|
| August 4, 2005 | Thursday | Jumadi-us-Sani 27, 1426 |
Updated round-the-clock, with major updates after 10:00 PST (05:00 GMT)
Please Visit our Sponsor (Ads open in separate window)
SC declares several sections of Hasba bill ultra vires of Constitution ISLAMABAD, Aug 4 (Agencies) Pakistan’s Supreme Court on Thursday declared ultra vires of the country’s constitution several sections of the Hasba Bill which was passed by the provincial assembly of North West Frontier Province (NWFP) last month. "The governor of the province of NWFP may not assent to the Hasba bill in its present form," Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, head of a panel of nine judges, told the court in a short order before listing several clauses in the bill that were adjudged unconstitutional. Meanwhile Malik Zafar Azam, NWFP law minister, said the bill would be re-drafted and presented again to the provincial assembly. "We will not budge an inch from our objective to implement (an) Islamic system," he said. "It is a war between democracy and dictatorship and I am sure that the democratic forces will win this war."(First Posted @ 17:58 Updated @ 20:05 PST)
India to join Iran, Pakistan to build $ 7.4 billion gas pipeline NEW DELHI, Aug 4 (APP): At the end of a two-day Indo-Iran Joint Working Group (JWG) on the pipeline, New Delhi said that it would go to the cabinet for approval for joining the 7.4 billion dollar Iran-Pakistan-India gas project consortium after agreement on the project structure was reached. "Once there is agreement on the project structure between the three countries, the trilateral framework agreement would be finalized by the end of the current year", a joint statement issued after the JWG meeting said. An Indian technical team would visit Tehran in the third week of this month to review the pre-feasibility report, prepared jointly by National Iranian Gas Export Co and BHP Bhilliton, said a news report adding, the next meeting of the India-Iran special JWG would be held in Tehran by the end of September.(Posted @ 18:36 PST)
Pakistan rejects India's charges on infiltration ISLAMABAD, Aug 4 (Reuters) - Pakistan rebutted on Thursday Indian allegations that militants were congregating in training camps close to a ceasefire line dividing the disputed territory of Kashmir.Foreign ministry spokesman Muhammad Naeem Khan said India had made the claim in order to justify deploying more troops to fight an insurgency inside Kashmir. "We reject these baseless allegations," Khan told Reuters. "The Indian government wants to deploy additional troops in the occupied Kashmir on the pretext of so-called training camps."(Posted @ 13:05 PST)
President calls for greater international coordination in fighting terror ISLAMABAD, Aug 4 (APP): President General Pervez Musharraf vowed to sustain Pakistan's campaign against extremism and called for coordinated international efforts to stamp out terrorism affecting the entire world. "The campaign has to be sustained and has a number of facets; it is not only expulsion of foreign students, it has a number of directions to work on and that is what we are doing," he said in an interview aired Thursday on BBC's Asia Today programme. Commenting on misperceptions regarding Pakistan's role vis-à-vis extremism, he said "it does make me anguish, but we are in a strategic position-our geography gives us a lot of strength.”(Posted @ 19:45 PST)
Death for India parliament raider India, Aug 4 (BBC report): India's Supreme Court has upheld the death sentence for a man convicted of an attack on the country's parliament in 2001, a BBC report said . Mohammad Afzal received the death penalty for "waging war against the nation" and his role in the attack. But the death sentence of a second man, Shaukat Hussain, has been reduced to 10 years rigorous imprisonment. Five gunmen shot dead nine people in the parliament grounds in December 2001, before being killed themselves.(Posted @ 15:00 PST)
Cricket-Australia hit back after early battering BIRMINGHAM, England, Aug 4 (Reuters) - Australia, deprived of Glenn McGrath following a freak warm-up injury, weathered a battering before dismissing England for 407 on an enthralling opening day of the second test on Thursday. Australia looked set for a tricky 20 minutes batting before the close only for rain to end play early. The home side, 1-0 down in the five-match series after being outclassed at Lord's, dominated the morning and afternoon, galloping at a one-day pace to reach 289 for four at tea, with Marcus Trescothick making 90.(Posted @ 22:55 PST)
Jordan arrests 17 Al-Qaeda suspects over attack plot AMMAN, Aug 4 (AFP) Jordanian security forces have arrested 17 members of two alleged Al-Qaeda linked networks suspected of plotting to attack Jordanian security officials and "American officers" in the kingdom, judicial sources said Thursday.(Posted @ 20:52 PST)
Israeli kills 3 in bus shooting JERUSALEM, Aug 4 (Reuters) An Israeli in military uniform shot dead three people aboard a bus in the northern Galilee region on Thursday, police said. A television report said the shooting appeared to be linked to a local feud and not to a Palestinian revolt against Israel.(First Posted @ 20:28 Updated @ 20:48 PST)
North Korea insists on right to peaceful nuke programmes BEIJING, Aug 4 (Reuters) North Korea said on Thursday it was committed to denuclearisation of the Korean Peninsula but insisted on its right to maintain nuclear programmes for peaceful use, a demand that has blocked progress at crisis talks in China. The United States has demanded North Korea verifiably dismantle all its nuclear programmes before it receives any concessions like security guarantees or energy aid. Six party talks were due to go into an 11th day in Beijing on Friday.(Posted @ 20:34 PST)
London bombers used everyday materials: US police NEW YORK/LONDON, Aug 4 (Reuters) Bombs used by four suicide attackers to kill 52 people in London were made from simple ingredients such as hair bleach, and three of them were probably set off by cell phones, New York's police chief said. The homemade devices used on July 7 were stored in a commercial refrigerator in an apartment in northern England and shipped in coolers to a station outside London where the bombers took a train to the capital, the official added. Britain's anti-terrorist branch would not confirm the U.S reports.(Posted @ 17:12 PST)
Israeli forces detain senior Islamic Jihad official RAMALLAH, West Bank, Aug 4 (Reuters) Israeli troops detained the West Bank spokesman of the militant Islamic Jihad group, Khader Adnan, on Thursday, Palestinian security sources said. An Israeli army spokeswoman said an "Islamic Jihad activist was arrested in Ramallah" but did not identify him or provide further information.(Posted @ 17:06 PST)
Israel sets West Bank settlement expansion JERUSALEM, Aug 4 (Reuters) Israel revealed plans on Thursday to build 72 housing units in a Jewish settlement in the occupied West Bank, despite a call by a U.S.-backed peace "road map" for a halt to settlement expansion. A spokesman for Israel's Housing Ministry said construction in the ultra-Orthodox settlement of Betar Ilit, near the Palestinian city of Bethlehem, could start within a year. "This is a provocation not only to the Palestinian people but also to the international community," Palestinian Planning Minister Ghassan al-Khattib said.(Posted @ 14:55 PST)
Turkey says it won't accept new conditions for EU talks ANKARA, Aug 4 (Reuters) Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan said on Thursday that Turkey could not accept any new conditions suggesting Ankara must recognize EU member Cyprus before opening of entry talks with the European Union on Oct. 3. (Posted @ 14:50 PST)
Casualties in Iraq BAGHDAD, Aug 4 (Reuters) - Insurgents stormed the home of an Iraqi soldier near the town of Baquba, killing his wife, his 12 year-old daughter and his six-year-old son as they lay asleep on the floor, police and survivors said.The soldier, Ibrahim Omar, was not in the home at the time of the attack. Two of his other daughters, including a three-year-old, were injured.A public relations official working with Deputy Prime Minister Ahmad Chalabi was assassinated in Baghdad, Chalabi's spokesman, Entifadh Qanbar said. Haidar al-Dujaili was gunned down near his home in the capital's southern district of Saydiya.(Posted @ 13:00 PST)
Sudan death toll rises to 130, capital calm KHARTOUM, Aug 4 (Reuters) - At least 130 people have been killed and around 350 injured in Sudan after three days of violence following the death of former rebel leader and First Vice President John Garang, the Sudanese Red Crescent (SRC) said on Thursday.The SRC's director of disaster management told Reuters the death toll in the capital by Wednesday evening was 111, with six killed in Malakal and 13 in the southern town of Juba, where Garang is to be buried on Saturday. (Posted @ 12:55 PST)
Afghan intelligence official shot dead by Taliban rebels KANDAHAR, Afghanistan, Aug 4 (AFP) - The head of intelligence in the southern Afghan province of Zabul was shot dead Thursday by Taliban insurgents, a regional official said. Mohammad Rasul was taking an early morning walk in the Deh Chopan district when he was attacked by four Taliban gunmen riding on two motorbikes, district chief Zafar Khan told AFP. The attackers fled after the shooting. Abdul Latif Hakimi, a purported spokesman for the Taliban, claimed responsibility for the killing.(Posted @ 12:47 PST)
Repaired shuttle still not cleared for landing HOUSTON, Aug 3 (Reuters) - A spacewalking astronaut ventured to the underside of space shuttle Discovery on Wednesday for the first time and plucked two protruding cloth fillers from between ceramic tiles on the shuttle's heat shield. But Discovery, the first shuttle to fly since Columbia broke up over Texas in 2003, was still without the all-clear to land next Monday. Engineers were conducting wind tunnel tests to determine if a damaged insulation strip beneath a window could rip off during landing and smash into a critical flight system, NASA officials said.(Posted @ 12:45 PST)
Seven killed in occupied Kashmir SRINAGAR, Aug 4 (AFP) - Seven people were killed in fresh fighting between soldiers and militants in occupied Kashmir, police said Thursday. A soldier and three militants were killed in two fierce clashes late Wednesday in Poonch and Kupwara districts , a spokesman said. "Both the clashes erupted when troops launched counter-insurgency operations in the two areas," he said. Also late Wednesday, suspected militants abducted a policeman and an Indian army soldier in southern Doda and Rajouri districts and later killed them, police said. Police also recovered the bullet-ridden body of a high school student in southern Anantnag district. Occupied "It is being ascertained who killed the student," the spokesman said. Thousands have died in Kashmir since the renewed freedom movement in 1989.(Posted @ 11:30 PST)
Israeli anti-pullout protesters end standoff OFAKIM, Israel, Aug 4 (Reuters) - Thousands of Israeli rightists suspended a march on Gaza settlements on Thursday after security forces blocked their path to prevent them from disrupting a planned pullout from the occupied strip.(Posted @ 10:15 PST)
Two killed, four injured in Istanbul explosion ISTANBUL, Aug 4 (AFP) - Two people were killed and four injured when a blast of unknown cause shook a residential neighborhood in Turkey's biggest city Istanbul early Thursday, police said. "We are unable to say whether it was a bomb or not. The probe is continuing," police chief Celalettin Cerrah told reporters at the scene.(Posted @ 10:00 PST)
Karachi Stocks down 37.24 points KARACHI, August 4: At close of trading, the KSE-100 index was at 7404.80, down 37.24 points from Wednesday’s close. (Bureau Report) (Updated @ 15:00 PST)
Forex update: KARACHI, August 4: The Pakistani Rupee was traded at Rs 60.5 to the US Dollar in the open market. (Bureau Report) (Updated @ 15:00 PST)
Founder: Quaid-i-Azam Mohammad Ali Jinnah
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) 569-3995
webmaster@dawn.com
Make sure to reload these pages so you're viewing the current version.
|
|
|
Contributions |