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| June 13, 2007 | Wednesday | Jamadi-ul-Awwal 27, 1428 |
Updated round-the-clock, with major updates after 10:00 PST (05:00 GMT)
Lawyer says Pakistan chief justice manhandled after suspension ISLAMABAD, June 13 (AP) - Security officers pulled the hair of Pakistan's chief justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry as they bundled him into a car days after President Pervez Musharraf suspended him, his lawyer Aitzaz Ahsan told the 13-member full court of the Supreme Court on Wednesday. Justice Iftikhar has appealed to the Supreme Court in a legal battle that began after Musharraf suspended Chaudhry on charges of misconduct Aitzaz Ahsan told the court how security officials prevented Chaudhry from walking from his residence to the nearby Supreme Court for a March 13 hearing of the Supreme Judicial Council examining the allegations of misconduct. He said the officials pulled Chaudhry's hair and leaned on his head in order to force him into an official car _ an image captured by a photographer and widely published in Pakistani newspapers. One official was pushing Chaudhry's head “as if it is going to go under the guillotine,” Ahsan said. “It could happen to any one of you,” Ahsan told the 13 judges hearing the petition. Ahsan said security officials posted outside Chaudhry's home in the days after his suspension prevented him from meeting his client. He also said that a March 9 order from the tribunal “restraining” Chaudhry from his duties was illegal.(Posted @ 18:00 PST)
Revered Iraqi Shiite shrine bombed again SAMARRA , Iraq, June 13 (AFP) - Suspected insurgents blew up the minarets of the holy Al-Askari shrine in Samarra on Wednesday. “The explosions that led to the collapse of the two 30 metres high minarets were due to bombs planted at their bases,” said Lieutenant Omar Ghalib, adding that an indefinite curfew had been imposed. A witness said the two minarets fell within minutes of each other. “I was near the shrine and saw one of the minarets was down. Seven minutes later as I was watching the shrine, another explosion occurred and the second minaret came crumbling down.”(Posted @ 16:25 PST)
U.S. lawmakers restore aid to Pakistan, Indonesia, tell Egypt to improve rights record WASHINGTON, June 13 (AP) U.S. lawmakers restored $50 million in military aid to Pakistan Tuesday to help it weather its current political turmoil as a bill to finance U.S. foreign aid advanced in Congress. For Egypt, members of the House of Representatives Appropriations Committee maintained aid at $1.7 billion but said $200 million of that would come only after Egypt improved its human rights record. In another major change, the lawmakers reversed plans to eliminate $8 million in military aid from Indonesia to recognize improvements in the conduct of its military. The bill now goes to the full House for passage, and the Senate will pass its own aid bill. Differences will have to be negotiated away before both chambers pass the final version. In all, the Pakistan package in the aid bill amounts to $752.1 million. Of that, $300 million is in the Foreign Military Financing program, and that is where the $50 million was to have been cut. (Posted @ 12:06 PST)
US Assistant Secretary of State calls on FM Kasuri ISLAMABAD, Jun 13 (APP): U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asian Affairs Richard A. Boucher called on Foreign Minister Khurshid M. Kasuri on Wednesday. The meeting focused on bilateral relations between Pakistan and the U.S. and Afghanistan. Kasuri underlined the importance of a broad- based and long-term strategic relationship between Pakistan and the U.S. and the deepening of cooperation in areas such as economy, energy, education and science and technology. During the meeting various aspects of bilateral relations were reviewed, including FATA Development Plan and capacity-building for the Frontier Corps. Boucher expressed U.S. commitment to a strong and broad-based relationship with Pakistan and for all efforts contributing to the process of peace and stabilization in Afghanistan.(Posted @ 22:00 PST)
Anti-Syrian MP, five others killed in Beirut seafront blast BEIRUT, June 13 (AFP) - Anti-Syrian MP Walid Ido, his eldest son and four other people were killed in a seafront blast in the Lebanese capital on Wednesday, his party's television station said.(Posted @ 20:45 PST)
Jatoi hopes power shortage in Karachi to ease out ISLAMABAD, June 13 (PPI)- Minister for Water and Power Liaquat Ali Jatoi has expressed confidence that power shortage in Karachi would ease out following installation of three power plants. Responding to a call attention notice in the National Assembly on Wednesday, he said ground breaking of a 220 MW plant is to take place on Friday. Two more plants, one with a capacity of 560 megawatt at Bin Qasim, are also on board. He said the government is providing a billion rupee subsidy per month to KESC to provide relief to consumers in Karachi. KESC has also been given eight billion rupees for improving its system, he said. Mr. Liaquat Ali Jatoi pointed out that at the time of privatization of the KESC, two power plants in the private sector were planned for Karachi but the new investor discarded them saying that they would themselves install power plants. However they failed to fulfil their commitment. The Minister said Prime minister Shaukat Aziz will hold meeting with the KESC management on June 19 in the bid to tackle the situation. The call attention notice was moved by Dr. Farida Ahmed Siddiqui and others.(Posted @ 20:40 PST)
PPP not to vote for Musharraf re-election: Amin Fahim Hyderabad, Pakistan, June 13 (PPI): President of Alliance for Restoration of Democracy (ARD) Makhdoom Amin Fahim Wednesday said that the PPP-P would not vote for re-election of General Musharraf as president. He said the PPP was not striking any deal with government. Its deal was with people of Pakistan. He also said Kala Bagh Dam had been rejected by Sindh, NWFP and Balochistan Assemblies Amin Fahim said Benazir Bhutto would return this year and would take part in elections. He expressed serious concern on reports that 4.8mn persons of Sindh have been left out of draft electoral lists(Posted @ 20:40 PST)
Heatwave claims 30 more lives in southern Punjab Multan, June 13 (PPI): At least 30 more persons died in the Punjab during the last 24 hours owing to persisting heatwave while hundreds others have been hospitalised. The week-long hot weather has already claimed more than 80 lives in Pakistan.(Posted @ 19:40 PST)
Hamas seizes control of main Gaza road, at least nine die in clashes GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip, June 13 (AP) - Fierce battles over key security positions spread to central Gaza early Wednesday, with Hamas fighters wresting control of the coastal strip's main north-south road _ and putting themselves in position to cut off reinforcements to beleaguered Fatah forces. In Khan Younis, a one-ton bomb planted in an underground tunnel tore through the headquarters of a security force loyal to President Mahmoud Abbas, said Ali Qaisi, a presidential guard spokesman. At least one person was killed and eight others were injured, medics said. Security forces said they had lost control of the town. “Khan Younis is finished, but we are still holding on in Rafah,” said Ziad Sarafandi, a senior security official, referring to a town south of Khan Younis. Before the blast, Hamas militants called on the officers inside the building to come out or they would blow the building up, witnesses said. At least seven other militants died in fighting elsewhere in Gaza, and two people died of wounds sustained earlier.(Posted @ 19:35 PST)
Iran brushes off new sanctions threat in atom row TEHRAN, June 13 (Reuters) - Iran does not care if the United Nations passes any more resolutions against it because of its nuclear programme, president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said on Wednesday. “The Iranian nation does not give the slightest value to your resolutions,” Ahmadinejad said in a televised speech in Semnan, a city east of the capital. “What the Iranian nation says about the nuclear issue is just one word and that is 'justice'. If there is a law, it should be for everyone,” the president said. “(They) don't even want us to have science and technology This injustice will not be acceptable for the Iranian nation,” he added.(Posted @ 19:25 PST)
Afghan Taliban say have missing foreign soldier KABUL, June 13 (Reuters) - A foreign soldier went missing on Wednesday in Helmand province and the Taliban said it had kidnapped him. Taliban spokesman Qari Mohammad Yousuf, told Reuters they were establishing his identity. NATO and the U.S.-led military did not know his identity. But, earlier on Wednesday, a United Arab Emirates government official said that a member of a team providing security for a UAE aid mission has gone missing in Afghanistan.“We can confirm that a UAE citizen who is involved in providing security for UAE humanitarian aid in Afghanistan is currently unaccounted for,” the official said in Dubai. No other details on the disappearance were immediately available.(Posted @ 19:20 PST)
Fifteen Taliban, young girl killed in Afghan clashes KANDAHAR, June 13 (AFP) - Fifteen Taliban and a young girl were reported killed Wednesday in clashes in Afghanistan. Twelve militants were killed in Zabul province in fighting Tuesday to which the Afghan army called in foreign warplanes, the army's southern commander, Rahmatullah Raufi, said. Four more were arrested. Another battle erupted in the province overnight when Taliban attacked a police post nearby, the Mizan district chief said.The fighting lasted two hours and three Taliban were killed and five wounded, Mohammad Younus said.A rocket-propelled grenade landed on a civilian house during the battle, killing a girl aged about seven, he said. A Taliban spokesman, Yousuf Ahmadi, confirmed both clashes but not the death tolls.(Posted @ 19:00 PST)
Peres elected Israeli president JERUSALEM, June 13 (AFP) - Shimon Peres was on Wednesday elected president of Israel, winning a second round vote in parliament in which he was the sole candidate. The 83-year-old received 86 votes in the 120-seat Knesset, finally reaching the largely ceremonial post that slipped from his reach seven years ago in a shock defeat to the then obscure Moshe Katsav.Katsav is ending his seven-year term facing a looming indictment on a string of charges including rape.(Posted @ 18:50 PST)
Kashmiris' involvement in peace process inevitable: Yasin Malik ISLAMABAD, June 13 (APP): Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF) Chairman Mohammad Yasin Malik has reiterated that the involvement of the Kashmiris was inevita ble for a peaceful settlement of the dispute. Addressing a gathering at Waghama in Bijbehara he said blood of the freedom loving people especially the youth will not go waste and added that “the international community has accepted that unresolved Kashmir issue is not only threat to the sub-continent but also to the whole world.”(Posted @ 18:20 PST)
12 animals escape from zoo in Berlin, join rush-hour traffic BERLIN, June 13 (AP) - Berlin commuters on Wednesday found themselves sharing the road with escapees from a local zoo _ six horses, three camels, two goats and a llama. The animals escaped from a small petting zoo in the east of the capital and appeared shortly before 7 a.m. (0500 GMT) at a busy roundabout a few hundred meters (yards) away, police said. The animals' excursion, which led to minor disruption but no injuries, was ended swiftly. The horses were caught in a nearby park and the llama at a cemetery, police said. Their comrades also were apprehended. It was not immediately clear how the animals escaped.(Posted @ 18:20 PST)
Grandson of Gandhi found dead NEW DELHI, June 13 (AP) Ramchandra Gandhi, a grandson of Indian independence leader Mahatma Gandhi, was found dead in a bedroom at an elite club on Wednesday, police said. Ramchandra Gandhi, 70, checked in to the private members' club Sunday after frequent power outages left him without air conditioning, in blistering heat, at his New Delhi home, a police spokesman told The Associated Press. The door of his room was broken open after he didn't respond to the housekeeping staff's knocks, he said. He did not speculate on when Gandhi died, and police have yet to perform an autopsy. Ramchandra Gandhi used to be a professor at Princeton University in the United States.(Posted @ 18:05 PST)
Pakistan puts off plan to shut Afghan refugee camp QUETTA, Pakistan, June 13 (Reuters) - Pakistani authorities have put off plans to shut down one of the oldest camps for Afghan refugees, saying its inhabitants have refused to go home or to be relocated, a government official said. Pakistan had set June 15 as the deadline for the closure of Jungle Pir Alizai camp, in the southwestern province of Baluchistan, set up after the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in 1979. But Khalid Mahmood, commissioner for refugees in the province, said the deadline would be missed. Despite missing this month's deadline, Mahmood said authorities still hoped to shut down Jungle Pir Alizai and the other three camps earmarked for closure, and would try to persuade the inhabitants, through peaceful means, to get out.“Now through the political process ... the government is trying to close these camps as soon as possible this year.” According to a 2005 census by the U.N. refugee agency, the Jungle Pir Alizai camp is home to 35,000 Afghans. But according to residents its total population is more than 100,000.(Posted @ 17:40 PST)
India to elect new president next month NEW DELHI, June 13 (Reuters) - India will hold elections next month to choose a new president if the ruling coalition and the opposition do not agree on a consensus candidate, the Election Commission said on Wednesday. The five-year term of A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, a former missile scientist, expires on July 24. Elections, if necessary, would be held on July 19, the Election Commission said. Federal Home Minister Shivraj Patil is tipped to be the candidate of the ruling Congress party, while Vice-President Bhairon Singh Shekawat, a former leader of the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party, is expected to run for the opposition.(Posted @ 17:30 PST)
Iraq: newspaper owner kidnapped; 26 bodies found Baghdad, June 13 (Reuters) - A bomb targeting the police chief of the town of Mandili killed three of his bodyguards and wounded five other people, including the police chief, police said. Mandili is in Dilyala Province, near the Iranian border. In another incident, gunmen kidnapped Filaih Wadi Mijthab, managing editor of the state-run al-Sabah daily newspaper, in Habibiya in eastern Baghdad, police said Meanwhile, the bodies of 26 people were found in different parts of Baghdad on Tuesday, police said. They had been shot. A person was killed and six were wounded by a mortar attack in Baquba, 65 km northeast of Baghdad. A bridge southwest of Kirkuk connecting this northern city with Tikrit was blown up overnight in a roadside bomb attack, police said. No casualties were reported.(Posted @ 17:25 PST)
Bomb kills two, wounds 30 in northeast India GUWAHATI, India, June 13 (Reuters) - Two people were killed and 30 wounded in a powerful bomb blast in a crowded village market near Hajo, a small town near the state capital, Dispur in India's restive state of Assam on Wednesday, police said. The bomb was kept on a bicycle. Earlier on Wednesday, police killed a rebel and recovered 10 kg of explosives in the state's main city, Guwahati. The Hajo bombing was believed to be the work of the ULFA which has been fighting for Assam's independence since 1979. . The insurgency has killed more than 20,000 people.(Posted @ 17:15 PST)
Two more soldiers die in fighting at Lebanon camp NAHR AL-BARED, Lebanon, June 13 (Reuters) - Two Lebanese soldiers were killed in fresh fighting on Wednesday between army units and militants at a Palestinian refugee camp, security sources said. One of the dead was an officer shot by a sniper, they said.(Posted @ 17:10 PST)
Indian army foils occupied Kashmir CM assassination plot SRINAGAR, June 13 (AFP) - Authorities in occupied Kashmir said Wednesday they had foiled a plot by militants to assassinate Chief Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad. The Indian army said three men were arrested shortly before Azad was to deliver a speech on Tuesday in the town of Handwara, about 80 kilometers north of Srinagar. They had confessed to planning to lob a grenade at him. A grenade was also recovered.(Posted @ 17:00 PST)
Air crash kills two Georgian military pilots TBILISI, June 13 (Reuters) A Georgian air force instructor and a cadet died Wednesday when their plane crashed during a training flight outside the capital Tbilisi, Imedi TV channel reported. (Posted @ 14:55 PST)
Pakistan and Germany agree to review trade relations ISLAMABAD, June 13 (APP) Commerce Minister Humayun Akhtar Khan said Pakistan wanted to have level playing field in trade regime and market access on the same condition offered by the EU along with its other competitors. He stated this in a meeting with State Secretary of German Federal Ministry of Economy and Technology Dr. Bernd Pfaffenbach Wednesday. Both the leaders exchanged views on bilateral trade and issues related to free trade agreement. The Commerce Minister apprised his German counterpart of the existing EU's preferential treatment to most of the countries in the South Asian region. (Posted @ 14:46 PST)
Iraq imposes indefinite curfew in Baghdad BAGHDAD, June 13 (APP/AFP) An indefinite curfew has been imposed in Baghdad from Wednesday 3:00 pm following the bombing of a shrine in the northern town of Samarra, state television reported. Baghdad already is under a nightly curfew between 11:00 pm and 6:00 am. (Posted @ 14:40 PST)
Suicide bomber kills five Kurdish policemen SULAIMANIYAH, Iraq, June 13, (APP/AFP) A suicide bomber walked into the office of a police chief of the Kurdish town of Mandeli in Diyala province Wednesday and blew himself up killing five policemen and wounding two, including the police station chief, a police officer said. (Posted @ 13:37 PST)
Militants parade bandits in Pakistan MIRANSHAH, Pakistan, June 13 (AFP) Militants shaved the heads of seven alleged bandits involved in snatching vehicles and robberies, blackened their faces and paraded them in a bazaar in Miranshah in the North Waziristan tribal region, witnesses said Wednesday. Witnesses said the heavily-armed militants arrested the alleged criminals Tuesday from Mir Ali town as part of their campaign to curb crime in the area. (Posted @ 13:35 PST)
Three US troops killed in Iraq BAGHDAD, June 13 (AFP) Insurgents have killed three US troops in separate attacks in Iraq, the military announced Wednesday. A soldier was killed in a roadside bomb attack during combat operations in eastern Baghdad Monday and another soldier was killed and two wounded when their vehicle was struck by a roadside bomb Tuesday. A marine was killed Tuesday while conducting combat operations in the western province of Anbar, the military said. (Posted @ 13:34 PST)
Militants kill four in southern Thailand BANGKOK, June 13 (Reuters) Suspected separatist rebels killed four people and wounded eight soldiers in three separate attacks in southern Thailand, police said Wednesday. (Posted @ 12:05 PST)
China bus-truck crash kills 11 BEIJING, June 13 (Reuters) A bus and a truck collided in east China’s Anhui province on Tuesday, killing 11 people, Xinhua news agency said Wednesday. (Posted @ 11:22 PST)
Venezuela's Chavez visits Castro HAVANA, June 12 (Reuters) Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez visited convalescing Cuban leader Fidel Castro, his ideological mentor and ally, Tuesday, Cuba's state television said. “The two statesmen and revolutionary leaders discussed joint development programs between Venezuela and Cuba for six hours,” a newscaster said. Castro and Chavez, he said, reviewed advances in the leftist alliance they have forged in Latin American, the Bolivarian Alternative for the Americas, or ALBA. Chavez was also scheduled to meet with acting President Raul Castro. “Long live Cuba! Long live Fidel!” Chavez shouted on arrival at the Havana airport, television images showed. (Posted @ 11:20 PST)
Fatah threatens to quit Palestinian government RAMALLAH, West Bank, June 13 (AFP) Fatah threatened late Tuesday to quit the Palestinian unity government led by Hamas unless raging street battles between the two rivals stopped in Gaza. “The committee has decided that (Fatah) ministers will no longer participate in the government if the shooting does not stop,” said a statement from Fatah's central committee after meeting for more than two hours in Ramallah. (Posted @ 09:20 PST)
Karachi Stocks up 149.71 points: KARACHI, June 13: At the close of trading the KSE-100 index was at 13475.88, up 149.71 points. (Bureau Report) (Updated @ 14:17 PST)
Forex update: KARACHI, June 13: The Pakistani Rupee was traded at Rs 60.95 to the US Dollar in the open market. (Bureau Report) (Updated @ 14:17 PST)
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