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| September 26, 2005 | Monday | Sha'aban 21, 1426 |
Updated round-the-clock, with major updates after 10:00 PST (05:00 GMT)
Venezuela warns may seize some operating oil deals CARACAS, Venezuela, Sept 26 (Reuters) - Venezuela could seize control of oil fields currently run by foreign companies with operating contracts if the companies do not shift to new transitory contracts by the end of the year, Venezuelan Energy Minister Rafael Ramirez said on Monday. The transitory contracts are the first stage in migrating the deals to new joint ventures with state oil firm PDVSA as part of a campaign by President Hugo Chavez to increase state control and revenues from natural resources. "The operating contracts are illegal," Ramirez said, adding that after Jan. 1, 2006, those contracts would no longer exist.(Posted @ 23:50 PST)
US anti-war campaigner Cindy Sheehan arrested outside White House WASHINGTON, Sept 26 (AFP) - Police on Monday detained anti-Iraq war campaigner Cindy Sheehan and scores of other activists during a protest outside the White House. The mother of a soldier who was killed in Iraq last year was among a group of about 500 people who staged what they called a "civil disobedience" demonstration to bring more attention to the US military presence in Iraq. The protesters wore placards bearing the names of US soldiers killed since the US-led invasion in March 2003. Demonstrators sat on the sidewalk or next to the wall near the main entrance to the presidential mansion. After police warned that arrests would soon be made, about 300 withdrew.(Posted @ 23:40 PST)
Pak-UK bilateral consultations at Foreign Secretary level held ISLAMABAD Sept 26 (APP): Bilateral consultations between Pakistan and the UK at the Foreign Secretary level were held at the Foreign Office here on Monday in a very cordial and positive atmosphere. Foreign Secretary, Riaz Mohammad Khan and the UK Permanent Undersecretary, Foreign and Commonwealth Office, Sir Michael Jay, led their respective delegations at the talks. (Posted @ 23:35 PST)
Explosion heard along Pak-Afghan border near Zhob QUETTA Sep 26 (PPI): A big explosion was heard near FC check post along Pak-Afghan border Monday. This is second explosion during the past 24 hours. When contacted FC sources told PPI that FC personnel deployed at Nassar Check post in Qamar Din Karez area of Zhob District along Pak-Afghan border did heard a big explosion. However it could not be determined what it was. Maybe it is rockets used by foreign forces (ISAF) at Afghan soil or Afghan tribes using such weapons in their infight, sources added.(Posted @ 21:48 PST)
Pakistan and India to hold more talks on air and road links ISLAMABAD, Sept 26 (AFP) India and Pakistan will hold fresh talks on air and road links this week to strengthen their ongoing peace process, Pakistan's foreign ministry said Monday. An Indian technical delegation is visiting Pakistan to hold aviation talks on Tuesday and Wednesday, foreign ministry spokesman Naeem Khan told a weekly briefing. Simultaneously a nine-member Pakistani delegation will travel to New Delhi to discuss a bus service between the holy Sikh sites of Amritsar in India and Nankana Sahib in Pakistan, Khan added.(Posted @ 19:48 PST)
Pakistan seizes six Stinger missiles near Afghan border PESHAWAR, Pakistan, Sept 26 (AFP) Pakistani paramilitary forces Monday seized six US-made Stinger anti-aircraft missiles along with a huge cache of arms and ammunition in a raid on a house near the Afghan border, a top paramilitary commander said. The cache comprising 437 missiles, anti-aircraft guns, mortar shells and landmines was recovered when troops mounted a raid on the house of local tribesman Taj Mohmmad in Mohamand district's Khazina Ziarat village, thhe official said. Mohammad was arrested and investigators were grilling him about why he had such an arsenal in his home, which faces eastern Afghanistan, the official added.(Posted @ 19:42 PST)
Russia plans war games with India next month MOSCOW, Sept 26 (Reuters) Russian warships, paratroopers and a nuclear submarine will take part in joint naval exercises with India next month, Russia's defence minister said on Monday adding that they will take place in the Indian Ocean.(Posted @ 19:38 PST)
Pakistanis, Afghans, US must work more closely: US KABUL, Sept 26 (Reuters) Afghanistan, Pakistan and the United States must cooperate much more closely if they are to deal with the threat posed by militants, President George W. Bush's national security adviser Stephen Hadley said on Monday. Hadley called for shared intelligence and joint action against militants after meeting Afghan President Hamid Karzai and the country's interior and defence ministers. ”There is no quick way to fix to this problem," he said adding that "the only way we will succeed is if we work effectively together."(Posted @ 19:35 PST)
Pakistan opposes Iran's U.N. referral on nuclear issue ISLAMABAD, Sept 26 (Reuters) Pakistan opposes Iran being referred to the U.N. Security Council for its nuclear programme, the Foreign Ministry said on Monday. Pakistan instead wanted a settlement of the row over Iran's nuclear programme within the framework of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and was opposed to the use of force, Foreign Ministry spokesman Muhammad Naeem Khan said.(Posted @ 18:58 PST)
IRA has disposed of illegal arsenal, monitors say BELFAST, Sept 26 (Reuters) Irish nationalist guerrillas have disposed of the weapons used in a 30-year armed campaign against British rule in Northern Ireland, international monitors said on Monday. "We are satisfied that the arms decommissioned represent the totality of the IRA's arsenal," the Independent International Commission on Decommissioning said in a statement.(Posted @ 18:26 PST)
Gunmen kill five teachers in Iraqi primary school HILLA, Iraq, Sept 26 (Reuters) Gunmen killed five primary school teachers and a driver in a school in Iskandariya, south of Baghhdad on Monday, a spokesman for Babel police said.(Posted @ 17:59 PST)
Spanish court jails al Qaeda suspect for 27 years MADRID, Sept 26 (Reuters) Spain's High Court sentenced the alleged leader of al Qaeda in Spain to 27 years in prison on Monday, finding he conspired with the September 11 plotters but cleared him of murder in connection with the attacks.Imad Eddin Barakat Yarkas was among 24 people accused of al Qaeda membership in Europe's biggest trial of suspected Islamist militants. Three of the defendants were also accused of a role in the September 11 attacks on U.S. cities. (Posted @ 17:34 PST)
Up to 500 dead in political unrest in Togo: UN GENEVA, Sept 26 (AFP) Clashes during presidential elections in Togo in April left "between 400 and 500 people dead," a UN report said Monday, putting the main blame on authorities. The fact-finding mission appointed by the UN human rights commissioner said massive and serious violations of human rights led to the high number of dead and thousands of wounded.(Posted @ 16:47 PST)
Four killed in Afghanistan bomb blast KANDAHAR, Afghanistan, Sept 26 (AFP) Two civilians and two policemen were killed Monday when a bomb ripped through their vehicle in the Helmand province, southwest Afghanistan, a provincial official said.(Posted @ 16:42 PST)
UN nuclear chief ElBaradei gets a third term VIENNA, Sept 26 (AFP) The UN nuclear watchdog on Monday unanimously named Mohamed ElBaradei to a third term as its director general, despite the initial opposition of the United States. A former Egyptian diplomat who has headed the watchdog International Atomic Energy Agency since 1997, ElBaradei was appointed by acclamation and immediately sworn in at an IAEA general conference in Vienna of the agency's 138 member states.(Posted @ 16:38 PST)
Algerian rebels kill five security forces ALGIERS, Sept 26 (Reuters) Algerian militants killed five security force members as violence flared ahead of a national referendum this week, newspapers said on Monday.(Posted @ 16:32 PST)
Typhoon kills six in China, heads for Vietnam BEIJING, Sept 26 (Reuters) China and Vietnam scrambled on Monday to evacuate nearly half a million people from the path of a typhoon which killed six people as it swept across the southern Chinese resort island of Hainan and headed for Vietnam. State forecasters in Vietnam said the storm was on course to dump heavy rains on more than 10 northern and central provinces and issued warnings for flash floods and landslides.(Posted @ 16:29 PST)
Suicide bomber kills ten Iraqis BAGHDAD, Sept 26 (Reuters) A suicide bomber rammed his car into a bus carrying employees of Iraq's oil ministry as it passed a police academy on Monday, killing at least ten people and wounding 30, police and witnesses said. It was not immediately clear whether Monday's bomber was targeting police or the oil ministry. Police were not able to say how many of the dead and wounded were policemen and how many were from the ministry.(Posted @ 16:24 PST)
Tennis-Doubles victory keeps India afloat against Sweden NEW DELHI, Sept 26 (Reuters) - Former world number one pair Mahesh Bhupathi and Leander Paes clinched the doubles to keep India alive against favourites Sweden in their rain-hit Davis Cup World Group playoff tie on Monday. Paes and Bhupathi displayed the class that netted them three grand slam titles together, rallying to a 3-6 6-3 6-4 6-3 victory over experienced Jonas Bjorkman and Simon Aspelin on day four to reduce Sweden's advantage to 2-1. Bjorkman and former Australian Open champion Thomas Johansson had given the Swedes a 2-0 overnight lead after claiming three-set victories over Prakash Amritraj and Rohan Bopanna respectively. (Posted @ 14:32 PST)
Inmates freed from Abu Ghraib Baghdad, Sept 26 (Reuters) Nine members of the same family travelling to a recruitment centre to join the Iraqi army, were shot dead Sunday near Al Tarmiyah, some 40 kilometres north of Baghdad, police said. Meanwhile, US and Iraqi forces were set to start releasing some 1,000 detainees from Abu Ghraib, a jail on the outskirts of Baghdad. "The release will take place over the next week with the first 500 detainees released on September 26," the US military said. (Posted @ 13:29 PST)
Fifty Hamas, Jihad activists arrested in West Bank: Israeli army JERUSALEM, Sept 26 (AFP) - Israeli troops early Monday arrested 50 wanted members of Hamas and Islamic Jihad in the West Bank, a military spokesman announced. The arrests came 24 hours after a first dragnet resulted in 207 arrests in various parts of the West Bank.Among those arrested were top Hamas political and military officials including Sheikh Hassan Yussef, considered one of the movement's top leaders in the West Bank. (Posted @ 11:47 PST)
Indian troops kill two militants in occupied Kashmir SRINAGAR, Sept 26 (AFP) - Two militants were killed by Indian troops in a security sweep on the outskirts of Srinagar in a gunbattle late Sunday following a raid on a suspected hideout, Indian army spokesman Vijay Batra said. Security in Srinagar was increased at the weekend ahead of the new legislative session which is a prime target for insurgent groups opposed to Indian rule, a police officer said and recalled that in October 2001 militants had exploded a car bomb and stormed the legislature in a raid that killed 40 people. On Monday, Police snipers occupied rooftops overlooking the legislature and the adjoining areas and spiked barricades were placed at the main gate to the legislature. Cars and jeeps entering Srinagar were also being searched (Posted @ 11:27 PST)
Polish centre-right parties triumph in elections WARSAW, Sept 26 (Reuters) - Poland's centre-right parties crushed the ruling left in parliamentary elections, exit polls and early results showed on Monday. Exit polls put the Law and Justice conservatives on 28 percent and their pro-business Civic Platform allies on 25-26 percent. With results from 10 percent of districts counted showing a similar outcome, the two parties said they wanted to rule together and that talks could start this week. (Posted @ 09:26 PST)
Hamas calls halt to attacks, Israel kills two militants GAZA CITY, Sept 25 (AFP) - Hamas announced a halt Sunday to Gaza-based attacks on Israel, even as two Islamic Jihad militants were killed in an Israeli air strike on the outskirts of Gaza City. Mahmud Zahar, the Hamas leader in its Gaza Strip stronghold, made the announcement shortly after Israel carried out its second of two targeted killing operations since Saturday. "Under our commitment to the national agreement, made in Cairo, to a cooling down period until the end of 2005, the movement announces it has stopped its operations from the Gaza Strip against the Zionist occupation," he said. (Posted @ 09:16 PST)
Most British think situation worsening in Iraq: poll LONDON, Sept 26 (AFP) - The situation is worsening in Iraq despite the presence there of British soldiers, 64 percent of respondents told an ICM poll published in the Guardian on Monday. Only 12 percent of the 1,009 people questioned said the troops' presence was helping to improve the situation in Iraq, and 51 percent said Tony Blair's government should set a date for the withdrawal of British soldiers from Basra, whatever security problems remained in the country. More generally, only 39 percent were satisfied with Blair's work as prime minister compared with 47 percent the previous month, a drop that will concern the Labour party leader who is in the south coast resort of Brighton for the party's annual conference. (Posted @ 09:15 PST)
Karachi Stocks up 37.60 points: KARACHI, September 26: At close of trading, the KSE-100 index was at 8217.50, up 37.60 points from Friday’s close. (Bureau Report) (Posted @ 14:35 PST)
Forex update: KARACHI, September 26: The Pakistani Rupee was traded at Rs 60.04 to the US Dollar in the open market. (Bureau Report) (Updated @ 14:35 PST)
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