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| August 5, 2005 | Friday | Jumadi-us-Sani 28, 1426 |
Updated round-the-clock, with major updates after 10:00 PST (05:00 GMT)
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Cricket-England 25-1 & 407 v Australia (308) second test close BIRMINGHAM, Aug 5 (Reuters) - In their second innings, England reached 25 for one against Australia at the close of play on the second day of the second test at Edgbaston on Friday: Scores: England 25-1 & 407 (M.Trescothick 90, K.Pietersen 71, A.Flintoff 68) v Australia 308 all out (J.Langer 82, R.Ponting 61, A.Gilchrist 49 not out)(Posted @ 22:42 PST)
Casualties in Iraq BAGHDAD, Aug 5 (Reuters) - Three civilians were killed and four wounded in fierce fighting between U.S. forces and insurgents in Haditha. A hospital source said two young sisters and their 47-year-old father were among the wounded. There was no immediate word on military casualties. A member of the Shi'ite militia Badr Brigade was killed and his son was injured by gunmen while leaving his house in Baquba. A police source said Abbas Salman Ahmed was shot while driving his car.And in Tikrit one policeman was injured when a roadside bomb struck a police car.(Posted @ 20:55 PST)
President appreciates decline in debt burden, calls for need-based borrowing strategy ISLAMABAD, Aug 5 (APP): President General Pervez Musharraf Friday appreciated decline brought about in Pakistan's debt burden in the last six years and underscored the need for having a borrowing strategy which is need-based and its positive effects are seen on ground. Addressing a meeting on debt reduction strategy, which was also attended by Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz, he said it took six years of sustained efforts and sacrifices for the country's economy to reach the stage where it stands today.But it takes no time to slide back, he cautioned. Pakistan's debt burden has declined substantially and is fast-approaching sustainable levels, he noted. The President desired that the country's borrowing requirement should be reviewed on a quarterly basis. "We must not lower our guard and continue to perform well," he emphasized, underlining the importance of sustaining good performance. Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz, in his opening remarks, briefed the President about the evolution of the country's debt situation during the last six years, which he described as being transformed from insolvency to one of stability. He stressed the need for continuing to maintain macro-economic stability and continuation with structural reforms in various sectors of the economy. The Government had already undertaken second generation reforms and in order to maintain fiscal discipline, the Parliament has already passed fiscal responsibility and debt limitation law, he said(Posted @ 20:38 PST)
Third round of Indo-Pak talks on nuclear CBMs in progress NEW DELHI, Aug 5 (APP): India and Pakistan on Friday held third round of experts level talks on Nuclear Confidence Building Measures here with extensive interaction on the issue of pre-notification agreement on missile tests. With both sides showing flexibility , this round of talks on Nuke CBMs is expected to make considerable progress, well placed sources said adding that a joint statement will hopefully be issued tomorrow. Talks on Conventional CBMs will be held on August 8. The progress made so far in the previous two rounds of talks was also reviewed at the meeting besides deliberation upon other steps to take the process forward.(Posted @ 20:22 PST)
North Korea, US fail to make headway in nuclear talks BEIJING, Aug 5 (AFP) - North Korea and the United States failed to make headway Friday in marathon disarmament talks after the North insisted it must retain the right to operate nuclear programs for peaceful purposes. They met again Friday morning after the North's chief delegate Kim Kye-gwan told reporters that "all nations in the world should have the right to undertake peaceful nuclear activities." But they got nowhere, said South Korea's top envoy Soon Min-soon. "The countries concerned are evenly stubborn. It is not true that only one side is stubborn," said Song. The marathon talks, the longest ever in the six-nation process that started in 2003, will continue Saturday, Song said.(Posted @ 19:25 PST)
Iran says EU offer 'unacceptable' TEHRAN, Aug 5 (AFP) - Iran dismissed as "unacceptable" a package of EU proposals submitted Friday aimed at persuading Tehran to give up nuclear fuel work in return for economic, technological and political incentives. "The proposals are unacceptable," nuclear negotiator Hossein Moussavian said, describing them as in "clear violation" of agreements between Iran and the European Union. "They negate Iran's inalienable right (to enrich uranium)," he said, pointing out that Tehran had the right to develop nuclear fuel for peaceful purposes under the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. Moussavian also said Iran would resume uranium conversion, a precurser to enrichment, despite a meeting of the UN watchdog next week aimed at persuading Tehran to maintain a freeze on the work.(Posted @ 19:15 PST)
Hizb ut-Tahrir blasts British ban LONDON, Aug 5 (AFP) - Hizb ut-Tahrir slammed Prime Minister Tony Blair's announcement Friday that it is to be banned in Britain, a move that also prompted concern from a more mainstream Muslim organisation. Hizb ut-Tahrir Britain spokesman Imran Waheed branded Blair's remarks "most unjust" and pledged the group would battle any ban via the courts. Waheed said: "Our views are very similar to those in the Muslim community. We want an end to Western interference in Muslim countries."By doing this, he (Blair) is setting an example to the tyrant rulers of the Muslim world, encouraging them to further suppress their populations."Hizb ut-Tahrir is a non-violent political party. It has had a history of non-violence for the last 50 years and these measures are like what we have seen in Uzbekistan where President (Islam) Karimov has been burning his political opponents alive." The Muslim Council of Britain, the country's biggest Islamic representative organisation, also weighed in, saying that although it held no brief for Hizb ut-Tahrir, which it understood to be non-violent in Britain, the ban could backfire. "They are a group with whom the mainstream Muslim community has strong and well known disagreements concerning participation in our political process," said secretary-general Iqbal Sacranie.(Posted @ 19:10 PST)
Police in revolt-hit occupied Kashmir arrest six men over deadly car bombs SRINAGAR, Aug 5 (AFP) - Police said Friday they had arrested six men suspected of being involved in three car-bomb blasts in Srinagar that killed 16 people and injured 75. Police chief Gopal Sharma told a news conference that the four men were arrested Friday in different parts of occupied Kashmir. Two others were arrested earlier in the week.He alleged the suspects belonged to Hizbul Mujahedin which is fighting to make Kashmir part of Pakistan. "We are conducting raids to arrest two more militants who have been masterminding these attacks," Sharma said, adding one of them is a Pakistani.(Posted @ 19:03 PST)
Kashmiris protest India parliament raid sentence SRINAGAR, Aug 5 (Reuters) - Police detained at least 10 protesters in occupied Kashmir on Friday as hundreds demonstrated against the death sentence handed out to a Kashmiri Muslim Mohammad Afzal for a raid on Indian parliament building four years ago. Large number of people took to the streets to protest in Srinagar the southern town of Sopore, Afzal's hometown, and elsewhere in occupied Kashmir. "Hanging of a freedom lover can never suppress the love for freedom," read a banner waved vigorously by protesters from the All Parties Hurriyat (Freedom) Conference before police detained at least 10 of them."We are releasing them shortly," a police official said.In Sopore, scores of protesters led by senior separatist leader Yasin Malik marched against the verdict. "By hanging Kashmiris, India will achieve nothing," Malik, the chief of the Jammu Kashmir Liberation Front, told the crowd. "They hanged Maqbool Bhat and thousands of Maqbools were born," he said, referring to the group's founder, who was hanged in 1984 for killing an Indian intelligence officer.(Posted @ 18:54 PST)
U.S., Iraqi forces launch offensive in Haditha BAGHDAD, Aug 5 (Reuters) - A U.S.-Iraqi force of some 1,000 troops battled insurgents on Friday around the rebel hotbed of Haditha in western Iraq where 14 American Marines were killed by a roadside bomb earlier this week, the U.S. military said. Hospital sources said at least three Iraqis died in fierce fighting on Friday. It was not clear if they were fighters or civilians caught in crossfire.(Posted @ 17:52 PST)
Nineteen African migrants drown off Morocco RABAT, Aug 5 (Reuters) - Nineteen African illegal migrants drowned on Friday when their rickety boat capsized off Morocco's southern Atlantic coast on its way to Spanish Canary islands, state news agency MAP reported. Their bodies washed up off the Atlantic-coast city of Tarfaya, 1,150 km (710 miles) south of the capital Rabat. Two migrants survived . MAP said they were from sub-Saharan African countries.(Posted @ 17:48 PST)
Indian cabinet member accused in 1984 riots: reports NEW DELHI, Aug 5 (APP/AFP) - An Indian cabinet minister has been accused of encouraging the violence that saw 2,000 Sikhs killed in a wave of 1984 rioting, media reports said Friday. An official inquiry said it found a "high probability" of "involvement" in the riots by Jagdish Tytler, now junior minister in charge of the welfare of non-resident Indians, the Hindustan Times said. "The commission considers it safe to record a finding that there is credible evidence against Jagdish Tytler to the effect he very probably had a hand in organising attacks on Sikhs," the daily quoted the report as saying. The riots, mainly in New Delhi, erupted after the assassination of then prime minister Indira Gandhi by two Sikh bodyguards. The Times of India said the inquiry also "specifically indicts" Sajjan Kumar, a current member of parliament, as well as the governor and police chief of Delhi at the time.(Posted @ 17:05 PST)
Fears grow for air supply of Russia mini-sub crew MOSCOW, Aug 5 (Reuters) - Seven Russian sailors were trapped on board a stranded military mini-submarine 600 feet down on the sea floor of the Russian Pacific on Friday with enough air to last only 24 hours, officials said. The submarine ran into trouble on Thursday when its propeller got entangled in fishing nets during a military exercise off the Kamchatka peninsula. Officials said there had been contact with the crew and nobody had been hurt. Altogether, nine Russian ships and one from Japan were taking part in the operation to raise the stricken vessel. Japan would send four more vessels.Authorities were also in contact with U.S. naval forces in the Pacific to see if they could help.(Posted @ 16:50 PST)
Egyptian mummy brought to virtual life by US computer experts SAN FRANCISCO, Aug 4 (AFP) - Computer experts in US have virtually revived a 2,000-year-old Egyptian mummy, researchers confirmed Thursday. Technicians at computing visualization company Silicon Graphics Incorporated used body scan data to create three-dimensional imagery of a mummified girl kept at Rosicrucian Egyptian Museum in San Jose since about 1930. "This mummy is no longer just a fascinating artifact, but a lively young child who lived many ages ago," said museum curator Lisa Schwappach-Shirriff. "The images of this little girl are breathtaking, and the details that we can see on her are nothing short of amazing." Museum workers dubbed the girl mummy "Sherit," which they said is ancient Egyption for "little one." Sherit was close to five years old when she died, and the absence of signs of injury suggests she succumbed to dysentary or another illness common among children in Nile Valley at the time, researchers said.(Posted @ 16:32 PST)
Forty police hurt in overnight clashes with Protestant rioters in Belfast BELFAST, Aug 5 (AFP) - Forty police were hurt during clashes on Thursday night and into Friday morning with Protestant rioters in north Belfast, police said. The violence came after police in the city arrested six men on Thursday in a big operation targeting Protestant paramilitaries involved in a feud that has left three people dead. On Thursday night, several hundred Protestants attacked police with homemade grenades and petrol bombs from behind a line of stolen, burning cars in the centre of the Crumlin Road, a Protestant stronghold in the city. Police responded by firing rounds of non-lethal plastic bullets. It was unclear how many of the rioters were hurt. 5(Posted @ 16:28 PST)
Blair announces sweeping new moves to combat terrorism LONDON, Aug 5 (AFP) - British Prime Minister Tony Blair on Friday unveiled a sweeping set of measures to combat terrorism after the London bombings, including a controversial move to consider opting out from EU human rights obligations. Blair told a Downing Street press conference that interior ministry was publishing new rules on deporting the likes of foreign hardline Islamic clerics who advocate terrorism, foster hatred or advocate violence to further religious beliefs."Anyone who has participated in terrorism or has anything to do with it, anywhere, will automatically be refused asylum in our country," he warned. Hardline groups such as Al Muhajiroun would be proscribed. Among new measures would be expanding existing powers allowing the government to strip citizenship from people with British or dual nationality who "act in a way that is contrary to the interest of this country", Blair said.(Posted @ 16:18 PST)
Iran can continue nuclear programme for civilian use: EU BRUSSELS, Aug 5 (AFP) - Iran can continue to develop its nuclear programme as long as it is clearly for civilian and not military use, a spokesman for the European Union's executive commission said on Friday. He said the guarantee was given in a letter to Iran from the EU-3 countries -- Britain, France and Germany whch had offered incentives to the Islamic Republic so that it continues a freeze on sensitive nuclear activities.(Posted @ 16:05 PST)
Suspected militants attack a police station in occupied Kashmir SRINAGAR, Aug 5 (APP/AP) Suspected militants armed with automatic weapons attacked a police station in the old quarter of occupied Kashmir's main city on Friday, a police officer said. There were no reports of casualties.(Posted @ 13:05 PST)
Five Turkish soldiers killed in bomb attack ANKARA, Aug 5 (AFP) Five Turkish paramilitary troops were killed and seven others were injured Friday in a bomb attack in the south eastern Turkish province of Hakkari blamed on armed Kurdish rebels, a news channel reported. Security forces had begun a sweep of the area to catch the perpetrators.(Posted @ 12:30 PST)
Scores of Bangladesh fishermen missing after storm DHAKA, Aug 5 (Reuters) At least 75 Bangladeshi fishermen were missing and feared drowned because of storms in the Bay of Bengal over the past two days, officials said Friday. Rescuers picked up some 170 fishermen after 15 fishing boats with 245 fishermen aboard capsized during the storms, an official added.(Posted @ 11:20 PST)
Road side bomb kills U.S. soldier in Afghanistan KABUL, Aug 5 (Reuters) An American soldier was killed by a road side bomb in Afghanistan, the U.S. military said Friday.(Posted @ 11:15 PST)
NASA clears shuttle Discovery for landing HOUSTON, Aug 4 (Reuters) NASA on Thursday cleared the space shuttle Discovery to return home after dismissing lingering concerns about its condition, and told the crew to pack up their spacesuits because there was no need for a fourth spacewalk. "I will not tell you that it is zero risk," shuttle deputy program manager Wayne Hale said. "(But) it is the lowest risk, the best choice and the unanimous decision of the engineers and the management team that we should re-enter as is."(Posted @ 10:18 PST)
At the close of trading the Karachi stock exchange up 13.66 points KARACHI, August 5: The KSE-100 index was at 7418.61 , up 13.66 points from Friday’s close. (Bureau Report) (Updated @ 16:00 PST)
Forex update: KARACHI, August 5: The Pakistani Rupee was traded at Rs 60.5 to the US Dollar in the open market. (Bureau Report) (Updated @ 16:00 PST)
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