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| June 04, 2006 | Sunday | Jumadi-ul-Awwal 7, 1427 |
Updated round-the-clock, with major updates after 10:00 PST (05:00 GMT)
Pakistan general says Kashmir key to permanent peace with India SINGAPORE, June 4 (AP) The divided Himalayan region of Kashmir is key to a permanent peace between Pakistan and India, Pakistan’s Gen. Ehsan ul-Haq, the Chairman of Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee, told a security conference Sunday, and accused New Delhi of starting the nuclear arms race in South Asia. He told the conference _ a major annual get-together of defence ministers and officials _ that Pakistan is committed to peace with India, but stressed that ``CBMs (confidence-building measures) cannot be an end in themselves.'' ``Any number of CBMs would turn out to be futile, as long as there is no movement on the core issue of Kashmir. In fact, resolution of the issue of Kashmir itself would be the biggest CBM of all,'' he said. A few Indian generals were among the audience at his speech. Indian Defence Minister Pranab Mukherjee heard a previous speaker, but left just as General Haq started speaking. He said a final settlement on Kashmir ``shall require a solution, which is acceptable to all three stake-holders _ Pakistan, India and the Kashmirs. For this, all sides will need to demonstrate courage, sincerity and flexibility.'' During the question-answer session General Ehsanul Haq maintained that Pakistan's nuclear weapons program was in response to India's program, which started after a test in 1974. India subsequently tested another nuclear device in 1998, prompting a similar test by Pakistan. ``We did not introduce nuclear weapons into South Asia. Somebody else did that,'' he said. We did not siphon off nuclear material from internationally provided nuclear facilities. Somebody else did that. We didn't retest nuclear weapons in South Asia in 1998. Somebody else did that.'' ``We didn't test nuclear weapons even for 24 years after 1974,'' Gen Haq said, his voice rising. (Posted @ 09:35 PST)
Pakistan military chief defends nation's struggle against terror in Afghanistan SINGAPORE, June 4 (AP) Pakistan's top general Saturday defended his country's struggle against terrorism, saying Pakistan had committed more forces and garnered more success in the global war on terror than any other nation. Pakistan's intelligence agencies and security forces have provided ``more support, captured more terrorists, and committed more troops than any other nation in the global war on terror,'' chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee Gen. Ehsan- Ul- Haq said. Pakistan has deployed about 80,000 troops in an effort to flush out remnants of al-Qaida, the Taliban, and their local supporters along the Pakistan-Afghanistan border and adjoining tribal areas, he said. Speaking at a regional security forum in Singapore, General Haq said Pakistan's support had been crucial to the success of U.N. and international peacekeeping operations inside Afghanistan. And, he said, Pakistan had paid a heavy price in lives and economic losses, pointing to repeated assassination attempts against Pakistan's president, Gen. Pervez Musharraf and leaders.``In fact, over the last five years, Pakistan has borne the main brunt of al-Qaida terrorism,'' he pointed out. Also attending the meeting, U.S. Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld had also lavished praise on Musharraf's anti-terrorism Campaign. (Posted @ 09:45 PST)
Kashmiris want solution via democratic means ISLAMABAD, Jun 4 (APP): In occupied Kashmir, senior Kashmiri Hurriyat leader, Syed Ali Gilani has categorically stated that Kashmiris want settlement of Kashmir dispute through peaceful and democratic means. Addressing a big public gathering at Thannamandi in Rajouri today, he pointed out that despite the fact that India is boasting of democracy, yet it prevents Kashmiris from their political struggle and mass contacts.(Posted @ 23:58 PST)
Troop’s pullout must for peace: Moosvi ISLAMABAD, Jun 4 (APP): Senior leader of the All Parties Hurriyat Conference, Agha Hassan Al-Moosvi has emphasized that withdrawal of troops from occupied Kashmir will bring about peace in the held territory and pave way for permanent solution of Kashmir dispute.(Posted @ 23:54 PST)
Seven killed as train hits car FAISALABAD, June 4 (APP): Seven persons of a family were killed when Sargodha 123-UP express hit a car at unmanned level crossing at Satoi about 34 kilometre off here on Sunday night. According to railway sources, Sargodha express was on its way when it hit a car at unmanned level crossing Satoi, near Burj Mandi (Chiniot). As a result Muhammad Akram and his six family members died on the spot.(Posted @ 23:50 PST)
At least 15 killed as Somali militia seize town MOGADISHU, June 4, (AFP) - At least 15 people were killed and dozens wounded on Sunday when Somali fighters seized a key town after heavy clashes with gunmen allied to a US-backed warlord alliance. Columns of heavily-armed fighters surrounded and pounded Balad township around 30 kilometers (19 miles) north of Mogadishu, as militiamen loyal to the Alliance for the Restoration of Peace and Counter-Terrorism (ARPCT) fled to safety, witnesses and militia commanders said. Fifteen people, mostly militiamen, were killed and dozens wounded in the battle, bringing the death toll from clashes in the town and outlying villages to 34 over the past four days, doctors said. (Posted @ 23:44 PST)
U.S. has no indication Canada terror suspects were planning U.S. attack: Rice WASHINGTON, June 4, (AP) _ U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said Sunday there was no indication that 17 terror suspects arrested in Canada were trying to plan an attack in the United States. ``We certainly don't believe that there's any link to the United States, but obviously we will follow up,'' Rice said. She described cooperation between the United States and Canada on counterterrorism as excellent. ``I think we will get whatever information we need,'' Rice said. (Posted @ 23:38 PST)
Prisoners use helicopter to break out of Athens prison ATHENS,Greece, June 4, (AP) _ Two prisoners escaped from a maximum security prison in Athens using a helicopter Sunday, authorities said. Police said the two men _ whose identity was not immediately released, escaped at 6:20 p.m. (1520GMT) in a helicopter that had landed on a roof in Korydallos prison, Greece's largest. The helicopter pilot was arrested shortly after landing a short distance from the prison, west of Athens. Police said he claimed to have been forced to make the flight after being threatened by two men with a hand grenade. (Posted @ 23:34 PST)
2 security officers killed, 6 law enforcement officials wounded in Chechnya and nearby province ROSTOV-ON-DON, Russia, June 4, (AP) _ Unidentified gunmen killed two Russian security officers and wounded another one Sunday in a bold raid in a province neighboring Chechnya, while five law-enforcement officials have been wounded in several explosions staged by the militants in Chechnya. In the attack Sunday in the province of Ingushetia, which borders Chechnya to the west, gunmen riding in a car fired on a vehicle carrying three officers of Russian Federal Security Service in the regional capital Nazran, the local branch of Russia's Interior Ministry said in a statement. One officer was killed on the spot and another later died of wounds in a hospital. The third agent remained hospitalized with wounds, it said. (First Posted @ 20:52 PST Updated @ 23:06 PST)
Palestinian civil servants begin to get salaries: bank GAZA CITY, June 4, (AFP) - A group of cash-strapped Palestinian civil servants, who have not been paid since the end of February, began to receive their back salary checks on Sunday, a bank official told AFP. "Our bank has started to transfer the salaries of civil servants who earn less than 1,500 shekels (330 dollars) a month by automatic transfer," said a senior source at the Palestinian national bank. (First Posted @ 18:14 PST Updated @ 22:32 PST)
Pakistan records 6.6 percent growth ISLAMABAD, June 4, 2006 (AFP) - Pakistan posted robust growth of 6.6 percent during its fiscal year ending June 30 despite suffering from a massive earthquake and effects of soaring world oil prices, the government said Sunday. The Islamic republic of 155 million people reduced poverty by more than 10 percent and per capita income rose to 847 dollars from 579 dollars in 2002-3, according to an official economic survey. The annual review was released by Salman Shah, finance advisor to Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz whose government is to unveil Monday the new national budget with an estimated outlay of 25 billion dollars, up from 21.5 billion dollars in the previous year. (Posted @ 20:40 PST)
Students ‘executed’ as Iraq violence rages on BAGHDAD, Iraq, June 4 (Reuters) - Gunmen in Iraq dragged 24 people, mostly students, from vehicles and shot them dead, police said, as violence raged across the country on Sunday. Police said gunmen manning a makeshift checkpoint near Udhaim stopped vehicles approaching the small town 120 km (80 miles) north of Baghdad and killed passengers. "They dragged them one by one from their cars and executed them," said a police official. The victims included students on their way to write end of term exams, children and elderly men, said another senior police official in Diyala province. (Posted @ 20:34 PST)
Wall collapses at Tunisian market, killing at least 8 TUNIS, Tunisia, June 4, (AP) _ A wall collapsed near a busy marketplace in southern Tunisia on Sunday, killing eight people and injuring several others, government officials said. The cause of the collapse remained unclear. The wall was about eight meters (26 feet) high and 15 meters (50 feet) long, a witness said by telephone from the market at Gabes, some 400 kilometers (240 miles) south of the capital Tunis. The weekly market was quite busy Sunday. (Posted @ 19:38 PST)
Two Pakistani soldiers killed in militant attack on convoy MIRANSHAH, Pakistan, June 4, (AFP) - At least two Pakistani soldiers were killed and two wounded Sunday when pro-Taliban militants attacked a paramilitary convoy in remote tribal region near the Afghan border, officials said. Fighting erupted between security forces and militants following the attack near Miranshah leaving a tribal policeman dead and six injured, witnesses said. "Militants attacked the convoy with rockets just outside Miranshah and killed two soldiers and wounded two others," a security official told AFP. (Posted @ 18:20 PST)
2 Including Indian army agent killed in occupied Kashmir SRINAGAR, June 04, (PPI) In occupied Kashmir, two persons, including an Indian army agent, were killed at different places, reports Kashmir Media Service. Unidentified gunmen shot dead one person at Bhata Chatroo in Doda district and an army agent of 21-Rashtriya Rifles was similarly killed at Chowgal in Handwara. An Indian troop was killed and six others injured in a road accident in Akhnoor area of Jammu. A grenade blast damaged a post office building in Mendhar. The troops, during house raids, arrested two youth, from Islamabad and Pulwama.(Posted @ 17:46 PST)
Pakistan provides hub to economic activities: Musharraf ISLAMABAD, June 04, (PPI) President Pervez Musharraf has said the government has evolved a strategy to effectively check inflationary pressure, generate more job opportunities and reduce poverty for the benefit of the common man. He was addressing the third Annual Video Conference of Overseas Pakistanis Entrepreneur's in Silicon Valley California, United States on Saturday night. The topic of the moot was "Rising Tide of Economic Opportunities in Pakistan". Elaborating the strategy of achieving economic stability the President said the fiscal deficit which was greater in the past has been brought down from eight to four percent. This has been achieved through freezing defence expenditure , curtailing the government expenditure and significantly bringing down hemorrhaging in all public sectors , corporations. Referring to the economic opportunities in the country the President said that Pakistan provides hub to economic activities and serve as an energy and trade corridor to the regional countries including Asia, Middle East, China and South Asia. (Posted @ 17:44 PST)
Gunmen kill 21 people northeast of Baghdad, many of them high school students SULAIMANIYAH, Iraq (AP) _ Gunmen killed 21 people including manyhigh school students and wounded one on Sunday after dragging passengers off buses northeast of Baghdad, officials said. Four Sunni Arabs on board were spared and the dead were all either Shiites or Kurds. Serwan Shokir, the mayor Qara Tappah, said the incident occurred in the early morning after three mini buses left his town headed for Baqouba _ located 60 kilometers (35 miles) northeast of Baghdad. He said the gunmen dragged 26 people from the buses, separated four Sunni Arabs who were in the group, and shot all the rest. Shokir said 12 of the dead were high school student and of those killed, 19 Shiite Turkomen and two were Kurds. The students were headed to another town to take exams.(Posted @ 15:45 PST)
Iran must not give in to 'threats and bribes': supreme leader TEHRAN, June 4, 2006 (AFP) - Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei declared in a speech Sunday that the Islamic republic must not give up its "scientific goals" in the face of "threats and bribes".(Posted @ 15:05 PST)
Eleven killed in mosque firefight in Basra BASRA, June 4, 2006 (AFP) - Eleven people were killed, including two police, in a clash at a Sunni mosque in the early hours of the morning Sunday in the Iraqi southern city of Basra, said police officials. The clash comes only hours after 28 people were killed and 62 were wounded in a suicide car bomb in Basra, which had put under a state of emergency due to violent feuding between rival tribes and militias only four days earlier.(Posted @ 15:00 PST)
Nigerian police say eight kidnapped foreign oil workers released ABUJA, Nigeria, June 4 (AP) _ Kidnappers in Nigeria released eight foreign oil workers on Sunday who had been taken hostage two days earlier, a police spokesman said. Spokesman Haz Iwendi said the eight were released early Sunday after successful negotiations. They included six Britons, one American and a Canadian who were kidnapped Friday off a rig that was drilling off Nigeria's southern coast.(Posted @ 10:45 PST)
Suicide car bomber kills 3 Afghans in Kandahar KANDAHAR, Afghanistan, June 4 (Reuters) - A suicide car bomber killed three Afghans in Kandahar on Sunday in an attack aimed at the provincial governor, police officials said. Governor Assadullah Khalid survived the attack while travelling in a car through the heart of Kandahar, they said.(Posted @ 10:30 PST)
Four telephone workers shot dead in Baghdad BAGHDAD, June 4 (AFP) - Four employees of a telephone exchange in Baghdad's Sadr city neighborhood were shot dead as they arrived for work, an interior ministry official said Sunday. Two bystanders were also injured in the attack which was carried out by unknown gunmen in the morning. South of Baghdad, shortly after midnight, an explosion of a cannister containing chlorine gas at a water purification plant near Hilla sent a cloud of the poisonous substance floating over a nearby neighborhood, sending 104 people to the hospital, according to medical sources.(Posted @ 10:25 PST)
Suicide car bomb kills or injures at least 15 civilians in southern Afghanistan KANDAHAR, June 4 (AP) _ A suicide car bomber targeted a U.S.-led coalition convoy Sunday, killing or wounding up to 15 civilians in Kandahar, police said. Jamal Khan, a police official in the city, said the bombing did not appear to badly damage the coalition vehicles, but tore into a crowd of Afghans, injuring or killing more than 15.(Posted @ 10:18 PST)
Road accident kills 9, injures 41 others in western Bangladesh DHAKA, Bangladesh, June 4 (AP) _ A bus packed with passengers hit a roadside tree in western Bangladesh on Sunday, killing nine people and injuring 41 others, reports said. The accident occurred early Sunday at Kaliganja area in Jhenaidah district, 128 kilometers west of Dhaka, ATN Bangla TV reported. Nine passengers died instantly, while at least a dozen victims were in critical condition.(Posted @ 10:15 PST)
Eight Tamil Tiger rebels escape from Sri Lanka jail COLOMBO, June 4 (Reuters) - Eight Tamil Tiger rebels escaped from a jail in Sri Lanka's restive east early on Sunday in what authorities suspect was an inside job, police said. "This is the third or fourth time prisoners have escaped from this jail. They escaped when they were taken for a wash in the morning. It was definitely an inside job," said Nihal Karunaratna, Deputy Inspector General of Police for the eastern districts of Batticaloa and Ampara.(Posted @ 10:10 PST)
Defar sets women's 5,000 world record at Reebok GP NEW YORK (AP) _ Meseret Defar of Ethiopia set the world record in the women's 5,000 meters in 14 minutes, 24.53 seconds at the Reebok Grand Prix on Saturday. Defar easily outpaced the field to break the mark of 14:24.68, set by Turkey's Elvan Abeylegesse in 2004. Workitu Ayanu of Ethiopia was second to Defar in 14:50.51. The 22-year-old Defar ran the final 400 meters in a blazing 61 seconds, and was greeted to loud cheers when she crossed the line. Defar won Olympic gold in Athens in the 5,000 and finished second at the world championships last year(Posted @ 10:05 PST)
Chinese military plane crashes; casualty toll unknown BEIJING, June 4 (AP) _ A military transport plane carrying 40 persons has crashed in eastern China's Anhui province, the government said Sunday. A local official said at least five people were killed. An official said the accident occurred in Yaocun, a village in Anhui's eastern Guangde county, and that five bodies had been recovered.(Posted @ 10:00 PST)
Russian Valuev retains WBA heavyweight title HANOVER, Germany, June 4 (AFP) Russia's Nikolay Valuev retained his WBA heavyweight title after stopping American Owen Beck in the third round here on Saturday night. Valuev, who was making his first defence after winning the title last December, is undefeated in 45 professional bouts with 32 coming inside the distance. (Posted @ 09:20 PST)
Gore says has no plan to run for president again WASHINGTON, June 4 (AFP) Former US vice president Al Gore said, in remarks to be broadcast Sunday, that he has abandoned his presidential ambitions -- for good -- and will spend his time raising public awareness of climate change. "I have no plans to be a candidate for president again," Gore said in an interview with ABC's "This Week" television program. "I don't expect to ever be a candidate for president again." Gore, who served as vice president in the Democratic administration of Bill Clinton, ran for president in 2000 against George W. Bush, but lost the race amid a bitter dispute over electoral votes in the state of Florida. (Posted @ 09:15 PST)
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