AFP. "The driver of the Karachi Express thought the signal allowed him to pass and he rammed into the rear part of the Quetta Express," Qureshi said. Most of the casualties were said to be on board the Tez Gam train. In all 16 coaches were derailed -- 12 from the Tez Gam train, three from the Quetta Express and one from the Karachi Express, along with its engine. Three villagers who had come to help after the first impact were also killed by the second, police said. In 1991 another crash at Ghotki between a passenger train and a goods train killed 50 people according to authorities and between 100 and 200 according to press reports. A year earlier, more than 350 people were killed and 700 injured when a goods train collided with a passenger train in Sangi, near Ghotki.(Posted @ 18:20 PST)Sri Lanka v West Indies first Test COLOMBO, July 13 (AFP) - At stumps on the opening day of the first cricket Test between Sri Lanka and the West Indies at the Sinhalese sports club here on Wednesday the tourists were 271 for 6 with major contribution coming from Chanderpaul (69 n.o.), Ramdin (56) and Morton (43). Malinga had 2 for for 67 and Wijekoon 2 for 49.(Posted @ 18:00 PST)
Saddam judge says investigation almost complete BAGHDAD, July 13 (AFP) - The Iraqi judge in charge of questioning jailed dictator Saddam Hussein and several former henchmen said Wednesday more than 80 percent of the investigation was complete. "The investigation is quiet advanced with more than 80 percent completed (but) deciding the date of the trials is not the speciality of the investigative judges," Raed Juhi, a senior judge on the Iraqi Special Tribunal told AFP.(Posted @ 17:45 PST)
Pakistan says it helped Britain foil terror attacks before May elections ISLAMABAD, July 13 (AFP) - Pakistan provided Britain with information that helped it foil terrorist attacks in the run up to the May general elections, the South Asian country's interior minister said Wednesday. Arrests were made in a number of countries as a result of the details provided by Pakistan, like Britain a key ally in the US-led "war on terror", minister Aftab Sherpao told reporter "Let me be specific that before the general elections in UK we had received reports that this sort of a situation may arise before the elections and that was aborted because the information was provided by the government of Pakistan," Sherpao said. "Arrests were made in various countries," Sherpao said but gave no further details. The minister said Islamabad was cooperating with London after allegations that three of the four men suspected of launching last week's bombings in the British capital were Britons of Pakistani origin. None of the four were on the files of security services, papers said, making them so-called "cleanskins", terrorists with no previously known link to suspicious groups. "I don't want to be specific in this case because that would not be proper at this juncture," Sherpao said. "But whatever useful information that we have we will be providing it to the British government," Sherpao said. He declined to say whether Britain had asked for information from Pakistan in relation to the London attacks.(Posted @ 17:45 PST)
President expresses grief over Ghotki train tragedy, announces compensation KARACHI, July 13 (APP)- President General Pervez Musharraf has expressed deep sorrow and grief over loss of life in the triple train collision near Ghotki( Sindh) early Wednesday morning. The President described it as a national tragedy and said an enquiry is being commissioned immediately to ascertain the cause of the accident."We cannot bring the dead back but the government will give Rs one hundred thousand compensation to the heirs of each of the dead and Rs 50,000 compensation to each of the injured." The President said there is a need to look into the causes of accident to see if it is a case of negligence. According to initial information, it does not seem to be a case of sabotage, he added. He commended the relief efforts of the civil administration, the Railways and the Army. It occurred at about 3.30 a.m. and rescue operation had been geared up by about 6 a.m., he said. The Railways authorities are clearing the debris and the passengers have already been moved to their respective destinations . The Army moved extremely fast. The GOC Panu Aqil commissioned helicopters and doctors especially from Rawalpindi have been moved-in to Pano Aqil. He said all the injured have been moved from small hospitals to CMH Panu Aqil and special arrangements have been made to receive and accommodate all of them in Pano Aqil. President Musharraf said 107 bodies have been collected from the crash site. The GOC thinks that there may be some more casualties in the debris which the army is trying to sift through.(Posted @ 17:35 PST)
Train traffic resumes as track cleared after severe collision KARACHI, July 13 (APP)- The Up and Down Railway traffic at Sarhad Railway Station, near Ghotki resumed at 8 a.m. Wednesday after it was suspended by collision of three trains early in the morning, The first train to move out from the scene of accident was Quetta Express which also carried the passengers of Karachi-bound Night CoP Karachi Express. At Rohri railway station these passengers will be shifted to another train for onward journey to Karachi. Similarly, passengers of Tezgam train were shifted to Karachi Express, which earlier had collided with Quetta Express, and depatched to Lahore from where they will be taken by another train to upcountry destinations. According to railway sources all other trains, which were held up at Rohri and Khanpur railway stations were also allowed to move out after clearance of the Down Track.(Posted @ 17:20 PST)
Troops participating in rescue operation in Ghotki: DG ISPR ISLAMABAD, Jul 13 (APP): Troops from Pano Aqil's nearest cantonment have reached Ghotki to provide all kind of assistance in the relief operation. Presently six Pak army helicopters are participating in the rescue operation, an ISPR spokesman said. He said army, Rangers and civil doctors are providing medical aid and there is no shortage of blood as the locals and army jawans are donating blood, he said adding Pak army blood banks have sufficient blood to meet to any emergency. Railways have dispatched two trains from both sides to send remaining passengers to their respective destinations, he added.(Posted @ 17:15 PST)
PR issues list of Ghotki accident dead, injured on its website LAHORE, July 13 (APP)- Pakistan Railways has issued the list of the passengers who were killed or injured in Wednesday morning's train crash at Sarhad Railway Station near Ghotki (Sindh) on its website, 'www.pakrail.com'. The list of passengers travelling by all the three trains- Quetta Express, Karachi Express (Night Coach) and Tezgam Express- has also been posted on the website, officials told APP here Wednesday.(Posted @ 17:00 PST)
Pak, Iran and India to enter into "Framework Agreement" on gas Pipeline project- NEW DELHI, July 13 (APP): Pakistan and India on Wednesday agreed that once basic issues pertaining to Pak-Iran-India gas pipeline project were resolved satisfactorily between the three countries, they would enter into a "Framework Agreement."The Indian side, it was also agreed, would submit a draft text in this regard to the Pakistani side before the next meeting of the Joint Working Group, scheduled to be held in Islamabad next month, said the Joint Press Statement issued at the conclusion of the two-day JWG meeting here.(Posted @ 16:45 PST)
Seventeen rebels and a pro-government cleric killed in Afghanistan KABUL, Afghanistan, Julu 13 (APP/AP) _ Fighting between rebels and Afghan and American forces left 17 insurgents dead, while suspected Taliban gunmen killed a senior pro-government Muslim cleric Wednesday, officials said. The 17 were killed in fighting on Monday and Tuesday in the Daychopan district of Zabul province, a U.S. military statement said. Six other insurgents were captured in the clashes, it said . The statement said a rocket-propelled grenade launcher, 14 rocket-propelled grenades and other weapons were found in a mosque in the area.(Posted @ 16:45 PST)
Railways establishes emergency centres at Quetta, Sibi QUETTA July 13 (APP) Railway authorities have set up three Emergency Centres, two in Quetta and one in Sibi, to provide information about the deceased and injured of the Ghotki triple train incident. The telephone numbers of the Emergency Centres in Quetta are 081-9201214/ 9201243/ 9201212 and 9201210 while in Sibi is 0831-9230211(Posted @ 16:45 PST)
PM arrives in Italy on three-day visit ROME, July 13 (APP): Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz arrived here Wednesday on the last leg of his six-day visit to the European countries for talks with Italian leadership on bilateral, regional and international issues of mutual concern.(Posted @ 16:30 PST)
Twenty four Iraqi children killed by suicide car bomber BAGHDAD, July 13 (APP/AFP) - Twenty four Iraqi children and one US soldier were killed Wednesday morning in a suicide car bomb attack in southeastern Baghdad, hospital sources and US forces said. Some 20 more children were wounded, along with three US soldiers."Children gathered round the Americans who were handing out sweets. Suddenly a suicide car bomber drove round from a side street and blew himself up," reports said.(Posted @ 16:30 PST)
Two foreigners hurt in rocket attack on US base in Afghanistan KABUL, July 13 (APP/AFP) - At least two foreigners were injured Tuesday when two rockets slammed into a US military base in Afghanistan, officials said Wednesday.The attack targetted the airbase in the southern province of Kandahar. "There were two civilian employees that were injured “I have no information about any helicopter being damaged or anything," the official said An Afghan government official, who did not want to be named, told AFP the injured were Canadian nationals and the rocket attack also damaged a helicopter.Taliban spokesman, Mullah Abdul Latif Hakimi, in a telephone call from an undisclosed location said: "We fired six rockets on the US base in Kandahar airport of which two rockets hit the targets. There have been casualties and damage but we have no confirmed information on it," he said.(Posted @ 16:25 PST)
Ali Shah Geelani placed under house arrest in IHK- NEW DELHI, July 13 (APP): Syed Ali Shah Geelani was placed under house arrest in Indian occupied Kashmir this morning, officials said but did not assign any reason. A spokesman of the Hurriyat said the step was taken to "prevent Geelani and his associates" from visiting the 'Martyrs Graveyard' at Naqshband Sahib in downtown Srinagar. While all other political leaders were allowed to visit the graveyard and pay homage, Syed Ali Shah Geelani was "singled out and barred", he added. (Posted @ 15:51 PST)
Afghan EC releases list of 6,000 candidates contesting polls ISLAMABAD, Jul 13 (APP): The Afghan Election Commission has circulated the final list of 6000 candidates who will contest the first ever parliamentary polls in Afghanistan on Sept 18 next, BBC reported. Seventeen have been excluded from the candidates list, 11 of them have been identified as having links to illegal armed groups or militias. The campaign will not start for another month. (Posted @ 15:48 PST)
Lightning kills seven in Bangladesh, 25 injured DHAKA, July 13 (Reuters) - At least seven people were killed in Bangladesh and 25 injured when lightning struck a row of thatched huts, police said Wednesday. (Posted @ 14:20 PST)
Israel arrests five, kills Palestinian policeman JERUSALEM, July 13 (Reuters) - Israeli soldiers arrested five Palestinians during a raid on Wednesday in the West Bank town of Tulkarm, the army said. The soldiers also killed a Palestinian policeman in the raid on which the Israeli army had no immediate comment. (Posted @ 12:27 PST)
Pentagon says key Zarqawi operative caught in Iraq WASHINGTON, July 12 (Reuters) - American forces have captured Abu Abd Al-Aziz, the 'emir of Baghdad' in the organization of Iraq's al Qaeda leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, a top U.S. general said late Tuesday. The general said Al-Aziz was picked up "on the battlefield," but provided no other details. (Posted @ 12:18 PST)
Bomb kills two in Iraq BAQUBA, Iraq, July 13 (Reuters) - A bomb exploded at a Sunni mosque in eastern Iraq, killing two people and wounding 16, police said Wednesday. Police, quoting witnesses, said the blast occurred late on Tuesday night in Jalowla near the Iranian border. Six of the wounded were in serious condition. (Posted @ 12:05 PST)
Karachi Stocks down 30.60 points: KARACHI, July 13: At close of trading, the KSE-100 index was at 7481.34, down 30.60 points from Tuesday's close. (Bureau Report) (Updated @ 14:30 PST)
Forex update: KARACHI, July 13: The Pakistani Rupee was traded at Rs 60.5 to the US Dollar in the open market. (Bureau Report) (Updated @ 14:30 PST)
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