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| July 21, 2007 | Saturday | Rajab 05, 1428 |
Updated round-the-clock, with major updates after 10:00 PST (05:00 GMT)
Chief Justice resumes duties after President Musharraf’s suspension order overturned ISLAMABAD, Pakistan, July 21 (AP) Pakistan's chief justice Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry resumed his official duties from his residence in Islamabad Saturday. He resumed his duties to the cheers of hundreds of rallying lawyers, who also demanded that President Musharraf resign. There was also a small rally in Lahore. Supreme Court judges voted unanimously to restore Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry and 10-3 to quash charges of misconduct Friday that President Musharraf had sent to a separate judicial tribunal. Cheers from black-suited lawyers, who have led mass protests against President Musharraf since he suspended Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry on March 9, reverberated through the high-roofed courtroom after presiding Judge Khalil-ur-Rehman Ramday announced that the judge's suspension was ''illegal'' and set aside the charges against him. (Posted @ 17:04 PST)
Crowds celebrate Pakistan judge's reinstatement ISLAMABAD, July 21 (AFP) Jubilant crowds Saturday celebrated the reinstatement of Pakistan's top judge Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry after the Supreme Court of Pakistan overturned his suspension by President Pervez Musharraf. The top judge’s victory Friday sparked immediate festivities outside the court, with crowds of lawyers dancing and throwing flower petals. Thousands of lawyers and opposition activists also took to the streets of major cities Karachi, Lahore and Multan Saturday in more jubilant rallies, chanting “Go, Musharraf Go!” and calling for free and fair elections. “Our struggle for the cause of true democracy, rule of law and supremacy of the constitution will continue,” said Zulfikar Bukhari, head of Lahore's main lawyers' group as some 3,000 people rallied in the Punjab capital. (Posted @ 18:22 PST)
Bush says US, Pakistan targeting Al-Qaeda 'safe-haven' WASHINGTON, July 21(AFP) US President George W. Bush on Saturday linked the US global campaign against Al-Qaeda to Pakistan's efforts to quell Islamist violence, including the storming of a pro-Taliban mosque last week. In his weekly radio address, Bush expressed full US support for Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf's efforts “to rid all of Pakistan of extremism” including an Al-Qaeda “safe haven” in tribal areas. Bush called the establishment of such harbours, detailed in a recent US national intelligence estimate, “one of the most troubling” setbacks to the US war on terrorism since the September 11, 2001 attacks. The US president, weighed down by the unpopular Iraq war, said Musharraf recognized that a September 2006 deal with tribal chiefs to police their own region had failed and that he was “taking active steps to correct it.”” “Pakistani forces are in the fight, and many have given their lives. The United States supports them in these efforts. And we will work with our partners to deny safe haven to the Taliban and Al-Qaeda in Pakistan -- or anywhere else in the world,” Bush said. (Posted @ 09:45 PST)
Government respects dignity of Supreme Court: PM Aziz ISLAMABAD, July 21 (PPI) Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz said Saturday government respects dignity of the Supreme Court and accepted its judgement with grace and dignity. Talking to ministers of PML(Q) and allied parties here, he said it is not time to claim victory or defeat but move forward towards betterment of people and the country. The Constitution and law have prevailed and must prevail at all times. ''Through unity we will strengthen and create a democratic, progressive and economically vibrant Pakistan. We should look forward to elections due in coming months and prepare to participate wholeheartedly in the democratic process.'' Aziz said all political parties and different segments of society need to work together with the government to complete this process efficiently and transparently. (Posted @ 17:58 PST)
Weather: River Chitral, River Jandi in extreme high floods ISLAMABAD, July 21, (PPI) - Indus at low-level flood, while the NWFP River Chitral and River Jandi were in extreme high floods, said the metrological department here. Met department in a statement issued here said that the Indus at Guddu was at low-level flood, while the NWFP River Chitral at Chitral and the River Jandi at Charsadda were in intense high floods. (Posted @ 23:36 PST)
Taliban warns it will kill SKoreans, Afghanistan says German alive KANDAHAR, Afghanistan, July 21, (AFP) - Afghanistan's Taliban Saturday threatened to kill 23 South Korean hostages, also claiming they had murdered two Germans and five Afghans, as Kabul said at least one German remained alive. A spokesman for the militants, speaking by phone from an undisclosed location, gave a Sunday 7:00 am (0230 GMT) deadline for the release of 23 jailed Taliban, warning otherwise they would kill the Korean Christian aid workers. (Posted @ 21:22 PST)
22 students of Lal Masjid discharged RAWALPINDI, July 21 (PPI) - Anti-terrorist Court-2 has discharged 22 students of Lal Masjid involved in Ranger Firing cases and extended physical remand of 13 students whereas 21 students were sent to jail on judicial remand. The police of Aabpara and Kohsar police stations on Saturday presented 56 students of Lal Masjid involved in different firing cases before the court. The judge of Anti-terrorist Court, Sakhi Muhammad Kahut ordered to discharge 22 students of Lal Masjid, extended the physical remand of 13 students and sent 21 students to jail on judicial remand. (Posted @ 20:46 PST)
Fire at Saudi oil terminal kills four Asian workers RIYADH, July 21 (AFP) Four Asian workers died in a fire at Saudi Arabia's Ras Tanura oil terminal on the Gulf, though the blaze did not affect production or loading activities, state oil giant Saudi Aramco said Saturday. The fire at the North Product Terminal broke out on Thursday while maintenance work was under way and was brought under control within an hour, it said in a statement carried by the SPA news agency. The fire killed two Filipinos, an Indian and a Sri Lankan employed by a contractor, said Aramco. Eleven workers employed by a contractor were injured - six Indians, four Sri Lankans and a Bangladeshi. (Posted @ 20:12 PST)
Bomb scare grounds Alitalia plane bound for London ROME, July 21 (Reuters) All passengers on board an Alitalia plane at Rome airport due to fly to London Saturday were evacuated after an anonymous phone call said there were explosives on board, airport authorities said. Flight AZ-203 was due to take off from Rome's Fiumicino airport at 1:35 p.m. Instead all 165 passengers were evacuated and security personnel checked the luggage while the aircraft was surrounded by police and fire services. (Posted @ 20:00 PST)
Bush resumes power after colonoscopy WASHINGTON, July 21 (AFP) US President George W. Bush underwent a successful colonoscopy and resumed power after briefly ceding control of the country to Vice President Dick Cheney, the White House said Saturday. (First Posted @ 17:18 PST Updated @ 19:58 PST)
Quake, magnitude 6.1, strikes western Brazil WASHINGTON, July 21 (Reuters) An earthquake with a magnitude of 6.1 struck the Amazonas region in western Brazil Saturday morning, the United States Geological Survey said. The quake struck just before 9:30 a.m. local time, 171 km east of the city of Cruzeiro do Sul, at a depth of 632 km, the USGS said. (Posted @ 19:50 PST)
56 dead and scores missing after Pakistan flash flood ISLAMABAD, July 21 (AFP) A flash flood that tore through a remote mountain village in northwest Pakistan has killed at least 56 people and left dozens missing feared dead, a local official said Saturday. Rescue workers were searching for more bodies after the flood Friday, brought by torrential rains, swept away hamlets in the Upper Dir district in North West Frontier Province, said local official Subhan Khan. “Fifty-six bodies have been recovered while efforts are underway to retrieve more dead bodies,” he told AFP from the remote area near the border with Afghanistan. “Dozens of people are still missing.” District mayor Sardar Tariqullah said the floods destroyed several hamlets in Dir, some 320 kilometres northwest of Islamabad. Four Afghan refugee girls also died when the roof of their mud house collapsed in a heavy downpour in Peshawar overnight, a local official said. (Posted @ 19:46PST)
15 hurt in grenade attack on Hindu pilgrims in occupied Kashmir SRINAGAR, occupied Kashmir, July 21 (AFP) Fifteen people were wounded Saturday when suspected militants attacked a religious pilgrimage in occupied Kashmir, police said. The 15 were injured when a grenade was hurled at a community kitchen set up to feed the pilgrims in Pahalgam, 100 kilometres south of Srinagar, police said. (First Posted @ 16:24 PST Updated @ 19:22 PST)
Israel rejects Golan pullout before peace talks: report JERUSALEM, July 21 (AFP) Israel rejected a Syrian demand that it withdraw from the Golan Heights it has occupied since 1967 before peace talks can resume between the two countries, public radio reported Saturday. “When the Syrian president says that Israel must commit to pulling back to the lines of June 4, 1967 he is imposing a prior condition” that is unacceptable, it quoted Prime Minister Ehud Olmert as saying Friday. “I cannot accept this before negotiations even begin,” the radio quoted Olmert as saying during a visit to northern Israel. (Posted @ 19:16 PST)
Eleven killed in fighting across Sri Lanka's embattled regions COLOMBO, July 21(AFP) Eleven people were killed and three wounded in battles between security forces and Tamil Tiger rebels across Sri Lanka's north and eastern regions, the defence ministry said Saturday. Suspected rebels clashed with police commandos in the eastern town of Ampara Saturday, with troops killing six rebels, the ministry said. Two foot patrol soldiers were wounded when rebels set off a Claymore mine in the northern district of Vavuniya Saturday, the ministry said. In the same area, an airforce camp came under rebel attack early Saturday, wounding an airman, police said. The military claimed they also killed five Tamil Tiger rebels, when they clashed in the northern district of Jaffna late Friday. (First Posted @ 09:30 PST, Updated @ 18:58 PST)
Hamas replacing defunct Gaza courts with legal committee GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip, July 21 (AP) Hamas is replacing Gaza's defunct courts with a legal committee consisting of an Islamic law expert, a military court lawyer and the head of the main prison, a spokesman for the Hamas force policing Gaza announced Saturday. Hamas said it wouldn't use the committee to impose Islamic law. Ali Khashan, justice minister in the West Bank-based caretaker government installed by Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas after the Gaza takeover, denounced Hamas' decision. ''These steps are illegal,'' Khashan said. The legal system in Gaza stopped functioning after Hamas took over the area last month, with Abbas ordering judges, prosecutors and police to stop cooperating with Gaza's new rulers. (Posted @ 18:28 PST)
25 Taliban, four guards killed in Afghanistan gun battle HERAT, Afghanistan, July 21 (AFP) A gun battle left 25 Taliban and four security guards dead after the insurgents ambushed a convoy in western Afghanistan overnight, police said Saturday. An Afghan civilian was also killed and five more wounded Friday when an artillery round fired during a NATO-led exercise hit their home in Sarkano district in eastern Kunar province, police said. Taliban militants late Friday attacked a convoy of a private Afghan security firm in the Bakwa district of the western province of Farah, police official Juma Khan told AFP. “Four security guards and 25 Taliban were killed in the exchange,” he said. (Posted @ 18:05 PST)
Pratibha Patil named as India's first female president NEW DELHI, July 21 (AP) Pratibha Patil won the race to become Indian president Saturday, becoming the first woman to hold the post. Patil, the 72-year-old candidate of the governing Congress party and its political allies, defeated the candidate of the opposition Bharatiya Janata Party, the incumbent Vice President Bhairon Singh Shekhawat, in the vote by national lawmakers and state legislators, the election commission announced Saturday. Patil received nearly two-thirds of the vote, the commission said. Hundreds of delighted Congress supporters danced in the streets, banging drums and setting off firecrackers outside her home in New Delhi and in her hometown in the state of Maharashtra. (Posted @ 17:10 PST)
Attack on nuclear demonstrators in Russia leaves one dead MOSCOW, July 21 (AP) Attackers wielding metal pipes raided a camp of environmental protesters in Siberia early Saturday morning, leaving one dead and several injured, a spokeswoman for the local administration said. More than 20 demonstrators were camped out by a reservoir near Angarsk, about 4,200 kilometres east of Moscow, to protest nuclear waste processing at the Angarsk Electrolysis Chemical Plant, Russian news agencies reported, citing local police. Two suspects in the attack were detained and 13 others identified, the RIA Novosti agency reported, citing a local police source. (Posted @ 16:46 PST)
Cricket-ICC chief Speed to step down in 2008 NEW DELHI, July 21 (Reuters) Malcolm Speed will step down as International Cricket Council (ICC) chief executive next year when his current term ends, an ICC spokesman said Saturday. “Malcolm will not be seeking an extension beyond next year's annual conference (in June-July) at Lord's,” he said. The 58-year-old Australian took over the job in 2001 after serving four years as chief executive of the Australian board. (Posted @ 16:20 PST)
Taliban say second German hostage killed KABUL, July 21 (AFP) A Taliban spokesman in Afghanistan said Saturday the insurgent group killed a second German hostage in a day after the Afghan and German governments failed to contact them for negotiations. “Since the governments did not contact us, we killed the second German hostage at 1:10 pm,” Yousuf Ahmadi told AFP by telephone from an undisclosed location. The two Germans were kidnapped Wednesday in Afghanistan's Wardak province, 100 kilometres south of Kabul, along with five Afghans. Local sources said the men were engineers. (First Posted @ 13:10 PST, Updated @ 16:10 PST)
Baghdad minibus bombing kills five BAGHDAD, July 21 (AFP) Insurgents bombed a minibus Saturday near Baghdad's Sadr City, killing five people, and an aide to senior cleric Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani was murdered in Najaf. The bomb exploded inside the minibus in the capital's eastern Baladiyat neighbourhood and killed at least five people and wounded 11 more, a medic and a security official said. In another incident Saturday two people were killed and four more wounded when mortar shells slammed into their houses in eastern Baghdad's Rashaad area, an Iraqi security official said. And an official working for senior cleric Sistani was murdered by an assailant in Najaf, local police chief Brigadier General Abdul Karim Mustafa said. (Posted @ 16:00 PST)
Drug traffickers kill 11 revolutionary guards in Iran TEHRAN, July 21 (AFP) Eleven members of Iran's elite revolutionary guards have been killed in clashes with drug traffickers and rebels in the southeastern province of Sistan-Baluchestan, a newspaper said on Saturday. “The clashes happened on Thursday night with armed traffickers and rebels. Nine guards and members of the basij (militia) were also wounded,” Ghasem Hasanzadeh, a spokesman for the guards, was quoted as saying by the government daily Iran. (Posted @ 13:15 PST)
NKorea renews demand for light water reactor BEIJING, July 21 (AFP) North Korea's top nuclear envoy said Saturday Pyongyang wanted a light-water reactor as compensation for shutting down its nuclear programmes. “For the shutdown, disabling, and eventual dismantlement, the light-water nuclear reactor should come in,” Kim Kye-Gwan told reporters at Beijing airport before leaving for Pyongyang. (Posted @ 13:00 PST)
Olmert says future peace talks with Syria must be direct, not through mediator JERUSALEM, July 21 (AP) Israel and Syria must conduct direct peace talks, without a mediator, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert was quoted as saying, in response to Syrian President Bashar Assad who proposed third-party involvement and on the condition that Israel first provided a guarantee that it would return the Golan Heights. “I want to make peace with any Arab country, and I want to do it through direct negotiations. That's how it was with Egypt and with Jordan. The Syrian president knows my stance,” Olmert was quoted as saying by the Israeli news Web site Ynet. (Posted @ 12:35 PST)
SKorea says it is willing to negotiate with Taliban to win freedom of its nationals SEOUL, South Korea, July 21 (AP) South Korea is willing to negotiate with the Taliban to secure the release of 18 South Koreans kidnapped in Afghanistan, a senior official said Saturday, as the militants threatened to kill them by midday unless Seoul withdraws its soldiers. “We are willing to negotiate with the militant group to win the freedom of South Koreans,” the official told The Associated Press. (Posted @ 12:30 PST)
Roadside bomb kills U.S. soldier in Iraq's Diyala province BAGHDAD, July 21 (APP/AP) A roadside bomb killed a U.S. soldier in Diyala province, the military said Saturday. (Posted @ 12:20 PST)
Tremors felt in Hazara division PESHAWAR, July 21 (APP): An earthquake measuring 4.4 on the international Richter scale was felt in Hazara division Saturday morning. The earthquake originated at 9:53 PST and its epicenter was 200 kilometres north east of Peshawar. Tremors were also felt in Mansehra, Balakot and Allai areas. (Posted @ 12:15 PST)
18 children in hospital in China after attack at kindergarten BEIJING, July 21 (AFP) A mentally-ill man wielding a wrench attacked 18 children and a teacher at a kindergarten in southern China, before attempting suicide, state press reported on Saturday. The incident occurred in Foshan city in Guangdong province on Friday afternoon when the man rushed into the classroom and began attacking the pupils, the Guangzhou Daily reported. After being scared off by the teacher, the assailant fled on his motorbike, the newspaper said. He was later found by police with a self-inflicted wound to his stomach in an apparent suicide attempt, the paper said. (Posted @ 12:10 PST)
SKorea says Seoul plans to withdraw its troops from Afghanistan by end of this year SEOUL, South Korea, July 21 (AP) South Korea plans to withdraw its troops from Afghanistan by the end of this year as scheduled, Foreign Minister Song Min-soon told reporters at a briefing Saturday. His comments came as Taliban militants threatened to kill at least 18 kidnapped South Koreans, including 15 women, unless Seoul pulls out its 200 troops from Afghanistan. (Posted @ 09:55 PST)
2 pilots presumed dead in crash of SKorean fighter jet SEOUL, South Korea, July 21 (AP) A fighter jet crashed off South Korea's west coast during a night training exercise and two pilots were presumed dead, the Air Force said Saturday. (Posted @ 09:45 PST)
US, India finalise nuclear accord WASHINGTON, July 21 (AFP) The United States and India finalized Friday an implementing agreement for their civilian nuclear deal after extensive talks in Washington, officials said. The draft accord allowing the United States to provide atomic technology and fuel to India will still require a final nod by the leaders of the two countries, Rahul Chhabra, spokesman for the Indian embassy, told AFP at the end of four days of talks. (Posted @ 09:40 PST)
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