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| February 19, 2006 | Sunday | Muharram 20, 1427 |
Updated round-the-clock, with major updates after 10:00 PST (05:00 GMT)
Musharraf arrives Beijing to hold talks with Chinese leaders BEIJING, Feb 19 (APP): President Pervez Musharraf arrived here Sunday, undertaking an important five-day state visit to China, aimed at consulting with the Chinese leaders to further promote cooperation and understanding in bilateral, regional and international affairs. On his arrival at the Beijing international airport, he was accorded a warm welcome by the high-ranking officers of the Chinese government, Pakistan Ambassador to China, Salman Bashir and other officers of the Pakistan Embassy. Two children presented him bouquets and students of Pakistan Embassy College raised slogans and waved buntings to greet the President. He was accompanied by First Lady Begum Sehba Musharraf, some federal ministers and senior Pakistani officers, besides business executives. Later, his motorcade drove to Diaoyutai State Guest House, where he will be staying during the visit. Traditional welcome ceremony will be held on Monday at the Great Hall of the People. President Pervez Musharraf is scheduled to hold formal talks with his Chinese counterpart Hu Jintao the same day. It will be followed by signing of some important documents on bilateral cooperation. (First Posted @ 12:30 PST Updated @ 17:00 PST)
Western Indian city on high alert after explosion injures 13 AHMEDABAD, India, Feb 19, 2006 (AFP) The western Indian city of Ahmedabad was put on high alert Sunday after a blast at the city railway station injured 13 people, two of them seriously, police said. The blast destroyed part of a railway platform, while two tea stalls were completely destroyed.Among the injured were two tea stall workers. police were investigating the cause of the blast. Gujarat state's home minister Amit Shah inspected the site of the blast and declared a state of "high alert," police said. All trains coming into Ahmedabad were halted. (Posted @ 09:00 PST)
Police seal Pakistan capital to foil cartoon protest ISLAMABAD, Feb 19, 2006 (AFP) Police and paramilitary soldiers sealed Islamabad Sunday after authorities banned a protest rally by Islamic parties as anger raged in Pakistan over controversial cartoons The six-party alliance of the hardline religious parties known as Muttahida Majlis-i- Amal (MMA) vowed to defy the ban despite a "curfew-like situation" in the city. Thousands of police and paramilitary troops have been deployed in Islamabad to thwart the rally, officials and witnesses said. "Every possible step has been taken" to prevent the gathering, city police chief Sikandar Hayat told AFP. He said around 5,000 police had been deployed and another 800 troops from the paramilitary Rangers had been called out to reinforce security. "All key installations have been covered, foreign missions have been covered and all exit and entry points are being watched." (Posted @ 12:40 PST)
Pakistan test fires surface to surface missile ISLAMABAD, Feb 19, 2006 (AFP) Pakistan on Sunday test fired a short range surface to surface nuclear-capable missile, the military said in a statement. "A successful test fire of the indigenously developed short range surface to surface ballistic missile Hatf-II Abdali was conducted today," it said. The Abdali missile can reach a target of 200 kilometers (120 miles) and can carry nuclear and other types of warheads, the statement said. It said India had been given prior notification of the launch, as agreed last year before all ballistic missile tests are conducted. President Pervez Musharraf hailed the test and congratulated the scientists and engineers on their "outstanding achievement," it added. Pakistan and India conducted tit-for-tat test nuclear detonations in 1998 and came to the brink of war in 2002. The historical rivals, who have already fought three wars, routinely carry out tests of nuclear-capable missiles (Posted @ 10:20 PST)
Cartoon protesters defy ban in Pakistan ISLAMABAD, Feb 19 (Reuters) - Police fired teargas and rubber bullets to break up a banned protest against blasphemous cartoons in Islamabad on Sunday. Our staff reporter adds: After intermittent clashes & hide and seek between the police and the protestors, the government permitted the protestors, headed by opposition leader Maulana Fazal-ur-Rehman and others to hold a meeting near Aabpara.(PPP) leader Amin Fahim and others were stopped at some distance from holding a rally & held a press conference. Maulana Fazal-ur-Rehman pledged to continue protest against the blasphemous cartoons & condemn government for creating unnecessary hurdles in peaceful protests.(Posted @ 23:40 PST)
Pakistan wins Under 19 cricket World Cup COLOMBO, Sri Lanka (AP) _ Pakistan won the Under 19 cricket World Cup Sunday as classy swing bowling from Anwar Ali and Jamshed Ahmed rattled India's batting order to set up a close 38-run victory in the final.(Posted @ 23:20 PST)
Hundreds of protesting Pakistanis ransack church in southern city ISLAMABAD, Feb 19, (AP) _ Protesters rallying against the burning of pages of the Holy Quran , Sunday ransacked a church, damaged public property & made bonfire in Sukkur city, police said. No one was reported injured. About 400 people attacked the church in Sukkur, a city in southern Sindh province, after reports that a local Christian man had burned pages from the Holy Quran, said Akbar Arian, chief of police in the area. Another official at the police control room in Sukkur, Ali Hassan, said earlier that the people who burned the church were protesting against the blasphemous cartoons. Our staff reporter adds: Sindh Home Minister Rauf Siddique told a private TV channel that the accused person who burned the pages from the Holy Quran has been arrested. He said the hooligans who attacked the church has also been arrested and shall be tried in anti terrorist courts. Law enforcement agencies have restored calm and normality in the city, he added.(Posted @ 22:55 PST)
Kashmir issue close to its settlement near future: Sikandar Hayat MIRPUR (Azad Kashmir), Feb 19 (APP): Azad Kashmir Prime Minister Sardar Sikandar Hayat Khan Sunday said that Kashmir issue is nearer to its peaceful solution in the near future. "Due to the increased pressure of the international community, a conducive atmosphere has devolved for the settlement of the long-standing Kashmir problem soon", he said while addressing the inaugural function of newly-carved sub division Charhoi in Kotli district.(Posted @ 21:35 PST)
Saudi king calls for respecting religions RIYADH, Saudi Arabia (AP) _ King Abdullah on Saturday called for mutual respect among all religions and beliefs and condemned what he called ``the clash of civilizations.'' Speaking during a cultural festival in the capital, Riyadh, the monarch urged Muslim intellectuals to spread the idea of peaceful coexistence among civilizations, the official Saudi Press Agency reported. ``I call ... for the next stage in relations between countries to be a stage of real dialogue where each side respects the other side, respects its sanctities, beliefs and identity,'' he was quoted as saying.(Posted @ 21:15 PST)
Hamas choose Haniya to be Palestinian PM GAZA CITY, Feb 19, 2006 (AFP) - Hamas chose the leader of their triumphant election campaign, Ismail Haniya, to become their first ever prime minister Sunday of a Palestinian government which Israel has branded a terrorist regime. Haniya, the Islamists' top candidate in their January 25 landslide victory, was expected to meet Palestinian Authority president Mahmud Abbas to discuss the new government, much of which will be based in the Gaza Strip as a result of Israeli travel restrictions on the radical movement.(Posted @ 21:00 PST)
Four Iraqi truck drivers killed in ambush BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) _ Gunmen ambushed a convoy of trucks carrying construction material to U.S. military north of Baghdad Sunday, killing four Iraqi drivers. Search crews found the wreckage of a German plane in northern Iraq with the six Germans and an Iraqi on board dead, an official said. A police general also died in a roadside bombing in northern Iraq as violence continued a day after 20 people, including a U.S. soldier, were killed in a spate of bombings and shootings.(Posted @ 20:52 PST)
British Parliamentary delegation arrives in Islamabad ISLAMABAD, Feb 19 (APP): A four members delegation of the British Parliament has arrived Islamabad on a four-day visit here on Sunday. According to a press release issued here the delegation has arrived at the invitation of Special Committee of the Parliament on Kashmir. The delegation led by MP Mr. Martin Salter consisted of members of the All Party Parliamentary Group of the British Parliament on Kashmir which included Mark Fisher, Ms. Mary Creagh and Miss Kerry McCarthy. Mr. Salter and Mr. Fisher.(Posted @ 18:26 PST)
Danish ambassador leaves Pakistan after cartoon demos COPENHAGEN, Feb 19 (Reuters) - Denmark said on Sunday that its ambassador in Pakistan had temporarily returned home because he could not work after violent protests over cartoons. The Foreign Ministry said that Danes in Pakistan who need help should apply to the German embassy.(Posted @ 17:28 PST)
French president arrives in India NEW DELHI, Feb 19, (APP/AFP) - French President Jacques Chirac arrived in the Indian capital New Delhi Sunday on the second leg of a two nation Asian tour that also took him to Thailand. Chirac, who arrived at 2.30 pm (0900 GMT) on a special aircraft at a military base adjacent to New Delhi's main airport, was accompanied by his wife Bernadette on the two-day visit.(Posted @ 17:18 PST)
Ten missing in second Philippines landslide in two days ZAMBOANGA, Philippines, Feb 19, 2006 (AFP) At least 10 people are missing and feared dead in a landslide that struck a southern village in the Philipines, the second in as many days, the military said Sunday. The landslip struck the hamlet of Balabag near the town of Bayog on the island of Mindanao late Saturday and buried two houses, said Major Gamal Hayudini, spokesman for the southern military command (Posted @ 14:50 PST)
Israeli airstrike kills two Palestinian militants GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip (AP) An Israeli aircraft attacked two Palestinians laying a bomb near the Gaza-Israel border fence on Sunday, military officials said. Two militants were killed, Palestinians said. Palestinian medical officials said the two bodies were recovered in Khouza'a, a border village near the Palestinian city of Khan Younis. (Posted @ 14:40 PST)
Militants kill three police in Afghanistan KANDAHAR, Afghanistan (AP) Suspected Taliban rebels attacked a police post in southern Afghanistan and killed three officers, authorities said Sunday. Police fought back during an hourlong gunbattle late Saturday but hit no one and the militants fled, said Ghulam Muhiddin, the administrator of Helmand province where the attack occurred (Posted @ 14:30 PST)
Muslim protesters throw rocks, eggs at U.S. Embassy in Indonesia over cartoons JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) About 400 hardline Muslim protesters pelted the U.S. Embassy with rocks, tomatoes and eggs, claiming the U.S. government masterminded the recent publication of blasphemous cartoons of the in a bid to discredit Islam. Members of the Islam Defenders Front, a hardline vigilante group, attacked barricades outside the embassy with staves and bamboo poles at about noon local time. ``They (Western countries) want to destroy Islam through the issue of terrorism ... and all those things are engineered by the United States. Protesters set fire to U.S. flags and a poster depicting Bush as a pig. They also smashed windows of a guard station, but no injuries were reported.(Posted @ 12:35 PST)
Five teens killed in Australian hit and run crash SYDNEY, Feb 19, 2006 (AFP) A hit-and-run driver killed five people and injured seven others as he ploughed into a group of teenagers on their way to a party in southern Australia, police said Sunday. The vehicle careered into a group of teenagers at Cardross, about 400 kilometres (250 miles) north-west of Melbourne, killing three girls and two boys. Two of the injured were in a critical condition. Police arrested a man in his 30s a few hours after the crash. (Posted @ 09:10 PST)
Six Yemeni troops killed in renewed battles with rebels SAN'A, Feb 19 (AP) Hospital officials said Saturday five soldiers and an army captain had been killed in battles with rebels in the rugged mountains of northwest Yemen, near the border with Saudi Arabia. A local tribal leader said the army launched reprisal attacks Saturday near Saada, about 180 kilometers north of San'a, the Yemeni capital. (Posted @ 09:45 PST)
Rolling Stones draw 1.2 million to Copacabana beach RIO DE JANEIRO, Feb 19(AFP) The Rolling Stones on Saturday rocked the night away on Copacabana beach for more than 1.2 million fans in one of the biggest concerts the world has ever seen. Singer Mick Jagger shouted "Hello Brazil" to a huge roar and the super group launched into a free concert of more than 20 of the biggest hits including "Jumpin' Jack Flash", "Satisfaction" and "Honky Tonk Women". Fans came from across South America for the extraordinary event which cost 4.6 million dollars to put on. (Posted @ 10:00 PST)
Hundreds protest in Austria against blasphemous cartoons VIENNA, Feb 19 (APP/AFP) About 1,000 people protested in the centre of the Austrian capital on Saturday against blasphemous cartoons which have outraged the Islamic world, police said. Protesters said they wanted to march to the embassy of Denmark, but were refused permission. They carried banners reading "Don't touch our prophet" and "No crusade against Islam" and brandished Iranian, Iraqi, Palestinian and Turkish flags. (Posted @ 10:00 PST)
Makers of 'Road to Guantanamo' win directing prize in Berlin BERLIN, Feb 19 2006 (AFP) Britons Michael Winterbottom and Mat Whitecross, the makers of the dramatic documentary "The Road to Guantanamo", won a Silver Bear prize for best director at the Berlin Film Festival Saturday. The film tackles the moral costs of the US-led war on terror by telling the true story of three British Muslims who were held at the US prison camp in Cuba for more than two years before being released without charge. (Posted @ 09:30 PST)
Bosnian rape drama 'Grbavica' wins Berlin Golden Bear top prize BERLIN, Feb 19, 2006 (AFP) Bosnian drama "Grbavica", about the plight of the thousands of women raped during the Balkans wars, won the Golden Bear prize for best picture at the 56th Berlin Film Festival Saturday. British actress Charlotte Rampling, the president of the festival's jury, presented the award to director Jasmila Zbanic at a gala ceremony in the German capital. (Posted @ 09:10 PST)
Two dead as disgruntled bus driver stabs boss, plows bus into crowd BEIJING, Feb 19, 2006 (AFP) A disgruntled bus driver stabbed his boss with a knife and then drove a bus into a crowd, killing two people and injuring 16 others in China's southern Guangdong province, state media said Sunday. The incident happened in Shenzhen city Saturday after the driver quarrelled with his boss, Xinhua news agency said. He was said to be dissatisfied with his job. Six of the injured were in serious condition. (Posted @ 09:00 PST)
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