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| March 15, 2006 | Wednesday | Safar 14, 1427 |
Updated round-the-clock, with major updates after 10:00 PST (05:00 GMT)
Dozens held, madrasa blown up, in Pakistan crackdown MIRANSHAH, Pakistan, March 15 (Reuters) – Pakistani authorities have arrested at least 30 people, blown up a religious school and banned sale of weapons as part of an effort to suppress Islamist militancy in troubled North Waziristan tribal area. Early on Wednesday, the paramilitary Frontier Constabulary blew up the Anwar-ul-Uloom madressah, which officials said served as a sanctuary for militants. It was built by Afghan refugees in the 1990s, and no one was in it at the time it was destroyed. North Waziristan's Political Agent Zaheerul Islam told Reuters that 29 people, 19 of them Afghans, had been arrested since authorities announced a drive to force out Afghans living illegally in the region on Monday. He said some Pakistanis were also arrested for possible links with militants. Those arrested would be interrogated for possible links with an estimated 400 foreign militants living in the area, he said. Authorities have also ordered Miranshah's 130 arms shops to remove weapons from their premises immediately. A relative calm has returned to Miranshah area but sporadic instances of violence have continued. (First Posted @ 15:20 Updated @ 18:40 PST)
Next installment for earthquake affectees in April: PM ISLAMABAD, Mar 15 (APP): Disbursement of the next instalment for reconstruction of quake ravaged houses in the NWFP and AJK will begin in the first week of April, a meeting of the ERRA Council, chaired by Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz announced Wednesday. The government will also launch a scheme for cash grant of Rs. 3,000 per month to the vulnerable families in April, says a press release. The meeting was informed that initial list of beneficiaries who were given Rs. 25,000 for repair/reconstruction of damaged/destroyed house will serve as baseline for further disbursements. Training centres have been set up in NWFP and AJK for construction workers to ensure better construction and adoption of new building codes. Plans have been finalized to build 99 hospitals in NWFP and 116 in AJK. It was decided that the army will remain deployed in these areas for the time being to provide security, emergency response, roads maintenance, removal of debris and monitoring and evaluation purposes.(Posted @ 18:15 PST)
Abbas calls Israel raid an unforgivable crime JERICHO, West Bank, March 15 (Reuters) – Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on Wednesday called Israel's raid on Jericho prison and arrest of senior PFLP leaders a crime that would not be forgiven. "What happened is an ugly crime which cannot be forgiven and a humiliation for the Palestinian people and a violation of all the agreements. Their arrest by Israel is illegal," Abbas told reporters during a visit to the destroyed jail.(Posted @ 18:20 PST)
Cricket-Sri Lanka rocked by injuries going into Pakistan series COLOMBO, March 15 (Reuters) - Sri Lanka have been rocked by an injury crisis just 48 hours prior to the start of the one-day international series against Pakistan. Veteran Sanath Jayasuriya, Sri Lanka's highest run scorer in both forms of the game, and fast bowlers Chaminda Vaas and Ruchira Perera have been ruled out of the entire series. Jayasuriya has suffered a thigh strain, Vaas has a side strain and Perera pulled a hamstring during a recent domestic semi-final. "All three players have been ruled out of the entire one-day series," team manager Michael Tissera said Wednesday. "Jehan Mubarak has been called up to replace Jayasuriya, Lasith Malinga comes in for Ruchira Perera and Dammika Prasad takes Vaas's place," Tissera confirmed.(First Posted @ 11:45 Updated @ 20:10 PST)
Iraqis say US raid on home killed 11 family members TIKRIT, March 15 (Reuters) - Eleven members of an Iraqi family were killed in a U.S. raid on Wednesday, police and witnesses said. The U.S. military said only two women and a child died during the bid to arrest an al Qaeda militant from a house. Television pictures showed 11 bodies in the Tikrit morgue -- five children, two men and four women. A freelance photographer later saw the bodies being buried in Ishaqi, the town 100 km north of Baghdad where the raid took place. Major Ali Ahmed of the Ishaqi police said U.S. forces had landed on the roof of the house in the early hours and shot the 11 occupants, including the five children. Later, they blew up the house, he said. Another policeman, Major Farouq Hussein, said all the bodies had gunshot wounds to the head. The house was reduced to rubble, while next to it lay the burnt-out wreckage of a truck.(Posted @ 20:05 PST)
Opium licensing scheme in Afghanistan proposed VIENNA, March 15, 2006 (AFP) - Rather than eradicating opium crops in Afghanistan, the growing of opium should be regulated to manufacture medical drugs like morphine and codein which developing countries have limited access to, an international think tank said here Wednesday. "The UN and its agencies have clearly failed to control the production of opium poppy in Afghanistan," said Emmanuel Reinert, director general of the Senlis Council, an international security and development policy think tank. "The current policy of eradicating opium crops is counter-productive because it deprives Afghan farmers of their main source of income without proposing an alternative," he said. According to Reinert, a licensing system for cultivating opium suits Afghanistan's conditions. Poppy is already grown under license in Australia, France, India and Turkey, Reinert noted. In India, about 130,000 farmers grow opium poppy legally. "We do not have enough poppy crops to produce the pain-relief drugs based on opium, morphine and codein, needed around the world," Reinert said. Seven countries -- Australia, Britain, France, Italy, Japan, Spain and the United States -- use 77 percent of opium-based drugs whereas only 24 percent of treatments needed against pain are fulfilled, according to a University of Toronto study cited by the Senlis Council. "Many developing countries, including Afghanistan, have limited access to these pharmaceutical products because of their price," Reinert said, adding Afghanistan should have its own brand of medical drugs based on opium and a special international status for producing opium.(Posted @ 20:05 PST)
Two suspected militants killed in occupied Kashmir SRINAGAR, March 15 (AFP) - Soldiers on Wednesday shot dead two suspected freedom fighters in occupied Kashmir whose bodies were later carried shoulder-high by supporters shouting anti-India slogans. Police claimed they belonged to Jaish-e-Mohammed. The heavy gunbattle sparked panic in the highway town of Pampore, 15 kilometers south of Srinagar. Later, several thousand people carried the bodies and shouted anti-India and pro-freedom slogans, witnesses said. The insurgency has left over 44,000 people dead by official count and double that number according to the separatists' tally.(Posted @ 19:40 PST)
US Peace Corps pulls out of Bangladesh fearing attacks DHAKA, March 15, 2006 (AFP) - The US Peace Corps has suspended operations in Bangladesh fearing reprisals from Islamic militants after the arrest of their top leaders, a government statement said on Wednesday. Up to 71 members of the government-run volunteer agency were working in the, mainly teaching English in schools and colleges.(Posted @ 19:30 PST)
US general says no proof Iran behind Iraq arms WASHINGTON, March 14 (Reuters) - Marine Corps Gen. Peter Pace, chairman of the military's Joint Chiefs of Staff, the top U.S. military officer said on Tuesday the United States does not have proof that Iran's government is responsible for Iranians smuggling weapons and military personnel into Iraq. President George W. Bush said on Monday components from Iran were being used in powerful roadside bombs used in Iraq, and Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said last week that Iranian Revolutionary Guard personnel had been inside Iraq. Asked whether the United States has proof that Iran's government was behind these developments, Gen. Peter Pacetold a Pentagon briefing, "I do not, sir." "Unless you physically see it in a government-sponsored vehicle or with government-sponsored troops, you can't know it," Rumsfeld said at the same briefing. "All you know is that you find equipment, weapons, explosives, whatever, in a country that came from the neighbouring country." "With respect to people, it's very difficult to tie a thread precisely to the government of Iran," Rumsfeld added.(Posted @ 18:55 PST)
Chad says it foiled coup attempt by army soldiers N'DJAMENA, March 15 (Reuters) - Chad's government said on Wednesday it had foiled a coup attempt against President Idriss Deby by some members of the army. "It was an attempted coup which happened at four o'clock this morning," Information Minister Hourmadji Moussa Doumgortold Radio France International, adding that two senior officers had been arrested while other plotters had fled towards the east.(Posted @ 18:35 PST)
Police baton-charge occupied Kashmir quake survivors SRINAGAR, March 15, 2006 (AFP) - At least eight people were hurt Wednesday when riot police baton-charged survivors of last October's earthquake in occupied Kashmir who were demanding more financial help, police said. Several hundred protesters blocked the main highway in northern Baramulla district to demonstrate against what they said was "inadequate monetary compensation" to erect new houses and to renovate damaged ones. "We had to resort to baton-charging and firing teargas shells to disperse them and make way for traffic," a police officer said. Residents said over a dozen were injured. The October 8 earthquake killed 74,000 people in NWFP and Azad Kashmir and more than 1,300 in occupied Kashmir, which is in the grip of a 16-year old freedom movement that has left over 44,000 people dead by official count.(Posted @ 17:55 PST)
India begins new poultry slaughter to tackle fresh bird flu outbreak NEW DELHI, March 15 (AFP) - Indian authorities Wednesday launched a new mass slaughter of chickens after fresh cases of bird flu were detected in poultry in Jalgaon district in Maharashtra state, 140 kilometers from the initial outbreak February 18 in Navapur town in the same state, senior animal husbandry official Bijay Kumar said. "We started the culling operations of 70,000 birds ... from today (Wednesday)," District Collector Vijay Singhal told the Press Trust of India. Officials estimated the slaughter would take three days, and added that health workers were doing door-to-door checks to see if anyone was suffering from symptoms of bird flu. Poultry would be killed in a 10-kilometer radius of the four affected villages in the district, he said.(Posted @ 17:50 PST)
Saddam takes stand, calls court a 'comedy' BAGHDAD, March 15 (AFP) - Deposed Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein took to the stand in his own defence on Wednesday and denounced his trial as a "comedy". Wearing his trademark well-tailored dark suit without a tie, following a long rambling testimony by his half brother Barzan al-Tikriti, he told the judge as he took the stand: "It is a comedy against Saddam Hussein and his comrades." "Oh mighty people, I am still your faithful son, oh Iraqi people... I am still your sword, and despite what has happened to my people, to me, to my comrades because of the criminal occupants, I shall be patient," he said.The chief judge Rauf Abdel Rahman told Saddam to stick to the case and not make a political speech.(Posted @ 17:45 PST)
Judge orders closed session in Saddam trial BAGHDAD, March 15, 2006 (AFP) - The chief judge in Saddam Hussein's trial Wednesday ordered a closed session 20 minutes after Saddam began to testify. Just before the press was turned out and the cameras switched off, Saddam told judge Rauf Abdel Rahman he had no right to interrupt him as he was a judge imposed by American occupiers.(Posted @ 17:35 PST)
Indians martyr three Kashmiri youth Srinagar, occupied Kashmir,March 15 (PPI)Indian troops, in their fresh acts of state-terrorism, martyred three more Kashmiri youth at different places, reports Kashmir Media Service. Bodies of two youth were retrieved from the rubble of a house destroyed by troops at Chandpora in Pulwama district. The third youth was killed in a fake encounter in Bandipora area of Baramulla district. Troops also arrested ten persons, during house raids, in Bijbehara, Khanabal, Qazigund, Sumbal, Handwara, Parimpora and Doda areas. A trooper of Indian Border Security Force (BSF) was missing from Uri area of Baramulla.(Posted @ 17:30 PST)
Tremors jolt Khuzdar KHUZDAR March 15 (APP): Tremors of minor intensity jolted Khuzdar (Balochistan) and its adjacent areas Wednesday causing panic. The jolts were felt at about 4:00 pm and continued for a few seconds. No casualty or damage to property was reported from any part of the city. (Posted @ 16:55 PST)
Commonwealth Games open in Melbourne MELBOURNE, March 15 (AFP) Queen Elizabeth II opened the 2006 Commonwealth Games here Wednesday. An estimated 80,000 people inside the Melbourne Cricket Ground, as well as thousands of others along the banks of the Yarra River, watched the two and a half hour event which heralds 11 days of competition. A record 4,500 competitors will take part from 71 countries.The Games are the 18th in total and fourth to be staged in Australia, following Sydney (1938), Perth (1962) and Brisbane (1982). (Posted @ 16:35 PST)
Imam wanted by Pakistan freed while case considered ATHENS, March 15, 2006 (AFP) A Shiite imam wanted by Pakistan for the murder of a politician has been granted bail on condition that he does not leave the country while Greek judiciary considers the case, officials said Wednesday. Mohamed Sibtein Kazmi, 50, was arrested at Athens' international airport on Saturday on the basis of an international arrest warrant issued by Pakistan. The holder of a British passport as well as several forged passports, Kazmi has been resident in London for several years. Islamabad wants him for his alleged involvement in the murder of a Sunni cleric, Maulana Azam Tariq, killed with four aides in October 2003 in the suburbs of the Pakistani capital, press reports here said. Initially held in police custody, he was freed by a prosecutor on Tuesday night on condition that he remain in Greece. His case will shortly be examined by appeal judges, who are waiting for legal documents from Pakistan before deciding on his eventual extradition. Under Greek law, anyone who faces the death penalty cannot be extradited. According to police, Kazmi had come to Greece to give a series of lectures to the Pakistani community in Athens. Pakistan embassy in Athens refused to comment when telephoned by AFP. (Posted @ 16:30 PST)
Suicide bike bomber kills two in Iraqi city BAGHDAD, March 15, 2006 (AFP) A suicide bomber on a motorcycle killed two Iraqis and wounded five others in Baquba on Wednesday, said police. Police speculated that the explosion was premature and that the biker was targeting the main road. The attack came shortly after another bomb killed a policeman in the same city. Northwest of the city, the Iraqi Army arrested 20 suspected insurgents in a raid. To the northeast, near the city of Balad, a US military operation resulted in the death of four Iraqis and the detention of a suspected Al-Qaeda supporter. Meanwhile, in Baghdad, attackers shot dead two Iraqis, said police. Earlier Wednesday, a car bomb killed one civilian and wounded two others in Talibiya, northeast of Baghdad. Bombs also went off in two different neighbourhoods of Baghdad in the morning targeting police patrols but instead wounded six civilians. In Basra, a British armoured vehicle was slightly damaged in an attack and its commander lightly wounded, according to British military authorities. (Posted @ 15:35 PST)
Bomb blast injures 13 in Quetta QUETTA, Pakistan, March 15, 2006 (AFP) A bomb exploded in a grocery shop Wednesday in Quetta, injuring 13 people, police said. Most of the injured were in a bus which was passing by, police said. Twelve of the injured were released after receiving first aid in hospital but the bus driver was still undergoing treatment, police added. No one has claimed responsibility for the attack. (Posted @ 15:25 PST)
Britain arrests five over blasphemous cartoon protest LONDON, March 15 (Reuters) British police said they had arrested five men on Wednesday over protests held in London last month over the publication of blasphemous cartoons. London's Metropolitan Police said four men had been arrested in the capital in connection with the protests and another in central England. Police said Wednesday's action came after detectives had studied footage of the London protest and consulted with prosecutors over whether there was enough evidence to press criminal charges. (Posted @ 15:20 PST)
US proposes global civilian nuclear partnership MOSCOW, March 15, 2006 (AFP) US Energy Secretary Samuel Bodman proposed Wednesday a new global "partnership" overseen by the UN nuclear watchdog to improve access to civilian nuclear power in developing countries. "We have the choice of a game of catch up or to initiate a more secure approach to the world. The program is at a very early stage but the initial consultations with France, Russia, China are encouraging," Bodman said at a press conference ahead of a Group of Eight energy meeting he is attending in Moscow. The partnership would be overseen by the UN's International Atomic Energy Agency, he added. (Posted @ 14:30 PST)
Palestinians hit by general strike, three foreigners kidnapped GAZA CITY, March 15, 2006 (AFP) Palestinian territories grounded to a halt under a general strike Wednesday to protest against an Israeli army raid on a West Bank prison. Businesses remained shuttered and schools closed across the Gaza Strip and West Bank after all Palestinian factions united to order a strike late Tuesday. Three foreign journalists remained hostages of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine for the second day in the Gaza Strip. Palestinian Authority president Mahmud Abbas was en route home after cutting short a tour of key European cities to manage the crisis sparked by Israel's capture of PFLP leader Ahmed Saadat and five other Palestinians in Jericho. The Israeli government kept security forces on high alert. A senior Palestinian official said that Abbas, in Jordan for talks with Prime Minister Maaruf Bakhit, would demand Israel hand Saadat and his colleagues back to their former custody arrangements immediately. "We will ask the Israeli side to hand back Ahmed Saadat and his colleagues immediately," chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erakat said.( First Posted @10:20 PST Updated @ 14:30 PST)
First Pakistan-Afghanistan bus service runs PESHAWAR, Pakistan, March 15, 2006 (AFP) The first ever bus from Afghanistan to Pakistan carried out a trial run on Wednesday. With the slogan "Long live Afghanistan-Pakistan friendship" written on the side, the bus carrying around a dozen local government officials left Jalalabad city early in the morning, officials said. It crossed over the mountainous Khyber Pass into Pakistan some four hours later and stopped for a brief ceremony at the border, before continuing to Peshawar. A return trial bus from Pakistan is due to run on Friday and full services are likely to start in mid-April, said a spokesman for the transport ministry of Pakistan's North West Frontier Province. Authorities plan to run six buses from Peshawar and six buses from Jalalabad daily, he added. (Posted @ 14:15 PST)
Iran will resist any UN call to end atomic research TEHRAN, March 15 (Reuters) Iran will not stop its research on atomic fuel, even if instructed to do so by the United Nations Security Council, Foreign Ministry Spokesman Hamid Reza Asefi said on Wednesday. "Research is our obvious right, they cannot ask us to do such things, it is irreversible," Asefi told a news conference when asked how Tehran would react to a Security Council motion seeking an end to research. (Posted @ 14:10 PST)
Saddam's half-brother takes stand in trial BAGHDAD, March 15 (Reuters) Saddam Hussein's former intelligence chief Barzan al-Tikriti, took the stand on Wednesday to testify in his own defence on charges of crimes against humanity. Saddam was not in court as he awaited his turn to testify. Barzan said the charges against him were trumped up: "I have been brought here for something I didn't do," he said. (Posted @ 14:05 PST)
Denmark finds first case of H5 bird flu COPENHAGEN, March 15 (Reuters) Denmark has found the first case of the highly pathogenic H5 bird flu virus in a wild fowl, officials said on Wednesday. It was still unclear if the case was the deadly H5N1 strain. (Posted @ 14:00 PST)
Bangladesh discovers ancient fort city WARI, Bangladesh, March 15 (Reuters) Archaeologists in Bangladesh say they have uncovered part of a fortified citadel dating back to 450 B.C. that could have been a stopping off point along an ancient trade route. So far, a moat round the citadel has been uncovered along with parts of an ancient road at Wari, 85 km northeast of the capital Dhaka. "The citadel and a raft of artefacts may help redefine history of India," the head of the department of archaeology at Jahangirnagar University said. (Posted @ 14:00 PST)
Nepal Maoist strike enters second day, transport crippled KATHMANDU, March 15, 2006 (AFP) A road blockade called by Nepal's Maoist rebels entered its second day Wednesday, hitting transport of vital supplies, as guerrillas sought to topple King Gyanendra's royal government. The Maoists have ordered supporters to bar all traffic on the roads to Kathmandu, district capitals and other big centres. (Posted @ 13:55 PST)
Two US soldiers killed in western Iraq BAGHDAD, March 15, 2006 (AFP) Two US soldiers were killed in Iraq's Al Anbar province, US military authorities said Wednesday. The soldiers "died due to enemy action" on Monday, a statement said. (Posted @ 10:20 PST)
Thai PM hints at temporary withdrawal BURIRAM, Thailand, March 15 (Reuters) Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, battling a growing campaign to oust him, gave his first indication on Wednesday he might consider stepping aside temporarily to defuse the crisis. Thaksin said there was merit in an idea floated by a group of businessmen to have him name one of his deputies as caretaker prime minister while political reforms demanded by the opposition were thrashed out, but stopped well short of accepting it. (Posted @ 09:40 PST)
Karachi Stocks down 39.30 points: KARACHI, March 15: At close fo trading, the KSE-100 index was at 10393.87, down 39.30 points. (Bureau Report) (Updated @ 14:15 PST)
Forex update: KARACHI, March 15: The Pakistani Rupee was traded at Rs 60.17 to the US Dollar in the open market. (Bureau Report) (Updated @ 11:00 PST)
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