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| July 20, 2005 | Wednesday | Jumadi-us-Sani 12, 1426 |
Updated round-the-clock, with major updates after 10:00 PST (05:00 GMT)
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Crack down against extremists elements only: PM ISLAMABAD, Jul 20 (APP): Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz Wednesday said the present campaign against extremist elements is in national interest and is only to ensure peace in the country and part of the fight against terrorism. Talking to newsmen here at Prime Minister House, he said the crack down is not to please any country or on the directives of any country adding, "Pakistan is a independent country" and taking its decision without any foreign interference. "We know what is in favour of our country, and what is best policy for the country," the Prime Minister said. Shaukat Aziz said the crack down against the extremist elements was going on already and the present campaign is part of the on-going campaign of the government against terrorism and extremist elements.| He said the main aim of the operation is to improve the law and order situation in the country so that the people could live peacefully.(Posted @ 21:45 PST)
13 killed, thousands stranded in floods in Bangladesh = Dhaka (dpa) - At least 13 people were killed and thousands left stranded in submerged regions when torrential rains caused seasonal floods in northern and central Bangladesh, officials said Wednesday.The death toll reached double figures after six children were washed away in the central Sherpur district. Red Cross rescuers said they had taken children's bodies from the waters which had battered 12 villages in the region.(Posted @ 21:30 PST)
AJK (Faisal invites US think tanks to visit AJK) Minister for Kashmir Affairs and Northern Areas Makhdoom Syed Faisal Saleh Hayat has invited officials of two leading American think tanks to visit Azad Jammu and Kashmir. In his meetings with Ambassador John McDonald, Head of Institute of Multi Track Diplomacy and K Allen Kronstadt, Analyst in Asia Affairs, Foreign Affairs,Defence and Trade Division at the Library of Congress in Washington, the minister appreciated the work being done by their institutions. The minister told the officials that the government of Pakistan, AJK Council and AJK government had taken a number of initiatives for development process in the AJK.(Posted @ 20:35 PST)
Blair considering calling international conference London, July 20 PPI: British Prime Minister Tony Blair said Wednesday he was considering calling an international conference on how to root out Islamic extremism, particularly in religious schools. Blair told House of Commons he recently spoke with Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf and was satisfied there was a "real desire and willingness on part of Pakistan's government to deal with madrassas preaching this kind of extremism."(Posted @ 20:30 PST)
China takes note of USA-India defence pact BEIJING, July 20 (APP): The Chinese government has noted media reports regarding '10-year USA-India pact on joint weapons production, cooperation in missile defence', said a spokesman of the Chinese Foreign Office Kong Quan.Commenting on reports, the spokesman pointed out that international community has reached a consensus on relevant nuclear issues." We hope USA-India cooperation on the matter will be helpful to safeguard peace and stability in Asia, "he added.(Posted @ 19:45 PST)
Pakistan arrests "not linked to London blasts" - minister Islamabad (dpa) - Pakistan's Interior Minister Aftab Ahmed Khan Sherpao Wednesday confirmed 200 Islamic activists have been rounded up in a renewed crackdown on religious extremists, but denied any links with the London bombings. "The action against extremists has nothing to do with the London bombings and we are dealing with it as our internal matter," Sherpao told reporters in Islamabad.He had earlier conferred with senior police and intelligence officials from throughout Pakistan for several hours.(Posted @ 19:30 PST)
U.S. says militants planning attacks in Saudi RIYADH, July 20 (Reuters) - The United States embassy in Saudi Arabia warned U.S. citizens on Wednesday that militants were planning fresh attacks in the world's biggest oil exporter. An embassy statement read out by an official said: "The embassy has no specific information concerning timing, target or method of any possible attack(s)," but advised U.S. citizens to maintain a high level of vigilance and keep a low profile.(Posted @ 18:15 PST)
London mayor says West fuelled Islamic radicalism LONDON, July 20 (Reuters) - Western foreign policy has fuelled the Islamist radicalism behind the bomb attacks which killed more than 50 people in London, the British capital's mayor Ken Livingstone said on Wednesday. Asked on Wednesday what he thought had motivated the four suspected suicide bombers, Livingstone cited Western policy in the Middle East and early American backing for Osama bin Laden. "A lot of young people see the double standards, they see what happens in (U.S. detention camp) Guantanamo Bay, and they just think that there isn't a just foreign policy," he said. "You've just had 80 years of Western intervention into predominantly Arab lands because of a Western need for oil. We've propped up unsavoury governments, we've overthrown ones that we didn't consider sympathetic," Livingstone said. "I think the particular problem we have at the moment is that in the 1980s ... the Americans recruited and trained Osama bin Laden, taught him how to kill, to make bombs, and set him off to kill the Russians to drive them out of Afghanistan. "They didn't give any thought to the fact that once he'd done that, he might turn on his creators," he told BBC radio.(Posted @ 18:15 PST)
Eleven die in Yemen riots over fuel price rises SANAA, July 20 (Reuters) - At least 11 people were killed in in clashes with police in Yemen on Wednesday after rioters threw stones and set fires in streets to protest against subsidy cuts that nearly doubled petrol prices, witnesses said. Thousands of protesters in the capital, Sanaa, smashed furniture in government offices, blocked roads with flaming tyres, and knocked out electricity transformers in some areas. Police fired shots to disperse protesters hurling stones at the offices of Prime Minister Abdul-Qader Bagammal and ambulances rushed some injured people from the scene. Similar violent protests took place in three other towns, including Dhala in the south where five of the 11 dead were killed.(Posted @ 18:05 PST)
Aceh rebels say 10 dead in post-peace deal clashes JAKARTA, July 20 (Reuters) - At least 10 people have died in fighting between the government and Free Aceh Movement (GAM) rebels in Aceh province since negotiators in Helsinki announced a draft peace deal between the two sides, according to GAM. A statement from GAM on Tuesday said there had been three exchanges of fire in Aceh on Monday, resulting in the deaths of five GAM fighters, three government soldiers and two civilians. An Indonesian military (TNI) official said there were onlytwo clashes, in which four GAM fighters and one TNI soldier were killed and two TNI soldiers wounded.(Posted @ 18:00 PST)
Four suspected Taliban killed while laying bomb on Afghan highway KABUL, July 20 (AFP) - Four suspected Taliban militants were killed in southern Afghanistan early Wednesday when a bomb they were attempting to plant on a highway en route to Tirin Kot exploded, Uruzgan governor Jan Mohammed told AFP. "Police discovered the bodies along with four Kalashnikovs," he said.Suspected Taliban militants also attacked a government highway patrol in neighbouring Zabul province late Tuesday, and one militant and a policeman were injured in the gunfight.(Posted @ 17:39 PST)
Britain to strengthen powers to ban extremists from country LONDON, July 20 (AFP) - Britain is to draw up a list of "unacceptable behaviour" which encourages terrorism, and foreign nationals who contravene the rules will be automatically banned from the country, interior minister Charles Clarke said Wednesday. (Posted @ 17:29 PST)
KASHMIR: Solution lies in UN resolutions: Syed Ali Gilani SRINAGAR, July 20( PPI) Syed Ali Gilani has said the solution to the 57-year old Kashmir dispute lies only in the implementation of the United Nations resolutions,Kashmir Media Service reported . He said in a statement India should accept the disputed status of Jammu and Kashmir and the people of Kashmir as a primary party to the dispute, withdraw all draconian laws, release all detainees and stop all human rights violations. (Posted @ 16:29 PST)
Sultan meets Benazir Bhutto LONDON, July 20( PPI)Former AJK Prime Minister and leader of the opposition in AJK Legislative Assembly Barrister Sultan Moahmood met chairperson of PPP Benazir Bhutto here in British parliament on Wednesday. The members of the House of Commons including Ch. Muhammad Sarwar, Marza Khalid Mahmood, Shahid Malik were also present during the two hours meeting and discussed wide range of subjects (Posted @ 16:28 PST)
Israel parliament rejects Gaza pullout delay JERUSALEM, July 20 (Reuters) - Israel's parliament on Wednesday rejected bills to delay a withdrawal from the Gaza Strip, defeating a late attempt by opponents of the plan to have it postponed before evacuations start next month. The Knesset voted overwhelmingly against bills calling fordelays of between three months and one year. (Posted @ 15:58 PST)
Veteran Saudi ambassador to Washington resigns RIYADH, July 20 (Reuters) - Saudi Arabia's veteran ambassador to the United States Prince Bandar bin Sultan has resigned "for private reasons", the Saudi Foreign Ministry said on Wednesday. Bandar, who served in Washington for more than 20 years and had close ties with several U.S. presidents, will be replaced by Prince Turki al-Faisal, the former intelligence chief who is currently ambassador to London. (Posted @ 15:58 PST)
Hamas gunmen shoot at homes of security chief, Fatah chief GAZA CITY, July 20 (AFP) - Hamas gunmen on Wednesday attacked the homes of the head of the Palestinian security services and the leader in Gaza of the governing Fatah faction, just hours after a deal to end factional fighting. At least seven people were injured in the exchanges of fire with bodyguards after the attacks on the home of preventive security chief Rashid Abu Shbak and the head of Fatah in Gaza, Abdallah Franji, security and Hamas sources said. While the security sources accused members of Hamas's armed wing, the Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades, of initiating the latest violence, Hamas said the shooting had been started by the security services. (Posted @ 15:50 PST)
Pakistan detains 200 in post-London crackdown on militants ISLAMABAD, July 20 (AFP) - Pakistan has detained more than 200 suspected militants in a crackdown launched in response to the London bombings, twice the number given earlier, interior ministry officials said Wednesday. "A little more than 200 people have been rounded up in the raids nationwide on suspected madrassas (Islamic schools), offices of the militant outfits, shops and houses," they told AFP in Islamabad. Most of the arrests were made in the country's most populous Punjab province and in the second-largest province, Sindh, in the south, the official said (Posted @ 15:44 PST)
Sunni Arabs suspend role on Iraq constitution team BAGHDAD, July 20 (Reuters) - Several Sunni Arab members of the team drafting Iraq's new constitution have suspended their membership following the assassination of two of their colleagues, a spokesman said on Wednesday. The suspension could complicate the task of drafting the charter by a mid-August deadline. (Posted @ 14:23 PST)
Blasts at two domestic oil pipelines in central Iraq BAGHDAD, Iraq, July (APP/AP): Explosions were reported at two domestic oil pipelines in central Iraq, police officers said. A blast occurred at 4:30 a.m. Wednesday, 15 kilometres south of Samarra, which affected a pipeline linking the Beiji and Doura refineries. Officials weren’t aware of the cause of the incident. (Posted @ 14:18 PST)
Pakistan denies arrest of Al-Qaeda figure linked to London bombers ISLAMABAD, July 20 (AFP) - Pakistani security officials Wednesday denied a London Times report that a major Al-Qaeda figure (by the name of Haroon Rashid Aswad according to Reuters) linked to the July 7 London attacks had been arrested. "We have made no such arrest in Pakistan," a senior security official said. "We have not yet been able to track down the linkages of the three London bombers here who travelled to Pakistan before the attacks," the official added. (Posted @ 12:41 PST)
Suicide bomber kills army recruits in Baghdad BAGHDAD, July 20 (Reuters) - A man strapped with explosives blew himself up among a group of Iraqi army recruits in Baghdad on Wednesday, killing up to 10 people and wounding more than 20, police and hospital officials said. (Posted @ 11:15 PST)
North, South Koreas hold military talks on border SEOUL, July 20 (Reuters) - Senior military officers from South and North Korea began rare talks on Wednesday aimed at building trust between two armies that have faced off for decades along one of the world's most fortified borders. "This is about reducing tension on the Korean peninsula," a top South Korean delegate said. (Posted @ 10:41 PST)
Palestinian groups order gunmen to stop fighting GAZA, July 20 (Reuters) - President Mahmoud Abbas's Fatah party and the Hamas militant group said on Wednesday they had ordered their gunmen in the Gaza Strip to stop fighting, a day after 13 people were wounded in gun battles. "The movements have agreed to stop all clashes and violence and end all armed presence and all issues that may lead to tension between the two sides," senior Fatah leader and Palestinian cabinet minister Sufian Abu Zaida said at a joint news conference with Hamas in Gaza. (Posted @ 10:00 PST)
Car bomb kills six in occupied Kashmir NEW DELHI, July 20 (Reuters) - Six people died and 15 were wounded after a car bomb exploded near a school in Srinagar on Wednesday, television channels said. They said the dead included four soldiers. (Posted @ 09:48 PST)
Karachi Stocks up 92.18 points: KARACHI, July 20: At close of trading, the KSE-100 index was at 7411.95, up 92.18 points from Tuesday's close. (Bureau Report) (Updated @ 14:20 PST)
Forex update: KARACHI, July 20: The Pakistani Rupee was traded at Rs 60.5 to the US Dollar in the open market. (Bureau Report) (Updated @ 14:20 PST)
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