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| December 12, 2006 | Tuesday | Ziqa'ad 20, 1427 |
Updated round-the-clock, with major updates after 10:00 PST (05:00 GMT)
Baghdad suicide bombs kill 57, injure 148 BAGHDAD, Dec 12 (AFP) - At least 57 people were killed and 148 wounded in the devastating blasts that ripped through Baghdad’s busy Tayaran square at 7:00 am (0400 GMT) where labourers from Sadr City gather to look for day work. First a BMW car rear-ended a police vehicle and exploded. Two minutes later a pickup truck ploughed into the crowd and exploded. "After the explosion, not a single person in the square was standing," a witness said. Two buildings were severely damaged in the blast and dozens of shops were burned. "We are treating 25 people with extremely serious injuries," a doctor from the Ibn al-Nafis hospital said.In the hours afterwards, several more dull explosions could be heard around the city.(Posted @ 14:50 PST)
President Musharraf urges use of latest technologies to boost agriculture ISLAMABAD, Dec 12 (APP): President General Pervez Musharraf Tuesday urged agricultural scientists to help farmers increase their per acre crop yields through the use of modern technologies and methods. The president was addressing a ceremony to mark the silver jubilee celebrations of the Pakistan Agricultural Research Council here. Referring to the modern techniques in farming, he said “we can irrigate more land by using laser leveling, drip irrigation and sprinklers.” Regarding the availability of water, Musharraf said Pakistan has abundant water resources but lacks proper reservoirs for storage. He said for this reason, work on Bhasha-Diamir Dam has begun while construction of Merani Dam was complete. He said all other big and small dams including Munda Dam, Akhori Dam and Kalabagh Dam will be constructed to provide adequate irrigation water to farmers. He also said that apart from dams, many canals including Thal canal, Rainy canal and Rikki canal would be constructed for the same purpose.(Posted @ 17:15 PST)
Indian writer Roy appeals for Kashmiri Afzal Guru’s retrial NEW DELHI, Dec 12 (AFP) Award-winning Indian writer Arundhati Roy called on Tuesday for a retrial of a Kashmiri man, Afzal Guru, sentenced to death for his role in an attack on India's parliament in 2001. "There's not a single piece of evidence that stands up to even non-legal scrutiny, forget about legal scrutiny," said Roy. Roy was speaking at the launch of a book of essays: "13 December - A Reader: The Strange Case of the Attack on the Indian Parliament" written by Indian social activists questioning the fairness of Afzal's trial.The speakers at the book launch charged that evidence presented at the trial was fabricated and that he did not have proper legal representation.(Posted @ 20:25 PST)
Bomb explodes at Iraq's Samarra mosque BAGHDAD, Dec 12 (AFP) A bomb exploded Tuesday at Iraq's golden-domed mosque in Samarra, causing minimal damage, the US military said.(Posted @ 20:20 PST)
NATO soldier killed in Afghan battle KABUL, Dec 12 (AFP) A soldier from the NATO-led force in Afghanistan was killed Tuesday in a gunbattle with militants in southern Helmand province, the force said in a statement.(Posted @ 20:20 PST)
Pakistan arrests Briton carrying opium on London-bound flight ISLAMABAD, Dec 12 (AFP) Pakistani agents arrested a dual British-Pakistani national Monday as he tried to smuggle nearly 10 kilograms of opium onto a flight bound for London, officials said Tuesday. The suspect, identified as Muhammad Khalid, hid the drugs in nine picture frames and in his shoes, Pakistan's Anti-Narcotics Force said in a statement. The force said it had also arrested two Tanzanian nationals and a Rwandan and recovered 10 kilograms of marijuana, 450 grams of heroin and four fake passports in a separate raid at a house in the capital Islamabad.(Posted @ 20:20 PST)
Supreme Court adjourns petroleum prices hearing till third week of January ISLAMABAD, Dec 12 (APP): A five-member bench of the Supreme Court Tuesday adjourned the hearing of petitions regarding petroleum prices in the country to the third week of January after accepting a request by the Attorney General for grant of more time to submit a comprehensive statement.(Posted @ 20:15 PST)
Saudi ambassador to Washington resigns: report WASHINGTON, Dec 12 (AFP) Saudi Arabia's ambassador to Washington, Prince Turki al-Faisal, abruptly resigned and flew out of the United States after only 15 months on the job, a report said Tuesday. Prince Turki told staff on Monday that he would leave the crucial diplomatic post because he wanted to spend more time with his family, The Washington Post reported, quoting unnamed US officials and Arab sources.(Posted @ 19:50 PST)
Pakistan captain Inzamam likely to miss fourth one-dayer MULTAN, Pakistan, Dec 12 (AFP) Injured Pakistan captain Inzamam-ul-Haq is doubtful to play at his home ground in the fourth one-day international against the West Indies here on Wednesday. Pakistan will also be without vice-captain Younis Khan and record-breaking batsman Mohammad Yousuf. "My injury has improved but I will make a final decision in the morning," said Inzamam. All-rounder Abdul Razzaq will lead the team if Inzamam pulls out. West Indian coach Bennett King said he hoped key batsman Shivnarine Chanderpaul, who has yet to play in the one-day series, would return after recovering from a knee injury.(Posted @ 19:35 PST)
Gas cylinder explosion in Karachi kills four, injures seven KARACHI, Pakistan, Dec 12 (AP) A gas cylinder exploded near a shop in the commercial area of Shirin Jinnah Colony in Karachi on Tuesday, killing four people and injuring seven, police said.(Posted @ 19:35 PST)
Bangladesh names new advisers DHAKA, Dec 12 (Reuters) Bangladesh swore in three new government advisers on Tuesday after the country's election chief vowed polls would go ahead as scheduled next month. The new additions are retired army Major-General Ruhul Alam Chowdhury, former university professor Mainuddin Khan and the head of a non-government organisation, Shafiqul Hoque Chowdhury. Thousands of Awami League activists and their allies staged a protest here on Tuesday against the appointment of the three advisers. Protesters burned portraits of President Iajuddin Ahmed and chanted slogans against election officials. (First Posted @ 15:00 PST Updated @ (Posted @ 19:30 PST)
Cricket-Boje announces international retirement JOHANNESBURG, Dec 12 (Reuters) Former South African vice-captain Nicky Boje announced his retirement from all international cricket on Tuesday. Left-arm spinner Boje, who took 100 wickets in 43 tests and played 115 one-day internationals, had been selected in South Africa's squad for the first test against India starting on Friday. Cricket South Africa CEO Gerald Majola was disappointed by Boje's decision.(Posted @ 19:25 PST)
Pakistan, Afghans aim to eradicate polio on border TORKHAM, Pakistan-Afghan Border, Dec 12 (Reuters) Pakistan and Afghanistan on Tuesday launched the Dec. 12-14 vaccination drive to eradicate polio from the rugged tribal lands on both sides of their border. "What better way to get peace in the region than health diplomacy," Pakistani Health Minister Mohammad Naseer Khan told reporters in the border town of Torkham, who was joined by his Afghan counterpart, Sayed Mohammad Amin Fatemi.(Posted @ 19:20 PST)
Foeticide means 7,000 fewer girls a day in India NEW DELHI, Dec 12 (Reuters) Seven thousand fewer girls are born in India each day than the global average would suggest, largely because female foetuses are aborted after sex determination tests, the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) said Tuesday at the India launch of its "State of the World's Children 2007" report.(Posted @ 19:15 PST)
More than 100 bodies exhumed in Bosnia mass grave SARAJEVO, Dec 12 (Reuters) Forensic experts have found 114 complete bodies and 159 body parts in a mass grave in the northern town of Brcko, the Muslim-Croat federation's commission for missing persons said Tuesday. The victims in the Gorice mass grave are believed to be mostly Bosnian Muslims, killed early in Bosnia's 1992-95 war.(Posted @ 19:10 PST)
Four South Africans kidnapped in Iraq JOHANNESBURG, Dec 12 (Reuters) Four South African security workers and five Iraqis were kidnapped north of Baghdad and their whereabouts remain unknown since Sunday last, South Africa's Foreign Ministry said on Tuesday.(Posted @ 19:00 PST)
Gunmen kill Iraqi cameraman in northern Iraq MOSUL, Iraq, Dec 12 (Reuters) Gunmen shot dead a television cameraman working for Associated Press Television News (APTN) in the northern Iraqi city of Mosul on Tuesday, the U.S. news organisation and Iraqi police said.(Posted @ 19:00 PST)
11 suspected militants arrested in Spanish African enclave MADRID, Spain, Dec 12 (AP) Security officials arrested 10 Spaniards and one Moroccan in pre-dawn raids Tuesday in the Spanish African enclave of Ceuta accusing them of planning to form an “Islamic cell”, while the Spanish interior minister admitted that the group had “no specific targets”.(Posted @ 18:35 PST)
Nobel laureate Yunus launches music video to help poor OSLO, Norway, Dec 12 (AP) Nobel Peace laureate Muhammad Yunus launched a music video Tuesday to build eye hospitals in Bangladesh and spread the word of his micro credit loans to younger generations. The video, titled ``Hear Me Now,'' was recorded in Bangladesh by The Green Children, comprising Norwegian artist Milla Sunde and Britain's Tom Bevan. ``This is just the beginning,'' said Yunus. ``Music is such a powerful force ... no university professor can ever communicate in such a heart to heart way.''(Posted @ 18:30 PST)
Protest against U.S. group report, coalition held in Iraq KIRKUK, Iraq, Dec 12 (AP) About 1,500 people marched through Kirkuk on Tuesday to protest a recommendation by the U.S. Iraq Study Group that a referendum on its future be delayed. Meanwhile, two other demonstrations took place in Iraq on Tuesday. In Samarra, civil disobedience closed government offices and schools to protest stepped-up by security by coalition forces in the region's village of Siniyah. In Kut, a protest by about 5,000 people closed schools and government offices Tuesday to demand the release of an official detained by coalition forces.(Posted @ 18:25 PST)
Indian foreign minister defends India-US nuclear deal in parliament NEW DELHI, India, Dec 12 (AP) India's foreign minister defended a landmark civil nuclear agreement between India and the United States on Tuesday. Pranab Mukherjee told Parliament that the U.S. legislation was ``consistent with our national security and energy requirements.'' Mukherjee did not comment on criticism of the deal but said the pact would free the U.S. to engage with India in the civil nuclear area.(Posted @ 18:20 PST)
Rights group urges Karzai to move against warlords KABUL, Afghanistan, Dec 12 (AP) Human Rights Watch urged Afghan President Hamid Karzai on Tuesday to establish a special court to try those suspected of war crimes during the country's quarter-century of conflict. The New-York based rights group said the Afghan government and its international backers, ``have pursued a counterproductive policy of relying on war criminals, human rights abusers and drug-traffickers instead of prosecuting them.'' The rights group named several influential Afghans whom it described as some of the ``worst perpetrators'' of Afghanistan's recent past. They included Vice President Karim Khalili, Army Chief of Staff Abdul Rashid Dostum, Minister of Energy Ismail Khan, and influential parliamentarians Abdul Rasul Sayyaf, Mohammed Qasim Fahim and former president Burhanuddin Rabbani.(Posted @ 18:156 PST)
Gunmen open fire at Gaza protest KHAN YOUNIS, Gaza Strip, Dec 12 (AP) Gunmen opened fire on demonstrators in the southern Gaza Strip on Tuesday who were protesting against the killings of three children in an earlier incident, officials said. Four people were wounded.(Posted @ 18:05 PST)
Prime Minister Aziz arrives in Saudi Arabia RIYADH, Dec 12 (APP): Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz arrived here Tuesday on a three-day visit to Saudi Arabia.(Posted @ 17:15 PST)
British soldiers dismissed over Iraq gun-running scam LONDON, Dec 12 (AFP) Three British soldiers were jailed and thrown out of the army after admitting a plot to smuggle guns out of Iraq to sell them for cash in Germany, a spokesman said Tuesday. A fourth defendant was given six months' detention. The court heard how they bought cheap pistols on the Iraqi black market and smuggled them back in army vehicles to Germany, where they sold them to other soldiers.(Posted @ 17:00 PST)
Six killed in Afghan suicide attack KANDAHAR, Afghanistan, Dec 12 (AFP) At least four policemen and two civilians were killed in a suicide attack Tuesday at the governor's house in southern Helmand province, police said. Elsewhere on Tuesday, the US-led coalition and the Afghan army killed four suspected Taliban militants in eastern Khost province, the coalition said. A teenaged girl was killed and an eight-year-old was injured in the incident, it said. (First Posted @ 11:20 PST Updated @16:10 PST)
Pakistan, Yemen sign four agreements, MoU SANA'A, Dec 12 (APP): Pakistan and Yemen Tuesday signed four agreements and an MoU to enhance cooperation between the two countries in the fields of agriculture, trade, education and culture. The agreements were signed here at the Prime Minister House after a second round of formal talks between Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz and Prime Minister Adulkadir Ba-Jaamal.(Posted @ 15:30 PST)(Posted @ 15:30 PST)
India launches submarine production MUMBAI, Dec 12 (AFP) - India will Thursday begin assembling Franco-Spanish Scorpene attack submarines as part of plan to boost its naval power and military-industrial know-how, Vice Admiral S.K.K. Krishnan said. The 2.4 billion euro deal to build an initial six diesel submarines was signed in October 2005.The agreement also includes the sale of 36 Exocet-type anti-submarine and anti-ship missiles.(Posted @ 14:05 PST)
Seven die in occupied Kashmir as jeep falls into Himalayan gorge SRINAGAR, occupied Kashmir, Dec 12 (AFP) Seven people were killed Tuesday when the jeep they were travelling in fell into a deep gorge in southern Himalayan mountains of occupied Kashmir, police said. "The driver lost control while negotiating a sharp curve," a police spokesman said, adding the accident took place in Panthal, near the Ramban town, about 150 kilometers south of Srinagar. All the seven travellers were killed, the spokesman said. The road had been opened for traffic only on Monday, after remaining shut for seven days owing to heavy snow and rain that triggered avalanches.(Posted @ 13:15 PST)
Saddam faces quick execution, no monument: official BAGHDAD, Dec 12 (AFP) Saddam Hussein and two top aides, Barzan al-Tikriti and Awad Al-Bandar, convicted with him will be executed immediately after an appeals court confirms their sentences and may be buried in secret, an official told AFP Tuesday.(Posted @ 12:55 PST)
Discovery docks with space station for tricky mission HOUSTON, Texas, Dec 12 (AFP) Shuttle Discovery docked with the International Space Station Monday with a crew of seven astronauts for the most complex ISS construction mission to date. "Welcome aboard," said the commander of the International Space Station (ISS), US astronaut Mike Lopez-Alegria, shortly after the shuttle linked up with the orbiting laboratory at 2212 GMT.(Posted @ 10:20 PST)
Annan calls 'just' Israel-Palestinian peace key to settling Mideast conflicts UNITED NATIONS, Dec 12 (AFP) Outgoing UN chief Kofi Annan, in a report released Monday insisted that a "just and comprehensive" Israeli-Palestinian settlement was the key to resolving other regional conflicts. The report will serve as a basis for a debate on the Middle East during a ministerial session of the UN Security Council scheduled for Tuesday. "I am convinced that the search for stability in Iraq, Lebanon and elsewhere will be greatly served by a concerted effort to address the legitimate aspirations of Israelis, Palestinians, Syrians and Lebanese to achieve two independent and secure states of Israel and Palestine, an end to the occupation of Arab land both in the occupied Palestinian territory and the Golan Heights" as well as peace in Lebanon, he noted.(Posted @ 09:55 PST)
Rice wants North Korea denuclearized within 24 months, assails Annan speech WASHINGTON, Dec 12 (AFP) The Bush administration wants disarmament talks set to resume next week with North Korea to result in the dismantling of Pyongyang's nuclear weapons program within two years, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice told AFP in an exclusive interview Monday. "I'm delighted the talks are going to start again, but they have to start to show results pretty soon," Rice said of the six-party negotiations scheduled to resume on December 18 in Beijing. She lamented a speech by retiring UN chief Kofi Annan criticising US foreign policy as a "real missed opportunity". Rice criticized Annan's failure to highlight the positive role she said Washington had played at the world body over the past two years. "I would have hoped that it would have talked about the work that we've done together," she said. She also warned Syria and Iran that the "future of Lebanon is not an issue for negotiation" and rejected mounting calls to deal directly with Damascus and Tehran as part of efforts to end the crisis in Iraq and said the two states should have no doubts about Washington's commitment to the embattled government of Lebanon.(Posted @ 09:35 PST)
Forex update: KARACHI, Dec 12: The Pakistani Rupee was traded at Rs 61.15 to the US Dollar in the open market. (Bureau Report) (Updated @ 14:20 PST)
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