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| June 25, 2007 | Monday | Jamadi-us-Sani 09, 1428 |
Updated round-the-clock, with major updates after 10:00 PST (05:00 GMT)
Egypt blames Israel for Gaza violence, urges talks SHARM EL-SHEIKH, June 25 (AFP): Egypt on Monday blamed Israel for the violence in the Palestinian territories and called for the relaunch of long-stalled negotiations on a comprehensive peace settlement. “The Israeli incursions, and the action it is undertaking as an occupying force, the suffering of the Palestinian people, the events in Gaza, all show that the absence of peace is what has led Palestinians to turn their weapons on each other instead of committing to resisting the occupation,” Presidential Spokesman Suleiman Awad told reporters. He was speaking as Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas held their first encounter since Hamas fighters took control of Gaza 10 days ago..“President (Hosni) Mubarak is calling for an agreement between the Israelis and the Palestinians to start negotiations including over the final status,”Awad said. “The roadmap, which is now dead, concentrated on the first stages, such as security and the disarmement of Palestinian factions,” Awad said. “The solution is now to enter into final status negotiations with both sides sharing good intentions,” he said. Abbas and Olmert were to join Mubarak and Jordan's King Abdullah II in a four-way summit aimed at bolstering Abbas after the Gaza takover by Hamas, and to seek ways to revitalise the peace process. (Posted @ 21:38 PST)
Turkey's EU talks hit new obstacle amid French pressure BRUSSELS, June 25 (AFP): Turkey's membership talks with the European Union hit a new snag Monday when the EU decided not to open negotiations on economic and monetary policy, amid pressure from France. The move -- a brake on talks already set to run for at least a decade -- is likely to rachet up tensions with Ankara, which has already expressed anger over France's hardline stance. Germany had long planned to open talks with Turkey, by the end of its turn at the EU presidency on June 30, on three of the 35 accession chapters that all candidate countries must complete. But diplomats confirmed that one chapter, or policy area, had been pulled from Monday's agenda. “The chapter on economic and monetary policy has been withdrawn from the agenda of the meeting of ambassadors,” an EU diplomat said, on condition of anonymity. An EU official confirmed that ambassadors from the 27 member states had given the green light for talks on the two other chapters -- statistics and financial control -- to begin Tuesday. He would not confirm why the economic and monetary chapter was withdrawn. There was no immediate comment from France, however since coming to power last month, French President Nicolas Sarkozy affirmed his opposition to mainly-Muslim Turkey joining the EU. “I don't think that Turkey has a place in the Union,” he said during his first official visit to Brussels. Sarkozy has proposed instead that a Mediterranean Union be created which Ankara could be part of. (Posted @ 20:52 PST)
Pakistan condemns NATO civilian killings ISLAMABAD, June 25 (AFP): Pakistan on Monday condemned civilian killings by NATO forces in tribal areas bordering Afghanistan and said it would not allow foreign troops to hunt militants on its territory. Foreign ministry spokeswoman Tasnim Aslam said Pakistan protested after International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) weapons hit a building near the Afghan border on Saturday. “We have protested against this incident and we condemn the killing of civilians. And I must repeat it again that any action to be taken inside Pakistani territory has to be taken by Pakistani forces.” Aslam said. “This incident underscores the need for better coordination, care and restraint by NATO forces, especially when they are operating close to the border,” she said. Pakistan military spokesman Major General Waheed Arshad earlier put the toll at 10 dead and 14 wounded, seven of them seriously. ISAF has said it regretted the incident. A day before the incident, Afghan President Hamid Karzai accused ISAF and the separate US-led coalition of causing civilian casualties in the battle against insurgents through “indiscriminate and unprecise” operations. (Posted @ 19:48 PST)
Moderate quake strikes eastern Indonesia JAKARTA, June 25 (Reuters) An undersea earthquake measuring 6.0 on the Richter scale rocked eastern Indonesia on Monday, but there were no reports of damage and there was no risk of a tsunami, a Meteorology and Geophysics Agency official said. The epicentre of the quake lay 45 km (28 miles) northwest of Labuhanbajo in East Nusa Tanggara province on Sumba island at a depth of 181 km, an analyst at the agency said. (Posted @ 19:15 PST)
Baghdad hotel bombed as 45 killed in Iraq BAGHDAD, June 25 (AFP): Suicide bombers carried out three attacks that struck a Baghdad hotel and police targets on Monday in a wave of insurgent bombings in Iraq that killed at least 45 people, including a lawmaker, policemen and tribal leaders. A suicide bomber blew himself up in the crowded lobby of Baghdad's Al-Mansour Melia hotel, killing at least 12 people, including a Shiite lawmaker and some Sunni tribal sheikhs, staff and security officials said. They explosion also wounded 21 people, occurred during an informal gathering of local tribal sheikhs at the hotel located on the west bank of the Tigris river. Security officials confirmed that the meeting was the target of the attack. The attack came shortly after two other suicide bombings killed another 33 people, mostly policemen, in the north and central regions of the country.The deadliest strike was in the northern oil refining town of Baiji where 25 people were killed when a bomber ploughed an explosives-laden oil tanker into the police headquarters of the town, a local police officer said. Another 50 people, mostly civilians, were wounded. In central Iraq, in the town of Hilla, a suicide car bomber slammed into a crowd of recruits waiting outside a police academy, killing eight and wounding several dozen. “The recruits were just a week away from their graduation,” said Police Lieutenant Mohammed al-Dulaimi of Hilla police. (First Posted @ 14:34 PST Updated @ 18:23 PST)
Bangladesh's Khaleda Zia hit by party rebellion DHAKA, June 25 (AFP): Bangladesh's embattled former premier Khaleda Zia was hit by a fresh blow on Monday with senior rebels in her own party promising to oust her as leader. Zia, who led Bangladesh twice from 1991-1996 and 2001-2006, is already facing possible corruption charges and apparent pressure to go into exile amid a major anti-graft crackdown by the country's military-backed emergency government. Mahbubur Rahman, a reformist in Zia's Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), said she would be asked to step down as party chief as soon as the authorities lift a ban on politics that was imposed in January. “Party secretary general Abdul Mannan Bhuiyan has unveiled the reform proposals this afternoon, which we hope will inject new life into the BNP and make it strong and popular,” he said, indicating that Zia had lost her grip on the party. “We will ask her to quit the party post. I think she will accept the proposals because we have the support of almost all the senior party figures,”he said. Rahman insisted a party coup was not taking place at the behest of Bangladesh's interim leaders, who have vowed to clean up the country's notoriously corrupt political landscape before holding new polls by the end of next year. Under the proposals also backed by a number of former BNP ministers, no member can lead the party or the government twice and anyone with a criminal conviction will automatically lose their party membership. This would mean Zia's elder son and heir apparent, Tareque Rahman, could also be ousted. He is in jail facing charges of extortion. There were no immediate comments from Zia. (Posted @ 18:10 PST)
Bridge collapses under Indian train: 12 killed GAUHATI, India, June 25 (Reuters) An old rail bridge collapsed as a goods train passed over it in India's remote northeast on Monday, killing 12 people on board, a railway spokesman said. Several cars of the train carrying rice fell off the tracks in the hilly Cachar district of Assam state, killing seven of the victims instantly. “We do not know how the bridge collapsed, but it was an old one,” spokesman T. Rabha said. Heavy monsoon rains in the hilly region frequently trigger landslides, snapping rail and road links. Many bridges across India's rail network, one of the world's largest, are several decades old with some having been built during British colonial rule. (Posted @ 17:48 PST)
Britain must overhaul Afghan policies: report LONDON, June 25 (Reuters): An international think-tank has urged Britain's next prime minister, Gordon Brown, to put development and reconstruction before military action to prevent Afghanistan becoming a Taliban stronghold again. Current military, development and counter-narcotics campaigns are being pursued in a manner that only feeds deep insecurity and extreme poverty, the Senlis Council said in a report issued on Monday. “If Brown wants to avoid a similar negative influence on his mandate, he has to go back to the drawing board in Afghanistan. It's about development, humanitarian aid and reconstruction not military intervention,” said Jorrit Kamminga, spokesman for the group. Britain contributes about 7,000 troops to a 30,000-strong NATO force in Afghanistan, and its forces make up the bulk of a NATO stabilisation mission in the southern province of Helmand, where the fighting has been most intense. Britain's Foreign Office said its policies were in line with the Afghan government's own strategy, and that eradicating poppy crops and improving law and order institutions to pursue drug traffickers in Afghanistan was still the right approach. (Posted @ 17:38 PST)
End hypocrisy on environment, WEF told SINGAPORE, June 25 (AFP): The World Economic Forum on East Asia heard contending views Monday about who is responsible for global environmental damage, with one official accusing developed nations of hypocrisy. Malaysia's Second Minister of Finance Nor Mohamed Yakcop said “the companies that are polluting in China are owned by Americans and Europeans and Japanese and others. They are benefitting from the cheap labour. They are benefitting from the resources.”On that basis, he said it is a mistake to single out China or other developing countries as the culprits. China's economic boom has given rise to massive and harmful pollution nationwide. A Dutch research body said last week that China for the first time spewed out more carbon-dioxide emissions last year than the United States. Ralph Peterson, Chairman and Chief Executive officer of CH2M Hill Companies, said Asian nations were using a disproportionate amount of energy relative to their rates of growth. He said China accounts for 5.5 percent of global output but uses 15 percent of the world's energy, a pattern repeated among the 10 members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). “These are disproportionate” figures, said Peterson, of the US-based global engineering and construction project firm. (Posted @ 17:30 PST)
India court jails nine Muslims for killing Hindu leader AHMEDABAD, India, June 25 (Reuters): An Indian court jailed nine Muslim men for life on Monday for the 2003 assassination of the former home minister of the western state of Gujarat. Haren Pandya was a state legislator and senior leader of the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) when he was shot dead in his car. The court said they had conspired to kill Pandya and had links with Pakistan-based Islamist group Lashkar-e-Tayyaba. Two others were sentenced to seven years and another to five years for being a part of the plot. Pandya, a popular Hindu nationalist leader, had been named by several witnesses as one of the instigators of anti-Muslim riots in Gujarat in 2002 that left at least 1,000 people, mainly Muslims, dead (Posted @ 17:28 PST)
Captive Israeli soldier heard in Gaza tape -TV JERUSALEM, June 25 (Reuters): An Israeli soldier captured a year ago was apparently heard asking for medical treatment and urging Israel to release Palestinian prisoners, in an audio tape played on Israeli television on Monday. Earlier, Palestinian militants in Gaza said they were about to release such a tape on the first anniversary of Sergeant Gilad Shalit's capture. The voice on the tape could not immediately be confirmed as that of the soldier but Israeli television stations said it appeared to be authentic. (First Posted @ 16:15 PST Updated @ 17:07 PST)
Two more US soldiers die in Iraq BAGHDAD, June 25 (AFP): Two US soldiers died of wounds sustained in combat in Iraq, the military said on Monday, raising the total toll this month to 73. One soldier died on Saturday after being wounded in a combined attack involving a roadside bomb and small arms fire in east Baghdad. Another soldier was killed on Monday in a small arms attack on a convoy, the military said in a separate statement. It did not say where the attack took place. At least 3,550 US soldiers have died in Iraq since the March 2003 invasion to topple Saddam Hussein, according to an AFP count based on Pentagon figures. (Posted @ 16:42 PST)
US stance on Kosovo threatens relations with Serbia: PM BELGRADE, June 25 (AFP): Serbian Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica on Monday warned the United States that its backing for Kosovo's independence threatens to harm ties between Belgrade and Washington. “America has become the leader in proposing to create another Albanian state on the territory of Serbia, which directly impacts on the deterioration of relations between the two countries,” Kostunica said. “If the United States wants to develop good relations with Serbia, then it goes without saying that they have to respect the territorial integrity of Serbia Washington has openly supported a plan for the internationally supervised independence of Kosovo, a southern province of Serbia that has been UN-run since the end of its 1998-1999 conflict. (Posted @ 16:17 PST)
Al-Qaeda warns against offensive to retake Gaza DUBAI, June 25 (AFP): Al-Qaeda number two Ayman al-Zawahiri warned against any offensive to wrest control of the Gaza Strip from the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas, in an audiotape posted on the Internet on Monday. Osama bin Laden's right-hand man voiced his support for Hamas, which seized Gaza 10 days ago. “Today we must suport the mujahedeen in Palestine, including the Hamas mujahedeen despite all the mistakes made by their leadership,” Zawahiri said in a recording on a site frequently used by Al-Qaeda. (Posted @ 16:13 PST)
Deadly bird flu kills six wild birds in Germany HAMBURG, June 25 (Reuters): Six dead wild birds have tested positive in Germany for a lethal strain of bird flu, the authorities said on Monday.On Sunday, three wild birds found dead in Nuremberg in the southern state of Bavaria tested positive for the dangerous H5N1 strain of the disease.The number cases has since risen to six, with five swans and one goose infected, the Friedrich Loeffler Institute, a veterinary institution, said. (Posted @ 14:55 PST)
Palestinian militants fire mortars into Israel GAZA CITY, June 25 (AFP): Palestinian militants in the Gaza Strip fired three mortar rounds into Israel on Monday, an army spokesman said, just hours after an Israeli air strike in the territory killed one militant. “Three mortars fell in Israel near the area of Kerem Shalom in the south. There was no damage or casualties,” the spokesman said. The Al-Quds Brigade, the armed wing of Islamic Jihad, claimed to have fired three mortar rounds on Kerem Shalom, the crossing point between the Gaza Strip, Israel and Egypt, and one rocket on the Israeli town of Sderot. (Posted @ 14:45 PST)
More than 20 feared dead in Cambodia plane crash PREY PEAY, Cambodia, June 25 (AFP): A charter plane carrying 22 people between two popular Cambodian tourist destinations crashed on Monday in a mountainous region in the south of the country, aviation officials said. The Russian-made AN-24 left the Angkor temple town of Siem Reap at around 0300GMT and vanished off radar screens 37 minutes later, said Keo Sivorn, Director of Operations at the Cambodian Aviation Secretariat. It was headed for the southern seaside resort town of Sihanoukville, about 250 kilometres (155 miles) from the capital Phnom Penh. The secretariat's chief of staff, Him Sarun, said the plane was carrying 13 South Koreans, three Czech nationals and a Russian pilot, along with five Cambodian crew. “The plane crashed between Bokor Mountain and Kamchay Mountain,” he told AFP. (First Posted @ 14:26 PST Updated @ 18:36 PST)
Sixteen dead in Afghan clash KANDAHAR, June 25 (AFP) - Afghan and NATO forces killed 13 Taliban militants in a day-long battle in southern Afghanistan, in which three policemen also died, a provincial police chief said on Monday. The Taliban fighters attacked a police post in Zehri district of Kandahar province early Sunday, killing three policemen and leaving two others wounded, Sayed Aqa Saqib told AFP. A gunfight erupted and “13 Taliban were killed including a Taliban commander after Afghan and NATO forces went to support the police post under attack,” said Saqib. The fighting finished late Sunday, he said. (Posted @ 13:20 PST)
Islamabad: 6 killed, 25 injured in road accident ISLAMABAD, June 25 (PPI)- At least six people were killed and 25 others received serious injuries when a bus coming from Lahore turned-turtle near Islamabad Toll Plaza on Monday morning. No details were readily available. (Posted @ 13:11 PST)
Afghan forces retake captured district KABUL, June 25 (AFP) - Afghan security forces have retaken Ghorak district t that was overrun and captured by Taliban militants almost a week ago, Kandahar governor Asadullah Khalid told reporters. He said Afghan forces did not suffer any casualties and added that he had no information about whether any rebels were killed. (Posted @ 12:55 PST)
US-led troops find Qaeda 'execution' den in Iraq BAGHDAD, June 25 (AFP) - US and Iraqi forces fighting their way through the restive Iraqi town of Baquba discovered what appeared to be an Al-Qaeda-run “execution house,” the US military said on Monday. “Soldiers searching the house found five bodies buried in the yard behind the building and bloody clothes in several rooms inside it.” A nearby house “had been converted into an illegal prison with several numbered rooms and bars covering the building's windows. Several blindfolds were found inside,” the statement added. (Posted @ 11:31 PST)
Iraq: 18 bodies found Baghdad, June 25 (Reuters) A total of 18 bodies were found by police from various parts of Baghdad and other cities of Iraq on Sunday. The bodies of 11 people were found in different areas of Baghdad; bodies of six people, including a member of the local city council, were found shot and tortured in the town of Ain al-Tamur, about 75 km west of Kerbala, and the body of a female non-government organisation worker was found in an orchard in the town of Balad, around 90 km north of Baghdad, police said. Separately, an off-duty Iraqi soldier was killed in a drive-by shooting near the city of Kut, while a roadside bomb killed a police commando and wounded three others when it exploded near their checkpoint in Mansour district in western Baghdad. (Posted @ 10:32 PST)
British soldier killed in Afghanistan LONDON, June 25 (AFP) - A British soldier was killed Sunday and four others injured in an explosion in Afghanistan's restive southern Helmand province, the defence ministry said.The group was escorting a team surveying the site for a new road project linking villages near Lashkar Gar, the provincial capital, when the explosion occurred, it said without giving further details. (Posted @ 10:31 PST)
27 passengers killed in Myanmar shootings YANGON, June 25 (AFP) -A total of 27 people were killed and 11 injured last week when ethnic rebels attacked two passenger buses in southeastern Myanmar, state media said Monday.Ten people were killed and three wounded in an attack on a minibus in Karen state, near the eastern border with Thailand. Another 17 people were killed and eight injured Friday in neighbouring Kayah state when rebels shot up their minibus. (Posted @ 10:25 PST)
Karachi Stocks up 147.98 points: KARACHI, June 25: At the close of trading the KSE-100 index was at 13540.45, up 147.98 points. (Bureau Report) (Updated @ 14:17 PST)
Forex update: KARACHI, June 25: The Pakistani Rupee was traded at Rs 61.15 to the US Dollar in the open market. (Bureau Report) (Updated @ 14:17 PST)
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