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| December 25, 2005 | Sunday | Ziqa’ad 22, 1426 |
Updated round-the-clock, with major updates after 10:00 PST (05:00 GMT)
Iraq Qaeda says kills women, man working for US-Web DUBAI, Dec 25 (Reuters) - Al Qaeda's wing in Iraq said on Sunday it had abducted and killed three Arab women and a man working for U.S. authorities and the Iraqi government in the high-security Green Zone in Baghdad, according to a Web posting. A statement posted on the Internet carried pictures of identity cards of three women and an Arab man and said it had carried out "God's judgement" against them. It was not immediately clear whether the four were Iraqis. One of the cards, apparently issued by a U.S. security contracting firm, said one the women worked as a translator. The statement could not be authenticated but it was posted on a main site used by insurgent groups and signed by al Qaeda's spokesman in Iraq.(Posted @ 23:30 PST)
Ugandan rebels kill UN peacekeeper in DR Congo KINSHASA, Dec 25 (AFP) - Ugandan rebels on Sunday killed an Indian UN peacekeeping soldier and wounded four others in an attack in Nord-Kivu province in the east of the Democratic Republic of Congo, the United Nations said. "An Indian blue helmet was killed and four others wounded, one seriously" when their camp at a village in Nord Kivu "was hit by an RPG 7 rocket and came under heavy fire, to which they responded forcefully," a statement from the UN mission in the DRC, MONUC, said. The attack in the early hours of the morning (about 0330 GMT) was blamed on Allied Democratic Forces (ADF) rebels opposed to President Yoweri Museveni's regime in Uganda, across the eastern border.(Posted @ 23:00 PST)
Quaid's Birth anniversary celebrated in Karachi in befitting manner KARACHI, Dec 25 (APP)- The 129th birth anniversary of the Father of the Nation, Quaid-i-Azam Mohammad Ali Jinnah, was celebrated all over Pakistan and abroad, in a befitting manner. The day dawned with special prayers for the progress and prosperity of Pakistan. A smartly turned out contingent of gentlemen cadets from Pakistan Military Academy (PMA), Kakul, mounted the guard at the mausoleum of the Quaid-i-Azam in Karachi. The change of guard ceremony was followed visits by the Sindh Governor, Dr. Ishrat ul Ebad Khan, Chief Minister, Dr. Arbab Ghulam Rahim, members of the provincial cabinet, City Nazim, Syed Mustafa Kamal and other high officials who offered Fateha and laid floral wreaths. People from all walks of life visited the mausoleum to pay homage to the Father of the Nation. A number of educational, social,cultural, labor & political organizations held programmes to mark the occasion. The National Museum of Pakistan, Karachi, organised a special exhibition on this occasion.(Posted @ 21:10 PST)
Maoists kill four police in attack on Indian train HYDERABAD, India, Dec 25 (AFP) - Maoist rebels shot dead four railway police officials and wounded another two Sunday in an attack on a train in southern India, an official said. The incident took place in the Vizianagaram district of Andhra Pradesh state when the train was on its way to neighbouring Orissa state. "The Maoists, numbering about 10, surrounded the train and indiscriminately opened fire. Some of the security personnel ... got off the train and retaliated," said Bhavana Saxena, the district superintendent of police.(Posted @ 21:02 PST)
One killed, 26 injured as train derails in northern Japan TOKYO, Dec 25 (AFP) - An express train derailed in a snowstorm in northern Japan late Sunday, killing one passenger and injuring at least 26 others when three of its six carriages came off the tracks, officials said. The train, carrying some 30 passengers, derailed at around 7:20 pm between Amarume and Sakata stations on the Uetsu Line, 350 kilometers (217 miles) north of Tokyo, police said.(Posted @ 20:55 PST)
Occasional aftershocks likely to continue for another two months ISLAMABAD, Dec 25 (APP): Occasional aftershocks of earthquake are likely to continue for another two months, Director General Met department Dr Qamar Zaman Chaudhary said Sunday. Talking to PTV he said, the frequency of aftershocks are likely to remain low on the Richter scale. As many as 1502 aftershocks having magnitude of more than three have so far been recorded by the met department after October 8 devastating earthquake, he added. Commenting on today's tremor he said, its magnitude was 5.2 on the Richter scale. Its epicenter lied near Mansehra.(Posted @ 20:50 PST)
Six militants killed planting landmine in southern Afghanistan: official KANDAHAR, Afghanistan, Dec 25 (AFP) - Six suspected Taliban militants were killed when a landmine they were planting on a road exploded in Afghanistan's insurgency-hit southern province of Kandahar, officials said Sunday. The incident occurred on Saturday night in Maywand district, Kandahar police chief Abdul Malik Wahidi told AFP. Maywand administration chief Mohammad Nabi Idari said the men were planting the landmine on a road used by Afghan and US forces on patrol.(Posted @ 20:40 PST)
Two Afghan top officials sacked for spying: Karzai KABUL, Dec 25 (AFP) - President Hamid Karzai said Sunday he had sacked two "high-ranking" Afghan officials who were spying for foreign countries and warned he would spare no one found indulging in such activity. Karzai, who made the disclosure at a lunch meeting with newly sworn-in parliament members, did not name the dismissed officials nor indicate when he took the action. "Anyone found spying for foreign countries will be revealed and tried. In that regard we dismissed two people who were working in very high-ranking government positions," he told the lawmakers. Karzai said he punished the two officials on the basis of strong evidence.(Posted @ 18:20 PST)
Baghdad car bomb wounds 3 Iraqi soldiers, civilian BAGHDAD, Dec 25 (Reuters) - A car bomb targeting an Iraqi army patrol in central Baghdad wounded three soldiers and a civilian on Sunday, police said.(Posted @ 17:20 PST)
Plane crash in Sudan's Darfur region kills two EL-GENEINA, Sudan, Dec 25 (Reuters) - A plane operated by the African Union crashed in Sudan's Darfur region killing two pilots, a Ukrainian and a Moldovan, the pan-African body said in a statement on Sunday. The crash, the first such incident for the force of 6,000 peacekeepers in the region the size of France, happened on Saturday after the plane took off from Zalingei, a town in central Darfur, the AU added. "The plane crashed near Zalingei airport and the two pilots were unfortunately killed," the AU said.(Posted @ 16:35 PST)
Moderate aftershock jolts Twin Cities ISLAMABAD, Dec 25 (APP): A moderate aftershock measuring 5.2 on the Richter Scale felt in Twin Cities including some northern parts of the country at 1:02 p.m. (PST) but there were no immediate reports of any damage or casualties. Jolts were also felt in Mansehra, Abbottabad, Peshawar and Lahore, Meteorlogical Department said. The epicentre was some 200 kilometres from north of Peshawar in Hazara Division. (Posted @ 14:00 PST)
27 missing after China bus plunges into icy river BEIJING, Dec 25 (APP/AFP) - Twenty-seven people were missing and feared dead after a bus plunged into an icy river in northern China on Saturday, state media said. Eight people were rescued after the accident in the Hanggin Banner area of autonomous Inner Mongolia, Xinhua news agency reported. Hope that the missing passengers will be found alive is "very slim", rescuers told Xinhua. (Posted @ 09:38 PST)
Qurie says returned to post as Palestinian PM RAMALLAH, West Bank, Dec 25 (Reuters) - Veteran Palestinian politician Ahmed Qurie said Saturday he would not run in parliamentary elections and had resumed his job as prime minister.It was not clear whether President Mahmoud Abbas had given Qurie permission to return to the job as prime minister from which he resigned on Dec. 15 -- as he was required to do by law in order to stand for parliament. Abbas's office made no immediate comment. (Posted @ 09:38 PST)
Jordanian's abductors want failed Iraq bomber freed DUBAI, Dec 25 (Reuters) - Abductors of a Jordanian embassy driver said they would kill him unless Jordan pulled its diplomats from Iraq and freed a failed woman suicide bomber held by in Jordan, Al Arabiya television said on Saturday. A video issued by the little-known group Falcons Brigade showed a man identifying himself as Mahmoud Saedat, the driver kidnapped in Baghdad on Tuesday, as three masked militants stood behind him, holding rifles and a grenade launcher. One pointed a gun at Saedat's head. The man appealed to Jordan to withdraw its diplomats from Iraq and free Sajida al-Rishawi, who said on Jordanian television last month that she had tried to blow herself up alongside her husband in hotel attacks in Amman. (Posted @ 09:35 PST)
Al-Arabiya airs alleged Zawahiri audio on Afghanistan DUBAI, Dec 24 (AFP) - The Arab satellite channel Al-Arabiya Saturday broadcast an audio recording purportedly from Al-Qaeda number-two man Ayman al-Zawahiri claiming that the Taliban still controls large parts of Afghanistan.However, Al-Arabiya said it was unable to determine the date of the recording, in which Osama bin Laden's right hand man "did not speak of recent events." The audio recording was aired two weeks after a competing station, the Qatar-based Al-Jazeera network, showed a videotape of Zawahiri claiming that bin Laden was still alive, a recording the network later said was three months old. "The Islamic administration is, thanks be to God, still present. It controls large parts of the east and south of Afghanistan and is waging a sustained guerilla campaign against the crusaders and apostates," said the voice attributed to Zawahiri in Saturday's Al-Arabiya broadcast. (Posted @ 09:25 PST)
Rebel-allied Sri Lanka MP shot dead at Christmas mass COLOMBO, Dec 25 (AFP) - A Sri Lankan legislator allied with Tamil rebels was gunned down during a Christmas mass by unidentified assassins in the latest of a series of recent attacks, police said early on Sunday. Tamil MP Joseph Pararajasingham, 71, was in his pew at St. Michael's Catholic church east of here when he was shot from behind at close range, they said. At least eight others, two women and six men, including Pararajasingham's wife were wounded in an exchange of fire between his police bodyguard and an unknown number of gunmen, who fled the church. (Posted @ 09:25 PST)
Pope pleads for Mideast peace at Midnight Mass VATICAN CITY, Dec 25 (AFP) - Pope Benedict XVI made an impassioned plea for peace in the Middle East and for "the men and women who live and suffer there," as he celebrated the first Christmas mass of his pontificate early Sunday. (Posted @ 09:14 PST)
Muslim village guard, Buddhist villager killed in southern Thailand NARATHIWAT, Thailand, Dec 25 (AFP) - A Muslim village guard and Buddhist villager were killed by suspected Islamic militants in separate attacks in southern Thailand, police said Sunday. (Posted @ 09:12 PST)
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