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| September 30, 2005 | Friday | Sha'aban 25, 1426 |
Updated round-the-clock, with major updates after 10:00 PST (05:00 GMT)
Kalabagh Dam in best interest of whole country: CM LAHORE Sept 30-(PPI): Punjab Chief Minister Ch. Pervaiz Elahi has said frequent inter-provincial visits of journalists, writers and intellectuals of all the provinces of Pakistan should be arranged for benefiting from each other's experiences. He was talking to a 12-member delegation of journalists from NWFP at Chief Minister House, here Friday. Ch. Pervaiz Elahi said Punjab government has close contacts with all provinces including NWFP and he also consults the chief ministers of other provinces on matters of common interest. He said delegations of journalists, artists and writers would also be sent to NWFP and he would himself undertake a visit to NWFP after local bodies elections.(Posted @ 23:45 PST)
Twelve killed in Polish school bus crash WARSAW, Sept 30 (Reuters) - A bus carrying schoolchildren on a pilgrimage collided with a truck in eastern Poland on Friday, killing 12 people and injuring dozens, the fire brigade said. The bus, carrying high-school students to Czestochowa shrine, span across the road and caught fire after the collision, said Jacek Dobrzynski, a spokesman for the fire brigade in the eastern city of Bialystok. "The bus was completely burned and people were running away in flames," he said by telephone from the site of the accident. Dobrzynski said 12 people had died in the accident and around 30 were taken to hospital. He said there were nearly 60 people on the bus, most of them students. Local media said that both the bus and the truck were trying to pass other vehicles in misty weather.(Posted @ 23:30 PST)
Korean President, Prime Minister to visit Pakistan SEOUL, Sept 30 (APP): Korean President Roh Moo-hyun and Prime Minister Lee Hae-chun have accepted invitations to visit Pakistan. Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz extended the invitation on behalf of President General Pervez Musharraf to the Korean President and also separately invited his Korean counterpart to visit Pakistan. The dates for the visits will be decided through diplomatic channels.(Posted @ 23:05 PST)
Pak-Korea trade to reach one billion dollar this year : PM SEOUL, Sep. 30 (APP): Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz Friday said leading Korean companies were eyeing Pakistan as an attractive destination for investment and expressed the hope that two-way trade between the two countries would reach one billion dollars this year. Speaking to Pakistani community here on the last day of his three-day visit to South Korea, the Prime Minister said he had productive meetings with major Korean companies including Daewoo, Hyundai, Samsung,Sammi, Sambu and LG Electronics.Giving details of his visit and meetings, the Prime Minister said that his visit focused on enhancing economic and trade ties and to seek technical assistance in high-technology.(Posted @ 20:30 PST)
PM urges Korean investors to invest in Pakistan SEOUL, Sep 30 (APP): Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz Friday invited the Korean industrial giants, Samsung, Daewoo and Hyundai to avail the vast investment opportunities in Pakistan and join hands in developing country's mega infrastructure projects. Talking separately to the heads of the three companies, he said Pakistan was about to initiate work on major road networks, water reservoirs, oil and gas exploration, oil refinery and in many other areas.He said the Korean government would also provide Credit Supplier Loan for the companies interested in working in Pakistan and the Korean industries should avail these opportunities.(Posted @ 20:24 PST)
PM Aziz arrives in Malaysia KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 30 (APP): Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz arrived here Friday on a three-day visit to Malaysia after wrapping up an official visit to South Korea.In Malaysia, the Prime Minister will hold talks with his Malaysian counterpart, meet former Prime Minister Mahatir bin Muhammad and will be a keynote speaker at the World Islamic Economic Forum being launched in the capital Kuala Lumpur on Saturday.In a brief talk with the Malaysian media soon after his arrival, the Prime Minister said that he would discuss further cooperation between the two countries, security issues in the region, trade and economic ties, OIC revitalization and other matters of mutual interest in his talks with Prime Minister Ahmed Abdullah Badawi. Responding to a question, the Prime Minster said he had brought with him some specific recommendations to take the process of economic cooperation within the Muslim Ummah forward.(Posted @ 20:20 PST)
Pakistani helicopters attack militants on border MIRANSHAH, Pakistan, Sept 30 (Reuters) - Pakistani security forces and al Qaeda-linked militants battled in mountains near the border with Afghanistan on Friday and four Pakistani soldiers were killed and several injured , a military official said. Pakistani army helicopter gunships began pounding a suspected militant hideout in the North Waziristan tribal region late on Thursday following a clash with militants, military spokesman Major-General Shaukat Sultan said adding that the militants were also believed to have suffered heavy casualties. "There was heavy resistance from the other side," he said. Commenting on speculation that a militant leader might be holding out in the North Waziristan region, he said the military had no evidence of any leader there. "Certainly, there were reports about militants but there were no reports of any high-value target," he said. The fighting was continuing at dusk on Friday, he added. A security official on the border said troops had arrested a nephew of Taliban leader, Jalaluddin Haqqani, during a search in North Waziristan this week.(First Posted @ 17:46 Updated @ 20:14 PST)
Israel kills 2 gunmen, teen in W.Bank offensive NABLUS, West Bank, Sept 30 (Reuters) - Israeli forces killed two Palestinian gunmen and a teenager in the occupied West Bank on Friday, pressing ahead with raids against militants despite a halt to cross-border rocket salvoes from the Gaza Strip. Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, part of Fatah, said two fighters died in an Israeli army raid on Balata refugee camp in Nablus. Israeli Troops later shot dead a 13-year-old stone-thrower in nearby Askar camp, witnesses said.(First Posted @ 09:55 Updated @ 19:59 PST)
Nineteen killed in occupied Kashmir violence SRINAGAR, Sept 30 (AFP) - Nineteen people were killed in the latest violence in occupied Kashmir, four of them soldiers gunned down in a firefight with militants, officials said Friday. Two suspected militants also died in the early morning gunbattle in northern Machil sector, they said adding that three other soldiers were injured during the fighting. "The operation in the area is continuing," the spokesman said adding that army reinforcements had been rushed to the area. Meanwhile, Indian troops shot dead nine militants in four separate encounters in the southern districts of Doda, Poonch, Udhampur and Anantnag late Thursday and early Friday, a police spokesman said. Separately another militant was killed in Kupwara district. In other clashes, an Indian soldier was killed in an ambush by militants in Doda district and a Muslim girl and a man were gunned down in Pulwama and Anantnag districts, police said.(First Posted @ 17:38 PST Updated @ 19:52 PST)
Ten killed as police fire on protesting students in northeast India GUWAHATI, India, Sept 30 (AFP) - Ten students were killed and 90 people injured Friday when police opened fire during two separate clashes with thousands of protestors in India's northeastern state of Meghalaya, an official said.The incidents occurred in the towns of Tura and Williamnagar when thousands of students staged violent protests against plans to move a school education board to the state capital Shillong from Tura, the official said. The issue has been simmering for a month or so, with almost daily protests. "Five students each died in Tura and Williamnagar when police opened fire on mobs who were making coordinated attacks on the offices of the district magistrates in the two headquarters," Maghalaya Education Minister Mukul Sangma said. The injured included 54 policemen and three senior magistrates. An indefinite curfew has been imposed on the two towns following the violence.(First Posted @ 17:58 PST Updated @ 19:45 PST)
S.African jailed for life for feeding man to lion JOHANNESBURG, Sept 30 (Reuters) - A white farmer convicted of feeding one of his black workers to lions was jailed for life by a South African judge on Friday, ending a racially-charged case which highlighted the abuse of rural black labourers. The South African Press Association (SAPA) reported that Mark Scott-Crossley was given life and black labourer Simon Mathebula was sentenced to 15 years, partly suspended, for his role in a murder. The victim was 41-year-old Nelson Chisale. Little more than Chisale's skull, shards of bone and a finger were found at an enclosure for rare white lions early last year.(Posted @ 18:14 PST)
Four US soldiers wounded in Afghan blast KABUL, Sept 30 (AFP) - Four US soldiers were wounded Friday when a roadside bomb planted by insurgents hit their armoured vehicle in northeastern Afghanistan, the US military said. The troops were attacked as they returned from a mission to defuse a similar bomb in near Asadabad, the main town in Kunar province, it added.(Posted @ 17:50 PST)
India seeks more 'people ties' ahead of Pakistan talks NEW DELHI, Sept 30 (AFP) - India unveiled a slew of measures Friday to spur people-to-people contacts with Pakistan as part of moves to boost a slow-moving peace process ahead of a trip to Islamabad by India's foreign minister. The security cabinet gave the go-ahead to liberalise consular and visa services . It will need an amendment to a 1982 India-Pakistan accord, Defence Minister Pranab Mukherjee told reporters adding that it would be signed during Foreign Minister Natwar Singh's four-day visit to Islamabad starting Sunday. Mukherjee said visa rules would be relaxed for Pakistani nationals coming to India for medical treatment. Other measures approved included twice yearly exchanges of lists of people housed in prisons in each other's country who accidentally strayed across borders. Besides , a 1974 bilateral accord would be amended to facilitate visits by pilgrims to shrines in India and Pakistan.(Posted @ 17:42 PST)
Huge anti-graft sweep in India NEW DELHI, Sept 30 (AFP) - Indian detectives Friday launched simultaneous raids on the houses of scores of government officials suspected of corruption involving millions of dollars, reports said. Some 2,000 personnel of the federal detective agency the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), took part in the operation across around 100 cities, the Press Trust of India news agency said. "We have registered about 35 cases so far," he said adding the raids would continue throughout Friday. (Posted @ 15:20 PST)
Cricket-Pakistan bowler Ahmed's bowling action to be cleared KARACHI, Sept 30 (Reuters) - Pakistani pace bowler Shabbir Ahmed's bowling action has finally been cleared by a biomechanic expert, Pakistan cricket authorities said on Friday. "Shabbir underwent tests on his action in Perth, Australia, under the supervision of professor Bruce Elliot. We have been intimated his action is clear," PCB director Saleem Altaf told Reuters. "The experts have recommended that he should continue to bowl side-on when his action remains clear," he said. "The problem is when he bowls chest on." Altaf said the latest report on Shabbir's action would be sent to the ICC for clearance by next week. Ahmed has taken 46 wickets in nine tests. (Posted @ 15:15 PST)
At least 11 killed in Polish school bus crash WARSAW, Sept 30 (Reuters) - A bus carrying schoolchildren on a pilgrimage collided with a truck in eastern Poland on Friday, killing at least 11 people and injuring dozens, the fire brigade said. " The bus collided head-on with a truck, spun across the road and caught fire,", a spokesman said. "The bus was completely burned and people were running away in flames. So far we have 11 dead and several dozen injured," he said adding that there were nearly 60 people on the bus, most of them students. (Posted @ 15:10 PST)
Car bomb kills 12 in Iraq as referendum vote nears HILLA, Iraq, Sept 30 (Reuters) - A car bomb in a crowded market in the southern Iraqi town of Hilla killed at least 12 people and wounded 47 on Friday, police and health officials said, a day after three car bombs killed 95 north of Baghdad. Meanwhile, five American soldiers were also killed on Thursday in one of the deadliest bombings on the U.S. military in weeks, near Ramadi (Posted @ 15:00 PST)
Algerians massively approve amnesty-minister ALGIERS, Sept 30 (Reuters) - Algerian voters overwhelmingly approved a partial amnesty for hundreds of Islamic rebels intended to end more than a decade of civil war, Interior Minister Noureddine Zerhouni said on Friday. "97.43 percent voted 'yes'," he told a news conference, adding that almost 80 percent of the North African country's 18.3 million eligible voters took part. Voting was marred by violence in several provinces in the east of the country, particularly in the restive Berber region of Kabylie where opposition parties had called for a boycott. Participation was 11.5 percent in Tizi Ouzou and Bejaia. (Posted @ 14:55 PST)
Former US commander of Abu Ghraib prison says little done to check abuses LONDON, Sept 30 (AFP) - The former US commander of Abu Ghraib prison said Friday that little has been done to check abuses at US-run jails in Iraq, Afghanistan and Guantanamo Bay since the first photographs exposed the scandal. "We haven't dealt very effectively with those photographs or what they indicated," Colonel Janis Karpinski, who was demoted from her rank of brigadier general over the scandal at Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq, told BBC radio. "I think it's largely proved now that it wasn't just seven out-of-control soldiers on a night shift" at Abu Ghraib, where Iraqi prisoners were abused and sexually humiliated, Karpinski said. Documents produced since "that time indicated that it was taking place in Afghanistan, in Guantanamo Bay," Karpinski added. "The difference was of course that there was no photographs ... (of) those events taking place in other locations," she said. (Posted @ 13:05 PST)
New York Times reporter freed from US jail WASHINGTON, Sept 30 (AFP) - New York Times reporter Judith Miller has been released from prison after agreeing to testify in a federal probe on the outing of an undercover CIA agent, the newspaper announced. Miller, who spent 12 weeks in a prison , was set free after her source waived her pledge of confidentiality, the Times said Thursday. "That source was I. Lewis Libby, Vice President Dick Cheney's chief of staff," the daily said, citing "people who have been officially briefed on the case." "It's good to be free," Miller said in a statement released by the paper. "I went to jail to preserve the time-honored principle that a journalist must respect a promise not to reveal the identity of a confidential source. I chose to take the consequences -- 85 days in prison -- rather than violate that promise," she said. "I am leaving jail today because my source has now voluntarily and personally released me from my promise of confidentiality regarding our conversations relating to the Wilson-Plame matter. (Posted @ 12:10 PST)
PM, Korean President discuss bilateral, regional issues SEOUL (Korea), Sept 30. (APP): Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz and Korean President Roh Moo-hyun Friday exchanged views on bilateral relations, regional and international issues including the situation in North Korea, Afghanistan, Iran, Iraq and Pakistan-India peace process. Emphasizing Pakistan's investor-friendly climate, Aziz said Pakistan needs more private sector investment in various sectors including engineering, energy, textile, construction and infrastructure. Moo-hyun said he would encourage the Korean private sector to invest in Pakistan. Aziz also stressed the need for more technical assistance from Korea, especially in the field of infrastructure. The two leaders also exchanged views on Iran's nuclear programme and the situation in Afghanistan. Aziz also extended an invitation to the Korean President on behalf of President Musharraf to visit Pakistan. (Posted @ 10:35 PST)
Karachi Stocks up 74.15 points KARACHI, September 30: At close of trading, the KSE-100 index was at 8225.66, up 74.15 points from Thursday's close. (Bureau Report) (Updated @ 16:15 PST)
Forex update: KARACHI, September 30: The Pakistani Rupee was traded at Rs 60.42 to the US Dollar in the open market. (Bureau Report) (Updated @ 16:15 PST)
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