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| December 31, 2005 | Saturday | Ziqa’ad 28, 1426 |
Updated round-the-clock, with major updates after 10:00 PST (05:00 GMT)
Avalanche kills seven Czech climbers in Slovakia BRATISLAVA, Dec 31 (Reuters) Seven Czech climbers were killed on Saturday when an avalanche overwhelmed their camp in the Tatra Mountains of northern Slovakia, the local news agency TASR reported.(Posted @ 19:44 PST)
Kidnapped Germans freed in Yemen SANAA, Dec 31 (Reuters) Yemen tribesmen freed on Saturday a former German government minister, his wife and three children, who had been held captive for the past three days, an official said.(Posted @ 18:38 PST)
Thai crown prince to deliver more aid to earthquake victims in Pakistan BANGKOK, Thailand Dec 31 (APP/AP) Thailand's crown prince will fly to Pakistan next week to present more aid to victims of the earthquake in Pakistan, the government said Saturday. Thailand so far has contributed 48 million baht (US$1.2 million) in cash and relief items to Pakistan. Prince Vajiralongkorn is to present canned food, blankets, winter clothing and tents worth 18 million baht (US$429,000) as donations from the Thai royal family, the Foreign Ministry said in a statement.(Posted @ 16:14 PST)
Two killed as bombs strike Iraqi police patrols BAGHDAD, Dec 31 (Reuters) Two roadside bombs targeting Iraqi police patrols exploded in quick succession in Baghdad on Saturday, killing two policemen and wounding nine, police said. Four civilians and a policeman were also wounded in the attack. Earlier today five people were killed when their car was hit by a roadside bomb outside the local offices of one of Iraq's main Sunni Arab political parties on Saturday, police said. Another two were wounded in the blast close to the Iraqi Islamic Party headquarters in Khalis, 60 km north of Baghdad.(Posted @ 16:14 PST)
Gunmen kill two Pakistani soldiers; railway track blown QUETTA, Pakistan, Dec 31 (AFP) Unidentified gunmen shot dead two paramilitary soldiers late Friday in Khuzdar town, 240 kilometres south of Quetta, police said Saturday. A spokesman for the Baluchistan Liberation Army claimed responsibility for the attack in a telephone call to the Press Club in Quetta. Meanwhile officials said suspected saboteurs early Saturday damaged a railway track cutting off traffic between the towns of Harnai and Sibbi, some 100 kilometers southeast of Quetta. "The explosive planted under a bridge destroyed 150 feet stretch of the railway line," a railway spokesman said, adding that repair of the rail track would take at least four days. (Posted @ 15:33 PST)
Rebels kill senior policeman in India's northeast GUWAHATI, India, Dec 31 (Reuters) - A group of heavily armed rebels opened fired on a vehicle carrying a police inspector general in Manipur state, killing him and his driver, police said. The officer (name not identified) was the senior most police official to be killed in separatist violence in India's northeast in more than a decade. Two of his security guards were wounded in the attack, police said. The officer was on his way to Imphal from the rebel infested town of Churachandpur. (Posted @ 13:40 PST)
Hurriyat delegation to leave for Pakistan, AJK on Monday NEW DELHI, Dec 31 (APP): A three-member delegation of Hurriyat Conference, headed by its Chairman Mirwaiz Umer Farooq will leave here for Islamabad on January 2 (Monday) for talks with Pakistani leadership over Kashmir issue and to express solidarity with the quake hit people. Besides Mirwaiz, former chairman of Hurriyat Abdul Gani Bhat and executive member Bilal Gani Lone are members of the delegation. "We will fly to Lahore from Delhi and then to Islamabad on Monday, and after spending the night there drive to Muzaffarabad," Mirwaiz said. "We will discuss with them issues like self-governance, demilitarisation and the steps required to mitigate the sufferings of the people of the state," he said. Mirwaiz Umer Farooq remarked that the Indian government was slow in the ongoing Indo-Pak dialogue process. (Posted @ 13:33 PST)
USAID Cash-For-Work Programme for quake victims ISLAMABAD, Dec 31 (APP): United States Agency for International Development (USAID) has teamed up with seven NGO partners to promote livelihood and revitalize local markets in the quake-affected zones by providing approximately $4.5 million to them for cash-for-work activities. The programmes provide vouchers or cash-for-work such as clearing debris, completing hygiene education training, sewing school uniforms, and constructing transitional shelters to keep families warm and dry throughout the winter. The beneficiaries learn new skills that increase their capacity and future contribution to the community. (Posted @ 13:27 PST)
Gunmen take over Gaza ministry to demand jobs GAZA, Dec 31 (Reuters) - About 50 masked gunmen occupied a Palestinian Interior Ministry office in Deir el-Balah refugee camp in the Gaza Strip on Saturday to demand jobs, witnesses and a spokesman for the gunmen said. A spokesmen for the group, members of a political wing of the mainstream Fatah movement said: "Our efforts so far have been fruitless, therefore we have been forced to take action." (Posted @ 13:06 PST)
Hawkish Indian Hindu chief leader steps down as party leader MUMBAI, Dec 31 (AFP) - Lal Krishna Advani, who spearheaded the ascent of Hindu nationalism in Indian politics, quit as chief of the opposition Bharatiya Janata Party Saturday, ending a reign as one of the nation's most powerful politicians. The party has elected Rajnath Singh to succeed Advani as BJP president. "We have passed through a bad patch and I'm sure that under Rajnath Singh we are heading for a very good patch in 2006," the 77-year-old Advani told a news conference in Mumbai where he announced his resignation. Singh, 54, is a former chief minister of Uttar Pradesh, and has a reputation as an able party organiser. (Posted @ 12:50 PST)
Sri Lanka detains 900 in rebel search COLOMBO, Dec 31 (AFP) - Sri Lankan troops and police detained 900 people in a major house-to-house search in the Sri Lankan capital Colombo Saturday as part of a major hunt for Tamil Tiger rebels, a top police officer said. Large parts of the capital were sealed off for seven hours during the sudden swoop carried out by 2,000 heavily armed soldiers and 2,400 policemen, Colombo's Deputy Inspector-General Pujith Jayasundara said. "We are holding the men and women detainees at eight centres in the city and they are being released as their identities are established," Jayasundara said. "The screening of people started at dawn. We detained a total of 903 people." "A curfew has been declared in this area," a soldier told motorists entering the fashionable Park Road area of Narahenpita. Defence ministry spokesman Prasad Samarasinghe denied that a curfew had been imposed. (Posted @ 12:48 PST)
Seven killed, 45 injured in market blast in Indonesia JAKARTA, Dec 31 (Agencies) - Seven people were killed and 45 injured when a bomb detonated at a market stall selling pork early Saturday in the Indonesian town of Palu in religiously-divided Central Sulawesi province, police said. Police officer Rawang confirmed that seven were dead and 45 injured. "Most of the victims suffered injuries to their legs because of the shrapnel from the bomb," he added. (First Posted @ 09:00 PST; Updated @ 12:45 PST)
Cricket-Sri Lanka 164 v New Zealand 166-3 - result WELLINGTON, Dec 31 (Reuters) - New Zealand beat Sri Lanka by seven wickets in a limited-overs international in Queenstown on Saturday. Scores: Sri Lanka 164 all out from 47.2 overs (Tillakaratne Dilshan 42; Shane Bond 3-29, Jacob Oram 3-31, Kyle Mills 3-31); New Zealand 166-3 from 37.2 overs (Peter Fulton 70 not out, Jamie How 58) (Posted @ 12:45 PST)
Death toll in Egypt raid on Sudanese refugees at 25 CAIRO, Dec 31 (AFP) - The death toll among Sudanese refugees during violent clashes with Egyptian police has risen to 25, judicial sources said Saturday. The refugees died after several thousand riot police wielding batons and water cannon on Friday forcibly removed hundreds of Sudanese who had been staging a protest outside UN offices in Cairo for three months. Investigators went to a Cairo morgue where they found the bodies of 25 victims from the clashes, judicial sources said. (Posted @ 12:40 PST)
Baghdad bomb attacks as Sudan closes embassy BAGHDAD, Dec 31 (AFP) - Two policemen were killed here on Saturday after Khartoum said it was closing its embassy because of threats by Al-Qaeda in Iraq to kill five Sudanese hostages. In two separate bomb attacks in Baghdad, two policemen were killed and six wounded, four of them police commandos. Two civilians were also hurt, an interior ministry official said. Sudan announced it would immediately close its embassy in Baghdad and withdraw its diplomats after Al-Qaeda in Iraq, Thursday claimed the kidnapping of five Sudanese, including a diplomat, in an Internet statement. One of the Sudanese who appeared in the video identified himself as the embassy's second secretary and urged his government to obey the kidnappers. In other acts of violence, three Iraqis, including a policeman, were kidnapped Saturday morning, some 35 kilometres (20 miles) east of Tikrit, police said. (Posted @ 12:40 PST)
$30 mln U.S. Defense Department resources to be extended to Pakistan for disaster assistance: WASHINGTON, Dec 31 (APP)- President George Bush Friday directed "draw down" of up to $30 million of defence articles and services from the inventory and resources of the Department of Defence for Pakistan, relating to international disaster assistance. The memorandum, addressed to the Secretaries of State and Defence, determined that "it is in the national interest of the United States" to draw down articles and services from the inventory and resources of the Department of Defence "for the purpose of providing international disaster relief assistance to Pakistan." (Posted @ 09:15 PST)
Three British hostages in Gaza freed GAZA CITY, Dec 31 (AFP) - A British aid worker and her parents held hostage for two days were safely under consular protection in Israel early Saturday after being freed unharmed by their captors in the Gaza Strip, officials said. A previously unknown group calling itself the Mujahadeen Bayt Al-Maqdes Brigades released a video showing a masked gunman reading a statement, with Burton, 24, standing silently next to him with her hands behind her back. "We have decided to pardon the three Britons as a gesture of goodwill in return for a seriousness in answering our demands," the unidentified man said. (Posted @ 09:00 PST)
Bush signs law banning torture CRAWFORD, Texas, Dec 31 (AFP) - President George W. Bush signed Friday a law explicitly prohibiting torture of prisoners in US hands outside of the United States, after months of fighting the legislation, the White House said. The law comes as the Bush administration faces accusations of torturing alleged terrorists detained in the US war on terror. In a statement, Bush said the amendment passed by Congress sets "the legal framework for US detention and interrogation activities." "US law and policy already prohibit torture. Our policy has also been not to use cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment, at home or abroad. This legislation now makes that a matter of statute for practices abroad," he said. The law requires that the treatment of prisoners is codified in the US Army Field Manual, Bush said. (Posted @ 09:00 PST)
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