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| August 12, 2005 | Friday | Rajab 6, 1426 |
Updated round-the-clock, with major updates after 10:00 PST (05:00 GMT)
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Pakistan to fully contribute in emerging Asian Order: PM HONG KONG, Aug 12 (APP): Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz Friday expressed Pakistan's resolve to make its fullest contribution to the emergence of a new Asian Order based on the principle of mutual cooperation and peace and development. "The 21st century will be the Asian Century. I am confident that Asia would become the driving force for political and economic change towards a more peaceful, equitable and just international order," Aziz told a gathering of intellectuals and scholars at the Chinese University of Hong Kong. The Prime Minister dilated at length on Pakistan's strategic location and its role and potential to help realize the cherished goals of peace, security and prosperity in the world in general and the Asian region in particular.(Posted @ 15:40 PST)
Aziz holds talks with Hong Kong Chief Executive HONG KONG, Aug 12 (APP): Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz Friday held a fifty- minute long discussion with Hong Kong’s Chief Executive, Donald Tsang, on measures to boost economic ties, promote investment and increase interaction between their private sectors. The Prime Minister described the meeting as "cordial and highly positive" adding that the talks mainly focused on commercial cooperation. Tsang was appreciative of the measures and said Hong Kong also pursued a similar path. Aziz also discussed different dimensions of Pak-China relations with the Chief Executive.(Posted @ 15:35 PST)
Pakistan's capabilities are for defence only: PM HONG KONG, Aug 12 (APP): Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz Friday said Pakistan's defence capabilities were strictly for its security and it had no desire to enter an arms race, or to be a regional military power. Responding to a question about Pakistan's successful test fire of its first ever cruise missile conducted on Thursday, he said "our capabilities are strictly for defence purposes, we do not wish to enter any arms race and we have no desire to be a regional military power.". He added that both Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and his predecessor Atal Behari Vajpaee remained committed to the peace process and so does Pakistan.(Posted @ 15:25 PST)
Pakistan wants peace with India: Khurshid Kasuri ISLAMABAD, Aug 11 (APP): Foreign Minister Khurshid Mehmood Kasuri Friday said Pakistan wanted peace with India stressing that "peace does not come through weakness." Replying to a question about arms race in the region while talking to the BBC, Kasuri said "I don't think it’s a question of arms race," adding that Pakistan cannot be accused of that. "We wish to maintain the degree of strategic stability in South Asia," he said. To a question regarding giving advance warnings to India before conducting tests he said, these warnings applied only to ballistic missiles and did not apply to cruise missiles. He said India had tested missiles many times and never gave any advance notice to Pakistan, adding that "I don't think we were required to give any notice."(Posted @ 15:55 PST)
Sri Lanka's Foreign Minister Kadirgamar shot, critically wounded COLOMBO, Aug 12 (AFP) - Sri Lanka's Foreign Minister Lakshman Kadirgamar was shot and critically wounded Friday night by an unidentified attacker in the capital, police and medical doctors said. Kadirgamar, 73, was shot near his tightly-guarded home in Colombo, possibly by a sniper who targeted him while he was driving in his car, police sources told AFP, speaking on condition of anonymity. "He was rushed to the National Hospital," one police official said. A doctor at the hospital said Kadirgamar had suffered a head injury and was in critical condition. He was undergoing emergency surgery involving two neurosurgeons and two cardiothoracic surgeons.(Posted @ 23:30 PST)
Aziz asks Pakistani community to present country's positive image HONG KONG, Aug 12 (APP): Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz Friday said Pakistan's economy was on the rise and urged the overseas Pakistanis to invest in diverse areas that offered attractive returns. Speaking to a gathering of Pakistani community in Hong Kong on the second day of his visit, he termed the expatriates as ambassadors of their country and urged them to build a positive image of Pakistan as an enlightened, tolerant and progressive nation.(Posted @ 21:52 PST)
Kashmir: JKLF calls for complete strike on Aug 15 SRINAGAR, Aug 12 (PPI) The Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front gave a call to observe a complete shutdown in occupied Kashmir on Aug 15, a spokesman for the JKLF announced in a statement.(Posted @ 21:52 PST)
About 73,000 grounded by British Airways strike LONDON, Aug 12 (Reuters) Wildcat strikes forced British Airways to cancel its flights at London's Heathrow airport for a second day on Friday, grounding some 73,000 passengers during the peak summer holiday season. BA said it had cancelled all flights using Britain's biggest airport until at least 8 p.m. (1900 GMT), extending a previous suspension by two hours. In the first sign of a possible break-through, BA said around two-thirds of the 1,000 staff who walked out Thursday in support of workers sacked at a catering supplier were returning to work.(Posted @ 21:48 PST)
Disease death toll rises to 94 in flood-hit Bombay BOMBAY, Aug 12 (Reuters) At least 94 people have now died in Bombay as water-borne diseases spread in India's largest city following record rains two weeks ago that triggered flooding and landslides, a state official said on Friday. Thousands of people have crammed the city's hospitals seeking treatment, including nearly 1,000 in the past 36 hours alone, a city commissioner said. "There are 3,261 people under medical care at the given moment in municipal hospitals in Bombay alone," he said.(Posted @ 21:48 PST)
Serbia charges seven with murder of 19 Muslims BELGRADE, Aug 12 (Reuters) Serbia charged seven men on Friday with the murder of at least 19 Muslim civilians during the 1992-95 Bosnian war, in the first case handed to Belgrade by the U.N. war crimes tribunal in The Hague. All of the accused were in custody.(Posted @ 21:42 PST)
Cricket-Australia reaches 73-1 after Giles strikes MANCHESTER, England, Aug 12 (Reuters) Australia, replying to England's first innings of 444, reached 73 for one at tea on the second day of the third test on Friday. Scores: 1st Innings England 444 all out (M.Vaughan 166, M.Trescothick 63, I.Bell 59, A.Flintoff 46, G.Jones 42; Lee 4-100, Warne 4-99, Gillespie 1-114, Katich 1-36) Australia 73-1 (J.Langer 31, M.Hayden 33 n.o., R.Ponting 7 n.o.; Giles 1-12)(Posted @ 21:42 PST)
Aziz denies Pakistani link to London, Egyptian blasts HONG KONG, Aug 12 (AFP) Pakistani Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz repeated denials Friday that his country had any links to the recent terrorist bombings in London and Egypt, saying that Pakistanis were unfairly blamed. "(In) recent events in the UK people started wondering if people from Pakistan were linked," Aziz told a luncheon meeting of Hong Kong businessmen. "The truth is, they were second-generation people who were really local people." Referring to the blasts in Egypt he said "these people that were from Pakistan (who were suspected) hadn't even been to Sharm el-Sheikh". Aziz blamed the world's media for Pakistan's poor image overseas and called for nations to change their view of the Islamic republic. "We are like any other people in the world," he said.(Posted @ 19:54 PST)
Taliban behead four alleged spies; Taliban commander killed KANDAHAR, Afghanistan, Aug 12 (AFP) Suspected Taliban militants beheaded four people including a policeman for allegedly spying for the US-led military in southern Afghanistan, officials said Friday. A Taliban spokesman claimed responsibility for the incident. Earlier a Taliban commander, Qari Amadullah, who headed up to 50 fighters, was shot dead and an American soldier died in a training accident, officials said and a Taliban spokesman confirmed on Friday. A homemade bomb also exploded on Friday in a busy market in the southern city of Kandahar, wounding four people including a woman and child.(Posted @ 19:54 PST)
One killed, six wounded in grenade attack in India's northeast GUWAHATI, Aug 12 (AFP) One person died and six others were badly hurt in a grenade attack by rebels in India's packed market in Dokmoka, a village 150 kilometres east of Assam's main city of Guwahati, police said Friday. The violence brought the number of explosions since last Saturday to 26 in the oil-and-tea rich state of Assam, police said. Police blamed the blast on Karbi tribal rebels who are battling for greater autonomy. No comment was available from the rebel group.(Posted @ 19:50 PST)
UK bars British-based cleric Bakri; Lebanon releases cleric LONDON, Aug 12 (Reuters) Britain barred British-based cleric Omar Bakri Mohammed on Friday from returning to the country as part of a government crackdown on preachers it fears inspire bombers such as those who attacked London in July. "We don't feel he's conducive to the public good," said a Home Office spokeswoman. His family was free to remain in the United Kingdom, she added. Meanwhile Lebanon released the cleric on Friday after a General Prosecutor ordered his release. The sources said investigators found the cleric had not broken any laws.(Posted @ 19:42 PST)
Security incidents in Iraq, Aug 12 BAGHDAD, Aug 12 (Agencies) An associate of the al Qaeda leader in Iraq, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, was killed by an Iraqi special police unit in Mosul, Iraqi police sources said. A U.S. Apache helicopter crashed near Kirkuk injuring the two aircrew, the U.S. military said. The cause of the crash was not immediatelyclear. A US soldier was killed early Friday by a home-made bomb north of Baghdad, a US Army communique said without providing details.(Posted @ 19:36 PST)
Maoist rebels blow up police station in India PATNA, India, Aug 12 (Reuters) More than 50 Maoist insurgents attacked a police station in India's impoverished Bihar state, killing two policemen before blowing up the building with dynamite, police said on Friday. Two policemen were also seriously wounded in the attack late on Thursday at Chabilapur, about 125 km (80 miles) south of Patna. The Maoists also took weapons abandoned by the officers.(Posted @ 19:30 PST)
Cricket-Ganguly chosen captain for Zimbabwe tour BOMBAY, Aug 12 (Reuters) Indian cricket selectors named Saurav Ganguly as captain on Friday for a tour of Zimbabwe, ending uncertainty caused by his prolonged poor batting form.(Posted @ 18:55 PST)
NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter blasts off CAPE CANAVERAL, Florida, Aug 12 (AFP) NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) blasted off into space Friday atop an Atlas V rocket, bound for a 25-month mission to survey the Red Planet. The MRO is being sent to step up the search for signs of water on Mars and to help pick sites for possible landings on the planet in the future. Technical problems involving the rocket and its fuel sensors had been blamed for postponing a launch on Wednesday and Thursday.(Posted @ 16:55 PST)
UK diplomats attacked, Pakistan scientist's kin held ISLAMABAD, Aug 12 (Reuters) A son-in-law of Pakistan's disgraced nuclear scientist A.Q. Khan was being held in custody after an assault on two British diplomats in Islamabad, police said on Friday. A spokesman for the British High Commission (embassy) said the two diplomats, a man and woman, suffered a "vicious and unprovoked attack" by several men as they were walking home at night in a posh district of Islamabad. A motive for the attack had not been ascertained, he said. Police confirmed Saad Ali Khan, Khan's son-in-law, was being held. "He had some quarrel with the British diplomats," the head of Islamabad's Kohsar police station said.(Posted @ 16:45 PST)
Hamas says it will keep its guns; Sharon has "no regrets" for Gaza pullout GAZA, Aug 12 (Reuters) Hamas leaders said on Friday that they would not disarm despite Israel's planned Gaza pullout. "Arms are a holy issue. It is impossible for us to abandon our arms even if we all get killed. The issue of arms is not one for discussion," the head of Hamas's Qassam Brigades, Ahmed Al-Ghandour, said in northern Gaza. Meanwhile Prime Minister Ariel Sharon in published remarks said on Friday that he had “no regrets” on his plan to evacuate settlers from the territory despite deep divisions in the Jewish state. "Even if I had known ahead of time the extent of resistance, I would have done it anyway," he said.(Posted @ 16:35 PST)
Oil prices steam past 66 dollars in Asian trading SINGAPORE, Aug 12 (AFP) - Oil prices continued a relentless rise above 66 dollars a barrel in Asian trading Friday as the global appetite showed no signs of waning and US refineries struggled to keep pace with demand, dealers said.(Posted @ 11:30 PST)
Forex update: KARACHI, August 12: The Pakistani Rupee was traded at Rs 60.05 to the US Dollar in the open market. (Bureau Report) (Updated @ 14:45 PST)
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