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| August 24, 2005 | Wednesday | Rajab 18, 1426 |
Updated round-the-clock, with major updates after 10:00 PST (05:00 GMT)
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UN Security Council fear at rise in Afghan attacks United Nations, Aug 24 PPI: The UN Security Council says it is gravely concerned about increased attacks by Taleban, al-Qaeda and other extremist groups in Afghanistan. The UN's special representative on Afghanistan told the council that extremists were targeting pro-government and international forces there. His statement comes ahead of Afghan elections which the UN is helping to organise for September 18 . UN secretary general's special representative, Jean Arnault, said extremist groups had stepped up their violence in recent months using ambushes and explosive devices to deadly effect. Arnault said it appeared the extremists were targeting pro-government and international forces rather than election candidates and electoral workers, but that it was too soon to rule out attempts to cause major disruptions to the elections.(Posted @ 20:45 PST)
Personal expenses during Hajj enhanced ISLAMABAD, Aug 24 (APP): Personal expenses of Hujjaj during Hajj have been doubled from 1300 to 1600 instead of 800 riyals to enable them to meet miscellaneous personal expenses including higher cost of sacrificial animals, etc, an official spokesman said.(Posted @ 20:45 PST)
APHC holds demo in Srinagar against HR violations ISLAMABAD, Aug 24 (APP): All Parties Hurriyat Conference (APHC) staged protest demonstration against human violations and release of political workers in Srinagar. According to Radio Tehran, hundreds of the workers of APHC gathered in the Aabi Guzar area of Srinagar. They carried placard and were chanting slogans against human rights violations. Police arrested more than one and a half dozen workers including APHC leaders, Javed Ahmed and Shahidul Islam.(Posted @ 20:30 PST)
US-Afghan raids kill 11 Taliban KANDAHAR, Afghanistan, Aug 24 (AFP) - Eleven suspected Taliban rebels, including a local commander, died in two separate raids by US and Afghan troops ahead of Afghanistan's key parliamentary elections, officials said Wednesday. Five Taliban were killed and and two were arrested early Wednesday during an operation in Chora district of strife-torn Uruzgan province.Among them was a famous Taliban commander called Mullah Painday Mohammed," Uruzgan governor Jan Mohammed told AFP. Six more Taliban were killed on Tuesday when joint forces surrounded a house in Sahak, a remote village in the restive southern province of Zabul, where the rebels were manufacturing remote-controlled roadside bombs, an official said."After more than one hour's exchange of fire, six Taliban were killed and lots of weapons, explosives and remote-control devices were seized," said provincial spokesman Gulab Shah Ali Khail. There were no casualties amongst the Afghan or US-led troops, he said.(Posted @ 20:20 PST)
India's encephalitis toll rises to 178 LUCKNOW, India, Aug 24 (Reuters) - The death toll from an outbreak of encephalitis in the northern Indian state of Uttar Pradesh has increased to 178, with more than 60 deaths reported in the past five days, a health official said on Wednesday.Most of the dead have been children and more than 250 people are in hospital, some in critical condition.The disease, an acute form of brain fever caused by a virus spread by mosquitoes, has also spread to other parts of the state including the provincial capital, Lucknow.Last year, about 50 people died of the disease in Uttar Pradesh.(Posted @ 20:05 PST)
Israel moves to link W.Bank settlement to Jerusalem JERUSALEM, Aug 24 (Reuters) - Israel has issued orders to seize Palestinian-owned land to link a main Jewish settlement in the occupied West Bank to Jerusalem, officials said on Wednesday, a step that could isolate Palestinians from the city. An Israeli government spokesman said orders were issued to seize four Palestinian-owned tracts of land around Maale Adumim.the largest Jewish settlement in the West Bank, last Thursday. The planned Maale Adumim section of the barrier Israel is building in the West Bank has raised alarm in Washington because of Israel's stated intention to build new homes in Maale Adumim joining it to Jerusalem, 8 km (5 miles) away.By looping in the enclave, Israel would effectively seal Palestinians off from east Jerusalem, which they want as their capital. Israel considers all of the holy city its own eternal capital, a claim not recognised internationally.(Posted @ 20:05 PST)
Pakistan begins registering religious schools ISLAMABAD, Aug 24 (Reuters) - Pakistani authorities began registering thousands of Islamic schools on Wednesday, a move hardline clerics have vowed to resist. Vakil Ahmed Khan, secretary at the Ministry of Religious Affairs, said the government had distributed forms to madrasas seeking information on their number of teachers and students and details of their income and expenditure. The forms also urge madrasas to refrain from teaching or publication of literature promoting militancy or sectarian hatred. "This is a kind of information which no madrasa will want to hide," Ahmed told Reuters. He said the government had no plans to take action against madrasas which failed to register by Dec. 31. "There is no punitive provision in the existing law. The government will consider such things after December 31 and not before that," he added. Ahmed said the exact number of religious schools operating in Pakistan was not known, but around 6,000 madrasas had already registered with authorities in the past two years. Madrasas have fulfilled a need in Pakistan by providing free religious education, shelter and food to hundreds of thousands of boys from poor families.(Posted @ 17:55 PST)
Cricket-New Zealand 397-5 v Zimbabwe - innings BULAWAYO, Aug 24 (Reuters) - New Zealand scored 397 for five wickets off their 44 overs against Zimbabwe in the first match of a triangular series on Wednesday. The innings was reduced to 44 overs after the start of the match was delayed by 75 minutes because of a damp pitch. Scores: New Zealand 397-5 (Lou Vincent 172, Stephen Fleming 93, Brendon McCullum 51 not out) v Zimbabwe.(Posted @ 17:35 PST)
Britain unveils new method to help deport, ban hardline Islamists LONDON, Aug 24 (AFP) - Britain unveiled a new plan on Wednesday to help deport or bar Islamic radicals who promote terrorism. Home Secretary Charles Clarke said the list outlining so-called "unacceptable behaviour" would counter the "real and significant" threat of terrorism.Asked how soon the plan would take effect, Clarke said: "Very quickly. The next few days." He said the authorities were already considering a number of names of people engaged in such unacceptable activities. Inayat Bunglawala, a spokesman for the Muslim Council of Britain, disagreed, arguing the criteria were too vague. "These rules have the very real potential of harming those engaged in legitimate struggles against oppression and human rights abuses," he said. United Nations' special rapporteur on torture, Manfred Nowak, said Britain's plan to deport firebrand Islamists to countries with poor human rights records would expose them to "a real risk" of the death penalty.(Posted @ 17:15 PST)
Musharraf says Dr Khan gave centrifuges to North Korea ISLAMABAD, Aug 24 (AFP) - President Pervez Musharraf has confirmed that nuclear scientist Abdul Qadeer Khan provided North Korea with centrifuges and their designs, his spokesman said Wednesday.But Musharraf, who made the statement to Japan's Kyodo news agency, added that the equipment handed over by Khan did not in itself give the Stalinist state a nuclear weapons capability. "Yes, he passed centrifuges -- parts and complete. I do not exactly remember the number," Musharraf said when asked about reports that Islamabad had told Tokyo that Khan provided North Korea with about 20 centrifuges. Musharraf's chief spokesman, Major General Shaukat Sultan, confirmed the president had made the comments. Musharraf said Khan's help would not have been decisive for North Korea's efforts to become a nuclear power, because he was not involved in other crucial areas of technology. "So if North Korea has made a bomb... Dr. A.Q. Khan's part is only enriching the uranium to weapons grade," Musharraf told Kyodo. "He does not know about making the bomb, he does not know about the trigger mechanism, he does not know about the delivery system." Musharraf's spokesman also insisted that "saying that someone made a bomb because Khan passed on a couple of centrifuges to them, maybe a dozen of them, this does not mean they can make a bomb" .(Posted @ 17:05 PST)
Eight killed, 20 injured in Bangladesh bus crash DHAKA, Aug 24 (AFP) - At least eight people were killed and 20 hurt Wednesday when two buses collided head-on near the central Bangladesh town of Srinagar and fell into a pond, police said. "We recovered eight bodies from one of the sunken buses and we suspect there are more dead inside," police told AFP. Twenty people were injured, three critically.. It is unknown how many passengers were on the buses.(Posted @ 16:55 PST)
AFGHANISTAN:Florida judge wounded in Afghanistan attack FORT WALTON BEACH Aug 24 (PPI) An Okaloosa County judge serving as a General with the US Army Reserve in Afghanistan was injured in a roadside bomb attack, his wife said. Brig. Gen. T. Patterson Maney, a county judge in the Florida Panhandle, suffered head, neck and back injuries but was expected to return to duty Tuesday, said his wife, Caroline. Maney was among two U.S. Embassy staffers wounded Sunday when a roadside bomb exploded near a convoy of embassy vehicles on the outskirts of Kabul.''They hit the trigger too soon. They hit the front of the car instead of the middle. It's a miracle that he's alive,'' she said.(Posted @ 16:45 PST)
Kashmir: Abdullah wants immediate Delhi-Hurriyat talks Srinagar, Aug 24(PPI)National Conference (NC) president and member Parliament (MP) Omar Abdullah has demanded immediate unconditional talks between New Delhi and Hurriyat leaders. Addressing a meeting he said the resumption of the stalled talks between Delhi and the Hurriyat Conference would pave the way for restoration of permanent peace in Indian occupied Jammu and Kashmir.(Posted @ 16:45 PST)
Election: 56 districts to go for polling today ISLAMABAD, Aug 24 (PPI)Electorate in 56 districts of the country would go to the polls tomorrow (Thursday) to elect Nazim, Naib Nazim and councilors of the union councils in 56 districts in 2nd phase of local governments elections . Polling would be held from 8 A.M to 5 P.M without any break.Chief Election Commissioner has directed the presiding officers to entertain voters having both new as well as old original National Identity Cards (NICS) for casting of votes.Un-official results of the polls would be announced at each polling station soon after the counting of the votes the same day. Elections in second phase would be held in following 56 districts. Punjab: Rawalpindi City district, Attock, Chakwal, Jhelum, Mianwali, Bhakkar, Faisalabad City district, Jhang, T.T. Singh, Hafizabad, Gujrat, Mandi Bahauddin, Narowal, Lahore City district, Sheikhupura, Nankana. Kasur and Okara (18 districts). Sindh: Hyderabad, Tando Muhammad Khan, Dadu, Matiari, Jamshoro,Badin, Sukkur, Khairpur, Nawabshah, Larkana, Shahdad Kot and Shikarpur (12 districts).NWFP: Hangu, Lakki Marwat, Abbottabad, Mansehra, Battagram,Kohistan, Swat, Shangla, Upper Dir, Lower Dir, Chitral and Malakand Protected Area (12 districts). Balochistan: Kalat, Washuk, Lasbela, Jhal Magsi, Quetta City district, Dera Bugti, Killa Abdullah, Chagai, Kohlu, Loralai, Zhob, Musakhel, Kech and Panjgur (14 districts).(Posted @ 16:40 PST)
Israeli army to be out of Gaza by mid-September JERUSALEM, Aug 24 (Reuters) Israeli military forces were expected to be out of Gaza in mid-September, completing a pullout from the territory after 38 years of occupation, Defence Minister Shaul Mofaz said on Wednesday. (Posted @ 14:35 PST)
Kasuri stresses softening of procedure for prisoners' release ISLAMABAD, Aug.23 (APP): Foreign Minister Khurshid. M. Kasuri on Wednesday called for softening of procedure by Pakistan and India to address on humanitarian ground the issue of early release of their prisoners held in each other's jails. "Both the governments should soften the procedure and make it more humanize, (as) it is a very lengthy procedure," he said when asked to comment on reports on the plight of hundreds of prisoners held by the two countries, after a ground-breaking ceremony of new foreign office building. When asked about the claims of "mistaken identity" by the family of Sarabjit Singh, an Indian national whose death sentence has been upheld by the Supreme Court in the case of espionage and terrorism, the Minister said he could not comment on it. "He has been tried here for fifteen years by a trial court, high court and in the Supreme court, and all the three courts awarded the death sentence to him," Kasuri said. On clemency appeal, the Minister said, if made it would go to the President under a routine procedure. (Posted @ 14:30 PST)
Police chief, three others injured in occupied Kashmir grenade attack SRINAGAR, Aug 24 (AFP) The head of a police station and three others were injured Wednesday in a grenade attack in Srinagar, police said. The area was later sealed off for a search operation, police added. (Posted @ 13:00 PST)
China bus crashes into roadside stalls, kills 19 BEIJING, Aug 24 (Reuters) A Chinese school bus, swerving to avoid a bicycle, crashed on to a pavement crowded with snack vendors, workers and couples from an outdoor dance floor, killing 19 people and injuring 16, Xinhua news agency said on Wednesday. (Posted @ 12:45 PST)
At least 52 survive, 37 perish in Peru jetliner crash LIMA, Aug 24 (AFP) - At least 52 people survived and 37 were killed when a jetliner crashed during a storm only seconds from landing in Peru's Amazon basin, officials said as rescue efforts were halted overnight at the rugged crash site. "There are still a lot of bodies to recover," district attorney Cesar Arroyo told reporters late Monday. He said between 37 and 40 bodies had been found. (Posted @ 11:30 PST)
Button-like devices used in London bombings: report LONDON, Aug 24 (APP/AFP) - The bombs used in the July 7 attacks in London that killed 56 people were triggered by "manually activated" button-like devices, the Guardian newspaper reported Wednesday, quoting senior police sources. It said the breakthrough in London's biggest terrorist investigation scotches the theory that the four apparent suicide bombers had been duped into carrying rucksacks full of explosives onto three Underground subway trains and a double-decker bus. (Posted @ 09:40 PST)
Karachi Stocks down 43.83 points: KARACHI, August 24: At close of trading, the KSE-100 index was at 7514.04 , down 43.83 points from Monday's close. (Bureau Report) (Updated @ 14:40 PST)
Forex update: KARACHI, August 24: The Pakistani Rupee was traded at Rs 60.17 to the US Dollar in the open market. (Bureau Report) (Updated @ 14:40 PST)
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