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| July 13, 2007 | Friday | Jamadi-us-Sani 27, 1428 |
Updated round-the-clock, with major updates after 10:00 PST (05:00 GMT)
Supreme Court orders restriction of curfew to Lal Masjid, Jamia Hafsa ISLAMABAD, July 13 (PPI) Supreme Court of Pakistan Friday ordered the authorities to restrict curfew only to the areas adjacent to Lal Masjid and Jamia Hafsa instead of the entire G-6 sector, besides releasing 243 persons detained under Section 188 during the Lal Masjid and Jamia Hafsa operation. The Supreme Court bench comprising Justice Muhammad Nawaz Abbassi and Justice Faqir Muhammad Khokar was hearing a suo moto notice taken by the apex court on Lal Masjid and Jamia Hafsa standoff. Appearing on notice, Chief Commissioner Islamabad Khalid Pervez told the court that government would take final decision in the evening regarding lifting of curfew in Sector G-6. The court directed the government to provide medical facilities to Majida Younas popularly known as Umme Hassaan, principal of Jamia Hafsa and spouse of Maulana Abdul Aziz, chief cleric of Lal Masjid. (Posted @ 21:08 PST)
President Musharraf stresses prompt implementation of madrassah strategy RAWALPINDI, July 13 (APP) President Pervez Musharraf Friday stressed the need to expedite the implementation of 'madrassah strategy' in consultation with all stakeholders particularly Wifaqul Madaris. The President was chairing a high-level meeting to review law and order in the country, also attended by Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz, PML President Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain and Information Minister Muhammad Ali Durrani. The meeting discussed law and order situation including suicide attacks in Swat and Miran Shah. The meeting participants were briefed about the recently concluded operation in Lal Masjid and Jamia Hafsa. It was informed that security forces exercised extreme restraint and suffered greater casualties in order to ensure release of innocent people being held hostage by militants. He directed that immediate steps be taken for the renovation, uplift and beautification of Lal Masjid. (Posted @ 19:28 PST)
Protesters chant anti-Musharraf slogans LAHORE, July 13(AFP): Ppeople protested on Friday after hearing fiery sermons against the army raid on Lal Masjid. In Peshawar, some 2,000 people at Friday prayers at the city's historic Mahabat Khan mosque vowed to follow the mission of Abdul Rashid Ghazi and chanted anti-Musharraf slogans. Some 1,200 religious students and activists held protests in Mansehra. About 20,000 men, women and children offered prayers for the Lal Masjid victims in a Lahore mosque run by Jamaat-ud-Dawa, the political wing of the banned Laskhar-e-Taiba.(Posted @ 15:55 PST)
Benazir backs decision to storm Lal Masjid LONDON, July 13 (AFP) - Former Pakistani prime minister Benazir Bhutto backed the decision to storm Lal Masjid in Islamabad this week, in an interview with The Daily Telegraph published on Friday. She said the operation had “drawn a line in the sand” and said that while it “was an unfortunate incident ... I am grateful there was no policy of appeasement.”It is the end of ambiguous policies towards terrorism, which have encouraged militants. She also said that questions had to be asked of how the mosque had become radicalised, and demanded that other mosques and religious schools around the country should be probed. “How was this madrassa able to develop in that way? There must have been some collusion (with the government),” she was quoted by the Telegraph as saying. On the subject of reaching a political deal with President Pervez Musharraf to allow her to return to the country and contest elections, she said negotiations were “in a log-jam”. “We are saying that a power-sharing agreement is a subsequent issue. First, we must resolve the nature of the elections.”(Posted @ 10:10 PST)
Unidentified foreigners may be among the Lal Masjid dead: Sherpao ISLAMABAD, July 13 (AFP) Interior Minister Aftab Ahmad Sherpao said several unidentified foreigners may be among the dead, telling a media briefing “there may be more than four to five” but declining to give further details. Security sources said the remains of two Central Asians and one African had been recovered, and that their identities were being investigated. Sherpao also said the sweep-up operation after the raid had ended and that a curfew in city blocks around the mosque would be lifted early Saturday, although the mosque itself would remain under lockdown. (Posted @ 21:22 PST)
280 killed in Sindh and Baluchistan as a result of storms and flooding ISLAMABAD, July 13 (Reuters) Pakistani relief workers are setting up camps to provide shelter to thousands of people forced from their homes in severe flooding across the country’s south, a relief official said Friday. At least 280 people were killed and more than 2.2 million people were affected in 6,400 villages of Sindh and Baluchistan provinces as a result of early rainy-season storms and flooding, said Farooq Ahmad Khan, chairman of the National Disaster Management Authority. (Posted @ 20:14 PST)
Senate doubles Bin Laden bounty to 50 million dollars WASHINGTON, July 13 (AFP) The US Senate Friday doubled the bounty on the head of Al-Qaeda mastermind Osama bin Laden, offering 50 million dollars for his capture or death. The vote followed a flurry of reports that the group behind the September 11 attacks in 2001 had rebuilt much of its capacity to train and plot terror strikes and was again trying to sneak operatives into the United States. The bill, boosting the price on Bin Laden's head under the US State Department Rewards for Justice Program, passed by an 87-1 vote. It directs Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice “to authorize a reward of 50 million dollars for the capture or death or information leading to the capture or death of Osama bin Laden.” (Posted @ 20:12 PST)
Palestinian PM to resign as state of emergency ends RAMALLAH, West Bank, July 13(AFP): Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad was to step down briefly on Friday as a state of emergency ends a month after Hamas militants seized the Gaza Strip. “Salam Fayyad will this evening present his resignation to President Mahmud Abbas, who will charge him with carrying out his current duties until he forms a new government,” Nabil Amr, a close associate of Abbas, told AFP. (Posted @ 18:38 PST)
Powerful typhoon Man-yi strikes Japan's Okinawa TOKYO, July 13(Reuters): A powerful typhoon pounded the southern Japanese islands of Okinawa on Friday, forcing the evacuation of thousands and the cancellation of hundreds of flights as it headed north towards the main islands. Up to 500 mm (20 inches) of rain was expected to fall on the southernmost main island of Kyushu by Saturday, further battering areas already hit by heavy rains and flooding earlier this week. More than 8,000 people were advised to evacuate. Some 100,000 people were left without electricity as Typhoon Man-yi bore down on the tropical Okinawa island chain some 1,600 km southwest of Tokyo. Twenty-three people were hurt. (Posted @ 18:36 PST)
Four killed in clashes in eastern Turkey TUNCELI, Turkey, July 13 (Reuters) Two Turkish soldiers and two separatist Kurdish rebels were killed in eastern Turkey during military operations, army sources said Friday. One soldier was killed in a clash between Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) guerrillas and Turkish troops in Bingol province in eastern Turkey Thursday, the sources said. A second soldier was killed and another wounded in Erzincan province in a landmine blast, the local governor said. Two PKK fighters were killed in clashes in Hakkari province during army operations against the guerrillas near the Iraqi border. (First Posted @ 15:08 PST Updated @ 18:26 PST)
Russia warns will snub new U.N. draft on Kosovo MOSCOW, July 13 (Reuters) Russia sees no point in joining discussions about a new resolution on Kosovo in the United Nations unless the draft is radically changed, Interfax news agency quoted a senior diplomat as saying Friday. “Without changes on questions which are of fundamental importance for us, which we have already explained to our partners, we see no necessity to take part in a cosmetic editing (of the draft resolution),” Interfax quoted Deputy Foreign Minister Vladimir Titov as saying. (Posted @ 17:12 PST)
Rice calls grim Iraq report 'work in progress' WASHINGTON, July 13 (AFP) US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice Friday shrugged off a downbeat report on progress in the Iraq war, insisting “it's a work in progress.” ”I don't agree you would give it a failing grade. You would say it's a work in progress,” Rice told CBS. “You would say they have made not inconsequential movement forward on some of the important benchmarks, particularly those concerning security,” she added. The report found satisfactory progress by the Baghdad government on only eight of 18 benchmarks set by Congress. (Posted @ 17:04 PST)
UK soldier pleads not guilty to Afghan spying LONDON, July 13(Reuters): A British soldier who worked as an interpreter for NATO's commander in Afghanistan pleaded not guilty on Friday to passing secrets to Iran in Britain's first spy trial since the Cold War.Corporal Daniel James, 44, worked as an interpreter for British General David Richards, who commanded the 30,000-strong NATO force in Afghanistan until earlier this year. James has an Iranian mother and took British citizenship in the 1980s. He is accused of passing secrets to an “enemy” -- Iran -- and is the first person charged with spying under Britain's Official Secrets Act since 1984, when and MI5 secret service officer was jailed for giving secrets to the Soviets. (Posted @ 16:56 PST)
French policeman shoots his children, colleague PARIS, July 13(Reuters): A policeman killed his two children and a colleague before shooting himself in a police barracks south of Paris, a source close to the police said on Friday. The shooting happened in the town of Malakoff. (Posted @ 16:40 PST)
Tibet bus crash kills 12 tourists BEIJING, July 13(Reuters): Twelve tourists were killed and 14 hurt when a bus crashed on Friday in Tibet, the Xinhua news agency reported.The bus carrying 27 people plunged into a deep ravine near the capital, Lhasa, it said. (Posted @ 16:34 PST)
Thai army detains 342 Muslims in southern raids BANGKOK, July 13(Reuters): The Thai army said on Friday it had detained 342 Muslims, including seven women, in raids in the far south, one of the largest series of arrests in more than three years of separatist violence. The detainees were taken for questioning to five army camps across the four southern provinces where more than 2,300 people have been killed in a three-year insurgency. Human rights groups criticised the move, saying it exposed detainees to potential abuses by the army, which is operating under martial law that grants soldiers immunity from prosecution. (Posted @ 16:30 PST)
Mortar shells kill two in Baghdad Green Zone BAGHDAD, July 13(Reuters): Two Iraqi soldiers were killed in a mortar attack on Friday in Baghdad's heavily fortified Green Zone compound, Iraqi police said. Police said four mortar rounds struck the Green Zone, home to the U.S., British and other foreign embassies as well as the Iraqi government and parliament. There were no immediate reports of other casualties. (Posted @ 16:26 PST)
Twelve Chinese sailors missing after ship sinks off Guam BEIJING, July 13(AFP): Twelve crew members were reported missing after a Chinese cargo ship hit by Typhoon Man-yi sank off the US territory of Guam in the Pacific Ocean, state press said on Friday. The ship, with a crew of 22, sank in high winds and turbulent seas about 600kms northeast of Guam, Xinhua news agency said. Up to five passing ships in the vicinity, including a US-flagged vessel, were directed to the site of the sunken boat by a US navy aerial search, leading to the rescue of 10 crew members, it added. (Posted @ 16:22 PST)
Albania first country to destroy chemical arsenal: OPCW THE HAGUE, July 13(AFP): Albania has become the first country to verifiably destroy its stock of chemical weapons, the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons announced from its headquarters in The Hague on Friday. Albania got rid of 16.7 tonnes of toxic weaponry, OPCW said in a statement. The 10-year-old convention calls for members “to act with a view to achieving effective progress towards” disarmament of chemical weapons by 2012.(Posted @ 15:42 PST)
Militants fire rockets in Lebanon camp battle NAHR AL-BARED, Lebanon, July 13(Reuters): Militants fired Katyusha rockets at Lebanese villages on Friday in a further escalation of their 8-week-old battle with the army at a Palestinian refugee camp in northern Lebanon.Security sources said Fatah al-Islam fighters fired about a dozen 107 mm rockets which landed several miles away from the Nahr al-Bared camp in north Lebanon, causing some material damage but no casualties.(Posted @ 15:40 PST)
Landslide kills 26 people in two west Nepal districts KATHMANDU, July 13(AP): Landslides in two mountainous districts in Nepal have killed at least 26 people and injured 17 more on Friday, officials said. A landslide hit Goulichaur village, about 280kms west of Kathmandu on Friday, killing 21 people, the chief government administrator in Baglung district, Surya Bhandari, told The Associated Press. Another landslide killed five people and buried parts of a village in Nepal's mountainous west on Friday, officials said.(Posted @ 15:35 PST)
Iran to allow visit to heavy water reactor: IAEA VIENNA, July 13(AFP): Iran will allow UN inspectors to visit this month a heavy water reactor, currently under construction, the UN atomic agency said on Friday. The visit was one of a series of measures that were agreed during a visit by International Atomic Energy Agency Deputy Director for Safeguards Olli Heinonen to Tehran this week.(Posted @ 15:15 PST)
Seven survivors found days after Indonesian boat sinks AMBON, Indonesia, July 13(AFP): Seven more survivors of an Indonesian boat sinking were plucked from treacherous seas on Friday as the death toll rose to five, an official said. Forty two people have now been rescued, three days after the Wahai Star ran into engine trouble in rough seas with about 60 passengers on board. “Seven more survivors and three more bodies have been found,” a port official told AFP.(Posted @ 15:12 PST)
Iraqi reporter of NY Times killed in Baghdad BAGHDAD, July 13(AFP): An Iraqi journalist working with The New York Times in Baghdad was shot dead on Friday, the newspaper's Baghdad bureau chief said in a statement.Khalid W. Hassan, 23, was shot dead while on his way to work Friday in the capital's southern Saidiyah neighbourhood, John F. Burns said.(Posted @ 15:10 PST)
US forces detain 'Iranian-backed militant', kill 13 BAGHDAD, July 13 (AFP) -US forces Friday killed six Iraqi police and seven militiamen after coming under fire during a raid to arrest a police officer accused of running an Iranian-backed terror cell, the military said. An American unit called in an airstrike to protect themselves after coming under “heavy and accurate fire” from an Iraqi police checkpoint during a pre-dawn raid to capture a police lieutenant with alleged ties to Tehran.“Initial reports indicate that approximately seven terrorists and six Iraqi police were killed in the firefight ... there were no coalition casualties,” a statement from US command in Baghdad said.(Posted @ 12:52 PST)
Iraq: 31 bodies found Baghdad, July 13 (Reuters) - A total of 31 bodies were found dumped in Iraq on Thursday, police said. Twenty eight bodies were found dumped in different parts of Baghdad while three bodies bearing signs of torture were recovered from a river near Sawayra Meanwhile, four Iraqi policemen and two soldiers were killed Thursday when gunmen attacked their checkpoint in Dour, a small town near the northern city of Tikrit. An Iraqi soldier was killed and two others wounded by a roadside bomb targeting their patrol in the east Baghdad neighbourhood of Dora, while one policeman was killed and eight other officers plus a civilian were wounded by a roadside bomb in Mosul, police said.(Posted @ 11:15 PST)
Three police killed in attack near Iraq interior ministry BAGHDAD, July 13 (AFP) -A group of armed men attacked an Iraqi police checkpoint near the interior ministry building in central Baghdad and killed at least three policemen and wounded four more on Friday, a medic said. An Iraqi security official said several armed men came in cars and opened fire at the checkpoint.
UNICEF sounds alarm about impact of recent Pakistan floods on children UNITED NATIONS, July 13 (APP): UNICEF is raising alarm about the toll placed on the millions of children after deadly floods in Pakistan, Afghanistan, India and Myanmar. The worst affected is Pakistan, where an estimated 2.15 million people - mainly women and children - have been hit by floods that followed four days of heavy rain in the wake of Cyclone Yemyin late last month. Some 200 people have been killed and another 200 are missing. UNICEF has issued an appeal for $5 million to deal with immediate needs. At least 300,000 children under the age of five are suffering, according to UNICEF, with many areas still cut off by flood waters, and many water distribution systems damaged or destroyed, leading to poor hygiene, unsanitary conditions and outbreaks of waterborne diseases. The regions hit hardest by the floods in Pakistan are Balochistan and Sindh. These are also among the country’s most disadvantaged, leaving the children and women there especially vulnerable. “In Pakistan we have been able to distribute essential life-saving materials in part because of supplies that were pre-positioned following the earthquake [in October 2005]’, a report said.(Posted @ 10:58 PST)
Twelve missing after China ship sinks in storm BEIJING, July 13 (Reuters) - A Chinese vessel has sunk 600 km northwest of Guam, leaving 12 crew members missing, Xinhua said Friday, quoting officials at the Chinese Consulate in Los Angeles. Ten people were rescued. Rescue efforts continued for two days, but a dozen crew members remained missing, the officials said.(Posted @ 10:20 PST)
US House votes for Iraq troop withdrawal WASHINGTON, July 13(AFP) - The US House of Representatives on Thursday passed a bill requiring a withdrawal of most combat troops from Iraq starting within 120 days, to be completed by April 1. The House voted by 223 votes to 201 to pass the measure, in defiance of President George W. Bush, who has already vetoed a previous troop withdrawal timeline framed by the Democratic party, and has pledged to do so again.(Posted @ 10:15 PST)
Bush administration grilled over support for Musharraf WASHINGTON, July 13 (AFP) - US President George W. Bush's administration came under intense grilling in Congress Thursday over its unconditional support for President Pervez Musharraf, as lawmakers doubted his ability to take strong action to reign in the problem and called for a re-evaluation of US policy towards Pakistan.(Posted @ 10:10 PST)
Karachi Stocks up 70.95 points: KARACHI, July 13:At the close of trading the KSE-100 index at 14202.23 ,up 70.95 points. (Bureau Report) (Updated @ 16:00 PST)
Forex update: KARACHI, July 13: The Pakistani Rupee was traded at Rs 61.05 to the US Dollar in the open market. (Bureau Report) (Updated @ 16:00 PST)
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