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| October 17, 2005 | Monday | Ramzan 12, 1426 |
Updated round-the-clock, with major updates after 10:00 PST (05:00 GMT)
Israel freezes contacts with Palestinians after killings JERUSALEM, Oct 17 (AFP) - Israel decided Monday to suspend all contacts with the Palestinian Authority and impose a series of restrictions on civilians in the West Bank following a shooting attack which killed three Jewish settlers.(Posted @ 22:10 PST)
Militants kill 36 in tribal violence in northeast India GUWAHATI, India, Oct 17 (AFP) - At least 36 villagers were killed and dozens more wounded in three separate attacks by militants on members of a rival community in the northeastern Indian state of Assam Monday, a district official said. Twenty-two people died at Jirikinding, a village 320 kilometres east of Guwahati. "Two buses were attacked. Passengers of one bus managed to escape while 22 passengers of the other bus were brutally killed using crude weapons and firearms," he said. In two other attacks, armed Dimasa rebels attacked two villages Monday in the Karbi Anglong district and killed 14 more Karbi villagers. "The militants went to the two villages and set ablaze some 70 houses and hacked to death 14 villagers, including three children," a police official said. Karbi militants later carried out retaliatory attacks on two Dimasa villages, setting ablaze nearly 100 homes, but no details of casualties were available from the remote area. An indefinite curfew had been imposed on the area.(Posted @ 21:54 PST)
US, India sign science, technology pact WASHINGTON, Oct 17 (AFP) - The United States and India on Monday signed an umbrella science and technology agreement to boost cooperation in areas ranging from health to space technology. The pact aimed at expanding collaboration in basic sciences, space, energy, nanotechnology, health and information technology, according to a fact sheet distributed by the State Department.(Posted @ 21:42 PST)
Bush to visit Japan, China, South Korea, Mongolia WASHINGTON, Oct 17 (AFP) - US President George W. Bush will visit Japan, South Korea, China and Mongolia in November, his spokesman said Monday. The trip will by anchored on the November 18-19 Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum summit in Busan, where Bush will also hold one-on-one meetings with world leaders, said McClellan.(Posted @ 21:34 PST)
Seven dead, 28 injured in Indian Hindu-Muslim riots LUCKNOW, India, Oct 17 (AFP) - Seven people have died and 28 have been injured in four days of riots between Hindus and Muslims in the northern Indian state of Uttar Pradesh, an official said Monday. The clashes started Friday night in Mau district, 300 kilometers southeast of Lucknow. PTI reported that 36 people had been injured and 252 arrested. "Despite the curfew, people came out on the streets and a section of them raided Mau railway station. Police had to open fire," said R.P. Singh, deputy inspector general of police.(Posted @ 21:05 PST)
Cabinet list of Germany's future government BERLIN, Oct 17 (AFP) - The full line-up of the future German government was unveiled on Monday as incoming chancellor Angela Merkel named six conservatives to cabinet posts. The Social Democrats of outgoing Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder last week announced who will fill their eight ministerial posts in a planned left-right coalition.(Posted @ 20:22 PST)
Three violent quakes injure 30 in Turkey ANKARA, Oct 17 (APP/AFP) - Three violent earthquakes shook western Turkey on Monday, cracking walls, collapsing chimneys and sending 30 people to hospitals including a man who reportedly threw himself from the fifth floor of a building in panic. The first quake occurred beneath the Aegean Sea at 8:45 am (0545 GMT), the second beneath the Aegean Sea off the town of Seferihisar, followed by a third , with an intensity of 5.6 on the Richter scale, eight minutes later. Officials said the quakes did not cause extensive structural damage. But the second quake was extremely strong.(First Posted @ 17:46 Updated@ 19:38 PST)
Three killed, 14 injured in road mishap BHAKKAR, Oct 17 (APP): Three persons were killed and 14 injured on Monday when a passenger bus proceeding from Nawan Ghassu to Bhakkar turned turtle near Sarai Mahajar, 30 kilometres from here.(Posted @ 19:15 PST)
Left-of-centre government takes power in Norway OSLO, Oct 17 (Reuters) - A left-of-centre coalition took power as Norway's first majority government in 20 years on Monday, promising to raise taxes, increase welfare spending and eradicate social inequality. New Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg, 46, and leader of the Labour party, presented a 19-strong cabinet to King Harald which includes nine women and whose members have an average age of 44.(Posted @ 18:34 PST)
UN calls Pakistan earthquake aid conference GENEVA, Oct 17 (AFP) - The United Nations has scheduled an international conference next week on aid to earthquake-hit Pakistan, its humanitarian arm said Monday. Elisabeth Byrs, a spokeswoman for the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), told AFP the October 24 meeting was expected to bring together ministers from Pakistan and donor countries, plus international aid agencies and other relief groups. Byrs said OCHA is hoping that donor countries will transform their promised help into solid support, as Pakistan reels in the aftermath of the 7.6 magnitude quake which struck on October 8. The UN has so far received six million dollars of the 272 million dollars it appealed for after the earthquake, while donors have pledged another 44 million dollars. Most of the aid has been in kind -- ranging from food supplies to helicopter flight hours. The UN figure does not include all the direct aid to Pakistan offered by donor countries. Byrs said the UN would likely increase its appeal by another 40 million dollars in coming weeks. The earthquake is estimated to have left more than 53,000 dead, tens of thousands injured and 2.5 million homeless in Pakistan alone. The UN also estimates that billions of dollars will be needed for a massive reconstruction effort lasting over a decade.(Posted @ 18:30 PST)
27 drown, 35 missing in Indian boat accidents PATNA, India, Oct 17 (AFP) - At least 27 people drowned and 35 more were missing and feared dead in two boat accidents in central and eastern India, officials said Monday. In eastern Bihar, 14 people, including 11 women and two children, died Monday and 16 were missing when a boat capsized in the Kosi river in Purnia district, police said. In Madhya Pradesh, 13 people died and 19 were missing and feared dead when their overloaded river boat sank, an official said.(First Posted @ 14:34 PST Updated @ 18:25 PST)
Two pro-government religious leaders shot dead in Afghanistan KABUL, Oct 17 (AFP) - Two pro-government Afghan religious leaders were gunned down by suspected Taliban, officials said Monday. They were identified as Maulvi Noor Ahmad Jan and Maulvi and Maulvi Mohammad Gul. Maulvi Noor Ahmad Jan was head of the religious council for eastern Kunar province. Attackers broke into his home late Sunday and opened fire on him, provincial police chief Abdul Ghafar said. Maulvi Mohammad Gul was returning home after payers in the provincial capital Lashkar-Gah when attackers shot him. An intelligence director and a policeman were also killed in Helmand's Sangeen district Sunday.(Posted @ 17:36 PST)
More than 100,000 devotees march for peace in Nepal KATHMANDU, Oct 17 (AFP) More than 100,000 religious devotees in rebellion-hit Nepal marched for peace and harmony Monday in a Buddhist festival held for the first time in almost four decades, witnesses and organizers said. The Dipankha Yatra, a Buddhist festival which marks the incarnation of the Gautam Buddha into a blue bull, brings followers of several religions together to offer prayers at monasteries and temples in Kathmandu and nearby Lalitpur. (Posted @ 14:35 PST)
Cricket-ICC shelve plans to play super series in four years SYDNEY, Oct 17 (Reuters) The International Cricket Council (ICC) has shelved plans to play another super series in four years time after a tame end to Australia's clash with the Rest of the World. The ICC had said it would stage the lucrative series as a regular feature of their calendar but chief executive Malcolm Speed said the concept had been scrapped after Australia thrashed the world combination in three one-dayers and a test. (Posted @ 14:25 PST)
U.S. military says kills 70 militants in west Iraq BAGHDAD, Oct 17 (Reuters) U.S. forces killed an estimated 70 militants near the western Iraqi city of Ramadi in a series of clashes on Sunday, a military statement said on Monday. The statement said U.S. troops called in aircraft to bomb one group of suspected insurgents who were in the process of planting a roadside bomb, killing 20 men on the ground. Other clashes and air strikes around Ramadi, an insurgent stronghold in western Anbar province, killed another 50 militants, the statement said. (Posted @ 14:25 PST)
Koizumi visits war shrine; China and South Korea protest TOKYO, Oct 17 (Reuters) Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi paid homage on Monday at a Tokyo shrine for war dead, seen by critics as a symbol of Japan's militaristic past, drawing swift and angry protests from China and South Korea. Chinese ambassador to Japan Wang Yi, however, called the visit a "grave provocation to the Chinese people". South Korean Foreign Minister Ban Ki-moon summoned Japanese ambassador Shotaro Oshima to complain. (Posted @ 10:30 PST)
WHO says South East Asia remains biggest bird flu danger MANILA, Oct 17 (Reuters) The World Health Organisation said on Monday it was concerned that European countries facing the spread of bird flu would divert funding and attention away from Southeast Asia, the most likely epicentre of a human pandemic. Experts say the fight against bird flu in Asia was hampered by huge differences in wealth between countries. Some countries still have no stockpiles of the expensive anti-viral drugs that could help limit a human pandemic and have poor public health infrastructure. (Posted @ 10:30 PST)
Firecrackers greet return of Chinese astronauts BEIJING, Oct 17 (Reuters) China's second manned spacecraft returned on Monday after orbiting the Earth for five days as patriotic fervour gripped the nation and the media hailed the mission as a symbol of China's technological prowess. Astronauts Fei Junlong, 40, and Nie Haisheng, 41, were flown to Beijing where they were given a hero's welcome after their Shenzhou VI space capsule touched down in the remote steppes of the northern Chinese region of Inner Mongolia at 4:33 a.m. (2033 GMT).(Posted @ 10:25 PST)
Cricket-Australia beat World XI by 210 runs SYDNEY, Oct 17 (Reuters) Australia beat the ICC World XI by 210 runs after lunch on the fourth day of their super series test at the Sydney Cricket Ground on Monday. Australia 345 (Matthew Hayden 111, Adam Gilchrist 94; Andrew Flintoff 4-59) and 199 (Hayden 77, Ricky Ponting 54; Steve Harmison 3-41, Flintoff 3-48, Muttiah Muralitharan 3-55); ICC World XI 190 (Virender Sehwag 76; Stuart MacGill 4-39) and 144 (Jacques Kallis 39 not out; MacGill 5-43, Shane Warne 3-48). (Posted @ 09:55 PST)
Karachi Stocks up 37.03 points: KARACHI, October 17: At close of trading, the KSE-100 index was at 8900.90, up 37.03 points from Friday's close. (Bureau Report) (Updated @ 13:30 PST)
Forex update: KARACHI, October 17: The Pakistani Rupee was traded at Rs 60.05 to the US Dollar in the open market. (Bureau Report) (Updated @ 13:30 PST)
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