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| September 22, 2005 | Thursday | Sha'aban 17, 1426 |
Updated round-the-clock, with major updates after 10:00 PST (05:00 GMT)
Seven killed, 41 injured in bomb blasts in Lahore LAHORE Sept 22-(PPI): As many as seven persons were killed and 41 Injured following two bomb blasts took place in two different localities of Lahore on Thursday, latest reports say. The injured have been shifted to Mayo hospital and Services hospital where the condition of fifteen persons was stated to be serious. The bomb blasts took place at Azadi Chowk and main bazaar in Ichhra. The bombs were placed under the cushions of bicycles. The first exploded at Azadi Chowk near Minar-e-Pakistan causing one death and injuring nine persons. In the second blast in main bazar Ichhra, six persons including a young girl died and 35 others were injured. The explosions destroyed seven rickshaws, two motor-bikes, seven cars and a van.(First Posted @ 14:10 Updated @ 20:08 PST)
Canada says will buy more food aid abroad WINNIPEG, Manitoba, Sept 22 (Reuters) - Canada will buy up to half its food aid from developing countries instead of sourcing 90 percent of it from Canada, cabinet minister Aileen Carroll said on Thursday. The new policy will lower transportation costs, enabling Canada to buy more food quickly to help more people, said Carroll, who is responsible for the Canadian International Development Agency.(Posted @ 23:50 PST)
Bush: US preparing for the worst with Rita WASHINGTON, Sept 22 (APP/AFP) - US President George W. Bush warned Thursday that US authorities were "preparing for the worst" as powerful Hurricane Rita churned towards land and threatened some areas devastated by Hurricane Katrina. "This is a big storm," he said after a briefing at the Pentagon. "Officials at every level of government are preparing for the worst." The US National Hurricane Center on Thursday downgraded Hurricane Rita to a category four storm (Posted @ 23:15 PST)
KASHMIR: Indian army admits fake encounters JAMMU, September 22 (PPI) In occupied Kashmir, unnerved over the killing of four Hindus in Kupwara last year dubbing them as non-Kashmiri militants, the Indian army authorities have now admitted that they were innocent Kashmiris killed in a fake encounter. According to Kashmir Media Service, Indian army has begun a probe into the killings and has decided to exhume the dead bodies for identification. This follows former Chief of Northern Command Lt Gen Hari Prasad’s announcement at a press conference in Jammu on August 29 last about the probe after an Indian soldier wrote to the unfortunate families saying that the four Kashmiris were killed in a fake encounter only for gallantry recognition.(Posted @ 19:52 PST)
Kashmir needs political solution : Shah Srinagar, September 22 (PPI) President of Jammu and Kashmir Democratic Freedom Party (DFP), Shabbir Ahmad Shah has said that Kashmir is a political dispute and needs a political solution . Talking to a delegation Of notables, industrialists, social workers and intellectuals from Indian states of Gujarat and Maharashtra he regretted that although the issue has been pending since 1947 the voice of the people of Kashmir has always been stifled which ultimately led to the armed struggle in 1989. "Today we have more than 500 graveyards here and the number of people who have laid down their lives in the ongoing movement has crossed the one lakh mark", Shah said. "Even as Kashmiris are being subjected to inhuman treatment by the Indian forces, we welcomed the peace process between India and Pakistan in the hope that it will prove helpful in resolving the Kashmir issue", Shabbir Shah said adding that a solution is impossible unless the basic party to the dispute i.e. the Kashmiris are fully involved in the talks and taken into confidence.(Posted @ 19:42 PST)
Pakistan earned $ 48.5 mln through software export last year, NA told ISLAMABAD, Sep 22 (APP): Pakistan earned US $ 48.5 million through software exports last year, Minister of State for Information Technology, Ali Asjad Malli told the National Assembly during Question Hour on Thursday adding that the government has targeted 50 per cent annual increase in the total software export. He said major programmes have been launched to make the country a major player in the Information Technology sector during next two years, and added that there were presently 1100 registered software development companies in the country.(Posted @ 19:20 PST)
Death toll of Kabirwala firework explosion rises to nine MULTAN, Sept 22 (APP): Four children out of the 20 persons injured in the Kabirwala firework explosion Wednesday night, died at the Nishtar Hospital here Thursday, bringing the death toll in the incident to nine. Dr Mona said the rest of the burn patients were in stable condition and out of danger. The explosion had occured accidentally in a stockpile of fireworks in village Pul Haveli, tehsil Kabirwala, close to a mini-cinema where some 50 people, mostly youngsters, were watching a movie. As a result, five persons had died on the spot, while 20 others had sustained serious burn injuries.(Posted @ 19:15 PST)
Kashmir Conference for reduction in army deployment on both sides NEW DELHI Sept 22 (APP): Intra-Kashmir 'Heart to Heart Talks on Thursday urged the governments of India and Pakistan to consider reducing the level of deployment of military and paramilitary forces on both sides of LoC.A joint statement, adopted at the conclusion of the two-day Kashmir Conference here, recommended review of detenus cases and declaration of General Amnesty to prisoners detained in each country.Reading out the Statement, former AJK Prime Minister Sardar Muhammad Abdul Qayyum Khan flanked by ICWA President Harcharan Singh Josh and Chief of Panthers Party Bhim Singh expressed gratitude for the cooperation and help extended by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Pakistan's President Pervez Muhsarraf in providing visa facilities. The conference was attended among others by Farooq Abdullah, former APHC Chairman, Abdul Ghani Bhat and Kashmir leader Sajjad Lone.The statement hoped further CBMs including the reopening of old historic and traditional routes to facilitate people to people contact, and rehabilitation of displaced persons and expressed intention to constitute Intra-Parliamentary Forum to promote contacts between parliamentarians on both sides.(Posted @ 19:04 PST)
Pakistan detains 16 Indian fishermen KARACHI, Sept 22 (AFP) - Pakistan Thursday arrested 16 Indian fishermen and seized their three boats for illegally fishing in Pakistani territorial waters, Maritime Security Agency spokesman Lieutenant Commander Ateequr Rehman said. They were arrested overnight about 100 nautical miles southeast of Karachi port and handed over to police, he added.(Posted @ 18:50 PST)
Seven killed in occupied Kashmir SRINAGAR, Sept 22 (AFP) - Indian troops killed five militants and suspected rebels killed a former insurgent and a soldier in revolt-hit occupied Kashmir, an army statement said Thursday. Four militants were killed in Sugan in southern Pulwama district late Wednesday during a fierce gunbattle that erupted after soldiers surrounded a hideout. The fifth militant was also shot dead late Wednesday during a raid on a suspected hideout in Fidapora Panzulla village in northern Baramulla district, the statement said Separately, suspected militants shot dead a former colleague Thursday who was working with counter-insurgency police near the town of Tral, 40 kilometers south of Srinagar, police said.A Muslim army soldier on holiday in Poonch district was also shot dead on Thursday, police said. The troubled region is in the grip of a 16-year-old freedom struggle against Indian rule that has left more than 44,000 people dead. Separatists put the death toll at twice as high.(Posted @ 18:44 PST)
Sudan's first post-war government sworn in KHARTOUM, Sept 22 (AFP) - President Omar al-Beshir urged Sudan's first post-war government Thursday to make safeguarding the country's unity its top priority after two decades of north-south war. "The primary duty of all those in government ought to be ensuring that national unity is an attractive option," Beshir said after the cabinet was sworn in, eight months after a peace deal that ended Africa's longest-running conflict. But the new cabinet, which includes one-time foes from Beshir's northern regime and southern rebel groups, was swiftly dismissed by the opposition as falling well short of a truly broad-based government. "It is a continuation of the... government that has been in power since the 1989 coup d'etat with limited improvements," said Ali Mahmoud Hassanain, deputy chairman of the opposition Democratic Unionist Party. The full cabinet, comprising 30 ministers and 34 ministers of state, is country's largest government since independence from Britain in 1956.(Posted @ 18:34 PST)
First Merkel-Schroeder talks on German coalition BERLIN, Sept 22 (AFP) - Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder and opposition challenger Angela Merkel on Thursday held their first face-to-face talks since an inconclusive general election as Germany seeks a way out of political paralysis.The one-hour discussion featured Schroeder and the leader of his Social Democratic Party, Franz Muentefering, Merkel and the leader of the conservatives in Bavaria, Edmund Stoiber.(Posted @ 18:34 PST)
London bomb suspect arrives back in Britain LONDON, Sept 22 (AFP) - Hamdi Issac, one of four men suspected of carrying out the failed July 21 London bomb attacks, arrived in Britain from Italy on Thursday, television footage showed. Earlier Thursday, London's Metropolitan Police had said they would arrest Issac on arrival and charge him on suspicion of conspiracy to commit murder, attempted murder and alleged offences under the Explosive Substances Act.(Posted @ 18:28 PST)
Ten suspects held in new Pakistan raids near Afghan border MIRANSHAH, Pakistan, Sept 22 (AFP) - Pakistani troops backed by helicopters arrested 10 suspected militants on Thursday during a search in a tribal zone near the Afghan border, officials said. "We have arrested 10 suspects and also seized seven passports," a military official said as several hundred soldiers surrounded three villages in the area. He did not give the detainees' nationalities. Around 600 rounds of anti-aircraft ammunition were also recovered in the raids, the official said, requesting anonymity. Earlier, soldiers in about 100 vehicles had cordoned off Tatta Khel, 35 kilometers west of the region's main town Miranshah, to hunt for militants after a series of rocket attacks, a local official told AFP. One soldier was injured when the convoy came under fire from unknown gunmen, the official said, requesting anonymity. Searches were also made in the nearby villages of Mizer and Hamzoi. Some ammunition and documents were uncovered but no arrests were made there. Last week Pakistan said it had raided the largest Al-Qaeda hideout in North Waziristan, arrested 35 people and recovered a huge hoard of weapons from a religious school compound owned by a Taliban sympathiser. Pakistan has 80,000 soldiers along the border to prevent militants crossing to and fro Afghanistan.(Posted @ 18:28 PST)
India win second Test HARARE, Sept 22 (AFP) - India won the second of the two Tests series against Zimbabwe at Harare Sports Club here Thursday by 10 wickets. The Zimbabweans were all out in their second innings for 223. India scored the 19 runs they needed for victory in just 2.2 overs to wrap up a 2-0 series win.(Posted @ 17:45 PST)
Sixteen killed in Iran road crash - TV TEHRAN, Sept 22 (Reuters) - Sixteen people were killed when a bus and a truck collided on a highway between the cities of Shiraz and Kazeroun in southern Iran on Thursday, state television reported. Twelve others were injured.(Posted @ 17:42 PST)
British Lord jailed for setting fire to curtain LONDON, Sept 22 (Reuters) - A British Lord was sentenced to 16 months in jail on Thursday for deliberately setting fire to a curtain in a hotel after a boozy night out in Edinburgh. Labour peer Mike Watson pleaded guilty to starting the blaze in the early hours of November 12 last year following a ceremony in the Scottish capital to celebrate the Scottish Politician of the Year awards. Watson, 56, has since resigned his seat in the Scottish parliament and his post as director of Scottish football club Dundee United.(Posted @ 17:42 PST)
Turkish troops kill 3 Kurd rebels in eastern city DIYARBAKIR, Turkey, Sept 22 (Reuters) - Turkish security forces killed three Kurdish rebels and wounded two more in the eastern city of Van, security sources said on Thursday. Security forces tracked down a group of seven PKK rebels in the city late on Wedensday, killing three, capturing two wounded while the other two managed to escape, the sources said. The PKK's armed campaign is for home-rule in the mainly Kurdish southeast.(Posted @ 17:28 PST)
Basra refuses to deal with British after raid BAGHDAD, Sept 22 (Reuters) - The Iraqi city of Basra will not cooperate with Britain until it receives an apology and compensation after a British raid to free two soldiers, Basra's governor and other senior officials said on Thursday. "The governing council met yesterday and decided to stop all cooperation with the British until they meet three demands," Basra governor Mohammed al-Waili told Reuters. "To apologise for what happened, to guarantee that it does not happen again, and third, to provide some compensation for all the damage they did during the operation," he said. Waili said the 41-member council had reached its decision by a unanimous vote on Wednesday, although he himself and his deputy were not eligible to vote. He added that he expected the governing council to meet British military officials on Friday or Saturday.(Posted @ 17:25 PST)
Security incidents in Iraq, Sept 22 Sept 22 (Reuters) - One U.S. soldier was killed on Wednesday when his vehicle struck a roadside bomb in central Baghdad, the U.S. military said in a statement. Four people were killed and another two wounded when gunmen attacked their car in al-Qanat street, in eastern Baghdad. Police said all six were employees for Iraq's Displacement Migration Ministry. Three members of a family were killed and a woman was wounded when gunmen in police uniforms raided their house in the eastern New Baghdad district of the capital. A police source said the gunmen escaped in police cars after kidnapping another member of the family. Police colonel Fadhel Mohammed Jawad and his driver were killed by gunmen while driving to work near an intersection in Baquba, 65 km (40 miles) north of Baghdad, a police source said. One civilian was killed and another three wounded during heavy clashes between insurgents and security forces in Ramadi city.Police found the body of a civilian man with his head crushed and tyre marks on his face in the town of Latifiya, south of Baghdad.A lady journalist from Radio Nineveh was gunned down on Wednesday night in Mosul. Hospital and police sources said Ahlam Younnis was driving in a car with her husband, who was also killed, but her son escaped with injuries.(Posted @ 17:22 PST)
Iran hails EU nuclear climbdown as a victory TEHRAN, Sept 22 (Reuters) - Iran hailed on Thursday as a "significant victory" the European Union's climbdown from its demand that the U.N.'s nuclear watchdog report the Islamic state to the U.N. Security Council. The EU has dropped the demand from a revised draft resolution after opposition from nearly 15 of the 35 members of the International Atomic Energy Agency's (IAEA) governing board, including China and Russia(Posted @ 17:04 PST)
Speeding truck mows down nine women in northern India LUCKNOW, India, Sept 22 (APP/AP) _ A speeding truck swerved off a road and hit a group of women on the sidewalk, killing nine of them and injuring six others in northern India, police said. Around 20 women were walking toward a mosque for evening prayers when the truck hit the sidewalk and ran over them., said Surendra Srivastava, a police spokesman. Six women were killed instantly while three others died later in in Aurriya town in Uttar Pradesh.. The truck driver was drunk and has been arrested, police said.(Posted @ 16:49 PST)
Prime Minister discusses Northern Areas ISLAMABAD, Sep 22 (APP): Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz Thursday said the government was committed to the development of Northern Areas and was providing basic facilities under the Khushal Pakistan Programme. Talking to President of Pakistan Muslim League (PML)Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain and other senior party leaders he said the government would provide gas, electricity, clean drinking water besides focusing on health and education to improve the standard of living of the people in Northern Areas. The prime minister stressed the need of provision of all facilities to encourage tourists from across the world.(Posted @ 16:39 PST)
Ten killed, 14 wounded in a road accident in north Egypt CAIRO, Egypt Sept 22 (APP/AP) _ A staff bus collided with a truck in northern Egypt on Thursday, killing 10 workers and injuring 14 others, police said. The accident happened when a truck and trailer pulled on to the Cairo-Alexandria highway from a side road, hitting the bus that was carrying workers of a petrochemical company, an official said. (Posted @ 15:45 PST)
Israeli army kills Palestinian in West Bank JENIN, West Bank, Sept 22 (Reuters) Israeli soldiers shot dead an unarmed Palestinian who had entered an army base in the northern West Bank on Thursday, Palestinian medics said. The army confirmed soldiers had shot an unarmed Palestinian in the Dotan military base as it was being dismantled, saying he had failed to heed orders to stop. Palestinian sources said the man had been scavenging for scrap metal. (Posted @ 12:45 PST)
Rita heads for Texas as Category-5 hurricane GALVESTON, Texas, Sept 22 (Reuters) More than one million people along the Texas coast fled the approach of Hurricane Rita on Thursday as it developed into one of the most intense storms on record and threatened catastrophic damage. With winds of 175 mph (280 kph), the Category 5 hurricane churned across the Gulf of Mexico on a course that was expected to take it ashore late on Friday or early on Saturday. (Posted @ 12:00 PST)
Sri Lanka thrash Bangladesh to complete 2-0 sweep COLOMBO, Sept 22 (AFP) Sri Lanka defeated Bangladesh by an innings and 69 runs on the third day of the second and final Test here on Thursday to complete a 2-0 sweep. Brief scores: Sri Lanka 457-9 declared; Bangladesh 191 and 197 all out. (Posted @ 12:00 PST)
Mexico security minister killed in helicopter crash HUIXQUILUCAN, Mexico, Sept 21 (Reuters) Mexico's public security minister, Martin Huerta, a key figure in the war against drug cartels, was killed along with eight others on Wednesday when his helicopter crashed in fog in mountains near the capital.(Posted @ 10:00 PST)
Kyrgyz deputy gunned down in Bishkek BISHKEK, Sept 22 (AFP) Kyrgyz parliamentary deputy Bayaman Erkinbayev, who played an active part in this year's 'tulip revolution', was shot dead in the capital Bishkek late Wednesday, police said.(Posted @ 10:00 PST)
Karachi Stocks down 1.02 points: KARACHI, September 22: At close of trading, the KSE-100 index was at 8186.08 , down 1.02 points from Wednesday's close. (Bureau Report) (Updated @ 15:05 PST)
Forex update: KARACHI, September 22: The Pakistani Rupee was traded at Rs 60.2 to the US Dollar in the open market. (Bureau Report) (Updated @ 15:05 PST)
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