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| June 23, 2007 | Saturday | Jamadi-us-Sani 07, 1428 |
Updated round-the-clock, with major updates after 10:00 PST (05:00 GMT)
Rain kills 40 in Pakistan’s Karachi KARACHI, June 24, (AFP) - At least 40 people were killed and scores injured by torrential rain that uprooted trees and huge steel billboards in southern Pakistan, hospitals and emergency services said on Saturday. Many died in roof collapses and in electrocutions with much of Pakistan's largest city and its commercial capital plunged into darkness after its power system collapsed. “At least 40 people have died and around 150 were injured in today's rain,”Syed Sardar Ahmed, health minister for Sindh province told AFP. Ahmed said that 13 people died in the impoverished Gadap neighbourhood where roofs of shanty houses collapsed due to huge thunderstorms. “We have declared an emergency at all government hospitals and cancelled the vacations and leave of doctors and paramedics,” he added. The thunderstorm in Karachi wreaked havoc within an hour on Saturday afternoon, with the Met office saying the port city received 17.2 mm of rain. (Posted @ 23:14 PST)
Suspended Pakistan judge acclaimed on latest procession PATTOKI, Pakistan, June 23 (AFP) Hundreds of people showered rose petals over Pakistan's suspended chief justice Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry Saturday who left Lahore early Saturday and was due to reach Multan, 230 kilometres away, in the evening to address a lawyers' convention. Around 2,000 people greeted Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry when he reached the rural town of Pattoki 80 kilometres southwest of Lahore. Opposition party workers waving their flags and hundreds of lawyers in their black suits shouted “Go Musharraf Go” and “War will continue till independence of the judiciary” amid traditional drum beats to welcome guests. Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry's motorcade made slow progress Saturday as hundreds of people stood in the road to cheer him braving humid, wet conditions. In the town of Okara, some 210 kilometres northeast of Multan, men danced with joy as they watched Justice Iftikhar's vehicle pass. Lawyers' delegations from other cities were arriving to attend the evening convention. “We have made arrangements for around 22,000 people and for lawyers there will be more than 8,000 seats at the venue where the chief justice will deliver his address,” Habibullah Shakir, president of High Court Bar Association, told AFP. (First Posted @ 10:52 PST Updated @ 18:32 PST)
Blast kills four Pakistani paramilitary soldiers ISLAMABAD, June 23 (Reuters/AP) - A roadside blast killed four Pakistani paramilitary soldiers and wounded two on Saturday in a tribal region near the Afghan border, a military spokesman said. The blast hit the soldiers on patrol 20 km east of Miranshah, the main town in North Waziristan. “Soldiers were on a foot petrol when hit by an improvised device near a military checkpoint. It killed four of them,” said military spokesman Major-General Waheed Arshad. The attack came four days after an apparent missile attack killed 33 militants at a training camp in the region. Military officials said 23 of the dead were of Arab origin. (First Posted @ 10:05 PST Updated @ 10:55 PST)
Cricket: India set 171 to beat Ireland BELFAST, June 23, (AFP) - India were set a revised target of 171 in 39 overs, under the Duckworth-Lewis method, to beat Ireland in in their lone one-day international at Stormont here Saturday after rain delayed the start of their reply to the hosts' 193 all out. (Posted @ 23:46 PST)
57 die in rain, floods in India HYDERABAD, India, June 23, (AFP) - Three days of heavy rain and flash floods killed 57 people across several Indian states and forced more than 100,000 from their homes, officials said Saturday. The southern state of Andhra Pradesh was the worst hit with 32 dead, down from the previous official toll of 41 as missing people thought to have perished were found. (Posted @ 23:22 PST)
Three soldiers killed in Lebanon siege camp blast NAHR AL-BARED, Lebanon, June 23, (AFP) - Three Lebanese soldiers were killed on Saturday when a booby trap set by Fatah al-Islam militants exploded in the Nahr al-Bared Palestinian refugee camp, an army spokesman said. One soldier was killed outright and three more were seriously wounded, two of them fatally, he said on the 35th day of the siege north of Tripoli. (Posted @ 22:48 PST)
Burundi forces shoot dead Russian diplomat: army BUJUMBURA, June 23,(REUTERS) - Burundi security forces shot dead a Russian diplomat on Saturday after he drove through a checkpoint, an army spokesman said. “He was told to stop by soldiers at a checkpoint south of Bujumbura but he forced his way through,” Col. Adolphe Manirakiza told local radio. “The soldiers shot at his car and he was hit. He had ejected his companion before the incident,” Manirakiza added. (Posted @ 22:32 PST)
Two detainees die in US prisons in Iraq BAGHDAD, June 23, (AFP) - Two detainees held at US-run prisons in Iraq were reported dead on Saturday by the US military, including one who was wounded in a mortar attack on his jail earlier this month. A detainee died on Friday at Camp Bucca in southern Iraq from cardiac arrest, the military said, after being wounded in a June 9 mortar attack on the prison. (Posted @ 22:10 PST)
Eight U.S. soldiers killed in Iraq BAGHDAD, June 23 (Reuters) Eight U.S. soldiers were killed, most of them in roadside bomb blats northwest of Baghdad on Saturday, the U.S. military said. (First Posted @ 21:04 PST Updated @ 21:58 PST)
Seventeen deminers abducted in Afghanistan KANDAHAR, Afghanistan, June 23 (AFP) Suspected Taliban insurgents abducted Saturday 17 Afghan mine clearers in southern Afghanistan, police and their organisation said. The 17 were kidnapped while travelling in Ghazni province, Mohammad Shohab Hakimi, the head of the Mine Detection and Dogs Centre, told AFP. (Posted @ 20:16 PST)
U.S., Iraq forces kill 90 al Qaeda in offensives BAQUBA, Iraq, June 23 (Reuters) U.S. and Iraqi forces say they have killed 90 al Qaeda fighters around Baghdad in the past five days during one of the biggest combined offensives against the Sunni Islamist group since the invasion of Iraq in 2003. U.S. air strikes Saturday killed seven suspected al Qaeda fighters in Tikrit in Salahuddin province and near the city of Falluja, west of Baghdad, the U.S. military said in a statement. (Posted @ 20:14 PST)
Bush vows permanent ban on future illegal migrants WASHINGTON, June 23 (AFP) President George W. Bush promised Saturday to permanently bar future illegal immigrants from the United States as he renewed his push for immigration reform. In his weekly radio address, Bush revealed for the first time that under the revised proposal, people crossing a US border illegally will not only be deported, but never allowed to enter the United States again. “Under this bill, those caught crossing illegally will be permanently barred from returning to the United States on a work or tourist visa,” the president stated. (Posted @ 19:50 PST)
Elections according to schedule: Mushahid Hussain ISLAMABAD, June 23 (APP) The government would hold the election according to schedule and baseless rumours about elections would not affect its pledge to hold free and fair elections. This was stated by Senator Mushahid Hussain Syed while talking to a private TV channel. He said President’s election and general elections would be important in their own place. Every party could contest election on the basis of its programme and performance. He said, commitment was the rule of the game. Ultimate authority was with the people of Pakistan who will select their leadership in elections through the ballot. (Posted @ 19:42 PST)
Dismissed Hamas PM urges talks with Fatah rivals GAZA CITY, June 23 (APP/AFP) Dismissed Hamas premier Ismail Haniyeh called for new talks with president Mahmud Abbas's Fatah party Saturday in his first public contact with a foreign leader since his group's seizure of Gaza. Haniyeh told Yemeni President Ali Abullah Saleh that he wanted a return to the provisions of the power-sharing accord agreed by Abbas and Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal in the Muslim holy city of Mecca in February under the auspices of Saudi Arabia, his office said. “The way out of the present crisis is through inter-Palestinian dialogue without preconditions on the basis of no winner, no loser; a government of national unity; and respect for the Mecca agreement,” his office quoted him as saying in the telephone conversation. But Haniyeh's appeal was swiftly rejected by the Palestinian leadership, which said there could be no dialogue without Hamas being held to account for their routing of the security forces in Gaza in a week of ferocious fighting in which more than 110 people were killed. (Posted @ 19:10 PST)
PML, allies proud of presenting five successive budgets: PM Aziz ISLAMABAD, June 23 (APP) Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz Saturday said that the PML and its allied parties are proud of the fact that their government has presented five successive budgets for the first time in the country's history. He said this during a meeting with a group of parliamentarians including ministers in his chamber at the Parliament House. Aziz said that the relief-oriented current budget indicates government's commitment to transferring the benefits of high economic growth to the masses in order to further improve their standard of living. He said that the government has taken various measures to control the price of essential commodities all over the country. He said because of prudent monetary measures taken at the right time, the impact of global price hike has been largely shielded. (Posted @ 18:44 PST)
President Musharraf highlights importance of govt's executive arm LAHORE, June 23 (APP) President Pervez Musharraf, highlighting the importance of the role of executive arm of the government in national development, underlined the need to further improve it. Speaking at the passing out of 86th National Management Course of National School of Public Policy here Saturday, the President took keen interest in the future performance of the civil servants. Speaking about the overall performance of the country in different sectors, the President underscored the need for public service-oriented goals and bold decisions by bureaucracy. (Posted @ 18:40 PST)
AG Punjab, IGP Islamabad directed to appear before SC in Kafila murder case ISLAMABAD, June 23 (APP) The Supreme Court of Pakistan Saturday took suo-moto action in Kafila Siddiqui murder case and directed Advocate General Punjab and Inspector General Police Islamabad to appear before Justice Javed Iqbal on June 29. According to a press release issued by the Supreme Court, Justice Javed Iqbal took suo-moto notice about the murder of Kafila Siddiqui on a press report and passed order about the said case. (Posted @ 18:34 PST)
Lal Masjid students release Chinese women ISLAMABAD, June 23 (Reuters) Lal Masjid students kidnapped nine people, including six Chinese women, Saturday and accused them of running a brothel. The nine were released after several hours. “The foreign women were involved in prostitution in a massage centre,” the students said in a statement before their release. Abdul Rashid Ghazi, a top cleric at Islamabad's Lal Masjid, said the nine had been let go in the interests of friendship between Pakistan and China and after authorities had given assurances about stopping mixed-sex massage parlours. Ghazi told Reuters seven of the nine, who were held at a religious school next to the Lal Masjid, were Chinese and two Pakistanis. Six of the Chinese were women, he said. China's Xinhua news agency said Pakistan Interior Minister Aftab Ahmed Khan Sherpao had telephoned China's ambassador to apologise and assure him the hostages would be speedily released. (Posted @ 18:22 PST)
Two U.S. soldiers killed, three wounded in attack in Baghdad BAGHDAD, June 23 (APP/AP) Two U.S. soldiers were killed and three were wounded Saturday when their unit was struck by a roadside bomb, then came under small-arms fire in eastern Baghdad, the military said. (Posted @ 18:12 PST)
Cargo vessel with 24 crew stranded off India's west coast NEW DELHI, June 23 (AFP) The Indian coast guard Saturday was trying to save 24 crew members trapped on a sinking cargo vessel stranded in the Arabian Sea off the west coast of India, the local maritime rescue centre said. The vessel, buffeted by rough weather, ran aground and tilted Saturday morning off the coast of Karnataka state. “It has 24 crew and is carrying 7,500 metric tonnes of black sand.” (Posted @ 18:04 PST)
US seeks shutdown of UN WMD inspection program in Iraq UNITED NATIONS, June 23 (AFP) The United States and Britain have circulated a draft resolution in the Security Council that would immediately terminate the work of UN inspectors tasked with monitoring and dismantling Iraq's weapons of mass destruction. The text, a copy of which was obtained by AFP Friday, would “terminate immediately” the mandate of the United Nations Monitoring, Verification and Inspection Commission (UNMOVIC), charged with locating and dismantling Iraq's chemical and biological weapons as well as its long-range missiles. (Posted @ 17:48 PST)
NATO force apologises after Afghan civilians killed KABUL, June 23 (APP/AFP) The NATO-led military force in Afghanistan said Saturday it had met Afghan elders to express “deep regret” for an incident in which police said 25 civilians were killed in an anti-Taliban air raid. The strike in the southern province of Helmand in the early hours of Friday was a response to an attack by Taliban fighters on troops from NATO's International ISAF. (Posted @ 17:40 PST)
Rocket kills nine in Pakistan MIRANSHAH, Pakistan, June 23 (AFP) A rocket fired by coalition forces in Afghanistan killed at least nine civilians in a nearby Pakistani tribal area when it hit their home, an official said Saturday. The casualties occurred in North Waziristan tribal district's Mangreti village on the border with Afghanistan late Friday as Afghan and coalition forces conducted an operation against insurgents, they said. “Afghan and coalition forces were conducting an operation against militants and a few rockets came in our area. One of the rockets hit a house in which nine people were killed,” Pakistan military spokesman Major General Waheed Arshad said. (Posted @ 17:12 PST)
Transfer of North Korean funds completed SEOUL, June 23 (AFP) The transfer of North Korean funds frozen in a Macau bank has been completed amid hopes of quick progress on implementing a nuclear disarmament deal, a report said Saturday. “As of Saturday morning, the transfer has been finished,” a South Korean diplomatic source told Yonhap news agency. (Posted @ 16:25 PST)
Blair holds private talks with pope at Vatican VATICAN CITY, June 23 (AFP) Britain's outgoing Prime Minister Tony Blair and his wife Cherie met Saturday with Pope Benedict XVI in a private audience at the Vatican, raising speculation he may convert to Catholicism. The meeting with the pontiff comes four days before Blair leaves office after agreeing to resign amid the British public's dissatisfaction with the country's involvement in the US-led war in Iraq. (Posted @ 16:22 PST)
49 killed in storms in central, southwest China SHANGHAI, June 23 (AFP) The death toll from recent torrential rains in central and southwest China that triggered flash floods and landslides rose to 49 and 23 missing, the government reported Saturday. The poor weather that began more than a week ago has left 403,000 homeless and affected more 10 million people, Xinhua news agency said. (Posted @ 16:20 PST)
Yemeni soldier kills two Asian oil workers SANAA, June 23 (AFP) A Yemeni soldier shot dead two foreign oil company employees Saturday and injured four others, the interior ministry said. The ministry said the two men, an Indian and a Filipino, worked for the California-based Occidental Petroleum Company (Oxy). Two Britons, an American and a Yemeni were also seriously injured in the attack that took place in the Shabwah region about 300 kilometres east of Sanaa. (Posted @ 16:15 PST)
Afghan president condemns “indiscriminate” military operations KABUL, June 23 (AFP) President Hamid Karzai angrily condemned Saturday “indiscriminate and unprecise” operations by NATO- and US-led forces in Afghanistan that he said had killed 90 civilians in just over a week. “Attacks causing civilian casualties, as I have said before, is not acceptable for us. It is no longer tolerated,” Karzai told reporters at his palace. (Posted @ 16:10 PST)
Fire erupts in shopping mall KARACHI, June 23 (APP): A fire has erupted in a shopping plaza in fashionable area Clifton Saturday afternoon, Fire Brigade sources said. They said that fire tenders were trying to extinguish the fire which begin from a cloth shop and engulfed the entire building. (Posted @ 14:43 PST)
Remote-controlled wireless surveillance cameras to be installed in Karachi Karachi, June 23 (PPI): Capital City Police Officer Azhar Ali Farooqui has said remote-controlled wireless surveillance cameras would be installed at different places across Karachi city under Mobile Command Plan to keep eye on all kinds of activities in an integrated way. “Through this plan, any suspected person or subversive activity could be checked effectively, and with identification of such persons or things, the Rapid Action Police would move swiftly and rush to the site for an action,” he said according to an official handout on Saturday. CCPO said a Central Operational Control Room would be setup in his office from where the performance of all the remote-controlled wireless cameras would be monitored. Further, Mobile Command Van MCV is also under preparation for the surveillance of congregations and such other activities taking place in the city. “The air-conditioned MCV would be equipped with remote-controlled wireless camera, wireless phone and wireless set while an ASP or DSP would be there with a team for swift action in case any suspected person or thing is detected,” Azhar Farooqui said. (Posted @ 12:05 PST)
Storm kills 45, floods villages in India HYDERABAD, India, June 23(Reuters) - A ferocious storm in India's southern Andhra Pradesh state has killed at least 45 people and displaced tens of thousands, officials said on Saturday. At least 45 people were reported dead and officials said many others, including fishermen out at sea, were missing after the tropical storm hit coastal regions of the state on Friday. Hundreds of trees were uprooted, electric poles felled and highways flooded as low-lying villages and small towns in the Kurnool and Guntur districts took the full force of the storm. The dead included 15 people swept away by a flash flood near a bridge construction site in Kurnool, 225 km southwest of the state capital, Hyderabad. About a dozen others were killed by lightning strikes. (Posted @ 12:34 PST)
NATO says 60 insurgents killed near Pakistan FORWARD OPERATING BASE THUNDER, Afghanistan, June 23 (AP) - NATO and U.S.-led coalition forces killed about 60 insurgents along the border with Pakistan in what was described as the largest insurgent formation crossing the border region in six months, NATO said Saturday. ISAF said about 60 insurgents attempted to attack Afghan and ISAF forces Friday in the Bermel district of Paktika province, near the Pakistan border. The insurgents fired on aircraft, and NATO and U.S.-led coalition forces returned fire, killing about 60 fighters, an ISAF statement said. The ISAF statement said it was the “largest formation observed since Jan. 10 manoeuvring in this area.” In January U.S. forces said they had killed around 130 of 180 insurgents crossing the border. There were no reported Pakistan military, coalition or Afghan forces injured or wounded during the engagement, ISAF said. It said an increase in U.S. and Afghan forces along the border, as well as an increase in cooperation with Pakistan's military, have led to improved intelligence in the region. Meanwhile, in Kandahar province, Afghan and coalition soldiers killed nearly 20 enemy fighters during a seven-hour firefight, a coalition statement said. (Posted @ 11:13 PST)
Pakistan holds three Germans over Islamist links WIESBADEN, Germany, June 23 (AFP) - Authorities in Pakistan have arrested three Germans for suspected links to Islamist extremist groups, police in Germany said Friday. Two of the Germans were converts to Islam, the head of the federal police Joerg Ziercke, told reporters in the southwestern city of Wiesbaden, adding that the suspects were being held in Pakistan. The third man, already considered by the German authorities to be a dangerous individual with links to Islamist extremists, was of foreign origin and had been living in the Wiesbaden region, officials said. They would not immediately say when the Germans were arrested, but the German newspaper Die Welt reported in its Saturday edition that the arrests were made “several days ago”. One suspect was arrested trying to cross illegally from Pakistan to Iran, the second was apprehended in Karachi, while the third was trying to return to Germany, Die Welt reported, quoting government sources. (Posted @ 10:00 PST)
Iraq: 12 bodies found Baghdad, June 23 (Reuters) - Police found 11 bodies on the streets of Baghdad on Friday. Most had been shot dead. Another body was found showing signs of torture in Kirkuk, 250 km north of Baghdad. Meanwhile, gunmen killed a police officer and wounded two of his bodyguards on the road between Najaf and the nearby town of Kufa on Friday. (Posted @ 11:40 PST)
Iraq genocide verdict against 'Chemical Ali' due Sunday BAGHDAD, June 23 (AFP) - The Iraqi High Tribunal is set to give its verdict on Sunday on six former aides of Saddam Hussein accused of slaughtering 182,000 Kurdish villagers during a 1988 military campaign in northern Iraq. The most prominent defendant is Ali Hassan al-Majid, a cousin of Saddam who is widely known as “Chemical Ali”. The five others include Sabir al-Duri, former director of military intelligence; Sultan Hashim al-Tai, a former defence minister; Hussein Rashid al-Tikriti, former armed forces deputy chief of operations; Farhan al-Juburi, a former military intelligence commander; and Taher al-Ani, former governor of the main northern city of Mosul. (Posted @ 12:12 PST)
Britain proposes new UN sanctions on Iran WASHINGTON, June 23 (Reuters) - Iran's airlines and ships could be denied landing and transit rights and two more of its banks could have their assets frozen under informal proposals by Britain for a new U.N. sanctions resolution. The confidential draft, obtained by Reuters on Friday, is aimed at increasing pressure on Iran for defying U.N. Security Council demands that it cease uranium enrichment. (Posted @ 10:35 PST)
Three thousand year-old mummy discovered in Egypt CAIRO, June 23(AFP) - Archaeologists have discovered the 3,000-year-old mummy of a high priest to the god Amun in the southern city of Luxor, antiquities supremo Zahi Hawass told the official MENA news agency on Saturday. The 18th Dynasty mummy of Sennefer was unearthed the Valley of the Kings on the west bank of Luxor, Hawass said. Other mummies were found during the excavation, including one with a brain tumour, a foetus, a female mummy wrapped in plaster and others which appeared to have suffered from arthritis, Hawass said. (Posted @ 09:45 PST)
Five killed in blast in India's northeast GUWAHATI, June 23 (AFP) - Five people were killed, including a baby, and 35 more wounded Saturday in a powerful explosion at a crowded marketplace in Guwahati in India's restive northeastern state of Assam. “The bomb was probably strapped to a bicycle and kept near the approach of the market,” a police spokesman said. Police said the blast may have been carried out by the outlawed United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA), fighting for an independent homeland for more than three decades. (First Posted @ 09:38 PST Updated @ 10:40 PST)
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