|
| January 7, 2006 | Saturday | Zilhaj 6, 1426 |
Updated round-the-clock, with major updates after 10:00 PST (05:00 GMT)
Violence in Pakistan's tribal belt kills 16 MIRANSHAH, Pakistan, Jan 7 (Reuters) Sixteen people, including eight paramilitary soldiers, were killed in Pakistan on Saturday in separate incidents in its restive tribal belt on the Afghan border, officials and residents said. Eight members of the paramilitary Frontier Constabulary were killed when militants attacked their check post in the early hours in Mir Ali, about 24 km east of Miranshah, the main town in the North Waziristan tribal area, officials said. "There were eight casualties. There were a few missing soldiers as well, of whom a few have come back. There are a few still missing," said military spokesman Major-General Shaukat Sultan. He said security forces were hunting the gunmen. Residents said helicopters later flew over the area and there had been some firing from them, as well as firing at them from the ground, but Sultan said he could not confirm that and was awaiting more information. In another incident, eight people, including a woman, were killed and nine wounded in what witnesses believed was a helicopter gunship attack on the house of a militant in Dandi Sadhgy, 8 km north of Miranshah. "The house belonged to Maulana Noor Mohammad," one of the wounded said from his hospital bed in Miranshah, referring to a religious scholar who supported Afghanistan's former Taliban rulers. All those killed in the attack were members of Mohammad's family. The scholar was not among the dead, said the wounded man, who declined to be identified. Sultan said there had been some firing and some civilian casualties in the area but he did not have details. He said authorities were investigating and declined to speculate on a link between the two incidents.(First Posted @ 12:20 PST Updated @ 15:10 PST)
UK centrist party leader Charles Kennedy resigns LONDON, Jan 7 (Reuters) Charles Kennedy, leader of one of Britain's two main opposition political parties, resigned on Saturday after support from his colleagues evaporated when he admitted he had treatment for alcohol abuse. "I am standing down as leader," he told a news conference at Liberal Democrat headquarters. "When nominations open (for the leadership) I shall not be putting my name forward."(Posted @ 21:00 PST)
U.N. commander in Haiti kills himself PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti, Jan 7 (Reuters) The commander of a United Nations peacekeeping force in Haiti shot himself dead on Saturday, U.N. officials said. Brazilian Lt. Gen. Urano Teixeira da Matta Bacellar killed himself in a room at the Montana hotel in the troubled Caribbean country's capital, the officials said. Few other details were immediately available.(Posted @ 20:28 PST)
Britain closes embassy in Jordan, fears attacks LONDON, Jan 7 (Reuters) Britain closed its embassy in Jordan on Saturday because of fears of attacks on Westerners there, the Foreign Office said. "Terrorists may be in the final stages of planning attacks against Westerners and places frequented by Westerners," the Foreign Office Web site said. "The British Embassy in Amman will be closed until further notice due to the security situation."(Posted @ 20:25 PST)
Germany's Merkel says Guantanamo should be shut BERLIN, Jan 7 (Reuters) German Chancellor Angela Merkel, in an interview published days before her first visit to the United States, said Washington should close its Guantanamo Bay prison camp and find other ways of dealing with terror suspects. "An institution like Guantanamo can and should not exist in the longer term," Merkel said in an interview with the weekly magazine Der Spiegel published on Saturday. "Different ways and means must be found for dealing with these prisoners."(Posted @ 18:05 PST)
Britain's Straw urges Iraqis to accept poll results BAGHDAD, Jan 7 (Reuters) British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw urged Iraqi politicians on Saturday to accept the final results of last month's polls, saying true democrats must acknowledge it was just as easy to lose elections as win them. Straw, in Baghdad to hold talks with President Jalal Talabani and Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari, said the 70 percent voter turnout showed Iraqis wanted to embrace democracy. "The Iraqi people showed us that they are going to defy the people of violence and that democracy burns in the souls and hearts of Iraqi people in the same way it does in people across the world," he said.(First Posted@12:50 PST Updated @ 18:03 PST)
Russia and Iran begin nuclear talks in Tehran TEHRAN, Jan 7 (Reuters) Russia and Iran began talks on Tehran's disputed nuclear programme on Saturday, said an Iranian official. "The Russian delegation arrived in Tehran last night and began talks with Iranian officials this morning," a spokesman of Iran's Supreme National Security Council (SNSC), was quoted as saying by state television. "The two sides are going to discuss Russia's proposal for joint uranium enrichment, the scale of this, and also enrichment on Iranian soil," he added.(Posted @ 17:30 PST)
Cricket-Tendulkar dominates in India's tour opener LAHORE, Pakistan, Jan 7 (AFP) Sachin Tendulkar and skipper Rahul Dravid showed early form as four touring batsmen hit half centuries against Pakistan 'A' at Bagh-e-Jinnah ground here on Saturday. Tendulkar played delightful strokes in his 74 while Dravid was as stubborn as ever during his knock of 63 as India reached 298-4 at close on the first day of their three-day match. Venkatsai Laxman (25) and Yuvraj Singh (11) were at the crease when bad light stopped play six overs before schedule.(Posted @ 17:24 PST)
Syria rejects U.N. request to meet Assad BEIRUT, Jan 7 (Reuters) Syria has rejected a U.N. request to meet President Bashar al-Assad as part of an inquiry into the assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik al-Hariri last year, diplomatic sources said on Saturday. They said Syria had told the U.N. commission the request violates the country's sovereignty. (Posted @ 15:41 PST)
New brain scan for Sharon as Israel braces for end JERUSALEM, Jan 7 (AFP) Doctors battling to save the life of Ariel Sharon carried out a fresh brain scan on the Israeli prime minister Saturday as he remained in a deep coma at a Jerusalem hospital. A spokesman for the Hadassah hospital said that the latest scan, carried out after the 77-year-old underwent three bouts of brain surgery, had been planned in advance and did not indicate any worsening of his situation. Medical sources said the scan took 25 minutes and Sharon had now been returned to the intensive care unit as the results were assessed. Sharon was declared "critical but stable" on Friday night. (Posted @ 15:15 PST)
US woman journalist kidnapped in Iraq BAGHDAD, Jan 7 (AFP) A US woman journalist was kidnapped in Baghdad Saturday and her translator killed, Iraqi security sources said. The US embassy said it was investigating reports of the kidnapping of one of its nationals. Officials indicated the journalist was seized as she was on her way to interview prominent politician Adnan al-Dulaimi. (Posted @ 15:05 PST)
U.N. halts flights to quake area ISLAMABAD, Jan 7 (Reuters) The United Nations has suspended emergency earthquake relief flights to an area of Azad Kashmir after crowds of people rushed two helicopters demanding to be evacuated, a U.N. spokesman said on Saturday. The Pakistani military was investigating the incidents in the Leepa region, southeast of Muzaffarabad, and the United Nations hoped to resume aid flights to the area shortly, the spokesman said. The incidents happened on Thursday and Friday, after the helicopters had dropped off supplies and personnel. Apart from flights to the one area, all other air operations were going on as scheduled, the spokesman, added. (Posted @ 15:00 PST)
Congress report doubts Bush justification of domestic spying WASHINGTON, Jan 7 (AFP) The US Congress's research arm has concluded that the Bush administration's justification for eavesdropping without warrants "conflicts with existing law and hinges on weak legal arguments," The Washington Post reported Saturday. "The Congressional Research Service's report rebuts the central assertions made recently by (President George W.) Bush and Attorney General Alberto Gonzales about the president's authority to order secret intercepts of telephone and email exchanges between people inside the United States and their contacts abroad," the Post reported. The findings have prompted Democratic lawmakers and civil liberties advocates to repeat calls for Congress to conduct hearings on the monitoring program and attempt to halt it. (Posted @ 14:50 PST)
Car bomb hits Iraqi army patrol in Baghdad BAGHDAD, Jan 7 (Reuters) A car bomb hit a passing Iraqi army patrol in the city's New Baghdad district on Saturday, wounding four soldiers and two civilians, police said. No further information was immediately available. (Posted @ 13:55 PST)
Suspected rebels attack S.Lanka navy, 15 feared dead COLOMBO, Jan 7 (Reuters) - Suspected Tamil Tiger rebels attacked a small naval boat off Sri Lanka's east coast early on Saturday and all 15 sailors aboard were missing feared dead, the military said, amid growing fears of a return to civil war. The pre-dawn attack on the fast attack craft just outside Trincomalee naval harbour comes amid a series of attacks against the island's military by suspected rebels who have threatened to resume a two-decade armed struggle unless given wide autonomy."A Navy dora was attacked near Trincomalee harbour," said a Navy spokesman, who asked not to be identified. "We suspect an LTTE suicide attack against the Navy. "There is a communications gap between the dora and the harbour. There is a search going on," he told Reuters. "It is feared the 15 people aboard were killed." He gave no further details about the attack.The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) were not immediately available for comment, but have routinely denied any hand in attacks on the military – which analysts and the government say they cannot believe. (First Posted @ 09:20 PST; Updated @ 12:35 PST)
Two policemen hurt in Afghan suicide bombing JALALABAD, Afghanistan, Jan 7 (Reuters) - A suicide bomber hurled himself on a moving police car in eastern Afghanistan on Saturday, wounding two policemen, an official said, calling it the latest in a spate of suicide raids by Taliban guerrillas. The attacker was blown into pieces in the incident on a main road just south of Jalalabad city, the official said. "The suicider had strapped explosive materials on his body," said Akram Basharyar, a senior police official for Jalalabad, adding a police colonel and his driver were wounded. (Posted @ 12:23 PST)
Five dead in China courthouse suicide blast BEIJING, Jan 7 (AFP) - A Chinese farmer unhappy at a civil ruling stormed into a courthouse with a home-made bomb, killing himself and four others, state media said Saturday. Sixty-two-year-old Qian Wenzhao burst into a meeting room at the Minle County Court in northwest China's Gansu province early Friday and set off the bomb, the Xinhua news agency reported. The blast killed two people on the spot, and another three died later in hospital, according to the local police. Twenty-two were injured, five of them seriously. (Posted @ 11:56 PST)
12 rebels, two soldiers killed in combat BOGOTA, Jan 6 (AFP) - Twelve guerrillas and two government troops have been killed in fighting between the Colombian military and FARC rebels in Meta province, a military source said Friday. Six government soliders were wounded in the clash and taken to a hospital in Villavicencio, 132 kilometers (82 miles), southeast of Bogota, the source said. (Posted @ 11:54 PST)
Three shot dead in Thailand's restive south YALA, Thailand, Jan 7 (AFP) - Two Thai police officers and a farmer were shot dead in separate attacks by suspected Islamic militants on Saturday in Thailand's troubled south, police said. Sergeant Raksiam Suthamwong, 42, and Corporal Panyakorn Snitpoot, 29, were gunned down in a food market in the Raman district of Yala, one of the three restive Muslim-majority southern provinces bordering Malaysia, police said. In a separate attack, suspected Islamic militants killed Toy Larnwong, a 47-year-old pig farmer, in a drive-by shooting Saturday in Pattani province, police said. Meanwhile, two Thai women and a Malaysian man were slightly injured early Saturday when a bomb exploded at a tea shop in Narathiwat province. (Posted @ 11:52 PST)
Zarqawi supporters trying to recruit in Australia, Iraq ambassador says SYDNEY, Jan 7 (AFP) - Supporters of Al-Qaeda's leader in Iraq, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, are attempting to recruit followers in Australia, Baghdad's ambassador in Canberra said Saturday. Ambassador Ghanim Ta al-Shibli said he saw Zarqawi's followers trying to enlist supporters in Sydney during last year's Iraqi elections, and that Australian security services were investigating an alleged recruitment drive. "Those people are recruiting your people and soliciting money and sending those people to Iraq, and that's not a secret, you know," he told ABC radio. "We have them on a daily basis blowing up Iraqi people." (Posted @ 11:48 PST)
Three dead, 5 missing in Nicaragua river accident MANAGUA, Nicaragua, Jan 6 (Reuters) - Three people died and at least five were missing after a cargo boat capsized near a Nicaraguan river port, the Central American country's Red Cross said on Friday.The heavily loaded vessel was carrying about 30 passengers and crew. (Posted @ 09:37 PST)
Zawahiri tells Bush to admit Iraq defeat DUBAI, Jan 7 (AFP) - Al-Qaeda number two Ayman al-Zawahiri called on US President George W. Bush to "admit defeat" in Iraq, saying any future US troop withdrawal would be a "victory" for Islam, in a video broadcast by Al-Jazeera on Friday. "Bush, you must admit that you have been defeated in Iraq and that you are being defeated in Afghanistan and that you will soon be defeated in Palestine, with the help and strength of God," said Zawahiri, sitting with an assault rifle at his side. Zawahiri, like Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden, has a 25-million-dollar US bounty on his head. (Posted @ 09:35 PST)
US says 40 Guantanamo detainees remain on hunger strike WASHINGTON, Jan 7 (AFP) - The US military said Friday that 40 detainees held at the US naval base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba remain on hunger strike. Medical professionals monitoring the detainees said 44 suspects in the US-led "war on terror" had ended their participation in the hunger strike without offering more details. The hunger strike began on August 8, 2005 and the number of detainees involved has fluctuated since, according to the US military. Guantanamo holds about 500 detainees, most of whom were captured in Afghanistan in the fall of 2001. Since opening in January 2002, the prison has been been criticized in the United States and abroad due to the indefinite detention of suspects without charges or legal representation and amid allegations of torture and abuse of detainees. (Posted @ 09:30 PST)
US concerned over violence flare-up in Sri Lanka, seeks peace talks WASHINGTON, Jan 6 (AFP) - US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has voiced concern over a flare-up of violence in Sri Lanka, and hopes Colombo and Tamil Tiger rebels will resume talks to reinforce their fragile truce, the State Department said. Washington plans to dispatch a senior official to the troubled country soon to discuss the conflict, the department said Friday. Rice "expressed concern during talks with visiting Sri Lankan Foreign Minister Mangala Samaraweera on Thursday, State Department spokesman Sean McCormack told reporters. (Posted @ 09:20 PST)
Founder: Quaid-i-Azam Mohammad Ali Jinnah
Editor: Tahir Mirza
The DAWN Group of Newspapers
Haroon House, Dr. Ziauddin Ahmed Road, Karachi 74200, Pakistan.
Phone:+92 (21) 111-444-777 Fax: +92 (21) 569-3995
webmaster@dawn.com
Make sure to reload these pages so you're viewing the current version.
|
|
|
Contributions |