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| November 14, 2006 | Tuesday | Shawwal 21, 1427 |
Updated round-the-clock, with major updates after 10:00 PST (05:00 GMT)
India, Pakistan discuss Kashmir, peace and security and counter terrorism efforts NEW DELHI, Nov 14 (APP): India and Pakistan Tuesday discussed Kashmir, peace and security, trade, CBMs, counter-terrorism efforts and prisoner problem on the first day of Foreign Secretary level talks, Pakistan Foreign Office spokesperson Tasnim Aslam told APP after Tuesday's session of the parleys. Pakistan delegation was led by Foreign Secretary Riaz Mohammad Khan while Indian Foreign Secretary Shivshankar Menon represented his country. Both sides agreed to streamline the procedure so that the prisoners who have completed their sentences should go back to their country of origin as early as possible, she said. The two sides also agreed on a system for the prisoners held for minor infringements so that they can be released sans prolonging their sufferings and miseries. On Jammu and Kashmir, she said the two sides discussed the overall issue and specific CBMs related to Jammu and Kashmir. They reviewed CBMs already in place and agreed to make them more efficient and also reviewed various proposals that are on the table and no decision has yet been taken, she stated. She said on peace and security they welcomed the progress so far achieved on various understandings and agreements and also reviewed proposals and CBMs, which had been agreed but still needed to be implemented. There was a discussion on terrorism specifically with reference to the meeting of President Pervez Musharraf and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh at Havana. On Kashmir again, the spokesperson said, the two sides referred the Havana Statement, which the two leaders undertook to reduce divergences and build on convergences. She said the session would resume tomorrow and take up the remaining issues. Later today, the Pakistan delegation led by Foreign Secretary Riaz Mohammad Khan called on External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee. (First Posted @ 19:56 PST Updated @ 21:26 PST)
Up to 150 people kidnapped from Baghdad research institute BAGHDAD, Nov 14 (AP) _ Gunmen dressed as police commandos kidnapped up to 150 staff and visitors in a lightning raid on a Baghdad research institute Tuesday, the largest mass abduction since the start of the U.S. occupation. Iraq's higher education minister Abed Theyab immediately ordered all universities closed until security improvements are made, saying he was ``not ready to see more professors get killed. ``It was quick operation. It took about 10 to 15 minutes,'' Theyab said. ``It was a four-story building and the gunmen went to the four stories.'' He said the gunmen had at least 20 vehicles, but possibly many more. Police and eyewitnesses said the gunmen, who numbered about 80, had closed off streets surrounding the ministry. The gunmen forced men and women into separate rooms, handcuffed the men, and loaded them aboard pickup trucks. ``If the reports are true, than this is a terrible crime and we will support all efforts by the Iraqi government to bring these criminals to justice,'' Lt. Col. Christopher Garver, a spokesman for U.S. forces in Iraq said. (Posted @ 18:42 PST)
28 persons including Indian soldiers wounded in 2 blasts in occupied Kashmir SRINAGAR, occupied Kashmir, Nov 14 (AP) _ Suspected militants set off two bombs Tuesday in separate attacks in occupied Kashmir, wounding 14 people (28 according to Reuters), officials said. In an attack on a camp of the paramilitary Central Reserve Police Force in Srinagar, six civilians and two soldiers were wounded, said a force spokesman. ``Militants first hurled a grenade. And within a few minutes, they triggered the bomb, which was planted in a car parked outside the camp,'' he said. Separately, militants detonated a bomb near an army vehicle in Baramulla town wounding three army soldiers and three civilian bystanders, said the local police chief Viplav Kumar, adding that all six were in a critical condition. A spokesman for the Hezb-ul-Mujahedeen claimed responsibility for the attack in a phone call to a local news agency, Current News Service. (Posted @ 18:38 PST)
Iran's plan to boost enrichment a 'cold jolt' to doubters: US WASHINGTON, Nov 14, (AFP) - Iran's announced plans to install tens of thousands of uranium-enriching centrifuges should be a "cold jolt" to doubters of Tehran's nuclear arms ambitions, a senior US official said Tuesday. Iranian President Mahmoud Ahamdinejad told a news conference Tuesday that Iran's long-term target should be to install 60,000 centrifuges to enrich uranium, insisting the fuel is for civilian energy production only. "That should be a cold jolt to the rest of the world," State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said in response. (First Posted @ 21:34 PST Updated @ 23:42 PST)
Iran pressing ahead with enrichment - IAEA VIENNA, Nov 14, (AFP) - Iran is pressing ahead with making enriched uranium and is still failing to give the UN nuclear agency cooperation on resolving key questions about its atomic program, a confidential IAEA report said Tuesday. Iran from August 13 to November 2 fed "a total of approximately 34 kilograms" of feedstock uranium gas into centrifuges in Natanz, producing a small amount of uranium enriched to low levels, said the report by the International Atomic Energy Agency that was obtained by AFP. (Posted @ 23:52 PST)
Eight killed in Sri Lanka in fresh violence COLOMBO, Nov 14 (AFP) - At least four Sri Lankan soldiers and four Tamil Tiger rebels were killed in separate violence in the island's embattled northeast, the defence ministry said Tuesday. (Posted @ 19:25 PST)
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov to visit Pakistan MOSCOW, Nov 14 (PPI): Discussion on bilateral relations and key international issues will be high on agenda during Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov's two-day visit to Islamabad beginning November 15. (Posted @ 21:30 PST)
21 more bodies found in Iraq; car bomb kills 10, injures 25 in Baghdad BAGHDAD, Nov 14 (Reuters) - Iraqi police, backed by U.S. forces, discovered the bodies of 10 kidnap victims, bound, blindfolded and with gunshot wounds, inside a house in Baquba, Interior Ministry sources said Tuesday. Police also found 11 bodies with gunshot wounds on Tuesday in Mosul. Meanwhile, a car bomb ripped through a crowded market area in Rasheed Street in central Baghdad, killing 10 people and wounding 25; mortars killed four people in al-Zuhur, in Baghdad's northern outskirts, and a bomb inside a bus station in eastern Baghdad killed two people and wounded 10. A car bomb in downtown Tikrit also wounded 10 people, including three policemen. (First Posted @ 17:44 PST Updated @ 20:24 PST)
Cricket-No positive drug tests at Champions Trophy, says ICC MUMBAI, India, Nov 14 (Reuters) - None of the 24 random dope tests conducted at the recent Champions Trophy was positive, the International Cricket Council (ICC) said Tuesday. (Posted @ 20:04 PST)
India rejects China's claim to its northeastern region ahead of Chinese president's visit NEW DELHI, Nov 14 (AP) _ China's ambassador to India reiterated his country's claim to a wide swath of northeastern India, prompting a sharp reaction from Indian officials Tuesday, barely a week before the Chinese president's visit. Chinese Ambassador Sun Yuxi repeated the claim in an interview broadcast Monday night, telling the CNN-IBN news channel that ``the whole of what you call the state of Arunachal Pradesh is the Chinese territory. ... We are claiming the whole of that.'' Early Tuesday, Indian officials struck back. ``Arunachal Pradesh is an integral part of India,'' Foreign Minister Pranab Mukherjee told reporters. In Beijing, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Jiang Yu said China's position on the issue ``has been clear.'' ``It can be resolved through friendly consultation,'' Jiang said without giving any more details. Chinese President Hu Jintao is scheduled to visit India Nov.20-23. (Posted @ 18:34 PST)
Bangladesh appoints new cricket board chief DHAKA, Bangladesh, Nov 14 (AP) _ M. Abdul Aziz, a top bureaucrat at the Agriculture Ministry, has been appointed president of the Bangladesh Cricket Control Board,, the Ministry of Youth and Sports said in a statement Tuesday. Aziz replaces Mohammad Ali Asghar who resigned late Monday, citing ``health reasons and political commitments'', the cricket board said on its Web site. (Posted @ 18:32 PST)
Blair faces quizzing on Iraq, as Bush seeks way forward LONDON, Nov 14 (AFP) - Prime Minister Tony Blair faced questioning by a top-level US panel on Iraq on Tuesday, as Britain and the United States grapple for a way forward in the violence-wracked country. The British leader's testimony via videophone to the Iraq Study Group comes a day after he called for a change of strategy and pressed Iran to support Western efforts to quell the relentless bloodshed. The US panel, led by former US Secretary of State James Baker, on Monday heard from US President George W. Bush, who defied growing calls for the West to engage with Syria and Iran. Blair was due to address the Washington panel by videolink from 1400 GMT Tuesday, his office said, adding that aides would brief journalists afterwards on what he had told the US officials. (Posted @ 18:08 PST)
Trescothick leaves Ashes tour with stress-related illness: team SYDNEY, Nov 14 (AFP) - England Test opener Marcus Trescothick late Tuesday flew home and pulled out of the Ashes series against Australia after a recurrence of a stress-related illness, a team spokesman said. (Posted @ 18:04 PST)
Another billion dollars available for Baghdad reconstruction BAGHDAD, Nov 14 (AFP) - More than one billion dollars has been made available to Iraqi authorities for reconstruction projects over the coming months, but the "biggest challenge is how to spend the money," Daniel Speckhard, deputy chief of mission at the US embassy, said Tuesday on the sidelines of a workshop on Iraq's reconstruction. (Posted @ 17:58 PST)
Bangladesh government holds crisis talks DHAKA, Nov 14 (AFP) - Talks resumed Tuesday in a bid to end violent protests over a top Bangladesh election official accused of favouring the outgoing government as a nationwide opposition blockade entered its third day. The caretaker government, tasked with organising parliamentary elections slated for January, met leaders of the independent Jatiya Party in Dhaka. It was later due to hold talks with the outgoing four-party coalition led by the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP). The talks followed the government's discussions late Monday with the main opposition Awami League and its allies, who are demanding the resignation of chief election commissioner M.A. Aziz. (First Posted @ 10:20 PST Updated @ 17:54 PST)
Ahmadinejad says world cannot halt nuclear drive TEHRAN, Nov 14 (AFP) - President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad Tuesday defiantly told world powers they could not halt the Iranian nuclear programme despite moves by Europe and the United States to impose UN sanctions. "Iran is completely mastering the nuclear fuel cycle and time is playing in favour of Iran. Many countries have agreed to live with an Iran that has mastered enrichment”, he told reporters at a news conference. "This year I hope we will be able to have the great celebration of the nuclearisation of Iran," he added, without elaborating. (Posted @ 17:52 PST)
Bus plunge kills 13, injures 41 in northern India SHIMLA, Nov 14 (AFP) At least 13 people died and 41 were injured Tuesday when a crowded bus swerved and plunged off a mountain road into a deep gorge in the north Indian state of Himachal Pradesh, police said. (Posted @ 17:08 PST)
Iraqis say 30 killed in US raid at Ramadi RAMADI, Iraq, Nov 14 (Reuters) Iraqi medical officials said at least 30 people were killed in violence overnight in Ramadi in what local police described Tuesday as a U.S. military raid. An Iraqi police source said U.S. forces raided the al-Dhubat district late Monday and several houses were destroyed. Local residents said U.S. tanks had fired into the area and that those who died were not militants. A doctor at Ramadi's main hospital said 35 dead had been brought in. (Posted @ 15:55 PST)
Hamas says new government will not recognise Israel GAZA, Nov 14 (Reuters) Hamas said Tuesday a planned Palestinian unity government would not recognise Israel or accept a two-state solution to the Middle East conflict. "We reject the two-state solution, which is the vision of U.S. President George Bush, because it represents a clear recognition of Israel," Hamas spokesman Fawzi Barhoum said, adding that "our position in this regard remains unchanged. We reject joining in any government that recognises Israel." (Posted @ 15:35 PST)
International lawyers file suit against Rumsfeld in Germany BERLIN, Nov 14 (AFP) An international grouping of lawyers filed a lawsuit on Tuesday calling on German prosecutors to investigate outgoing US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld for allegedly sanctioning torture. The 220-page suit is being brought on behalf of 11 former Iraqi detainees of the Abu Ghraib prison near Baghdad and one current Saudi detainee of the US prison in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. The suit was filed to Germany's federal prosecutor Monika Harms at her offices in the western city of Karlsruhe, said Hannes Honecker, the secretary-general of the Germany-based Republican Attorneys' Association. (First Posted@ 14:00 PST, Updated @ 15:30 PST)
Elephants kill three in India GUWAHATI, India, Nov 14 (AFP) Elephants in India's northeast trampled three people to death, including a four year-old boy, and critically injured his eight-year-old brother, officials said Tuesday. The herd trampled the victims, who were all from the same family, Monday after guzzling rice beer in Teok Kathoni, a tribal village 370 kilometers east of Assam's main city Guwahati. (Posted @ 12:35 PST)
Egypt bus crash kills 18 people, injures 16 CAIRO, Nov 14 (Reuters) Eighteen Egyptians were killed and another 16 were injured when a bus and a truck collided on Tuesday on a highway south of the Egyptian capital, security sources said. (Posted @ 11:20 PST)
Six drown as floating house capsizes PHNOM PENH, Cambodia, Nov 14 (AP) Six Cambodian villagers, including four children, drowned after their floating home capsized in a river. The house was built on a platform supported by 10 oil barrels, and was also tied with a rope to a tree on the bank of the Bassac river, an official said. The victims were eating lunch when the rope snapped, he said. (Posted @ 10:10 PST)
Israel army accused of shooting unarmed suspects JERUSALEM, Nov 14 (AFP) Israeli human rights watchdog B'Tselem said Monday it had "strong suspicions" that the army had shot dead two unarmed Palestinian suspects as they lay wounded last week. It said witness testimony suggested the two suspects were not killed outright as reported by the army but had sought refuge in a neighbouring house where they were waiting for an ambulance to take them to hospital. "It appears from the witness testimony that there are strong suspicions that the two Palestinians were executed by the soldiers as they lay wounded, unarmed and posing no danger," the group said, calling on the army to open an inquiry. (Posted @ 10:05 PST)
Four French climbers missing in Nepal KATHMANDU, Nov 14 (AFP) Four French climbers were missing after trying to scale the 5,896-metre Paldor Peak in Nepal, the French embassy said Tuesday. The four men set off to climb the peak on October 12. "We were supposed to meet them on November 5, so we were there and they didn't show up," said Stefania Paolik, a friend of the missing men. The French embassy in Kathmandu was helping organise a search. (Posted @ 10:00 PST)
San Francisco withdraws bid for 2016 Olympics: report SAN FRANCISCO, Nov 14 (AFP) San Francisco has withdrawn its bid for the 2016 Summer Olympics, the group leading the effort told the San Francisco Chronicle on Monday, leaving Los Angeles and Chicago as American candidates. (Posted @ 09:50 PST)
Israelis kill armed Palestinian activist in West Bank NABLUS, West Bank, Nov 14 (AFP) An armed Palestinian activist was killed Tuesday n a pre-dawn shootout with the Israeli army at the Ain Bit Ilma camp in the northern West Bank town of Nablus, Palestinian security officials said. Baha Khatari, 20, was a member of the Abu Ali Mustapha Brigades, the military wing of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP). Khatari's death brought to 5,563 the number of people killed, most of them Palestinians, since the start of the intifada or Palestinian uprising in September 2000, according to an AFP count. (Posted @ 09:30 PST)
Karachi Stocks up 125.79 points: KARACHI, Nov 14: At close of trading, the KSE-100 index was at 10869.63, up 125.79 points. (Bureau Report) (Updated @ 14:20 PST)
Forex update: KARACHI, Nov 14: The Pakistani Rupee was traded at Rs 60.75 to the US Dollar in the open market. (Bureau Report) (Updated @ 14:20 PST)
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