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| September 16, 2005 | Friday | Sha'aban 11, 1426 |
Updated round-the-clock, with major updates after 10:00 PST (05:00 GMT)
Commonwealth Games president wants cricket in New Delhi NEW DELHI, Sept 16 (Reuters) - Commonwealth Games Federation (CGF) president Mike Fennell said on Friday he wanted cricket back in the 2010 New Delhi Games. The sport was introduced in Kuala Lumpur seven years ago but dropped for the 2002 Manchester Games because the International Cricket Council said the calendar was too crowded. "The Commonwealth Games Federation would like to have cricket in Delhi. This has not yet been approved by the ICC but the discussions are on," Fennell told reporters after a two-day CGF executive committee meeting. New Delhi Games organisers also want to include archery,tennis, judo, billiards and snooker. The CGF has asked them to submit detailed reports for final approval by its general assembly.(Posted @ 23:42 PST)
UK police arrest Nigerian governor in graft probe ABUJA, Sept 16 (Reuters) - British police have arrested a Nigerian state governor over allegations of money laundering, Nigeria's anti-corruption agency said on Friday. The British High Commission said Governor Diepreye Alamieyeseigha of the southern oil-producing Bayelsa state was arrested in London on Thursday. It declined to give further details. Nigerian newspapers reported that British police had found a million pounds in cash in a London house owned by the governor. A spokesman for Bayelsa state government declined to comment.(Posted @ 22:25 PST)
U.N. summit winds down with modest reform UNITED NATIONS, Sept 16 (Reuters) - World leaders prepared to adopt modest reforms of the United Nations on Friday after a three-day summit that made little progress on fighting poverty and terrorism, boosting security or protecting human rights. With many leaders including U.S. President George W. Bush having left New York, those remaining voiced a mixture of hope that the biggest summit in U.N. history would give new momentum to development goals and disappointment at the meagre outcome. U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan hailed an unprecedented agreement on the international responsibility to intervene to protect civilians from genocide and ethnic cleansing to prevent a repeat of massacres in Rwanda, Bosnia and Kosovo(Posted @ 22:20 PST)
Bollywood heart-throb Salman Khan cleared of threatening Aishwarya Rai MUMBAI, Sept 16 (AFP) - A tape in which Indian heart-throb Salman Khan was supposedly heard threatening Bollywood star Aishwarya Rai with underworld retribution unless she performed a show did not contain his voice, police said Friday. "The forensic laboratory that conducted the tests has given us a report saying the voice on the tape does not match with that of Salman Khan," Mumbai additional police commissioner K.L. Bishnoi told reporters. Both Khan and Rai had also declared it a fake.(Posted @ 22:16 PST)
Jordanian monarch calls for zero-tolerance of Islamic extremism UNITED NATIONS, Sept 16 (AFP) - Jordan's King Abdullah on Friday made an impassioned plea for zero tolerance toward those who promote Islamic extremism. Speaking at the closing session of the world's largest summit Friday, he said: "One critical step is to ensure zero tolerance toward those who promote extremism." "Jordan has worked with the international Muslim community to oppose extremist interpretations of Islam," he added. "Jordan wants true, moderate, traditional Islam to replace fundamentalist, radical and militant Islam, everywhere in the world, for every single Muslim."(Posted @ 22:04 PST)
Bush becomes Katrina mourner-in-chief WASHINGTON, Sept 16 (AFP) - US President George W. Bush on Friday attended a day of prayer and remembrance for the victims of Hurricane Katrina, seeking to comfort relatives of the dead and soothe the worries of survivors. "Many did not survive the fury of the storm. Many who did ask why and wonder what comes next," Bush said at Washington's National Cathedral a day after his first formal prime-time speech to the nation since the storm hit August 29. "The destruction of this hurricane was beyond any human power to control, but the restoration of broken communities and disrupted lives now rests in our hands," said Bush, whose early response to the storm drew fierce criticism.(Posted @ 21:42 PST)
Monsoon-end torrent hits north India, chaos in New Delhi NEW DELHI, Sept 16 (AFP) - The Indian capital was thrown in chaos Friday as lashing rains deluged the city of 14 million residents and adjoining states, snarling traffic, disrupting flights and uprooting trees, officials said. Some 20 domestic and international flights were diverted to other cities in India and to Pakistan due to high winds, a spokesman said. "A low-pressure area, which was sitting over the town of Agra, has now moved 100 kilometres southeast of Delhi, causing very strong gusty winds and heavy rains," Met officials told AFP. The strong winds uprooted trees and led to rush-hour traffic jams as the weather office warned that the heavy rains would continue for another day. "Similar weather conditions also prevails over (the neighbouring states of) Uttar Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh and Uttaranchal," they said.(Posted @ 21:30 PST)
Pakistan rules out possibility of trade links with Israel Islamabad, Sept 16 PPI: Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz told newsmen Friday that Islamabad had no intention to either establish trade links with Israel or accord recognition to the Jewish state. The question can arise only after the establishment of an independent Palestinian state, he maintained but defended Foreign Minister Khurshid Mehmood Kasuri's meeting with his Israeli counterpart. About President Pervez Musharraf and Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh meeting in New York, he said it was the continuation of efforts for resolution of disputes between the two countries including the core issue of Kashmir.(Posted @ 21:25 PST)
11 Kashmiris martyred in Indian held Kashmir ISLAMABAD, Sept 16 (APP): In occupied Kashmir, Indian troops in their ongoing state terrorism, martyred eleven Kashmiris at various places. Five of them were shot dead in Machil area in Kupwara district; two youth were similarly martyred Friday in Handwara and another at Gudtral in Islamabad district. Two more were martyred at two places in Doda district and one at Boniyar in Baramulla district . Unidentified gunmen killed one person at Tipri in Doda district and a woman at Ahargam in Bandipore area. One Special Police Officer and an army personnel were also killed in attacks at separate places in Doda district, PTV reported. Meanwhile, protest demonstration was held in Chadoora area of Budgam district against indiscriminate arrest by troops. A large number of enraged people took to the streets, raising pro-liberation and anti-India slogans.(Posted @ 21:02 PST)
PIA booking office to remain open 24 hours LAHORE, Sept 16 (APP): The booking and reservation offices of the Pakistan International Airlines will remain open in Lahore, Rawalpindi/Islamabad and Karachi round the clock, says an announcement.(Posted @ 20:58 PST)
PAF determined to become country's strong instrument: Kaleem QUETTA Sept 16 (APP): Pakistan Air Force is determined to become a strong instrument of the state, Chief of the Air Staff Air Chief Marshal Kaleem Saadat said Friday. Addressing student officers at the Command and Staff College he said leadership, morale and quality of training make the final difference when numerical odds are encountered. "We shall come up with bold new ideas; we shall train realistically and train hard by using the modern techniques of training, and persistently endeavour to acquire the essential equipment. "We shall rise to the call of the nation," the Air Chief Marshal said.(Posted @ 20:52 PST)
'Dead' Zarqawi an excuse for US occupation: Iraqi cleric PARIS, Sept 16 (AFP) - Al-Qaeda's leader in Iraq, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, is dead but Washington continues to use him as a bogeyman to justify a prolonged military occupation, an Iraqi Shiite cleric said in an interview published here Friday. Sheikh Jawad al-Kalesi, imam of the al-Kazemiya mosque in Baghdad, told Le Monde newspaper: "I don't think Abu Musab al-Zarqawi exists as such. He's simply an invention by the occupiers to divide the people." Kalesi claimed that Zarqawi was killed in the Kurdish northern region of Iraq at the beginning of the US-led war on the country as he was meeting with members of the Ansar Al-Islam group affiliated to Al-Qaeda. "His family in Jordan even held a ceremony after his death. Abu Musab al-Zarqawi is therefore a ploy used by the Americans, an excuse to continue the occupation. It's a pretext so they don't leave Iraq."(Posted @ 20:45 PST)
Afghan killed, two US soldiers hurt in election patrol attack KABUL, Sept 16 (AFP) - A roadside bomb killed an Afghan interpreter and wounded two US soldiers during a security patrol for this weekend's parliamentary polls, the US military said Friday. The blast hit their vehicle late Thursday in Ghazni province as "the unit was conducting a combat patrol in order to disrupt enemy operations aimed at affecting the elections," it said in a statement. Meanwhile, three more militants were detained after a tip-off from a detainee near Gardez in the eastern province of Paktia for allegedly making bombs, the US military said. Late Thursday gunmen dragged parliamentary candidate Abdul Hadi from his home in Azar Juft district in the southern province of Helmand and shot him dead, officials and a spokesman for the rebels said. Two Canadian soldiers suffered minor injuries in a blast on Thursday near their base Camp Julian in Kabul, the NATO-led peacekeeping force in Afghanistan said.(Posted @ 20:38 PST)
26 more killed, 48 injured in Iraq Sept 16 (Reuters) – In yet another day of chain of acts of violence at least 26 persons were killed and 48 injured in various parts of Iraq on Friday. Eleven people were killed and 24 wounded when a bomber blew himself up outside the Great Prophet mosque as worshippers were emerging from Friday prayers in the central Iraqi town of Tuz Khurmatu, Dr Mohammed al-Qaisi at the town's hospital said. In Iskendariya, police said town official Amer Mohammed al-Khafaji and four of his guards were killed and another two injured late Thursday night when gunmen in military uniforms raided his house . Four Iraqi soldiers were killed when a roadside bomb struck their vehicle in the town of Khalidiya, west of Baghdad, policeman Mohammed Abbass said. Also, three policemen were killed and another six wounded when a car bomb exploded near their patrol in the town of Hasswa, south of Baghdad, a police source said. Two labourers were killed and 12 wounded by gunmen while they were lining up to seek work in the eastern New Baghdad district. Also in Baghdad, a member of Moqtada al-Sadr's office was gunned down in Sadr City . His two brothers were also wounded in the attack.A U.S. soldier was killed by an explosion on Thursday in Ramadi, 110 km west of Baghdad, a U.S. military statement said on Friday.(Posted @ 20:20 PST)
PM to visit South Korea, Malaysia from Sept 28 Islamabad Sept 16 (PPI) Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz would leave for South Korea on a three-day official visit from Sept 28. He would also visit Malaysia from Sept 30 and will fly back home on Oct 3.(Posted @ 19:05 PST)
US backs Kashmir bus service extension WASHINGTON Sep16 (PPI) The United Sates backs launching of bus service from other parts in addition to Muzaffarabad and Srinagar, Steven Engleken, Director General for South Asia in the US State Department, said in a meeting with former Prime Minister and opposition leader Barrister Sultan Mahmood Chaudhry here at his office. "The bus service should continue on daily basis instead of once or twice a month", he added. He suggested that trade routes between India and Pakistan should be opened and stated that launching of truck service between the two parts of Kashmir has already been under consideration. Meanwhile, Barrister Sultan Mahmood said Kashmiris were disappointed over the joint statement. He urged the US to put pressure on India to take steps so that the oppressed people feel relief against gross violation of human rights and atrocities at the hands of Indian occupation forces.(Posted @ 18:58 PST)
Kashmir: JM, Geelani flay Musharraf 's remarks Srinagar, Sept 16 (PPI) Jaimtul Mujahideen (JM) and Hurriyat (G) chairman Syed Ali Shah Geelani have flayed remarks of the President Musharraf regarding reduction of Indian troops in occupied Kashmir. In a statement JM termed the remarks as 'a big joke' with the Kashmiris as it would damage the historical status of Kashmir issue on UN record. It demanded withdrawal of Indian troops from the entire state including Ladakh. Hurriyat (G) Chairman Syed Ali Geelani also opposed President Musharraf’s proposal. Addressing a gathering Syed Ali Shah Geelani said that India should withdraw its troops from the whole of occupied Jammu and Kashmir. " I am unable to understand the proposal made by Musharaf Saheb, nor in which context he proposed the reduction of (Indian) troops from only two districts. India has no justification to occupy and should simply withdraw from the whole state", he added.(Posted @ 18:44 PST)
Explosions hit city, train in southern Russia, no casualties reported MOSCOW, Sept 16 (APP/AP) _ An explosive detonated outside an apartment building in the southern Russian region of Ingushetia early Friday and another caused three cars of a cargo train to derail in the neighboring region of North Ossetia, Russian media reported. No casualties were reported, but the explosive in the city of Nazran left a large crater in the street and the derailment caused disruptions on the rail network, Russian news agencies reported.(Posted @ 18:24 PST)
Pakistan will be center of Islamic Rennaisance : President NEW YORK, Sept 16 (APP) : President General Pervez Musharraf vowed on Thursday to remove the obstacles of obscurantism and extremism and initiate a process of Islamic renaissance in Pakistan to make it a source of light for the Muslim world. Addressing a big gathering of Pakistani Americans he said he had invited 40 eminent Muslim scholars from around the world to research in Pakistan and project true values and real essence of Islam. "We will take the first step towards a journey of thousands of miles and make Pakistan a source of light," he said. He also dilated on a six-point strategy to address extremism in short and long-term perspectives, and said it should be approached with a healing touch as it pertains to affecting minds and hearts of people. The Government, he said, will not allow the banned organizations to re-surface and collect donations. It has put a firm check on distribution of hate material and introduced modern subjects in Madrassahs for mainstreaming their graduates for better economic opportunities in life, he said.(Posted @ 18:22 PST)
Kashmiris demonstrate in front of UN to demand their rights UNITED NATIONS, Sept 16 (APP) -- Kashmiri and Pakistani groups on Thursday staged a combined protest demonstration in front of the United Nations as Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh addressed the world summit. Chanting anti-India slogans, the protestors called on the UN to implement its resolutions seeking a plebiscite in Jammu and Kashmir to resolve the long-standing dispute between India and Pakistan.The demonstrators carried placards demanding Indian troops pull- out from occupied Kashmir and that any division of the disputed state was unacceptable to them. "We want Azadi (freedom)," "We want our inalienable right to self-determination." Speakers also demanded that Kashmiris should be included in the ongoing Indo-Pakistan talks aimed at resolving the Kashmir problem. Among the participating groups were: Mohammad Halim Khan (Liberation Front); Malik Nadeem Abid (Kashmir Mission); Capt. Shaeen Butt (Muslim Conference); Raja Zulfiqar Kiani (J&K PP); Mohammad Taj Khan, (Kashmiri-American Association); Sardar Imtiaz (Kashmiri-American Association); Malik Mukhtar (PPP), Shahid Comrade (Freedom Forum); Bashir Khokhar (PML-N) and Sardar Mahmoud (Canadian Kashmir Association).(Posted @ 18:12 PST)
Clinton opens rival summit on world's problems NEW YORK, Sept 15 (AFP) - Former US president Bill Clinton gathered world leaders at his alternative to the UN summit, with the same goals of reducing poverty and conflict and highlighting Gaza on opening night. British Prime Minister Tony Blair, King Abdullah II of Jordan and US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice were the stars at the first session of the Clinton Global Initiative late Thursday. About 1,000 presidents, prime ministers, kings, tycoons and humanitarian organizers have been invited. UN Secretary General Kofi Annan will speak on Saturday before Clinton announces his plan of action at the end of the conference.(Posted @ 17:25 PST)
Eight missing from capsized Russian ship MOSCOW, Sept 16 (AFP) - At least eight people were missing after a cargo ship overturned on the Yenisei River in northern Siberia Friday, an official spokesman said. "We are looking for between nine and 12 people," he told AFP. "There were between 15 and 19 people on board. Seven were rescued,"(Posted @ 17:15 PST)
India thrash dogged Zimbabwe BULAWAYO, Zimbabwe, Sept16 (AFP) - India thrashed Zimbabwe by an innings and 90 runs in Bulawayo on Friday despite some dogged lower-order resistance from the hosts on day four of the first Test. India had scored 554 in their first innings. Zimbabwe made a respectable 279 in their first attempt but scrambled to a total of 185 in their second innings, with skipper Tatenda Taibu making 52, after being 67-6 overnight.(Posted @ 17:12 PST)
China sets Saturday deadline for joint N.Korea nuclear document BEIJING, Sept 16 (AFP) - China set a Saturday deadline to sign off on a document aimed at breaking deadlocked North Korean disarmament talks after Pyongyang reportedly threatened to extract more plutonium if its demands were not met. A revised proposal was put forward Friday after the talks ground to a halt over North Korea's demand for a light-water reactor.It was not clear if the reworked document, now in its fifth draft, includes a reference to this controversial point, which the United States has so far rejected. Russia's envoy, deputy foreign minister Alexander Alexeyev, told reporters that "we have a chance" of reaching agreement.(Posted @ 16:50 PST)
India arrests alleged Pakistani spy NEW DELHI, Sept 16 (AFP) Indian police on Friday said a Pakistani national, Azeem Wali, had been arrested on charges of espionage after they recovered military documents from him concerning the 1999 Kargil conflict. A New Delhi police detective said Wali was trapped late Thursday in the city's southern Okhla district while he was trying to mail a package to Pakistan. (Posted @ 13:10 PST)
Musharraf addresses Pakistani American community NEW YORK, Sept 16 (APP): President Pervez Musharraf Thursday enlisted the support of Pakistani Americans to improve the country's image. "We will provide you a strong basis in the form of socio-economic development to project Pakistan's image as a dynamic and progressive country. You must be proud of your country and we will do things that will make you proud of Pakistan," he said at a fund-raising gathering organized by the National Commission of Human Development. He added that, "We have embarked upon a long-term approach to address extremism through a healing touch-we shall curb spread of hate literature and make Pakistan a source of light for Islamic Renaissance.” (Posted @ 12:53 PST)
Taliban urge Afghans not to vote, warn of violence KABUL, Sept 16 (Reuters) The Taliban on Friday called on Afghanistan's 12.5 million voters to boycott Sunday's landmark elections, saying they were an American plot, and warned Afghans they could be hurt in attacks on foreign troops if they vote, a spokesman for the militant group said. (Posted @ 12:05 PST)
U.S. holds out threat to freeze North Korean assets NEW YORK, Sept 16 (Reuters) The United States on Friday held out the threat of freezing North Korean assets if six-party talks did not make progress in the next five days in ending the communist state's nuclear weapons capability. U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said the United States was not solely dependent on current negotiations in China to get North Korea to abandon its nuclear ambitions and listed freezing assets as one punitive option. (Posted @ 10:22 PST)
13 dead in China fireworks factory blast BEIJING, Sept 16 (AFP) Thirteen people were killed and four injured when a fireworks factory blew up in central China, state media reported Friday. (Posted @ 10:08 PST)
Thirty feared dead in Myanmar landslide YANGON, Sept 16 (Reuters) A landslide triggered by torrential rain engulfed a primary school in south-eastern Myanmar and up to 30 people, most of them children, were feared dead, the Red Cross said on Friday. (Posted @ 09:50 PST)
Karachi Stocks down 44.94 points: KARACHI, September 16: At close of trading, the KSE-100 index was at 7934.54, down 44.94 points from Thursday’s close. (Bureau Report) (Posted @ 16:05 PST)
Forex update: KARACHI, September 16: The Pakistani Rupee was traded at Rs 60.04 to the US Dollar in the open market. (Bureau Report) (Updated @ 16:05 PST)
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