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| December 20, 2006 | Wednesday | Ziqa'ad 28, 1427 |
Updated round-the-clock, with major updates after 10:00 PST (05:00 GMT)
Two US soldiers killed in Iraq BAGHDAD, Dec 20, (AFP) - Two US soldiers were killed and six wounded in two bomb attacks in Baghdad on Wednesday, according to the military, as Defence Secretary Robert Gates visited the war-torn Iraqi capital. In one incident a patrol was hit by a booby trap as it investigated a previous explosion southwest of the city. "As a result of the explosion, four soldiers were wounded and one soldier was killed," a statement said. (Posted @ 23:52 PST)
Pakistan rejects terrorism links to Islam: PM Aziz ISLAMABAD, Dec 20 (Agencies): Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz Wednesday said Pakistan and Bahrain are allies in confronting terrorism. "We also reject those machinations that link terrorism to Islam, a faith of peace and compassion," Aziz said while addressing a banquet here hosted in honor of the Crown Prince and Commander-in-Chief of Bahrain Defense Forces, Sheikh Salman bin Hamad Al-Khalifa. Aziz also called for greater bilateral cooperation between the two countries. (Posted @ 23:22 PST)
Pakistan lacked leadership rather than resources in past: Musharraf LAHORE, Dec 20 (Online): President General Pervez Musharraf said Wednesday that Pakistan is a case of failure of leadership rather than lack of capabilities and resources. Addressing the fifth annual convocation of the Government College University (GCU) here, the president accused the past rulers of the country of having pursued a course of putting the vital national problems to cold storage rather than solving them head-on. He said the present government was discharging all national obligations including the construction of mega dams including Kalabagh, Balochistan issue-where 90 percent of the area has been declared as ‘B’ area, provincial autonomy, Hudood ordinance and the NFC award. (Posted @ 22:18 PST)
Bicycle bomb injures 11 in Quetta QUETTA, Pakistan, Dec 20 (AFP) A bomb attached to a bicycle exploded outside a police station in Quetta on Wednesday, injuring 11 people, two seriously, police said. (First Posted @ 20:40 PST Updated @ 21:42 PST)
Saudis admit Iraqi pilgrims after four die BAGHDAD, Iraq, Dec 20 (AP) Saudi Arabia agreed to admit hundreds of Iraqi pilgrims stranded at the border, where four have died, after the Iraqi government appealed to the Saudi king, an Iraqi official said Wednesday. The pilgrims were denied entry for several days apparently because they did not have visas issued for the annual pilgrimage or ``hajj'' to Mecca this month. (Posted @ 20:50 PST)
Bush mulls US troop increase WASHINGTON, Dec 20 (AFP) US President George W. Bush said in an interview Wednesday to The Washington Post that he has ordered plans to boost the size of US troops as the White House confirmed it may raise troop numbers in Iraq. Bush for the first time admitted that the United States was not winning in Iraq. "We're not winning, we're not losing," Bush said. (Posted @ 20:34 PST)
Prime Minister approves Eid package ISLAMABAD, Dec 20 (APP): Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz Wednesday announced an Eid package under which sugar, grams and flour will now be available at Utility Stores at prices less than the open market. Presiding over a meeting held here, the prime minister approved a package under which sugar will be available at Rs.26/kg, Atta Rs.11/kg, dal Channa Rs.30/kg, Masoor Rs.31/kg, Moong Rs.47/kg and dal Mash at Rs.58/kg. The new prices will come into effect from Thursday. (Posted @ 19:36 PST)
Afghanistan frees 10 Pakistanis arrested for illegal entry QUETTA, Pakistan, Dec 20 (AP) Afghan authorities released 10 Pakistanis, five of them off-duty border guards, on Wednesday, a day after detaining them for crossing into Afghanistan by mistake, a government official said. (First Posted @ 10:25 PST Updated @ 19:32 PST)
Indian prime minister welcomes Pakistan peace proposals NEW DELHI, Dec 20 (AP) Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said Wednesday that he ``welcomed'' recent proposals from Pakistan for ending their decades-long Kashmir dispute. ``I had read about some new ideas and thoughts expressed from Pakistan,'' Singh said during a speech in the northern Indian city of Amristar. ``We welcome all ideas as they contribute to the ongoing thought process,'' he said, adding ``the destinies of our two nations are interlinked. We need to put the past behind us.'' Pakistan foreign ministry spokesperson, Tasnim Aslam, appreciated Singh's speech, saying ``they are positive comments.'' (First Posted @ 14:05 PST Updated @ 19:16 PST)
Ahmadinejad allies defeated in key election TEHRAN, Dec 20 (AFP) Allies of President Mahmoud Ahmmadinejad suffered a stinging defeat in elections for Tehran's city council, losing to moderate conservative and reformist forces, results showed Wednesday. Although final results have still to be published five days after the vote, returns on 80 percent of ballots show that allies of moderate Tehran Mayor Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf are set to win a clear majority. (Posted @ 18:00 PST)
Pakistani court orders authorities to explain detention of man held by US KARACHI, Pakistan, Dec 20 (AP) A Pakistani court ordered the government on Wednesday to explain why a Pakistani national, Majid Khan, was handed over to the United States in March 2003 and incarcerated at the U.S. military prison in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. A two-member panel of the High Court judges ordered government officials to explain what measures were being taken to bring Khan back for trial, his lawyer said. The court gave the government until Jan. 11 to respond. (Posted @ 17:58 PST)
BNP supporter killed in fresh political violence in Bangladesh DHAKA, Dec 20 (AFP) A man was killed and at least 10 were injured in Bishnapur village in Jhenidah district Wednesday as Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) and Awami League supporters clashed with knives and machetes, police said. (Posted @ 17:56 PST)
New US defense chief visits Iraq BAGHDAD, Dec 20 (AFP) New US Defense Secretary Robert Gates flew into Baghdad on Wednesday on an unannounced fact-finding trip. "The whole purpose is to go out, listen to the commanders, talk to the Iraqis, see what I can learn," Gates told reporters traveling with him. (Posted @ 17:54 PST)
Government determined to improve the country's economy: PM Aziz ISLAMABAD, Dec 20 (PPI) Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz Wednesday expressed the government’s firm determination to improve the economy of the country through continued structural reforms. He was addressing a seminar on the topic: "Economic Growth Potential for the Emerging Economies in the 21st century" here. Aziz said the government was also concentrating on improving the infrastructure, education, health, gender balance and agricultural sector, apart from implementing second generation structural reforms to speed up the pace of development in Pakistan. (Posted @ 17:52 PST)
Pakistan seizes large Afghan morphine stash QUETTA, Pakistan, Dec 20 (AFP) Pakistani border police seized about 1.5 tonnes of morphine hidden by suspected Afghan smugglers in Baluchistan province, officials said Wednesday. The major haul came after a tip off that the consignment brought from Afghanistan was buried in the Shabian area, about 400 kilometers west of Quetta, a military spokesman said.(Posted @ 16:00 PST)
Pakistani military jet crashes, pilot ejects KARACHI, Dec 20 (AFP) A Pakistan Air Force Mirage fighter plane crashed near Karachi’s Mangho Pir area on Wednesday but the pilot ejected safely, the military said. An investigation has been ordered to determine the cause of the crash, an air force spokesman said.(Posted @ 16:00 PST)
NATO forces kill 50 militants in Afghan operation KABUL, Dec 20 (AFP) NATO-led and Afghan forces killed around 50 Taliban insurgents in Panjwayi and Zhare districts of Kandahar province, the alliance said Wednesday. The spokesman said there had been no Afghan army or NATO casualties during the operation.(Posted @ 14:45 PST)
US hands Najaf to Iraqi forces NAJAF, Iraq, Dec 20 (AFP) Iraqi commanders took charge of security in Najaf on Wednesday as its province became the first to be handed over by the US military to its local allies.(Posted @ 14:40 PST)
Zawahiri says only jihad will 'liberate Palestine' DUBAI, Dec 20 (AFP) Al-Qaeda number two Ayman al-Zawahiri said in a video aired by Al-Jazeera television Wednesday that only jihad can bring about the liberation of occupied Palestinian territory. "Those trying to liberate the land of Islam through elections based on secular constitutions or on decisions to surrender Palestine to the Jews will not liberate a grain of sand of Palestine," he said.(Posted @ 14:10 PST)
Blair urges bold action against "extremism" in Iran DUBAI, Dec 20 (Reuters) British Prime Minister Tony Blair urged world leaders on Wednesday to be bolder in supporting leading moderates against "forces of extremism" in Iran and elsewhere and in advancing Israeli-Palestinian peacemaking. Blair accused Iran of openly supporting terrorism in Iraq,undermining the Lebanese government and blocking Israeli-Palestinian peace.(Posted @ 14:10 PST)
Rival Palestinian forces withdraw from Gaza streets GAZA, Dec 20 (Reuters) Hamas policemen and forces loyal to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas withdrew from Gaza's streets on Wednesday as a fresh ceasefire aimed at halting a slide to civil war appeared to be holding. (First Posted @ 11:15 PST, Updated @ 13:05 PST)
Indian politician's son finally jailed for high society murder NEW DELHI, Dec 20 (AFP) An Indian court on Wednesday sentenced the son of a ruling Congress party politician, Manu Sharma, to life behind bars for the murder of a young model, Jessica Lal. Two of Sharma's friends -- Vikas Yadav and Amardeep Gill -- were sentenced to four years in jail for destroying evidence and helping Sharma escape from a trendy nightspot, where he shot Lal for refusing to serve him a drink.(Posted @ 14:05 PST)
Israel kills two Palestinians in West Bank SILAT AL-HARITHIYA, West Bank, Dec 20 (AFP) Israeli army killed two Palestinians belonging to Islamic Jihad faction Wednesday in the north of the occupied West Bank, witnesses and medics said.(Posted @ 14:00 PST)
Taliban ex-minister leading southern resistance: Afghan general KANDAHAR, Afghanistan, Dec 20 (AFP) The Taliban's former defence minister, Mullah Ubaidullah Akhund, is leading a force of about 400 insurgents in Panjwayi district in Kandahar province where a major NATO-led offensive is underway, an Afghan general said Wednesday.(Posted @ 14:00 PST)
One killed, two wounded in Lebanon land mine explosion BEIRUT, Dec 20 (AP) A Lebanese man was killed and two others were wounded in southern Lebanon late Tuesday when a land mine left over from the Israel-Hezbollah war in the summer exploded, the official National News Agency reported.(Posted @ 12:15 PST)
Car bomb kills local education official in Russia's North Caucasus MAKHACHKALA, Russia, Dec 20 (AP) A car bomb killed a local education official in the troubled Russian North Caucasus region of Dagestan Tuesday, a police official said.(Posted @ 12:15 PST)
Suicide bomb kills eleven in Baghdad BAGHDAD, Dec 20 (AFP) A suicide attacker ploughed a car bomb into a police checkpoint protecting Baghdad University on Wednesday, killing at least 11 people and wounding 30 more, medical officials said. Medics at the Iraqi capital's Yarmuk and Ibn Nafis hospitals said most of the casualties were students but they and a security official confirmed that three national police officers were killed and seven wounded. The explosion took place on a major road leading through the Karrada area. (First Posted @ 10:20 PST, Updated@ 12:50 PST)
Suicide rate among US soldiers in Iraq rises in 2005 WASHINGTON, Dec 20 (AFP) The suicide rate among US soldiers deployed in Iraq increased in 2005 after falling the previous year, according to a study by the US Army published Tuesday. The study said 22 soldiers serving in Iraq and Kuwait in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom had committed suicide, compared to 12 in 2004 and 25 in 2003. The suicide rate was 19.9 per 100,000 in 2005, substantially higher than the rate in 2004, of 10.5 per 100,000.(Posted @ 10:40 PST)
Military says one soldier killed by Tamil rebels in northwest Sri Lanka COLOMBO, Dec 20 (AP) Tamil rebels attacked a military checkpoint in Mannar, about 220 kilometers northwest of the capital Colombo early Wednesday, killing a soldier before fleeing, a Defence Ministry spokesman said. ``They (rebels) threw a hand grenade and opened fire at the checkpoint in Mannar,'' the spokesman said.(Posted @ 10:30 PST)
US Iraq war costs likely to top 110 bln dlrs in fiscal 2007 WASHINGTON, Dec 20 (AFP) US costs to support the Iraq war are likely to top 110 billion dollars in the current fiscal year, White House budget director Rob Portman told reporters at a briefing Tuesday. Portman said that emergency spending for the US war effort in the year that started in October "will be in excess of 110" billion dollars, but that a final figure had not yet been calculated. While in an interview with the Washington Post Tuesday, US President George W. Bush said he would seek to expand the size of the US military amid warnings that the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have badly strained the armed forces. "I'm inclined to believe that we do need to increase our troops, the army, the Marines." (First Posted @ 09:45 PST, Updated@ 09:55 PST)
Karachi Stocks up 126.81 points: KARACHI, Dec 20: At close of trading the KSE-100 index was at 10182.46 , up 126.81 points. (Bureau Report) (Updated @ 14:20 PST)
Forex update: KARACHI, Dec 20: The Pakistani Rupee was traded at Rs 61.1 to the US Dollar in the open market. (Bureau Report) (Updated @ 14:20 PST)
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