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| September 25, 2006 | Monday | Ramazan 1, 1427 |
Updated round-the-clock, with major updates after 10:00 PST (05:00 GMT)
Musharraf says every one 'on board' on pact with tribal elders NEW YORK, Sept 25 (APP): President General Pervez Musharraf said Sunday he has been able to remove some misperceptions about the peace deal in North Waziristan, and every one was now "on board." "We have to understand the new environment and then finalize a strategy and take it to the implementation stage," he told reporters after his return to New York from Texas. He said the environment was not properly understood on the other side of the border. "We needs brains rather than brawn," he said. "If there is no understanding of the environment, no strategy can be successful." He said he had fully briefed the US leadership on the new environment. What Pakistan had done in in North Waziristan - the accord with tribal leaders - was the correct path and, if successful, could be emulated elsewhere and even in Afghanistan. "We feel we're on the right path," he added. Replying to a question about his talks with President George W. Bush, Musharraf said "we have had complete understanding, we trust each other and have confidence in each other." About reports that Osama bin Laden had died, he said: "I do not know whether he is alive or dead and, therefore, I won't comment." (Posted @ 18:30 PST)
Musharraf to take decision on dual offices in national interest ISLAMABAD, Sept 25(PPI) President General Pervez Musharraf would take a decision about his dual offices at an appropriate time and in national interest, Foreign Office spokesperson Ms. Tasneem Aslam said at the weekly news briefing on Monday. Answering a question she said Pakistan has asked nuclear suppliers Group to treat it equally in meeting its growing energy requirements. To another question, the spokesperson said Pakistan and India have agreed under an agreement reached between President Pervez Musharraf and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to have an institutional mechanism to fight terrorism and help each other in this regard. However, she said, this agreement does not talk about handing over of wanted persons to other sides. Answering another question she said the Foreign Office is in touch with Pakistani Embassy in Oman and trying to ascertain facts about the killing of three Pakistanis from Iraqi authorities. (Posted @ 19:34 PST)
Pope meets Muslim envoys CASTEL GANDOLFO, Italy, Sept 25 (AFP) - Pope Benedict XVI stressed the "vital necessity" of inter-faith dialogue during a brief meeting here Monday with Muslim envoys to the Vatican. The meeting lasted barely 30 minutes with the ambassadors and charge d'affaires from 22 countries. "I should like to reiterate today all the esteem and the profound respect that I have for Muslim believers," said the pope. Dialogue between different faiths "cannot be reduced to an optional extra" he said, adding that it was rather "a vital necessity" on which "in large measure our future depends." (Posted @ 15:56 PST)
Supreme Court upholds death penalties for 12 accused in bombings on Pakistani president ISLAMABAD, Sept 25 (AP) _ The Supreme Court of Pakistan Monday upheld death sentences for 12 soldiers and civilians accused in December 2003 bombings against President Pervez Musharraf that killed at least 16 other people. Earlier this year, a High Court in Lahore had also rejected appeals by the convicts, on the grounds that it had no jurisdiction to hear cases already decided by a military court. ``For the reasons to be recorded later on, the impugned order of Lahore High Court is maintained. Consequently the appeals are dismissed,'' Chief Justice Iftikar Muhammad Chaudhry said, reading a written verdict in the court in Islamabad on Monday. Musharraf narrowly escaped the two bombings targeting his limousine in Rawalpindi within 11 days in December 2003. In the second blast, a suicide attack, at least 16 people died, mostly police. The accused include three low-ranking air force personnel, an army soldier, and seven civilians. President Musharraf has survived at least three known assassination attempts, all blamed on al-Qaida-linked militants. The alleged mastermind of the December 2003 attacks, Libyan al-Qaida leader Abu Farraj al-Libbi, was handed over to the United States. (Posted @ 17:34 PST)
'Strong' words with Pakistan but no bomb threat: Armitage SEOUL, Sept 25 (AFP) - Former US deputy secretary of state Richard Armitage admitted Monday having "a very strong conversation" with Pakistan's intelligence chief Lt- Gen Mahmood Ahmed after the September 11 attacks but denied threatening to bomb the country. "This conversation (on bombing) never happened," Armitage told a forum in Seoul, saying he believed the intelligence chief had given an "inflammatory" account of the exchange to President Pervez Musharraf. "I had a very strong conversation with the intelligence chief," Armitage said in answer to a question at the forum. "I told him that for Americans this was a black and white issue. Pakistan was either with us or against us, that US-Pakistan history would begin on that day." Armitage said he asked General Ahmed to report back to President Musharraf and come to see him the next day and that "if they agreed to help, then I would give them a list of requirements that were not negotiable. "So it was a strong presentation." Armitage went on: "I think that what President Musharraf said is, this is what his intelligence chief told him, not what I said to President Musharraf. "I have no doubt the intelligence chief was quite inflammatory in the language he used to President Musharraf." (Posted @ 16:38 PST)
British forces kill Al-Qaeda fugitive in Iraq BAGHDAD, Sept 25, (AFP) - British troops killed a reputed lieutenant of Osama Bin Laden in Iraq on Monday, a military spokesman said, more than a year after he escaped from a US air base in Afghanistan. Omar al-Farouk was shot in the early hours of the morning after he opened fire on members of a 250-strong British raiding party in a house where he was hiding in the southern city of Basra, said British Major Charlie Burbridge. Farouk, a 35-year-old Kuwaiti, has been accused of leading the Al-Qaeda Islamist network in Southeast Asia. He was arrested by Indonesian authorities in 2002 and passed into US custody, but he escaped on July 10 last year from a US detention facility at Bagram air base, outside the Afghan capital Kabul. (Posted @ 19:54 PST)
Israeli authors, generals press Olmert to talk to Hamas, Syria, Lebanon JERUSALEM, Sept 25 (AP) _ A group of 68 well-known Israeli authors, academics and retired generals has called on Prime Minister Ehud Olmert to open peace negotiations with the Palestinians' Hamas rulers, Syria and Lebanon. The petition _signed by internationally known novelists Amoz Oz and A.B. Yehoshua, and Nobel Chemistry Prize laureate Aaron Ciechanover _ is the first sign of an organized effort to prod Olmert into negotiations since a monthlong war against the Hezbollah militia in Lebanon ended last month. ``We strongly recommend that he make all efforts to reach an arrangement with Syria and Lebanon and the Palestinians,'' another signatory, former Tel Aviv Mayor Shlomo Lahat, said Monday. Asked how Israel could negotiate with Hamas when it does not recognize Israel, Lahat replied, ``We'll talk to them and then they will recognize us.'' The signatories have not yet received a response from Olmert to their request to meet him, Lahat said. (Posted @ 17:36 PST)
American troops kill 10 suspected Taliban insurgents in eastern Afghanistan KABUL, Sept 25 (AP) _ American forces killed 10 suspected Taliban insurgents in eastern Afghanistan on Monday, the U.S. military said. The troops, aided by attack helicopters, clashed with some 15 suspected insurgents in Sharan district of Paktika province, and ten of them were believed killed, it said. (Posted @ 21:22 PST)
Ecuador crash kills 47, including 17 children QUITO, Ecuador, Sept 24 (Reuters) At least 47 people, including 17 children, were killed when their bus crashed and flipped off the highway in Papallacta about 40 miles from the Ecuadorean capital Quito, authorities said on Sunday. The victims were members of the same extended family who had rented a bus for a trip, a Red Cross official said. Five children survived the crash and were transferred to a hospital, officials said. (Posted @ 09:12 PST)
Sri Lankan navy kills 70 Tigers in attacks COLOMBO, Sri Lanka, Sep 25 (AP) The Sri Lankan navy said Monday it had sunk eight Tamil Tiger rebel ships loaded with troops and weapons during a five-hour sea battle of the country's east coast, killing about 70 separatists. The latest fighting began late Sunday night when the navy spotted 25 rebel ships sailing south. A spokesman at the Defense Ministry's press office confirmed the attack, but had no additional details. The rebels were not immediately available for comment. (Posted @ 09:16 PST)
Eight killed, 14 corpses found in Iraq BAGHDAD, Sept 25 (AFP) - Insurgents Monday killed at least eight people in Iraq, including three policemen, officials said. A roadside bomb killed a policeman in southern Baghdad district of Dura, while another device exploded in a Baghdad square as police investigated an earlier explosion that had not caused any casualties, injuring three officers. In the province of Diyala, six people were killed in a string of incidents, five of them civilians and one policeman. In the town of Musayib, a policeman was killed when a mortar round fell near police station. At least 15 other people were wounded in the attack. Meanwhile, police found another 14 corpses, including three in western Baghdad and four in Kirkuk. The United Nations estimates that more than 100 people are killed every day in attacks by death squads and militant groups. (Posted @ 20:04 PST)
Seven killed in occupied Kashmir violence SRINAGAR, Sept 25 (AFP) - Seven people including a policewoman were killed by suspected insurgents in occupied Kashmir on Monday. The policewoman was killed when militants threw a grenade at a police jeep and wounded another woman constable, two policemen and a civilian, a police spokesman said. Militants also killed four Muslims, including a 55-year-old woman, in the south late Sunday and early Monday, the spokesman said. Two more men were shot dead Monday in Pulwama and Anantnag districts, the spokesman said. (Posted @ 20:02 PST)
Chairman Wapda reviews power situation LAHORE, Sept 25 (PPI): WAPDA Chaairman Tariq Hameed presided over a meeting Monday to review the power supply situation in the aftermath of the countrywide power breakdown on Sunday and expressed satisfaction over the full restoration of the system including normal supply to KESC. The meeting made special note of the fact that no loss of assets of WAPDA were reported during the blackout as well as subsequent restoration of power supply. It was stated that at present 11,600 MW of electricity was available on the system against a demand of 10,140 MW. It was explained that power supply could not be restored all over the country immediately because it could damage the transmission system. (Posted @ 19:50 PST)
Musharraf sees increasing cooperation with US NEW YORK, Sept 25(PPI) President Pervez Musharraf said Monday that broad based strategic relations between Pakistan and the United States would help increase cooperation in economic, trade and investment sectors between the two countries. Addressing the fund raising function organized by the National Commission on Human Development in New York he said increased cooperation in trade and commerce and greater access to American markets would help create jobs and expand industry in the country. He said investment treaty is being finalized; so also steps to greater access to American markets, cooperation in the areas of education, health and science and technology. He said he had extremely useful discussion with President Bush covering regional and international issues. The President gave an overview of the growing Pakistan economy and said the benefits of economic growth were being passed on to the people. (Posted @ 19:14 PST)
Highway men loot bus passengers KHAIRPUR, Sept.25 (PPI): A gang of ten armed bandits last night blocked the national highway near Pipri in the jurisdiction of Tando Masti police station, about 300 kms northeast of Karachi, and looted passengers of passing buses, trucks, cars etc at gunpoint. The looted articles included cash, jewellery and other valuables. The bandits were on the rampage for over one and a half hour, victims reported. (Posted @ 19:10 PST)
India resumes military operations against NE separatist groups ISLAMABAD, Sep 25 (APP): Indian government has called off a six-week truce with separatist fighters in Assam and ordered the resumption of military operations in the northeastern state. (Posted @ 18:15 PST)
Mali bus collision kills 25, injures 30 BAMAKO, Sept 25 (Reuters) - Twenty-five people were killed and 30 injured in Mali when two buses, one carrying supporters of President Amadou Toumani Toure, collided at the weekend on a road northeast of the capital, officials said Monday. (Posted @ 18:12 PST)
Hockey-Pakistan seek world body help to revive fortunes KARACHI, Sept 25 (Reuters) - Pakistan have asked the International Hockey Federation (FIH) to provide a blueprint for reorganizing Pakistani hockey in line with modern requirements, said Akhtar-ul-Islam, secretary of the Pakistan Hockey Federation. "The FIH has agreed to send us a comprehensive plan which is based on the modern and scientific concept of the game. Hopefully it will allow us to regain our lost glory," Akhtar told Reuters on Monday. (Posted @ 18:06 PST)
Brown stakes claim to be UK's next prime minister MANCHESTER, England, Sept 25 (Reuters) - Finance Minister Gordon Brown staked his claim to be Britain's next prime minister on Monday, seeking to dispel growing doubts about whether he is the right man to lead the country. In a speech to the ruling Labour Party's annual conference, Brown said he would keep the party firmly in the political centre if he is chosen to replace Tony Blair when he steps down as party leader and premier within the next year. "I am confident that my experience and my values give me the strength to take the tough decisions," said a determined-looking Brown to loud applause. "I would relish the opportunity to take on David Cameron and the Conservative Party," he said, throwing down the gauntlet to the young opposition leader who has rejuvenated the Conservative Party and put it ahead in the polls. (Posted @ 18:02 PST)
Abbas cancels planned talks with Hamas in Gaza RAMALLAH, West Bank, Sept 25 (Reuters) – Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas will not travel to Gaza on Tuesday as planned to try to revive talks with Hamas on forming a unity government, his spokesman said on Monday. "The president is not going to Gaza in the near future because he's preoccupied with several appointments," spokesman Nabil Abu Rdainah said. (Posted @ 18:00 PST)
Top Iranian nuclear official meets with Russian atomic chief in Moscow MOSCOW, Sept 25 (AP) _ Iranian Vice President Gholamreza Aghazadeh, head of his country's Atomic Energy Organization, held talks with Federal Nuclear Agency chief Sergei Kiriyenko on Monday and said he looked forward to discussing ``questions including the completion of the Bushehr atomic energy plant and other matters.'' Ahead of Aghazadeh's meetings in Moscow, Iran's deputy nuclear chief Mohammad Saeedi complained that Russia had not given a firm timetable for supplying the nuclear fuel for Bushehr. ``Russia in the past gave written commitments about the timetable for delivering the fuel. However, it has not realized this yet,'' Saeedi was quoted as saying by Iranian state television. ``During this visit, barriers in the way of quick completion of the plant will be reviewed,'' said Saeedi, who was accompanying Aghazadeh on his visit to Moscow. (Posted @ 17:52 PST)
Israel's Olmert met secretly with senior official in Saudi Arabia: report JERUSALEM, Sept 25 (AP) _ Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert held a groundbreaking, secret meeting 10 days ago with a senior Saudi Arabian official, the Israeli daily Yediot Ahronot reported Monday. None of the anonymous Israel officials would say where the meeting was held, or report the exact content of the talks, the newspaper said. Generally speaking, the meeting focused on Iran's nuclear program and the need to achieve peace between Israel and the Palestinians, it said. A senior government official told The Associated Press that Olmert did not meet with Saudi King Abdullah, but would not confirm or deny that Olmert met with another high-ranking Saudi. The Israeli official spoke on condition of anonymity because the talks were confidential. (Posted @ 17:48 PST)
Landslide caused by monsoon rains kills 8 in eastern India KOLKATA, Sept 25 (AP) _ A mudslide triggered by heavy monsoon rains killed eight people after burying them in their homes in the hill resort of Darjeeling, police said Monday. Ten others were injured. (Posted @ 17:28 PST)
Retired military officers criticize Rumsfeld over Iraq WASHINGTON, Sept 25 (AP) _ Retired military officers on Monday bluntly accused Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld of bungling the war in Iraq, saying U.S. troops were sent to fight without the best equipment and that critical facts were hidden from the public. ``I believe that Secretary Rumsfeld and others in the administration did not tell the American people the truth for fear of losing support for the war in Iraq,'' retired Maj. Gen. John R.S. Batiste said in remarks prepared for a hearing by the Senate Democratic Policy Committee. A second witness, retired Maj. Gen. Paul Eaton, assessed Rumsfeld as ``incompetent strategically, operationally and tactically ....'' ``Mr. Rumsfeld and his immediate team must be replaced or we will see two more years of extraordinarily bad decision-making,'' he added in testimony prepared for the hearing, held six weeks before the Nov. 7 midterm elections in which the war is a central issue. The conflict, now in its fourth year, has claimed the lives of more than 2,600 American troops and cost more than $300 billion (euro234.1 billion). (Posted @ 17:26 PST)
Israeli military court turns down bail for Hamas legislators OFER MILITARY BASE, West Bank, Sept 25 (AFP) - An Israeli military court Monday ruled that 21 Hamas legislators arrested in a crackdown on the Palestinian ruling party would remain in detention pending examination of their case. (Posted @ 16:58 PST)
Iran weightlifting team banned for doping TEHRAN, Sept 25 (AFP) - The entire Iranian weightlifting team has been barred by International Weightlifting Federation (IWF) from competing in the upcoming world championships after nine out of 11 members of the squad tested positive for doping, state media reported Monday. The ban includes world and Olympic champion Hossein Rezazadeh -- the massive 28-year-old who is the most famous sportsman in the Islamic republic -- although he was one of the two athletes who tested negative. (Posted @ 16:54 PST)
Oil prices plunge below 60 dollars LONDON, Sept 25 (AFP) - World oil prices dived under 60 dollars per barrel on Monday, striking the lowest levels for more than six months, as supply tensions continued to ease, dealers said. (Posted @ 16:48 PST)
Russian company eyes electricity exports to Pakistan MOSCOW, Sept 25 (AFP) - A Russian company is in talks to supply electricity to Pakistan over a 30-year period in a deal worth up to 90 billion dollars (70 billion euros), business daily Kommersant reported Monday. Electricity would be supplied by Russian export monopoly Inter-RAO from plants under construction in Tajikistan and Kazakhstan, the company's deputy general director Alisher Kalanov told the newspaper following negotiations with the Pakistani government last week. Exports could begin within six years and would require investment of several hundred million dollars, he told the paper. The deal would be worth between 2.5 billion and three billion dollars per year over 30 years, supplying 50-60 billion kilowatt-hours per year to Pakistan, whose current annual production is 82 billion kilowatt-hours, the paper said. (Posted @ 16:42 PST)
New judge throws Saddam out of court again BAGHDAD, Sept 25 (AFP) - The newly-appointed chief judge in Saddam Hussein's genocide trial threw Iraq's former leader out of court on Monday. The defendant waved a sheet of yellow legal paper from the dock, declaring: "I have a request here that I don't want to be in this cage any more". But Judge Mohammed al-Oreibi al-Khalifah fired back: "I am the presiding judge. I decide about your presence here. Get him out." Bailiffs took Saddam out of the courtroom and the hearing continued. Saddam's defence team was not in court. "You need to show respect to the court and the case, and to those who don't show it, I am sorry, but I have to apply the law," Khalifah told another defendant, Sabir al-Duri, who was questioning the day's first witness. (Posted @ 16:26 PST)
Two suicide bombers killed in Afghan blast, coalition soldier hurt KHOST, Afghanistan, Sept 25 (AFP) - Two men believed to be suicide attackers were killed Monday when their car exploded just outside the city of Khost and wounded a soldier with the US-led coalition, officials said. His nationality was not released. The explosion was on a road frequently used by the US-led coalition and the Afghan army and police. It was about three kilometres from an Afghan army regiment, officials said. (Posted @ 16:14 PST)
Crashed helicopter found in Nepal, all feared dead KATHMANDU, Sept 25 (AFP) A search team has found the wreckage of a helicopter that disappeared in Nepal at the weekend, an airport official said Monday, with initial reports suggesting that 24 people on board have died. (Posted @ 13:30 PST)
Iraqi and U.S. forces kill two insurgents BAGHDAD, Sept 25(AP) Iraqi army troops and U.S. advisers killed at least two suspected insurgents and captured another 12 in an early morning raid Monday on two Baghdad homes, the U.S. command said. (Posted @ 12:15 PST)
Afghan province's women's affairs chief killed KANDAHAR, Afghanistan, Sept 25 (Reuters) Gunmen riding motorcycles shot dead the head of a women's department in the southern Afghan province of Kandahar on Monday, a security official and a relative said. There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the shooting of Safia Ama Jan. A security official said no arrests had been made and an investigation had been launched. (Posted @ 11:35 PST)
Karachi Stocks down 53.51 points: KARACHI, Sept 25: At close of trading, the KSE-100 index was at 10253.24, down 53.51 points. (Bureau Report) (Updated @ 13:00 PST)
Forex update: KARACHI, Sept 25: The Pakistani Rupee was traded at Rs 60.82 to the US Dollar in the open market. (Bureau Report) (Updated @ 13:00 PST)
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