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| December 24, 2006 | Sunday | Zilhaj 02, 1427 |
Updated round-the-clock, with major updates after 10:00 PST (05:00 GMT)
Iran to install 3,000 centrifuges from today after sanctions TEHRAN, Dec 24 (AFP) Iran will on Sunday start putting in place 3,000 uranium enriching centrifuges at a key nuclear plant in an immediate response to the UN sanctions resolution, top nuclear negotiator Ali Larijani told the hardline Kayhan newspaper. (Posted @ 10:55 PST)
Abbas and Olmert discuss extending ceasefire to West Bank RAMALLAH, West Bank, Dec 24 (AFP) President Mahmud Abbas and Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert Saturday discussed extending the Gaza Strip ceasefire to the West Bank and reactivating a commission on prisoner exchanges, Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat said. Erekat told a news conference they had discussed "the ceasefire in force in the Gaza Strip and extending it to the West Bank". Also on the agenda was reactivating a "joint commission to study the procedures to follow for the release of prisoners", Erekat said. He added that Olmert had agreed to give 100 million dollars in humanitarian aid and 8.4 million dollars to Palestinian hospitals. Saturday's summit was the first official meeting between the two men since Olmert's election in March. (Posted @ 10:10 PST)
Olmert, Abbas agree 'to advance' peace process JERUSALEM, Dec 24 (AFP) Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas agreed at their meeting on Saturday "to advance the peace process between Israel and the Palestinian Authority," Olmert's office said. "The two leaders expressed their will to cooperate, as true partners, in an effort to advance the peace process between Israel and the Palestinian Authority," it said in a statement released shortly after the two leaders held their first official summit in Jerusalem. Olmert and Abbas also repeated their support for reaching "a solution of two states living side by side in peace and security". (Posted @ 10:05 PST)
60 dead, thousands homeless in Indonesian floods JAKARTA, Dec 24 (AFP) At least 60 people were dead and hundreds missing while thousands of people fled their homes as floods swept the Indonesian island of Sumatra, officials said Sunday. At least two areas remained isolated in the Gayo Lues and East Aceh districts. "Rain continues to pour all night last night (Saturday) and the dam at Sei Seruai broke last night causing water to rise and spread to wider areas." (Posted @ 10:40 PST)
Four Iraqi footballers wounded in mortar attack BAGHDAD, Dec 24, (AFP) - Four footballers of the star team Al-Zawra in Iraq's top league were wounded on Sunday in a mortar attack while training in a Baghdad stadium, their manager said. (Posted @ 23:46 PST)
12,000 Iraqi police killed, says minister BAGHDAD, Dec 24, (AFP) - Iraq's beleaguered police force has had 12,000 officers killed as it battles insurgents and death squads to restore law and order to the war-torn country, interior minister Jawad Bolani told reporters Sunday. (Posted @ 22:52 PST)
Three US soldiers killed in blast BAGHDAD, Dec 24, (AFP) - Three US military police were killed and one wounded in Baghdad on Sunday when their vehicle was hit by a roadside booby trap, the military said in a statement. (Posted @ 22:42 PST)
Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz reaches Karachi KARACHI Dec. 24 (APP) Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz arrived here on Sunday on two-day visit to the provincial capital. The Prime Minister arrived directly from Turkmenistan after attending the funeral of Turkmenistan President. (Posted @ 21:56 PST)
Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz meets world leaders in Ashgabad ASHGABAT, Turkmenistan, Dec 24 (APP): Pakistan Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz visited Ashgabad on Sunday to attend the funeral of Turkmenistan President Saparmurat Niyazov, held meetings with various world leaders and discussed regional and international issues with them. The Prime Minsiter, leading a small delegation comprising Minister for Petroleum Amanullah Jadoon and Minister of State for Information and Broadacasting Senator Tariq Azeem Khan, joined world leaders and representatives from across the globe in paying their last respects to President Saparmurat Niyazov and described him as a "great visionary leader." The Prime Minister, flew into the capital of the Central Asian nation early this morning, attended the funeral of President Niyazov, who died early Thursday of heart failure. (Posted @ 21:24 PST)
Olmert suggests early Palestinian prisoner release JERUSALEM, Dec 24 (Reuters) - Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert suggested on Sunday that he could release some Palestinian prisoners as early as this week, even though militants have yet to free an Israeli soldier held in Gaza. "The time has come for flexibility and generosity, and it could be different than what has been said in past meetings," Olmert told his cabinet, according to a cabinet source. (Posted @ 20:46 PST)
Wild elephant kills 3, injures 10 villagers in India, say police CALCUTTA, India, Dec 24, (AP) _ A wild elephant looking for food killed three people and injured another 10 on Sunday in a forest range in eastern India, police said. The elephant lifted three of the villagers by his trunk and threw them on the ground one by one in Purlia district, said Haradhan Roy, a police officer. The three died on the spot, Roy said. (Posted @ 20:18 PST)
Four shot dead after scholar's funeral in Pakistan DERA ISMAIL KHAN, Pakistan, Dec 24, (AFP) - At least four people were killed and five others injured in a gun battle in a northwest Pakistani city Sunday after the funeral of a slain Muslim scholar, police said. The firing erupted when mourners were returning from the burial of Nazakat Ali Imrani, killed on Saturday, senior police officer Hamad Abid said. Unknown shooters opened fire when the mourners reached the city's Eidgah graveyard where the funeral of a another person was underway, he said. (Posted @ 19:34 PST)
Identity of slain Taliban leader confirmed through forensic analysis: U.S. military KABUL, Afghanistan, Dec 24, (AP) _ Forensic analysis and other information have enabled the U.S. military to verify that a key associate of Taliban chief Mullah Omar was killed in an air strike in southern Afghanistan last week, a spokesman said Sunday. The military is ``very sure'' it killed Mullah Akhtar Mohammad Osmani although it can't provide visual proof as his body was ``obliterated'' in Tuesday's attack on a vehicle traveling through Helmand province, said military spokesman Col. Tom Collins. (Posted @ 19:02 PST)
Suspected militants kill Pakistani soldier in tribal region, official says KHAR, Pakistan (AP) Suspected militants shot dead an off-duty Pakistani soldier in a tribal region in the northwest of the country on Sunday after accusing him of spying for the United States, an official said. Six armed men, wearing masks, seized the paramilitary soldier at a roadblock in Bajur, a tribal region near the Afghan border, and one of them sprayed him with machine gun fire, said Abdul Hamid, a security official in Khar, Bajur's main town. Late Saturday night, suspected militants fired two rockets at a roadside military post near Khar, damaging the building but hurting no one, said Hamid.(Posted @ 16:05 PST)
Four militants killed in Occupied Kashmir SRINAGAR, Dec 24 (AFP) Four militants have been killed and four other people, including three policemen, injured in two separate gunbattles with Indian troops in Occupied Kashmir, police said Sunday. "Two militants were killed in the gunfight in Tilgam village in the north, a police spokesman said. Another two rebels were killed in Sopore, 50 kilometers from Srinagar. The 17-year-old insurgency against Indian rule has claimed more than 44,000 lives by official count and more than double that number according to the separatists' tally. (Posted @ 16:00 PST)
Ahmadinejad dismisses UN sanctions resolution TEHRAN, Dec 24 (AFP) President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said Sunday the West had to learn to live with Iran's nuclear technology, dismissing the UN sanctions resolution as just a "scrap of paper", the Fars news agency reported. "Whether the West likes it or not, Iran is a nuclear country and it is in their interests to live alongside Iran," he said in a speech in Tehran. "Today they want to disturb the unity of the Iranian people with this scrap of paper. "This move not only will not do any harm to Iranian people, but the signatories of this resolution against Iran will soon regret this superficial and trivial move," he added, according to the state news agency IRNA. "Stop this puppet play! It does not work that on the one hand you send friendly messages and on the other side show teeth. Stop this dual game," he went on to tell the Wes (Posted @ 14:30 PST)
Iraq arrests police who 'murdered 14 Pakistanis' KARBALA, Iraq, Dec 24 (AFP) Iraqi police have arrested two of their own officers who confessed to killing 14 Pakistani pilgrims earlier this year, a force spokesman said here Sunday. The Pakistanis, Shiite Muslims travelling across the Iraqi desert to the shrine city of Karbala, were dragged off their bus on September 2 and shot dead. A civilian spokesman for the Iraqi police in Karbala, Rahman Mushawi, said that two officers posted in a small town west of the city, Shalal Mukhimit and Sami Abu Al-Hil, had been arrested. (Posted @ 13:15 PST)
Jordanian ship runs aground, Tigers rescue crew COLOMBO, Dec 24, 2006 (AFP) A Jordanian cargo vessel on its way to South Africa ran aground inside rebel-held territory in northeastern Sri Lanka, but its 25-member crew was rescued, the guerrillas said Sunday. The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) said the vessel, identified as the Farha III, ran aground late Saturday after drifting for several hours following engine trouble. He said the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) had been contacted by them to inform family members that the crew was safe and arrangements would be made for them to return shortly. (Posted @ 13:10 PST)
Bangladesh opposition to take part in elections: official DHAKA, Dec 24 (AFP) Bangladesh's opposition have agreed to take part in next month's general elections after months of protests over alleged plans to rig the polls, a government official said Sunday, but there was no confirmation from the opposition parties. "We have been assured that they will take part in elections if we extend the time" to present candidates, interim cabinet member Mahbub Alam told reporters. Party lists of election candidates were supposed to have been presented by Sunday, but the election commission said it has agreed to extend the deadline up to December 26. (Posted @ 13:00 PST)
Iran warns on IAEA cooperation after nuclear resolution TEHRAN, Dec 24, 2006 (AFP) The UN nuclear watchdog should not expect Iran to continue cooperation "at the same level" after the Security Council's sanctions resolution over its atomic programme, the foreign ministry spokesman said on Sunday. "The resolution is contrary to legal principles," Mohammad Ali Hosseini told reporters. "As the time passes, we will inform people about our decisions and it will be based on our national interest," he added. Hosseini did not specify what cooperation could be cut, but Iranian lawmakers have already warned that Tehran could limit UN inspections of its nuclear sites after the resolution. (Posted @ 12:50 PST)
At least seven police killed in suicide bombing in Iraq BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) A suicide bomber killed at least seven policemen and wounded 30 others at a police station northeast of Baghdad on Sunday, police said. The explosion happened in Muqdadiyah, 90 kilometers (55 miles) northeast of the Iraqi capital. (Posted @ 12:50 PST)
Turkmen strongman’s funeral ASHGABAT, Dec 24 (AFP) Throngs of black-clad mourners, including foreign dignitaries, filed past the body of the late Turkmen President Saparmurat Niyazov here Sunday as the Central Asian state paid final respects to its "president for life" in a state funeral. Among them were Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Fradkov, and Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan while many other foreign leaders, including Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, were also expected to attend. Burial will take place at his birthplace in the neighbouring village of Kipchak alongside his mother, father and two brothers in the family mausoleum he had constructed there. (First Posted @ 09:50 PST Updated @ 10:54 PST)
Gates reports to Bush on Iraq findings WASHINGTON, Dec 24 (AFP) US Defence Secretary Robert Gates met with President George W. Bush Saturday, the White House said, adding that all options remained on the table. Joining Bush and Gates in the meeting in Maryland were Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, national security adviser Stephen Hadley and Hadley's deputy Jack Crouch. Returning from a three-day visit to Iraq in his first week as defence secretary, Gates gave no clear indication earlier whether more US troops would be deployed to Iraq and, if so, how they might be used. But he left the top US commander in Iraq, General George Casey, with instructions to work out specifics of a plan to help re-establish security in the capital with Iraqis in the lead and US forces in a supporting role. The White House offered no further details on the talks Saturday. (Posted @ 10:15 PST)
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