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| October 15, 2005 | Saturday | Raman 10, 1426 |
Updated round-the-clock, with major updates after 10:00 PST (05:00 GMT)
Two killed in bomb attacks in SW Iran - state TV TEHRAN, Oct 15 (Reuters) - Two bombs set off minutes apart killed two people and injured 50 others in the southwestern Iranian city of Ahvaz, state television reported on Saturday. It said the two bombings, five minutes apart, occurred near a shopping centre in central Ahvaz, scene of several bomb blasts blamed on separatist groups earlier this year.(Posted @ 20:38 PST)
Over 61 percent turnout in Iraqi referendum: commission BAGHDAD, Oct 15 (AFP) - More than 61 percent of registered Voters exercised their right of franchise in Saturday's constitutional referendum, according to a preliminary estimate by election commission member Abdel Hindawi.(Posted @ 20:34 PST)
Six suspected militants killed in Pakistani tribal area WANA, Pakistan, Oct 15 (AFP) - Pakistani paramilitary troops Saturday killed six suspected militants and arrested two after a shootout at a checkpoint in a remote tribal area near the Afghan border, officials said. "Security forces have killed six foreign militants and arrested a foreigner and a Pakistani after they refused to surrender at Laddah fort checkpost, 40 kilometres northeast of Wana " a security official who requested anonymity told AFP.The militants were travelling in a pickup truck from which weapons including rocket launchers and hand grenades were also seized, he said. "They seem to be Uzbeks as they have Central Asian features," the official said.(Posted @ 20:30 PST)
US captures Al-Qaeda disguise expert in Iraq BAGHDAD, Oct 15 (AFP) - US forces said Saturday they had captured two senior Al-Qaeda members in Iraq, including a man known as the "Barber" who helped top extremists evade detention by transforming their appearances. Walid Muhammad Farhan Juwar al Zubaydi, also known as Firas, Abu Ziyad, and "The Barber" was arrested in a Baghdad raid on September 24. Also captured was Ibrahim Muhammad Subhi Khayri al-Rihawi, commonly known as "Abu Khalil". The former performed duties including "altering senior Al-Qaeda in Iraq members' appearances by dying hair colour, altering hairstyles and changing facial hair in their efforts to evade capture". Abu Khalil was described as "a close associate of Abu Azzam, (who) served as an executive assistant for the terrorist emir. "He also acted as a banker for Azzam and stored the terrorist organizations funds so they would not be confiscated should Abu Azzam be killed or captured." Azzam, considered second in command to Al-Qaeda's frontman in Iraq, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, was killed in a raid in September.(Posted @ 19:45 PST)
Twenty dead, 12 missing as boat capsizes in north India: report NEW DELHI, Oct 15 (AFP) - At least 20 people died and 12 others were missing when their boat capsized Saturday in the Ganga river near Shahpur Babhnauli village in Ballia district in Uttar Pradesh, district magistrate Anil Kumar said. He said there were nearly 60 people on the boat.Police divers were scouring the waters of the river to look for the missing people.(Posted @ 19:35 PST)
Bush hails Iraq vote as victory WASHINGTON, Oct 15 (AFP) - US President George W. Bush on Saturday hailed Iraq's national constitutional referendum "a critical step forward" in the war-torn country's move towards democracy, whether or not the charter passes. "By casting their ballots, the Iraqi people deal a severe blow to the terrorists and send a clear message to the world: Iraqis will decide the future of their country through peaceful elections, not violent insurgency," he said.(Posted @ 19:32 PST)
Bird flu strains in Turkey and Romania identical: EU BRUSSELS, Oct 15 (AFP) - The potentially deadly H5N1 strain of bird flu virus found in Romania is identical to those detected in both Turkey and Asia, European Health Commissioner Markos Kyprianou said Saturday.(Posted @ 18:49 PST)
13 dead as bus plunges into Bangladesh river DHAKA, Oct 15 (AFP) - At least 13 people were killed and up to 10 more feared dead trapped inside a bus that plunged into a river in northern Bangladesh on Saturday, police said. The bus driver lost control at Kichak in Bogra district, some 200 kilometres from Dhaka, said police officer Abdur Rashid Sarkar. "We have recovered 13 dead bodies. The diver said upto 10 more dead bodies were trapped inside the sunken bus," he said.(Posted @ 18:42 PST)
Two Indian soldiers, three rebels die in clashes in occupied Kashmir SRINAGAR, occupied Kashmir, Oct 15 (AFP) - Two Indian soldiers were killed Saturday and six others wounded in a rebel attack, while the army shot dead three militants in other encounters clashes in quake-hit occupied Kashmir, police said. "The attack came as soldiers were doing exercise drills outside the headquarters," of the army in Kathua district, a spokesman said. "Two soldiers were killed while six have been shifted to hospital," he said. The firefight lasted two hours, but the spokesman said the gunmen may have escaped.Indian troops, meanwhile, shot dead three militants in two separate gunbattles on the outskirts of Srinagar and in Anantnag district.(Posted @ 17:04 PST)
Partial moon eclipse on October 17 ISLAMABAD, Oct 15 (APP): Pakistan Meteorological Department has said there will be partial moon eclipse on Monday, October17, and that will be partially visible in upper parts of country, besides parts of Antarctica, Central and Eastern Asia, North and Central America. In Pakistan,it will begin at 04:34 pm and will end at 05:32 pm and in between, the greatest eclipse will be observed at 05:03 pm.(Posted @ 16:38 PST)
Iraqis vote on historic post-Saddam constitution BAGHDAD, Oct 15 (Reuters) - Iraqis flowed to the polls in an historic referendum on Saturday, with up to 15 million voters set to decide on a controversial new constitution that backers hope will unite the torn country. Amid intense security, including a ban on all traffic, and despite a handful of gun and mortar attacks, voters headed on foot to polling stations across Baghdad as they opened at 7 a.m.(0400 GMT). They are due to close at 5 p.m., unless attacks cause delays and some are kept open longer. Despite generally strong signs of attendance around the country, militants in the western Sunni Arab stronghold of Ramadi attacked Iraqi and U.S. forces and there was little sign of voting there. Mortars fell on a Baghdad polling site but no one was hurt. In Basra in the south, Falluja to the west and Kirkuk to the north, a steady stream of voters cast ballots, but in Mosul attendance was scarce and threatening fliers were distributed urging people to keep away. In Baghdad's fortified Green Zone compound, where the Iraqi government is headquartered, President Jalal Talabani and Prime Minister Ibrahim Jaafari were two of the first to cast ballots.(Posted @ 16:22 PST)
Cricket-McGrath passes Walsh's test record for fast bowlers SYDNEY, Oct 15 (Reuters) - Glenn McGrath went past West Indian Courtney Walsh's record for a paceman when he collected two World XI wickets on the second day of the ICC super test on Saturday. McGrath equalled Walsh's total of 519 test victims by dismissing India's new captain Rahul Dravid for a duck before claiming the record outright by trapping Brian Lara lbw for five. He is now 106 behind team mate Warne, who bagged three scalps on Saturday, and 45 adrift of Sri Lanka off spinner Muttiah Muralitharan. "I can't see myself catching the next two but without doubt my next goal is to reach 600 test wickets," he said.(Posted @ 16:18 PST)
Polling day incidents in Iraq, Oct 15 Baghdad, Oct 15 (Reuters) Three Iraqi soldiers were killed and three wounded when their convoy was targeted by a roadside bomb near the Iranian border, 80 km east of Baquba, police in Baquba said. Four civilians were wounded when police opened fire near a polling centre in Amil district of Baghdad, a police source said. The source said the police units had fired on each other. Police said a woman was injured when Iraqi soldiers opened fire on a car in Ghazaliya district of Baghdad. They had suspected the car was carrying militants. Another civilian was seriously wounded when a gunman shot him near a polling centre in Ghazaliya, and three roadside bombs, which targeted a police patrol, exploded in Amiriya district of the capital, wounding one policeman, a police source said.Police said three mortars fell on a polling centre in western Baghdad. There were no casualties from the attack. Witnesses said clashes involving mortars, rockets and machine gunfire were ongoing between U.S. and Iraqi army with insurgents in parts of the Ramadi province, 110km west of Baghdad. There were no reports on casualties.(Posted @ 16:10 PST)
Pakistan arrests 59 Indian fishermen for illegal entry KARACHI, Oct 15 (AFP) - Pakistan Friday night arrested 59 Indians and seized their boats for fishing illegally in Pakistani waters. “They were about 40 kilometers inside our territorial waters," Maritime Security Agency spokesman Lieutenant Commander Ateequr Rehman said.With the new arrests, the number of detained Indian fishermen has risen to 141 in the current season, Rehman said. M(Posted @ 15:45 PST)
Hindu-Muslim riots leave three dead, 26 hurt in northern India LUCKNOW, India, Oct 15 (AFP) - Hindus and Muslims fought pitched battles that left three dead and 26 injured in Mau town of Lucknow district in UP, authorities said Saturday after imposing a curfew.The clashes were ignited Friday night when Muslims objected to a Hindu religious ceremony in a Muslim-dominated area. Rioting killed three persons, and 26 others were injured. (Posted @ 15:35 PST)
Four immigrants killed as building collapses in Spain MADRID, Oct 15 (AFP) - At least four immigrants were killed early Saturday when a three-storey building collapsed in a town near the northeastern city of Barcelona. The cause of the explosion was not immediately clear. "Four people are dead, two were brought out of the rubble and taken to health centres and two others came out on their own," a fire service spokesman said. A neighbour told national radio that between 25 and 30 Moroccans lived in the building in Piera town, about 50 kilometres northwest of Barcelona, and some were feared trapped in the ruins. (Posted @ 15:30 PST)
Russia, US split on Iran nuclear rights MOSCOW, Oct 15 (AFP) - Russia and the United States disagreed here Saturday on whether Iran should be permitted to enrich uranium as part of a controversial nuclear program, with Moscow defending its right to do so and Washington saying Tehran could not be trusted with the technology. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, flanked by US Secretary of States Condoleezza Rice, told reporters that Moscow saw no reason to put the Iranian nuclear issue to the UN Security Council as sought by Washington and said Tehran had a right to enrich uranium for civilian nuclear power use. "All members of the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty have this right," Lavrov stated. Rice retorted that "the NPT doesn't come only with rights but also with obligations. "This is not an issue of rights but of whether or not the fuel cycle can be trusted in Iran," Rice said. (Posted @ 15:15 PST)
Venezuela Chavez says OPEC nearly at full capacity SALAMANCA, Spain, Oct 15 (Reuters) Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez said on Saturday the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) was nearly at the limit of its oil-producing capacity. "OPEC is producing almost at the limit of its capacity, it would be very difficult for it to increase production," he said at the Ibero-American forum. Chavez said the world would have to get used to oil priced at above $50 per barrel. "Prices will continue to rise because oil is running out," he said. (Posted @ 14:05 PST)
Lab tests confirm deadly H5N1 virus in Romania BUCHAREST, Oct 15 (Reuters) Lab tests in Britain have confirmed that an outbreak of bird flu in Romania is that of the highly pathogenic H5N1 strain, Romania's state veterinarian authority said on Saturday. (Posted @ 13:55 PST)
Heavy rain kills 22 in southern India HYDERABAD, India, Oct 15 (Reuters) Heavy rain and strong winds killed at least 22 people in southern India this week and another 10 were feared dead, many of them washed away or electrocuted, officials said on Saturday. Eleven people, including four women, were killed along the coast of Andhra Pradesh state over the past 24 hours while 11 others have died in neighbouring Tamil Nadu since Wednesday. (Posted @ 13:50 PST)
China completes railway to roof of the world BEIJING, Oct 15 (Reuters) China announced on Saturday the completion of the world's highest railway, a controversial line that runs to its Tibet autonomous region. The pan-Himalayan line, not yet in operation, climbs 5,072 metres (16,640 feet) above sea level and runs across Tibet's snow-covered plateau, known as the roof of the world. The official Xinhua news agency said $3 billion had so far been spent on the challenging 1,142-km (710-mile) final section whose construction across mountain ranges began four years ago. China says the line will promote the development of impoverished Tibet. (Posted @ 11:50 PST)
US judge hears lawyers' petition for Guantanamo hunger strikers WASHINGTON, Oct 14 (AFP) Lawyers for hunger-striking prisoners at the US detention centre in Guantanamo, Cuba, appealed to a federal judge Friday for the right to access to their clients to more than just once a month and also to their medical records. The hearing was scheduled to address an emergency petition filed by the lawyers on behalf of their clients at Guantanamo, where 200 prisoners have taken part in a more than two-month-old hunger strike. Lawyers also requested that the prisoners be allowed to telephone their families and that they be allowed to visit Guantanamo with their own doctors to evaluate the health of their clients, who were refusing to eat to protest their indefinite detention without charges. A lawyer estimated that between 20 and 30 prisoners were being force-fed intravenously or through feeding tubes and 15 others would soon get the same treatment. Another lawyer, John Chandler, recounted to the judge his recent visit with a Yemeni client, Mohamed Bawazir, 25, who had been on a hunger strike since August 8 and was being force-fed. "He was sitting in a wheelchair, he was shivering…he had a feeding tube in his nose," Chandler said. According to the lawyer, his client asked him to ask the court to block the forced feeding. The judge was expected to announce her decision on the requests next week, one of the lawyers said. (Posted @ 11:05 PST)
Two killed as Norway envoy says no breakthrough in Sri Lanka talks COLOMBO, Oct 15 (AFP) Suspected Tamil Tiger rebels shot dead a policeman and a soldier in fresh violence in Sri Lanka amid renewed attempts by Norway to revive peace talks, officials and the defence ministry said Saturday. There was no immediate word from the Tigers about the military allegations. The latest attacks came as a top Norwegian envoy Trond Furuhovde said here late Friday that there had been no breakthrough in arranging early negotiations between the parties after the truce came under renewed pressure with the murder of foreign minister Lakshman Kadirgamar in August. (Posted @ 10:35 PST)
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