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| April 19, 2006 | Wednesday | Rabi-ul-Awwal 20, 1427 |
Updated round-the-clock, with major updates after 10:00 PST (05:00 GMT)
Peace process with Pakistan on track: Indian minister NEW DELHI, April 19, 2006 (AFP) India Wednesday said a peace initiative launched more than two years ago to improve ties with Pakistan and resolve the dispute over Kashmir had not failed or lost momentum. "The peace process has not failed or slowed down," Indian defence minister Pranab Mukherjee told reporters in Kolkata, the Press Trust of India news agency reported. "It cannot be switched on and off. It is a continuing process. It is taking time, just as in many other parts of the world. We need not be disheartened," he said. Mukherjee on Wednesday said the militants were trying to sabotage the peace talks and added that New Delhi could send more troops into Occupied Kashmir if needed.(Posted @ 21:25 PST)
Russian military won't intervene in Iran: military chief MOSCOW, April 19, 2006 (AFP) Russia's military will not intervene on one side or the other should the current Iran crisis lead to an armed conflict, the chief of the Russian general staff said Wednesday. "You are asking which side Russia will take. Of course Russia will not, at least I as head of the general staff, suggest the use of force on one side or the other. Just as was the case in Afghanistan," General Yury Baluyevsky told reporters. "In my view a military solution to the Iranian problem would be a political and military mistake," Baluyevsky added. He also confirmed that Russia planned to go ahead with fulfilling an order by Iran for a consignment of Tor-M1 mobile air defence systems.(Posted @ 21:20 PST)
Italian court confirms Prodi vote win--TV report ROME, April 19 (Reuters) Italy's supreme court has confirmed Romano Prodi's razor-thin victory over Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi in last week's general election, an Italian television news channel said on Wednesday. The Sky TG24 channel gave no source for its report and Prodi said he would not comment until after official confirmation.(Posted @ 21:20 PST)
Government to bridge demand-supply gap in energy sector: PM Aziz ISLAMABAD, Apr 19 (APP): Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz Wednesday said the government was planning to bridge the gap between supply and demand in energy by increasing indigenous production, import gas from Iran and Turkmenistan and import of LNG. Talking to a delegation of an international gas company, he said import of LNG was being pursued as an additional option to cater for increasing demand for energy. He said under Phase-I, the appointment of a joint venture or consortium for setting up of LNG terminal to supply 500 mmscfd of re-gasified LNG (3.5 mtpa) would be finalized by December 2006. The cost of the project was estimated between US $ 300-400 million.(Posted @ 20:55 PST)
Pakistan to issue registration cards to Afghan refugees ISLAMABAD, April 19, 2006 (AFP) Pakistan and the United Nations Wednesday signed an agreement to issue registration cards to the remaining 2.6 million Afghan refugees sheltering in the South Asian country. Under the agreement Pakistan's interior and frontier regions ministries in collaboration with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) will issue the cards. "The registration card will serve as an identity and travel document for Pakistan," Minister for States and Frontier Regions Sardar Yar Mohammad Rind told a joint press conference with the visiting deputy UNHCR chief Wendy Chamberlin. "The registration is a step towards repatriation of Afghan refugees," Rind added.(Posted @ 20:55 PST)
Danish police find heroin stash in sword blades COPENHAGEN, April 19 (Reuters) Danish police said on Wednesday they had found heroin worth more than $1 million that had been smuggled into the country from Pakistan in the hollowed-out blades of 25 antique sword replicas. They made the discovery after raiding the apartment of a British man who had died earlier from a drug overdose along with a woman of unknown nationality in a hotel room in Copenhagen. Detectives found 740 grams of heroin of 70 percent purity in the metre-long engraved blades of the decorative swords.(Posted @ 20:45 PST)
Afghanistan, Pakistan and US hold military cooperation talks ISLAMABAD, April 19, 2006 (AFP) US, Pakistani and Afghan military commanders held talks Wednesday on the continuing fight against militants in the south Asian countries, officials said. The meeting in Rawalpindi, Pakistan, was the 16th gathering of the Tripartite Commission set up after Afghanistan's Taliban regime was ousted in 2001. "The delegates discussed border security and agreed to further enhance communication and coordination in this regard, with particular emphasis on expanding their cross-border coordination along the Afghan-Pakistani border areas," a statement issued by the US-led military coalition said. The officials highlighted the "increasingly positive progress of communications and information sharing" between Afghanistan, Pakistan, coalition forces and the NATO-led international security force, it said. Pakistan invited an Afghan army contingent to join an upcoming exercise between the US and Pakistan in May, it said. Lieutenant General Karl Eikenberry, commander of coalition forces in Afghanistan, led the US negotiating team. General Bismullah Khan, Chief of the General Staff in Afghanistan's National Army, represented Kabul. General Ahsan Saleem Hyat, Vice Chief of Army Staff, was at the table for Pakistan, a Pakistani military spokesman said. NATO-ISAF (international security assistance force) attended the meeting as observers. (First Posted @ 11:15 PST Updated @ 19:10 PST)
Bush prods Iraqi leaders to form government WASHINGTON, April 19 (Reuters) President George W. Bush said on Wednesday Iraqi leaders must form a unity government soon to avoid a dangerous political vacuum and told Americans weary of the war that "failure is not an option." Bush spoke after meeting four governors, two Republicans and two Democrats, who just returned from visiting U.S. troops in Iraq and Afghanistan. "I don't expect everybody to agree with my decision to go into Iraq, but I do want ... the American people to understand that failure in Iraq is not an option, that failure in Iraq would make the security situation for our country worse," Bush said.(Posted @ 19:15 PST)
McClellan resigns as White House press secretary WASHINGTON, April 19 (Reuters) White House press secretary Scott McClellan announced his resignation on Wednesday as part of a shake-up of President George W. Bush's team. "It's going to be hard to replace Scott. but nevertheless he's made the decision, and I accept it," Bush said, with McClellan at his side.(Posted @ 19:05 PST)
Four protesters shot dead in Nepal KATHMANDU, April 19, 2006 (AFP) Troops and police shot dead at least four protesters and wounded many more in eastern Nepal on Wednesday, witnesses said, in the worst violence during two weeks of pro-democracy demonstrations.Local journalists at the scene also said they saw at least four people killed on the spot during clashes at the town in far eastern Jhapa district. Firing began after the crowd tried to enter the town centre in defiance of a ban on public meetings, the witnesses said. Troops later moved in and took control of the area.(Posted @ 18:35 PST)
Time for world to send 'clear and united message' to Iran: Blair LONDON, April 19, 2006 (AFP) British Prime Minister Tony Blair said Wednesday it was time for the world to "send a clear and united message" to Iran to stop its disputed nuclear work and support for terrorism. Blair told parliament that while "nobody was talking about military invasion of Iran or military action against Iran" it was not a time to "send a message of weakness" when Tehran calls for eliminating Israel and supports terrorism. Speaking during the weekly Prime Minister's Questions in the House of Commons, Blair declared that it was "perfectly sensible" for US President George W. Bush or any US president not to rule out military action.(Posted @ 18:35 PST)
Two more alleged 'US spies' killed in Pakistan tribal zone MIRANSHAH, Pakistan, April 19, 2006 (AFP) Two alleged US spies were shot dead in North Waziristan tribal agency, taking the number of such killings to four this week, officials said Wednesday. A Pakistani driver was found dead in Shera Tal village late Tuesday, a security official said. Residents who identified his body Wednesday said militants had previously warned him "not to work as a US spy" in the rugged region. Pro-Taliban rebels also killed an Afghan refugee over similar allegations in the adjacent tribal area of South Waziristan, officials said. He was abducted three days ago from the bazaar of the region's main town of Wana and his body was found in the nearby town of Shah Alam on Wednesday.(Posted @ 18:25 PST)
Iranian delegation in Moscow for nuclear talks TEHRAN, Iran, April 19, 2006 (AFP) Iran sent a delegation of senior officials to Moscow on Wednesday, officials said. Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki told state radio a team was travelling to Russia for "discussions aimed at finding a solution" to the nuclear crisis, but gave no indication of any change in Iran's refusal to freeze sensitive enrichment work. Ministry spokesman Hamid Reza Asefi said the delegation included deputy minister Abbas Araghshi and Larijani's deputies and had been invited to Moscow by Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov.(Posted @ 18:25 PST)
Two soldiers, one suspected militant die in Occupied Kashmir SRINAGAR, Occupied Kashmir, April 19, 2006 (AFP) Two Indian troops were shot dead Wednesday who were on leave at their homes in northern Occupied Kashmir while a suspected militant was killed in a clash with soldiers in southern Kashmir, a defence spokesman said.(Posted @ 17:15 PST)
Iran unlikely to meet UN nuclear demands: Straw LONDON, April 19 (Reuters) Britain does not expect Iran to comply with United Nations Security Council demands to halt uranium enrichment by the end of April, Foreign Secretary Jack Straw said on Wednesday. "We are working on the basis that Iran will not meet the proposals from the Security Council on the 30-day deadline," Straw told BBC Radio Four in an interview from Saudi Arabia. "But what is most likely to happen is that the matter will move back to the Security Council and there will then be discussions about the next steps which the international community will take," he added. Straw's comments followed a meeting in Moscow of senior officials from the United States, China, Russia, Britain, France -- the council's permanent members -- and Germany. No agreement emerged from the talks on Tuesday.(Posted @ 17:00 PST)
France, Italy raids net 13 suspected extremists PARIS, April 19 (Reuters) French and Italian police arrested 13 suspected extremists on Wednesday in a joint operation targeting a group thought close to Algeria's radical extremist group, the GSPC, judicial and police sources said. Anti-terrorist police detained five people in the southern French port of Marseille. Eight others were arrested in Italy's southern port of Naples, mainly on suspicion of using and making forged documents. (Posted @ 16:40 PST)
At least 20 killed in Lake Tanganyika boat accident BUJUMBURA, April 19 (Reuters) A ferry carrying up to 160 passengers and their goods capsized on East Africa's Lake Tanganyika at the weekend, killing at least 20 people, a Congolese provincial governor said on Wednesday. He said the search for survivors was continuing. (Posted @ 16:40 PST)
US troops kill suspected suicide bomber in Afghanistan: official JALALABAD, Afghanistan, April 19, 2006 (AFP) US forces shot dead a suspected suicide bomber Wednesday as he attempted to drive into a coalition convoy in eastern Afghanistan, a local official said. A man driving a small jeep tried to get between the vehicles of the convoy on the main highway linking Jalalabad, the capital city of Nangahar province, to Torkham, a town on the Pakistani border, the official said. Coalition forces did not immediately comment on the incident. (Posted @ 15:35 PST)
Roadside bombs kill two in Baghdad, gunmen kill six in shootings BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) Two roadside bombs exploded in Baghdad Wednesday, killing at least two bystanders and wounding 15 people, as gunmen in the capital killed at least six people in targeted shootings, police said. One bomb targeting a police patrol blew up in the western neighbourhood of Harthiya, killing one civilian and injuring 11, including two policemen and an Iraqi soldier, police said. The other exploded near the al-Kindi hospital in eastern Baghdad, killing one civilian and wounding four others, police said. Gunmen in the southern neighborhood of Dora went on a shooting rampage in three separate attacks, killing a construction worker, trade ministry employee and three power plant workers who had been snatched from their car an hour earlier, police said. In west Baghdad, gunmen killed a medic as he walked from house to house in the Amariyah district administering vaccinations, police said. In the southeastern suburb of Rustamiyah, police discovered five bodies of Iraqis, handcuffed and blindfolded. Late Tuesday, police found 11 other corpses in various parts of the capital. (First Posted @ 11:20 PST Updated @ 15:35 PST)
France rules out cutting off Palestinian relief aid PARIS, April 19 (Reuters) France said on Wednesday it opposed cutting off humanitarian aid to the Palestinian territories. Foreign Minister Philippe Douste-Blazy told French radio that while the European Union had cut funding to the Hamas-led Palestinian Authority it had no plans to end relief aid. "If we don't help the Palestinian Territories, others like Iran will do so. And, on the other hand, we risk pushing the Palestinian people towards radicalism and that's not what we want and that's why we should continue to help them." (Posted @ 15:15 PST)
Bangladesh police clash with anti-government protesters DHAKA, Bangladesh, April 19 (AP) Police fired tear gas at thousands of stone-throwing anti-government protesters who tried to march on the prime minister's office in the Bangladeshi capital Wednesday, witnesses said. The violence broke out in Dhaka's Dhanmandi district just blocks away from the office of Prime Minister Khaleda Zia, with about 10,000 protesters trying to overrun police barricades, according to an Associated Press correspondent at the scene. Several people were injured in the clash, the reporter said. Bangladesh's main opposition Awami League and its 13 allies have called for the banned protest to demand electoral reforms and the resignation of the government. (Posted @ 12:30 PST)
Five men found killed in northern Sri Lanka as Norway envoy tries to salvage truce COLOMBO, Sri Lanka, April 19 (AP) The bodies of five slain Tamil civilians were found in Jaffna, 300 kilometers north of Colombo, Wednesday, while five sailors were wounded when an anti-personnel mine exploded, police and navy officials said. The civilians had left their homes Tuesday evening in a taxi for a nearby village and their bodies were recovered with gunshot wounds Wednesday, police said. In a separate incident, two sailors were wounded in an anti-personnel mine attack in northwestern Mannar district Wednesday, a navy spokesman said. The sailors were filling a water truck when the mine exploded. The incidents come as Norway's peace envoy Jon Hanssen-Bauer met Sri Lanka's Prime Minister Ratnasiri Wickramanayake in an effort to save an Oslo-brokered cease-fire that has come under threat because of frequent violence. (Posted @ 12:25 PST)
India's cabinet approves pact with US for building aviation infrastructure NEW DELHI, April 19 (AP) The Indian Cabinet has approved an aviation agreement with the United States for cooperation in modernizing India's airports and upgrading its aviation infrastructure, a government statement said. The agreement would also allow training of Indians by U.S. aviation experts and personnel exchanges between the two countries. FAA technicians would inspect and calibrate aviation equipment and air navigation facilities in India and assist in airport certification, the statement said. The United States has similar agreements with 100 other countries, it added. (Posted @ 12:05 PST)
S.Korea approves first female prime minister SEOUL, April 19 (Reuters) South Korea's parliament approved on Wednesday the country's first female prime minister, Han Myeong-sook, a lawmaker and former democracy activist who was once jailed for political protests. Han, 61, replaces veteran legislator Lee Hae-chan, who was considered one of the most powerful prime ministers in the country's history. Lee resigned last month after criticism for playing golf while a railway strike caused transport chaos. (Posted @ 11:55 PST)
Iran with nuclear weapons unacceptable--France PARIS, April 19 (Reuters) The prospect of Iran with a military nuclear capability is unacceptable, French President Jacques Chirac said in an interview with an Egyptian newspaper published on Wednesday. Chirac, who is due to visit Egypt on Wednesday, also told daily al-Ahram that Iran has a worrying missile programme. "Iran's current attitude is a source of worry for the region and the international community," Chirac said. "Moreover, Iran is following a worrying missiles programme." (Posted @ 11:55 PST)
Cricket-Gillespie sets record for highest-scoring nightwatchman CHITTAGONG, Bangladesh, April 19 (Reuters) Australia's Jason Gillespie became the highest run-scoring nightwatchman on Wednesday when he eased past the previous record of 105 on the fourth morning of the second test against Bangladesh. Resuming on 102, Gillespie drove a delivery off spinner Abdur Razzak to the long off boundary to overhaul the mark set by compatriot Tony Mann in December 1977 against India. Pakistan nightwatchman Nasimul Ghani scored 101 against England at Lord's in 1962. (Posted @ 11:25 PST)
Insurgents attack election officials in Thailand, injuring 6 BANGKOK, April 19 (AP) Suspected Muslim insurgents ambushed election officials on way to polling stations Wednesday in two separate bomb and gun attacks in Thailand's restive south, injuring three local officials and three policemen assigned to guard them, police said. They detonated a small explosive in one attack and fired upon officials in the other. Three policemen and three village headmen assigned to the election committee were injured, delaying the opening of two polling stations in Srisakorn. Thais went to the polls Wednesday to elect a new Senate. (Posted @ 09:45 PST)
China's Hu in Seattle for first stop of key US visit SEATTLE, Washington, April 119 (AFP) Chinese President Hu Jintao received a celebrity welcome in Seattle Tuesday at the start of his first official US visit, pledging to step up protection of intellectual property following a tour of Microsoft. (Posted @ 09:20 PST)
Karachi Stocks down 67.32 points: KARACHI, Apr 19: At close of trading, the KSE-100 index was at 12048.14, down 67.32 points. (Bureau Report) (Updated @ 14:20 PST)
Forex update: KARACHI, Apr 19: The Pakistani Rupee was traded at Rs 60.17 to the US Dollar in the open market. (Bureau Report) (Updated @ 10:20 PST)
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