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| December 5, 2005 | Monday | Ziqa’ad 2, 1426 |
Updated round-the-clock, with major updates after 10:00 PST (05:00 GMT)
Musharraf calls for bolstering trade among OIC countries SANA'A, Dec 5 (APP): President General Pervez Musharraf on Monday called for a coordinated approach to bolster trade among OIC member states as a way forward for their overall economic development. Speaking to Yemeni business leaders ahead of this week's summit of the Organization of Islamic Conference to be held at Makkah, Musharraf hoped that the OIC would set up a dedicated department for promoting intra-OIC trade. "The current level of commerce within the Muslim countries hovers around to just 10-12 per cent; we need to step it up and complement each other's economies for sustainable development of our people," he said on the second day of his visit to Yemen. He referred to the need to assess the scope of bilateral trade between Muslim countries through identification of various potential fields. In this context, he quoted, the level of trade between Pakistan and Yemen, and said the Arab country imports goods worth US $1.5 billion from around the world but Yemen's total imports from Pakistan amount to just US $50 million. Musharraf underscored that political bonds between countries get strengthened through upsurge in trade and economic cooperation. He urged a joint ministerial meeting to explore ways to sort out any shipping problems in the way of this objective.(Posted @ 20:38 PST)
Pakistan and Yemen can invigorate ties in many fields: President Musharraf SANA'A, Dec 5 (APP) : President General Pervez Musharraf said Monday Pakistan and Yemen have vast opportunities to reinforce their relationship in various fields through increased mutual cooperation. He was talking to Abdulaziz Abdulghani, Chairman Majlis-u-Shura, who called on him at the Republican Palace. Yemeni Defence Minister Abdullah Ali Aliwa, Interior Minister Maj Gen Rashad al-Alimi and Minister for Oil and Minerals Rasheed Ba-Raba also called on the President and discussed ways to boost bilateral relationship.(Posted @ 23:52 PST)
Strong quake shakes six nations across east and central Africa NAIROBI, Dec 5 (AFP) A powerful earthquake shook central and east Africa on Monday, causing buildings to sway and sending thousands of people into the streets in at least six nations near its epicentre on the border between Tanzania and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). No damage or injuries were immediately reported from the temblor that registered 7.5 on the Richter scale, according to the French Observatory of Earth Sciences in Strasbourg and magnitude 6.8 at 12:19:55 GMT, according to the US Geological Survey (USGS). Residents of towns and cities in at least six countries in the region: Burundi, the DRC, Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania and Uganda reported feeling the tremors.(First Posted@ 18:32 PST Updated@ 20:42 PST)
First witness accuses Saddam; lawyers mount challenge BAGHDAD, Dec 5 (Reuters) The first witness to face Saddam Hussein in court told of horrors committed under his rule on Monday, including a human meat grinder, after Saddam's defence team challenged the U.S.-backed trial and briefly walked out. After chaotic procedural wrangling, during which former U.S. attorney-general Ramsey Clark led a defence walkout over threats to the lawyers and a challenge to the legitimacy of the court, Ahmed Hassan became the first witness to take the stand in the trial. Saddam is being tried for ordering the killing of more than 140 Shi'ite Muslims from Dujail after an attempt on his life during his time of rule.(First Posted@14:55 PST Updated@ 20:08 PST)
Kuwait, China sign five billion dollar energy deal KUWAIT CITY, Dec 5 (AFP) Kuwait and China on Monday signed an agreement for the construction of a refining and petrochemicals complex in China at an estimated cost of five billion dollars, an official statement said. The complex, expected to process crude oil from Kuwait, will be established in Guangdong province in China and is planned to be on-stream in 2010, Kuwait's energy ministry said in a statement. The capacity of the refinery will be between 200,000 barrels per day (bpd) and 400,000 bpd.(Posted @ 20:02 PST)
US-based Intel to invest more than one billion dollars in India NEW DELHI, Dec 5 (AFP) The chairman of Intel, the world's largest chipmaker, said Monday the company planned to invest more than one billion dollars to expand in India in the next five years, a news report said. The company plans to invest 800 million dollars in operations in the next five years and set up a 250-million-dollar venture capital fund in the country, the Press Trust of India (PTI) quoted Intel chairman Craig Barrett as saying.(Posted @ 19:58 PST)
Russian region appeals for help over China toxic slick VLADIVOSTOK, Russia, Dec 5 (AFP) The governor of Russia's eastern province of Khabarovsk appealed to Moscow and Beijing Monday for "exhaustive measures" to protect inhabitants from a benzene slick moving towards the Russian border from China. "The consequences of pollution in the Amur river will be long-term and it will take many months, if not years, to overcome them," Governor Viktor Ishayev said at an emergency committee meeting.(Posted @ 18:50 PST)
Bird flu risk greatest 'during slaughter': UN ROME, Dec 5 (AFP) Humans are at risk from contracting bird flu from chicken and other poultry during the slaughter and handling of diseased birds, two UN bodies said Monday in a statement which reiterated that poultry is safe to eat if properly cooked. "Cooking of poultry (chicken, ducks, geese, turkeys and guinea-fowl) at or above 70 degrees Celcius throughout the product, so that absolutely no meat remains raw and red, is a safe measure to kill the H5N1 virus in areas with outbreaks in poultry," the two UN organisations said. Eggs from areas with outbreaks should not be consumed raw or partially cooked, it added.(Posted @ 18:46 PST)
Pakistani reporter kidnapped in troubled region MIRANSHAH, Pakistan, Dec 5 (Reuters) Gunmen kidnapped a Pakistani reporter, Hayatullah Khan, on Monday near Mir Ali town, in North Waziristan, where Pakistan had earlier said a top al Qaeda commander was killed in a blast last week, the man's brother and a government official said. There was no indication of why Khan had been kidnapped, or whether his abduction was connected with his work as a reporter covering security issues in the region for various publications including the English-language daily newspaper, Nation.(Posted @ 18:40 PST)
Japan's defence chief wants to keep troops in Iraq TOKYO, Dec 5 (Reuters) Japan's defence chief, just back from a visit to Iraq, said on Monday he wanted to extend the deployment of Japanese non-combat troops in southern Iraq, as security conditions in the area were stable. Later in the day Iraqi Prime Minister Ibrahim Jaafari, who is on a visit to Tokyo, also urged Japan's Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi to keep the troops in place, saying it was too early for a withdrawal. Defence Chief Fukushiro Nukaga said he told Koizumi that local Iraqi leaders had asked that the 550 Japanese troops remain to carry on with their reconstruction work.(Posted @ 17:54 PST)
Rice defends detainee tactics to Europe ANDREWS AIR FORCE BASE, Md., Dec 5 (Reuters) Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice on Monday defended U.S. treatment of terrorism suspects, telling European allies they should trust the United States as they cooperate in intelligence operations to prevent new attacks. But in a lengthy statement before leaving on a trip to Europe, Rice did not directly address the allegation the CIA has run secret prisons in Eastern Europe, an accusation that has been a lightning rod for outrage across the continent. "It is up to those governments and their citizens to decide if they wish to work with us to prevent terrorist attacks against their own country or other countries and decide how much sensitive information they can make public. They have a sovereign right to make that choice," Rice said in a statement at Andrews Air Force Base before leaving for Europe.(Posted @ 17:50 PST)
China orders 150 Airbus jets worth $9.7 billion PARIS, Dec 5 (Reuters) China ordered 150 Airbus single-aisle passenger jets on Monday in a deal worth some $9.7 billion at list prices, boosting European industry during a visit to France by Chinese Prime Minister Wen Jiabao. Other agreements include a deal between China and Eurocopter, the world's largest civilian helicopter maker, to produce a 6 tonne helicopter, and a 150-million-euro Chinese order for a high-speed Shitai railway link. China also ordered a telecoms satellite from Alcatel Alenia Space.(Posted @ 17:44 PST)
UN starts quizzing Syrian officials over Hariri murder VIENNA, Dec 5 (AFP) UN investigators began Monday questioning top Syrian officials over the February assassination of former Lebanese prime minister Rafiq Hariri, a diplomat in Vienna said.(Posted @ 17:30 PST)
New water reservoirs to be built with unanimity: PM MULTAN, Dec 5 (APP): Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz here Monday said that new water reservoirs will be built with unanimity. Talking to various delegations representing Multan Chamber of Commerce and Industry (MCCI), growers, PML legislators, nazims and local journalists at the Circuit House, Aziz said the whole nation was united on the urgency of this issue so that our irrigation needs could be adequately fulfilled.(Posted @ 17:28 PST)
India 90-2 v Sri Lanka at close of play in first Test CHENNAI, India, Dec 5 (AFP) At close of play scores on the fourth day of the first cricket Test between India and Sri Lanka at the Chepauk here on Monday were: India 1st innings 90-2( Sehwag 36, Dravid not out 30, Tendulkar not out 11; Vaas 15-2)(Posted @ 17:24 PST)
Saudi royal says U.S. Iraq policies a mistake DUBAI, Dec 5 (Reuters) Saudi billionaire Prince Alwaleed bin Talal branded on Monday U.S. policies in Iraq a "fiasco" but said American troops should not pull out any time soon due to the perilous security situation. "Clearly, the United States misunderstood the ballgame completely in Iraq," he told an Arab media forum in Dubai. Also Arabs must seek to correct the misperceptions about their culture and religion in the Western press, the head of the Arab League Secretary-General Amr Moussa told journalists at the media forum adding that the Arab governments would be less open to criticism in the Western press if they implemented political reforms and countered radical interpretations of Islam. "We face a lot of challenges -- reforms, development, real democracy and religion. We have to address these," he said.(Posted @ 17:18 PST)
Suicide bomber kills five in central Israel NETANYA, Israel, Dec 5 (Reuters) A suicide bomber killed at least five people and wounded dozens outside a shopping mall in an Israeli coastal town on Monday in the first attack on its kind in six weeks. Lebanon's Hizbollah television said the Islamic Jihad group's military wing, the Jerusalem Brigades, claimed responsibility for attack in a telephone call to the station. Earlier, a Gaza radio station said the Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades claimed responsibility for bombing in Netanya. Emergency officials put the death toll at five and said at least 40 people were wounded, seven of them seriously. Palestinian officials quickly denounced the bombing. "The Palestinian Authority condemns the attack, and says this harms Palestinian interests and aims at sabotaging efforts exerted to revive the peace process," chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat said.(First Posted@14:45 PST Updated@ 16:20 PST)
Kazakh election flawed due to harassment: OSCE ALMATY, Dec 5 (Reuters) Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev's election victory was flawed due to the authorities'intimidation of opposition campaign staff, ballot box stuffing and other violations, international monitors said on Monday.In a strongly worded statement, the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe said its 460 monitors had noted some improvements but the flaws "limited the possibility for a meaningful competition". President Nursultan won a landslide re-election to a new seven-year term with 91 percent of the vote, the Central Election Commission had said earlier on Monday.(First Posted@09:37 PST Updated@ 15:09 PST)
India's opposition smells government blood over Iraq oil-for-food scam NEW DELHI, Dec 5 (AFP) India's opposition piled pressure on the government Monday in parliament over new charges that the former foreign minister and the ruling Congress party joined a scam to profit from the UN oil-for-food programme in Iraq. Trouble erupted within minutes of parliament assembling as MPs belonging to the main opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) jumped to their feet to demand the resignation of ex-foreign minister Natwar Singh, now serving as cabinet minister without portfolio. Speaker Somnath Chatterjee first adjourned the parliamentary session for 30 minutes, then till later in the afternoon and finally for the day.(Posted @ 15:06 PST)
Microsoft's Bill Gates visits Bangladesh NGO projects DHAKA, Dec 5 (Reuters) - Microsoft founder Bill Gates arrived in Bangladesh on Monday for a brief visit during which he aims to commit assistance to expanding the country's information technology industry. Accompanied by wife Melinda, Gates is expected to sign an agreement for Microsoft to train hundreds of Bangladeshi teachers in information technology, and announce a $15 million donation for a private Asian University for Women. (Posted @ 13:02 PST)
Enemy fire forced down US helicopters in Afghanistan KABUL, Dec 5 (AFP) - Two US helicopters that made emergency landings in volatile southern Afghanistan, injuring five US troops and an Afghan soldier, on Sunday were hit by hostile fire, the US military said Monday. "Both helicopters received enemy fire," spokesman Lt- Col Laurent Fox told reporters. The coalition was investigating what kind of weapons had been used against the choppers, he said. The first helicopter had made a hard landing at a forward operating base in Uruzgan province, wounding an Afghan National Army soldier. The second made an emergency landing just north of Kandahar city, wounding five US soldiers and destroying the aircraft. A man claiming to be a spokesman for the Taliban said in a telephone call to AFP that the militia had shot down the helicopter near Kandahar. (Posted @ 12:55 PST)
French engineer kidnapped in Iraq BAGHDAD, Dec 5, 2005 (AFP) - A French engineer was kidnapped Monday morning from a west Baghdad neighbourhood, police said. (Posted @ 12:50 PST)
World Bank enhances 50 percent level of support to Pakistan, i.e. $1.5 billion per annum WASHINGTON, Dec 5 (APP)- Beginning this year, the level of annual assistance to Pakistan from the World Bank will be 1.5 billion dollars, as opposed to less than a billion dollars in the previous years. "So, this is already more than a 50 percent increase,in annual terms," Shuja Shah, Alternate Executive Director of the World Bank told APP in an interview. This is in addition to the assistance for the earthquake relief and reconstruction that the Bank will be providing in collaboration with other partners, he said. Shah said the Bank "is clearly a partner" in supporting Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz's recently launched skill development programme-- which is for education and skill improvement. (Posted @ 12:28 PST)
Israel tells army to kill militants after attacks JERUSALEM, Dec 5 (Reuters) - Israeli Defence Minister Shaul Mofaz has ordered the army to track down and kill Palestinian militants behind rocket attacks after a strike on an Israeli farming community near the Gaza Strip, officials said on Monday. Two rockets hit the farming community of Shuva, about 8 km (5 miles) from the Gaza Strip, on Sunday night and two residents were treated for shock after a rocket landed near a house. The Israeli military responded by launching an air strike and firing artillery at open fields in the Gaza Strip which it said were used as rocket launching sites. (Posted @ 12:23 PST)
Indian troops launch anti-insurgency sweep in northeast GUWAHATI, India, Dec 5 (AFP) - Indian troops Sunday night launched a major operation in the northeastern state of Assam to quell ethnic clashes between majority Karbi and Dimasa tribes that have left at least 100 people dead and 50,000 displaced, officials said Monday. A spokesman said artillery was deployed and soldiers were ordered to shoot at sight anyone involved in arson or attacks in Karbi Anglong district, 330 kms east of Guwahati. (Posted @ 12:15 PST)
24 dead in highway crash near Great Wall outside Beijing BEIJING, Dec 5 (AFP) - Twenty-four people were killed when a speeding truck collided with a long-distance bus near Beijing's Badaling Great Wall tourist site, state press said Monday. The accident occurred Sunday evening as both vehicles were heading into the capital, Xinhua news agency said. Nine others were injured in the accident. According to initial investigations, the speeding truck lost control before ploughing into the bus. Both vehicles exploded in flames after they went spiralling into a ditch on the side of the road, it said. (Posted @ 12:10 PST)
US soldier killed in Baghdad BAGHDAD, Dec 5 (AFP) - A US soldier was killed on Sunday when his patrol "struck an improvised explosive device in east Baghdad," the army announced Monday. A total of at least 2,125 US service personnel have died in Iraq since the March 2003 invasion, the Pentagon has said. (Posted @ 10:55 PST)
Roadside bomb wounds 3 U.S. soldiers in Afghanistan KABUL, Dec 5 (Reuters) - Three U.S. soldiers were wounded when a roadside bomb hit their convoy in southern Afghanistan, the U.S. military said on Monday. The incident occurred on Sunday near Dai Chopan district in Zabul province, it said. The wounded soldiers were in stable condition. On the same day, a suicide attack near a convoy of U.S.-led troops in Kandahar province killed an Afghan civilian and wounded one American soldier while five U.S. soldiers were wounded after their CH-47 Chinook helicopter made a hard landing in Kandahar province during combat operations against Taliban guerrillas. A Taliban spokesman claimed that Taliban fighters had attacked the helicopter as it dropped off soldiers. (Posted @ 10:15 PST)
Karachi Stocks up 118.43 points: KARACHI, Dec 5: At close of trading, the KSE-100 index was at 9344.84, up 118.43 points from Friday's close. (Bureau Report) (Updated @ 14:25 PST)
Forex update: KARACHI, Dec 5: The Pakistani Rupee was traded at Rs 60.15 to the US Dollar in the open market. (Bureau Report) (Updated @ 14:25 PST)
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