|
| April 21, 2006 | Friday | Rabi-ul-Awwal 22, 1427 |
Updated round-the-clock, with major updates after 10:00 PST (05:00 GMT)
Musharraf, Shaukat Aziz review country's political environment RAWALPINDI, April 21 (PPI) President Pervez Musharraf and Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz met in Rawalpindi on Friday. The two leaders reviewed the political environment in the country, progress of investigation of the recent Nishtar Park bomb blast, measures being taken to control the prices of items of essential use and other matter of national importance. They also exchanged views on recent international and regional geo-political developments.(Posted @ 23:50 PST)
Nine killed, 26 missing after bus plunges into Bangladesh river DHAKA, April 21, 2006 (AFP) - At least nine people were killed and 26 others missing Friday after a bus packed with wedding guests toppled into a river in the western Bangladeshi town of Narail, police said. The groom was among those who survived but the bride's body was discovered by Navy and fire brigade divers, said Mohammad Ishaq, area police chief.(Posted @ 23:38 PST)
Shiite alliance agrees on nomination of Jawad al-Maliki for prime minister BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) _ Shiite politicians agreed Friday to nominate Jawad al-Maliki as prime minister, replacing the incumbent in a bid to clear the way for a long-delayed new government, two Shiite officials said.(Posted @ 23:10 PST)
Government plans upto 500 mw through wind power by 2007: PM Aziz ISLAMABAD, Apr 21 (APP): Underlining the vital link between energy security and growth momentum, Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz has said that government is looking for power generation from diverse sources including renewable energy and planning to produce 500 to 600 MW from wind energy by 2007. The Prime Minister was talking to a delegation of companies involved in production of wind power. He said that government has prioritized electrification of remote villages through wind and solar generating projects to provide cheaper electricity to the people of these areas. The delegation informed Aziz that a consortium involving MS/AXOR of Canada would establish a 50 MW wind power project at Gharo, Sindh.(Posted @ 21:00 PST)
Rising Sri Lanka violence leaves at least four dead SERUNUWARA, Sri Lanka, April 21 (Reuters) Ethnic clashes rocked Sri Lanka's northeast on Friday after mine attacks blamed on the Tamil Tiger rebels killed at least three in a wave of violence that has raised fears of a return to civil war. The attacks sparked angry Sinhalese residents to set upon nearby Tamil settlements in riots that killed at least one and damaged several houses. Many Tamils in the area had fled to a nearby school, but the situation was now calm and the area under curfew.(Posted @ 20:52 PST)
Abbas takes on Hamas over security appointment RAMALLAH, West Bank, April 21 (Reuters) Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on Friday cancelled a senior security appointment by the Hamas-led government, deepening a rift with the new administration as it battles a growing financial crisis. On Thursday, the new government appointed Jamal Abu Samhadana to supervise the Interior Ministry and set up a new police force. A presidential decree said Abbas had cancelled both decisions because they violated previous laws. "All security leaders, officers and members of the security services are ordered not to deal with these decisions and regard them as if they never happened," the decree stated. Abbas issued the presidential decree before leaving for Muslim and European nations to press for more aid to the Palestinian people and seek support for peace initiatives with Israel. Abbas will visit Jordan, Turkey, Norway, Finland and France. "If the European countries don't want to have contact with the Palestinian government, there are other means to maintain aid directed towards the Palestinian people," Abbas said in an interview with French daily Le Monde published on Friday. "The wages, or at least part of these wages, must be paid as quickly as possible." (First Posted @ 16:38 PST Updated @ 20:46 PST)
Pakistani Taliban leader calls for volunteers to fight in Afghanistan DERA ISMAIL KHAN, Pakistan, April 21, 2006 (AFP) A self-proclaimed Pakistani Taliban leader Friday invited people to come to Afghanistan to fight a holy war against US-led forces, local officials said. "We are leaving for Afghanistan tomorrow, those who want to participate in Jihad can join us," Asmatullah Shaheen told a gathering of more than 300 people in Jandola town, near South Waziristan, they said. Shaheen also announced a three-month extension on an edict he handed down last month stating that men in the region should all grow beards. Those who failed to comply would face a "social boycott" under which local hospitals run by tribesmen would not help them and their children would be barred from school, he said. Shaheen, reportedly a polio victim, claims to be associated with Abdullah Mehsud, the successor of a militant Nek Mohammad, who was killed in a missile attack in the tribal area in 2004. Shaheen himself was arrested earlier this year on criminal charges. He resumed his activity after his release on bail about a month ago, residents said.(Posted @ 20:40 PST)
Nepal king says handing power to the people KATHMANDU, April 21 (Reuters) Nepal's King Gyanendra, facing sweeping anti-monarchy protests, said on Friday he was handing over political power to the people and asked a seven-party alliance to choose a new prime minister. There was no immediate reaction from the parties which have spearheaded more than two weeks of violent protests to force the restoration of democracy. But the king appeared to rule out any change of the constitution to curb his powers, which has been one of their demands. On Friday, protesters burned tyres and threw logs and barbed wire across the streets of the capital, Kathmandu, as a curfew imposed to prevent a march on the palace came into force.(Posted @ 19:28 PST)
Foreign Minister Kasuri meets Turkish President ANKARA, Apr 21 (APP): Foreign Minister Khurshid M. Kasuri called on Turkish President Ahmet Necdet Sezer Friday and held in-depth consultations on national and international issues including Iran, Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan-India relations. Kasuri briefed the President on his discussions with the Turkish Foreign Minister during which both sides discussed important regional and international issues including Iran, Iraq, the Middle East peace process, OIC, and ways to further strengthen bilateral cooperation in various fields including defence, culture and educational exchanges. Sezer said that Pakistan and Turkey enjoyed special relations based on mutual trust and understanding. He said the two countries also closely coordinated their policies on international issues and supported each other on issues of concern. Kasuri told Sezer that Pakistan would continue to support Turkey on the Cyprus question and had already welcomed the Turkish Plan of Action on Cyprus, which was unveiled in January 2006. Kasuri also called on the Speaker of the Turkish Grand National Assembly, Bullet Arinc.(Posted @ 19:08 PST)
Four killed in attacks in Occupied Kashmir SRINAGAR, Occupied Kashmir, April 21, 2006 (AFP) A policeman and three civilians were killed in separate attacks in Occupied Kashmir, police said Friday. The policeman died in a grenade attack on a police station in the town of Baderwah, a police official said. Three other policemen were injured in the attack. Police said two suspected militants were arrested an hour after the attack. In neighbouring district of Udhampur, attackers killed two men, police said, adding that one was an employee of India's border roads organisation and the other a labourer. In Kangan, another civilian was killed after being abducted from his house late Thursday, police said.(First Posted @ 09:55 PST Updated @ 18:32 PST)
Al Qaeda man slain in Pakistan was Zarqawi "bag man" PESHAWAR, Pakistan, April 21 (Reuters) An Arab militant shot dead in the Bajaur tribal region Thursday was an al Qaeda "bag man", a senior official said on Friday. He is believed to have distributed funds to families left behind in Pakistan and Afghanistan by al Qaeda leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi and others, the security official in North West Frontier Province said. The man, named as Marwan Hadid al-Suri, 38, was an explosives expert and was wanted by the United States. The official said they found a notebook on al-Suri that contained a ledger listing al Qaeda members and their family members who were to receive funds. Zarqawi was on the list. "He was giving them money every three months," he said. The location of the relatives was not given.(Posted @ 18:20 PST)
Cricket-Pakistan's Malik to undergo surgery to correct action KARACHI, April 21 (Reuters) Pakistan all-rounder Shoaib Malik is to undergo a shoulder operation in South Africa next week to try to improve his suspect bowling action. The 24-year old has twice been reported due to problems caused by the after-effects of two road accidents which have limited the mobility of his arm extension. "Malik's problem is that due to those two accidents his arm tendons have become loose. So when he bowls one gets the impression there is a problem with his action," Pakistan Cricket Board chairman Shaharyar Khan said Friday.(Posted @ 18:00 PST)
Pakistani police arrest suspect in killing of Chinese engineers KARACHI, Pakistan (AP) Police on Friday arrested a man who was wanted in the killing of three Chinese engineers and their Pakistani driver after an exchange of gunfire at a roadblock in southern Pakistan, an official said. The suspect, identified as Wali Mohammed, along with two other men were driving in a car when it was ordered to stop at the roadblock on the outskirts of Karachi early Friday, local police official said. After a shootout, Mohammed and one of the other men were arrested while the third fled, he said. Two pistols and a grenade were found in the car.(Posted @ 17:56 PST)
Iran shells Kurd positions in Iraq-Kurd official SULAIMANIYA, Iraq, April 21 (Reuters) Iranian forces shelled Kurdish guerrilla positions inside mountainous northern Iraq early on Friday morning to repel an attack, a Kurdish official said. There was no word on casualties in the shelling of the Iranian Kurdish rebels of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan movement.(Posted @ 17:46 PST)
Iran ready for 'full' cooperation with IAEA: envoy MOSCOW, April 21, 2006 (AFP) Iran's ambassador to the UN's nuclear watchdog said here Friday that Tehran was ready for "full" cooperation with that agency and was prepared to answer all questions about its nuclear program, RIA Novosti news agency reported. " We are ready to eliminate all outstanding doubts about our nuclear dossier," the envoy, Ali Asghar Soltanieh, was quoted as saying in a speech to participants at a security conference in Moscow. The Iranian envoy said that Tehran had been conducting nuclear energy research for more than 30 years. The envoy said he was confident that the IAEA "will resolve this problem with a technical -- and not political -- point of view through negotiation and discussion in the framework of this international organization."(Posted @ 17:44 PST)
Tens of thousands protest peacefully in Nepal KATHMANDU, April 21, 2006 (AFP) Tens of thousands of Nepalese staged peaceful pro-democracy demonstrations in the capital Kathmandu on Friday, despite an official curfew and shoot-on-sight orders, reporters said. The biggest turnout was on the western rim at Kalanki where the crowd spilled miles along the Ring Road. An activist estimated the number of demonstrators at more than 100,000. And thousands more also marched unhindered inside the curfew area, witnesses said.(Posted @ 16:42 PST)
Two Koreas start talks amid nuclear standoff SEOUL, April 21 (Reuters) South Korean officials arrived in North Korea on Friday for talks aimed at prodding Pyongyang to return to multilateral negotiations on its nuclear programme and to provide information on southern citizens held in the North.(Posted @ 16:40 PST)
Iraqi clerics meeting in Amman delayed - officials AMMAN, April 21 (Reuters) Jordan said on Friday it postponed a conference of religious leaders to try to heal sectarian divisions among Iraq's main Sunni and Shi'ite sects. Iraqi President Jalal Talabani had phoned King Abdullah on Thursday asking for the delay in the Arab League-sponsored conference planned for Saturday in the presence of some of the Muslim world's most prominent clerics and many of Iraq's religious and tribal leaders. Talabani had told the monarch many of the participants would be attending the session of the Iraqi parliament due Saturday. No new date has been set for the meeting. (Posted @ 15:55 PST)
Six police, U.S. soldier, killed in Afghan violence KANDAHAR, Afghanistan, April 21 (Reuters) Taliban insurgents attacked a police post on Friday killing six policemen as gunmen opened fire on a patrol in a separate incident, killing a U.S. soldier, officials said. A senior government official in Kandahar said the six police were killed in an attack on their post in the Maiwand district in the early hours of Friday. The U.S. military said a patrol came under small-arms fire in Uruzgan while investigating a weapons cache. One U.S. soldier was killed and an Afghan army man was wounded, it said. (Posted @ 15:50 PST)
Pakistan detains 40 tribesmen after convoy attack MIRANSHAH, Pakistan, April 21, 2006 (AFP) Pakistani authorities said Friday they had arrested 40 people, including some tribal elders, a day after militants launched a deadly ambush on a military convoy near the Afghan border. The administration in North Waziristan tribal region detained them to "force local tribesmen to hand over" the insurgents involved in Thursday's attack, a local official said. Residents said the authorities rounded up the people from Sarobi and the adjoining town of Spelga. They also sealed their shops in Miranshah and in the bazaar of nearby Mir Ali town, they said. (Posted @ 15:40 PST)
Russia say no Iran sanctions without proof-Tass MOSCOW, April 21 (Reuters) Russia would approve sanctions on Iran only if it saw hard evidence that Tehran's nuclear programme was not peaceful, Itar-Tass news agency quoted a foreign ministry spokesman as saying on Friday. "We will only be able to talk about sanctions after we have concrete facts confirming that Iran is not exclusively involved in peaceful nuclear activities," Tass quoted spokesman Mikhail Kamynin as saying. (Posted @ 12:35 PST)
Senior British opposition legislator calls for withdrawal from Iraq LONDON (AP) A senior opposition lawmaker who formerly supported Britain's intervention in Iraq believes it is time for the country to withdraw its troops. Michael Ancram, formerly the Conservative Party's spokesman on foreign affairs, said in an article in The Daily Mail newspaper that Iraq was effectively embroiled in a civil war. ``We have no place in Iraq in a civil war. We cannot and must not take sides between Sunnis and Shias,'' Ancram wrote. He questioned whether British troops any longer were accomplishing anything in Iraq. ``Having set out at the beginning to be part of the solution it is now sadly evident that we are in danger of becoming the problem.'' (Posted @ 12:35PST)
Three Iraqis killed in Baghdad; roadside bomb misses U.S. military patrol BAGHDAD, April 21 (AP) A drive-by shooting killed a baker heading to work in Baghdad on Friday, and the bullet-ridden bodies of two other Iraqis were found in the capital, police said. The baker was killed outside his home by unidentified gunmen in a speeding car in Dora. Two bullet-riddled bodies also were found by Iraqi police on Friday, one in Dora and the other in Mansour, western Baghdad. Identities of the victims and the motives for the killings were not immediately known. At 7:30 a.m, a roadside bomb aimed at a U.S. military patrol exploded, missing its target but wounding two Iraqi civilians who were driving nearby. A U.S. Army official confirmed that the attack had missed the American soldiers. Three Iraqi policemen also were wounded by a roadside bomb that hit their patrol on Friday morning in Baghdad's western neighbourhood of Yarmouk. (Posted @ 12:10 PST)
Four including three women die of lightning Multan, April 21 (PPI): Four persons including three women died and another person was injured seriously in two incidents of lightning in village Noorwala (Tranda Muhammad Panah) Bahawalpur district and Gilaywal (Lodhran) on Thursday evening. According to Noorwala reports four members of a family were herding the cattle to sheds to save them from heavy downpour when lightning struck a buffalo and there was a stampede and all four persons were injured seriously. They were rushed to hospital where three of them succumbed to their injuries. Bullock-cart driver Muhammad Ramzan died of lightning in Gilaywal (Lodhran) when he was returning home. (Posted @ 11:40 PST)
Earthquake damages buildings in Russian Far East MOSCOW, April 21 (Reuters) The 7.7 magnitude earthquake that struck the Kamchatka peninsula in Russia's Far East on Friday, damaged some buildings and slightly injured a few people in the remote region, the Emergencies Ministry said. It occurred roughly 7.8 miles underground, the U.S. Geological Survey said on its Web site. The initial quake was followed by 10 aftershocks with magnitudes ranging between 4.5 and 6.1, according to the survey. Around 12,000 people live in the area affected by the quake. Two planes with rescue workers have been dispatched to the area and people have been moved to higher ground.A spokeswoman for the U.S. Geological Survey said it was largest seismic event in the area since 1900. (Posted @ 09:15 PST Updated @ 11:30 PST)
Afghan soldiers detain 19 militants, including 5 suspected Taliban KABUL, April 21`(AP) Afghan troops have arrested 19 militants, including five suspected Taliban, in multiple raids across the country's south, the Defence Ministry said Friday. Eleven militants, including at least three Taliban members identified as Mullah Salam, Mullah Adbul Rahman and Shawali, were detained Thursday in Andar district of Ghazni province, ministry spokesman Gen. Zaher Azemi said in a statement. Two more Taliban militants were arrested before ``trying to launch a terror attack'' in Helmand province's Sangin district. Soldiers captured four unspecified militants in the Paktika province, while another was detained in Zabul province. On Wednesday, one more militant armed with a pistol was detained near the Pakistani border in Spinboldak, Kandahar province. (Posted @ 11:20 PST)
Bush and Hu discuss delicate issue of Taiwan during summit WASHINGTON, April 21 (AP) _ Chinese President Hu Jintao made sure that Taiwan was near the top of the agenda during his summit with U.S. President George W. Bush, and received reassurance from the U.S. leader that the United States does not support Taiwan's independence. But Bush was also diplomatic about the self-governing island, urging both sides to avoid confrontation: ``We believe the future of Taiwan should be resolved peacefully,'' he said Thursday.(Posted @ 09:30 PST)
Crude oil price rises to new record above US$73 a barrel in Asian trading SINGAPORE, April 21 (AP) _ Oil prices opened at a new record above US$73 a barrel Friday amid concern about Iran's nuclear ambitions and declining U.S. gasoline stocks.(Posted @ 09:30 PST)
Hu upbeat about US-China relations after summit WASHINGTON, April 21 (AFP) - China's President Hu Jintao said Thursday that he expected a stronger relationship between the world superpower and his Asian giant following talks with US President George W. Bush. The United States and China must "respect each other, treat each other as equals and view differences in a proper context and manage them properly," he said in a speech in Washington. "I believe the meeting today was a very productive one and I look forward to a future China-US relationship that is more stable and more mature", the Chinese leader said.(Posted @ 09:13 PST)
Karachi Stocks down 68.15 points: KARACHI, Apr 21: At close of trading, the KSE-100 index was at 12007.60, down 68.15 points. (Bureau Report) (Updated @ 16:05 PST)
Forex update: KARACHI, Aprl 21: The Pakistani Rupee was traded at Rs 60.2 to the US Dollar in the open market. (Bureau Report) (Updated @ 12:05 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 |