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| August 02, 2007 | Thursday | Rajab 17, 1428 |
Updated round-the-clock, with major updates after 10:00 PST (05:00 GMT)
Pakistan says US-India nuke deal risks arms race ISLAMABAD, Aug 2 (AFP) - Pakistan warned Thursday that a civilian nuclear accord between India and the United States threatens regional stability, saying it would allow its arch rival to produce more atomic bombs. The caution came at a meeting of Pakistan's National Command Authority (NCA) chaired by President Pervez Musharraf, a statement said. The body oversees the country's nuclear strategy. “The NCA noted that the US-India nuclear agreement would have implications on strategic stability as it would enable India to produce significant quantities of fissile material and nuclear weapons from unsafeguarded nuclear reactors,” the statement said. The NCA said that peace in South Asia “would have been better served if the United States had considered a package approach for Pakistan and India”, neither of which are signatories to the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. Pakistan would continue to pursue its military and civilian nuclear programmes, it added. “While continuing to act with responsibility in maintaining credible minimum deterrence and avoiding an arms race, Pakistan will neither be oblivious to its security requirements, nor to the needs of its economic development which demand growth in the energy sector,” the statement said. Among other things, the accord allows India to reprocess spent fuel under safeguards imposed by the International Atomic Energy Agency, going one step further than a law passed by the US Congress in December. (Posted @ 19:08 PST)
Suicide attacker killed while trying to sneak into Pakistani police facility MULTAN, Pakistan, Aug 2 (A) - Police guards shot and killed a suicide attacker Thursday as he tried to sneak into a police training facility for 900 recruits in the city of Sargodha, preventing him from detonating his explosives, officials said. The guards quickly reacted when the man _ who was wearing an explosive-laden belt and holding a grenade_ was challenged and opened fire, Hamid Mukhtar Gondal, the city's police chief, said . One of the police officers was killed and another was injured in the shootout. Police and bomb disposal experts were examining the explosive-laden jacket worn by the man. “One of our officers saw the attacker, and asked him to halt. But he opened fire and killed him,” he said. “The attacker was killed by our guards. He could not detonate the bomb”. About 900 police were doing morning exercises when the man opened fire from less than 500 yards away, Gondal said. Meanwhile in Pakistan's northwest, a bomb went off outside a police station in the industrial city of Gujranwala on Thursday, injuring two men, said Khalid Javed, a local police official. Also Thursday, militants fired several rockets at army checkpoints in North Waziristan and in another northwest tribal region, the Bajur Agency, triggering shootouts. It was not immediately clear whether there were casualties. (Posted @ 18:20 PST)
Benazir says plans to run in next Pakistan election DUBAI, Aug 2 (AFP) Former Pakistani prime minister Benazir Bhutto said she will return from exile this year to take part in a general election due next year, according to an interview published Thursday. “Yes, the Pakistan People's Party (PPP) and I will be part of an election in Pakistan this year,” Benazir told the English-language Emirates Today newspaper. Benazir said talks between her political party and the government aimed to restore stability to Pakistan, but it was too soon to be certain of their outcome. “The contacts between the PPP and the Musharraf regime are aimed at restoring democracy and the rule of law,” Benazir told the UAE newspaper. “It is too early to say whether a deal may be brokered to re-establish democracy in Pakistan but both sides are discussing the issue.”(Posted @ 12:50 PST)
Exiled Nawaz Sharif seeks court help to return ISLAMABAD, Aug 2 (Reuters) - Pakistan's former prime minister Nawaz Sharif filed a petition in the Supreme Court on Thursday seeking his and his family's return after seven years of exile. In the petition, the ex-premier pleaded for the court to order that the government “not directly or indirectly obstruct, hamper or resist” his return with his family members, including his brother Shahbaz Sharif, former chief minister of Punjab province. Nawaz Sharif says in the petition Musharraf's government deprived him of his liberty by bad faith acts “in rendering him stateless”. Despite his exile Nawaz Sharif still leads the Pakistan Muslim League, one of the country's major opposition parties.It may be recalled that in May 2004, Shahbaz Sharif came back to Pakistan but was deported to Saudi Arabia little more than an hour after he arrived in Lahore. The government has said the Sharifs were sent into exile for 10 years under a deal they agreed to. The details of the alleged agreement have never been revealed, and the Sharifs deny one existed. (Posted @ 17:40 PST)
U.S. incursion talk unhelpful: Governor of Balochistan WASHINGTON, Aug 2 (Reuters) Talk by U.S. officials and Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Barack Obama on striking against al Qaeda targets on Pakistani territory undermine Pakistan's fight against militants, Governor of Balochistan Owais Ahmed Ghani said Wednesday.Ghani said such remarks play badly in Pakistan and could backfire. “It sends a very bad signal to our public back home and they become very agitated over it and that puts pressure on the government and I think it doesn't help,” he said in Washington in response to campaign remarks by Obama Wednesday. Ghani said the feeling in Pakistan was that “We've had to pay a big price” in hundreds of fallen soldiers and multiple terror attacks as it has backed the U.S. fight against the Taliban and al Qaeda…If that is the sort of appreciation you get, then why bother at all?” the governor told Reuters in an interview. Ghani said the government of President Pervez Musharraf has “since 9/11 developed a huge capacity for intelligence operations (and) in problem areas, we have saturated them with troops.” The problem was in Afghanistan, which he said released militants caught and repatriated by Pakistan. Kabul also resisted Pakistan plans to tighten border controls, he said. “There are a lot of open spaces and gaps in the deployment in Afghanistan which is enabling these terrorists to function and reorganize themselves,” said Ghani, adding that the notion that al Qaeda was in that area is “not possible with the type of saturated deployment that we have there, but it is very much possible in Afghanistan, where there are huge gaps.”Pakistan has 80,000 troops deployed in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas, and another 40,000 soldiers bordering that region, compared to 40,000 Afghan troops in the entire country of Afghanistan, said Ghani. “There is no organized Taliban in Baluchistan - no base camps, no training camps, no ammo dumps, nothing. However individuals do sneak across,” he said.(Posted @ 09:35 PST)
U.S. praises Pakistan but says more must be done to fight extremists WASHINGTON, Aug 2 (AP) A U.S. diplomat said that Pakistan must use its boosted military presence in lawless tribal regions to do more to fight extremists. But the official defended Pakistan's efforts to defeat al-Qaida and Taliban militants. John Gastright, a deputy assistant secretary of state, told lawmakers Wednesday of a growing threat of violence in Pakistan.The United States, he said, believes Pakistan can do more in that fight. But he noted 100,000 Pakistani troops along the rugged Afghan border and praised Pakistan's soldiers for harassing terrorists in an area where they previously felt safe. He testified that Islamabad ''must now use these assets to take more effective action against extremists taking refuge there.'' When a lawmaker raised the most recent U.S. National Intelligence Estimate, which says al-Qaida had become increasingly comfortable in Pakistan, Gastright commended Islamabad's comprehensive strategy to fight extremists. ''The government of Pakistan is no friend of al-Qaida,'' he said. ''No government has captured or killed more al-Qaida or Taliban extremists than the government of Pakistan.'' Gastright called the forthcoming elections critical to determining Pakistan's progress toward full democracy. The United States was helping with computerized electoral rolls and 300,000 transparent ballot boxes, he said.(Posted @ 10:35 PST)
Pakistan slams 'ignorant' Obama attack warning ISLAMABAD, Aug 2 (AFP) - Pakistan accused Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama of “sheer ignorance” on Thursday for threatening to launch US military strikes against Al-Qaeda on Pakistani soil. “Such statements are being made out of sheer ignorance,” Pakistan's Minister of State for Information, Tariq Azeem, told AFP. “They are not fully apprised about the ground realities and not aware of the efforts by Pakistan.”“We have said before that we will not allow anyone to infringe our sovereignty,” Azeem said. “If there is any actionable intelligence they should tell us and only our forces will take action on it and they are quite capable of it.” “This seems to be a reaction to their own failure in Afghanistan to control the US casualties and instead of addressing the situation there, they are finding scapegoats and damaging their own cause,” Azeem added. (Posted @ 16:36 PST)
U.S. Presidential hopeful McCain, Edwards disagree on sending troops to Pakistan San Francisco, Aug 02 (PPI): United States Republican presidential hopeful Sen. John McCain and Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards offered widely differing views of battle against terrorists. McCain, R-Ariz., and Edwards, a former North Carolina senator, also differed on a proposal by Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Barack Obama to aggressively pursue terrorist groups in mountains of Pakistan. “We have a responsibility to go find al Qaeda and (Osama) bin Laden wherever they operate,” Edwards said after a fundraiser in San Francisco adding that if President Musharraf can't control such operatives, “we have to do it.” But McCain called Obama's view “a rather simplistic approach. There are many kinds and ways that we can attempt to counter this problem ... before we declare we're going to bomb daylights out of them.” Obama's statement “shows frankly a little lack of understanding of nuances and complexities of a situation such as exists between ourselves and Pakistan” and would hurt the U.S. image with Pakistanis, McCain said. (Posted @ 18:46 PST)
At least 100 dead in DRCongo rail crash KINSHASA, Aug 2, (AFP) - At least 100 people were killed when a train derailed in central Democratic Republic of Congo early Thursday, the government said, raising earlier toll figures from the UN and the state railway operator. “According to our information, at least 100 passengers have perished and dozens have been injured in the derailment of a goods train,” said government spokesman and information minister Toussaint Tshilombo Send. (First Posted @ 20:52 PST Updated @ 23:44 PST)
South Korea seeks direct talks with Taliban kidnappers GHAZNI, Afghanistan, Aug 2 (Reuters) - A South Korean delegation arrived on Thursday in the province of Ghazni where 21 Koreans are held hostage in an attempt to hold direct talks with Taliban kidnappers. “The team, including the Korean ambassador, say they have come to speak to the Taliban about choosing a venue for talks,” Ghazni provincial governor Mirajuddin Pathan told reporters. “They say they have come to hold direct talks with the Taliban,” he said. (Posted @ 21:26 PST)
Bush blocks assets for those posing threat to Lebanon WASHINGTON, Aug 2 (AFP) - US President George W. Bush said Thursday he had ordered the US government to block assets of anyone threatening Lebanese political stability or aiding the reassertion of Syrian control in Lebanon.The presidential order calls for holding of US-based property of anyone believed to be “undermining Lebanon's democratic processes or institutions or contributing to the breakdown of the rule of law in Lebanon.” The order also applies to those seen as “supporting the reassertion of Syrian control or contributing to Syrian interference in Lebanon, or infringing upon or undermining Lebanese sovereignty.” (Posted @ 21:20 PST)
More bodies recovered in Minneapolis bridge collapse MINNEAPOLIS, Aug 2 (Reuters) - Authorities said they uncovered more bodies on Thursday from the wreckage of a U.S. highway bridge that collapsed into the Mississippi River, and more than 20 people were missing. At least 60 others were injured. A section of the bridge in Minneapolis plunged into the river during Wednesday evening's rush hour in a deadly avalanche of steel and concrete, flipping dozens of vehicles into the river or onto the debris. “Several (more) people are confirmed dead at the scene,” Minneapolis Police Chief Tim Dolan said, in addition to the four deaths already confirmed by the local coroner. The death toll was almost certain to climb as recovery work continued, he added. (Posted @ 21:06 PST)
Nine dead in Mississippi bridge collapse MINNEAPOLIS, Aug 2 (AFP) At least nine people were killed after a highway bridge over the Mississippi river collapsed, plunging cars and trucks together with massive chunks of concrete into the rushing waters, officials said. An unknown number of cars fell into the river below and others were crushed as parts of the eight-lane bridge were sheared off during Wednesday evening rush hour. Authorities confirmed nine dead and said 20 people were missing, adding that they expected the death toll to rise, the Minneapolis Star-Tribune newspaper reported early Thursday. Fire chief Jim Clack told a press conference that more than 60 people were taken to hospital and it was unlikely that any more survivors would be found. (FirstPosted @ 09:00 PST,Updated@ (Posted @ 14:40 PST)
Rice says Israel ready to talk peace fundamentals RAMALLAH, West Bank, Aug 2 (AFP) - US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice wrapped up a regional tour on Thursday, telling Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas that Israel was ready to discuss “fundamental issues” to advance stalled Middle East peace efforts. “The prime minister (Ehud Olmert) said to me that he will support new discussions with you and that he is ready to discuss the fundamental issues that will lead to negotiations soon for the creation of a Palestinian state,”Rice told Abbas at a joint news conference in Ramallah. When asked to elaborate, she said: “I think the word fundamental speaks for itself... I think the desire to move towards a two-state solution seems to be there on both sides.” It was not clear, however, whether Olmert had agreed to discuss “core issues” as the Palestinians have pushed for months -- the thorniest problems of the decades-long conflict such as the status of Jerusalem and refugees. Rice was speaking at the tail-end of a four-day regional tour and left for Washington shortly after her Ramallah meetings. (Posted @ 20:45 PST)
Cricket-South Africa want Pakistan venue changes after violence KARACHI, Aug 2 (Reuters) - South Africa have asked the Pakistan Cricket Board to revise their tour programme, which includes two tests and five one-day internationals, due to the security situation in Pakistan. “They have asked for a revision in the itinerary including a second look at the venues. They are not comfortable with Peshawar,” PCB sources said. South Africa's tour is due to start on Sept. 27 with the tests scheduled for Karachi and Lahore and one-dayers at Lahore, Peshawar, Rawalpindi, Multan and Faisalabad. “The venues will be revised within the next two weeks; we are having discussions with them,” sources said. Pakistan is also due to host Australia A team from Sept.1. (Posted @ 19:30 PST)
Cricket-Pakistan ban their players from new Indian league KARACHI, Aug 2 (Aug 2) - Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) will not allow current or former players still involved with the board to play in the unofficial Indian Cricket League, PCB chairman Nasim Ashraf said Thursday. “The ICL is not recognised by the International Cricket Council or its member boards so there is no question of our players going to play there,” Ashraf told reporters. Sources said Shoaib Akhtar, Shahid Afridi and Shoaib Malik had received offers days after former captain Inzamam-ul-Haq confirmed he had been approached by the organisers. The ICL has signed former West Indies captain Brian Lara for the Twenty20 series to be played over 45 days starting in October. India's cricket board has also refused to endorse the league. (Posted @ 19:26 PST)
Pakistan says no leverage on Afghan hostages MANILA, Aug 2 (AFP) - Pakistan said Thursday it had no influence over the Taliban holding 21 South Korean hostages in Afghanistan, stressing it was at war with the militia and Al-Qaeda elements within its own borders. “Pakistan itself is a victim of such incidents,” minister of state for foreign affairs Makhdum Khusro Bakhtyar told AFP after a meeting with South Korean Foreign Minister Song Min-Soon. Pakistan would like to help, Bakhtyar said, but was at war with Taliban and Al-Qaeda elements at home, he said. “Naturally we have no lines of communication with the Taliban,” he said. (Posted @ 19:12 PST)
3 more US soldiers killed, 12 wounded in Iraq BAGHDAD, Aug 2 (AP) - Three U.S. soldiers were killed in attacks in Iraq, the military said Thursday. Two Americans were killed and 10 wounded Wednesday in a mortar or rocket attack, the military said in a statement adding that another soldier was killed and two more wounded when a roadside bomb exploded near their vehicle the same day during a combat logistics patrol near Basra. (Posted @ 18:12 PST)
Heavy monsoon flooding devastates northern India, Bangladesh GAUHATI, India, Aug 2 (AP) - Unusually heavy monsoon rains have devastated large swaths of northern India and Bangladesh, killing at least 164 people, displacing or stranding millions of others and washing away vital crops, officials said Thursday. Worst hit were the northeastern Indian state of Assam, the two northern states of Bihar and Uttar Pradesh and neighbouring Bangladesh, where incessant rains have caused dozens of swollen rivers to burst their banks and inundate the surrounding regions. Some 14 million people in India and 5 million in Bangladesh were displaced or marooned by the flooding, according to government figures, with at least 120 people killed in recent days in India and 46 more in Bangladesh. “The situation is grim,” said Bhumidhar Barman, a minister in the Assam state government. (Posted @ 18:08 PST)
Suicide car bomb kills 13 at Iraq police station BAGHDAD, Aug 2 (Reuters) - A suicide bomber drove a car bomb into a police station on Thursday, killing 13 people and wounding 15 in the town of Hibhib, north of Baghdad near Baquba. A police source said the attacker struck a queue of recruits lined up to join the police force in the town. The dead included six police and seven civilians. (Posted @ 17:44 PST)
Repatriation of 150,000 Afghan refugees by end-2007 ISLAMABAD, Aug 2 (Reuters) - Afghanistan hopes Pakistan and Iran will show patience in repatriating millions of Afghan refugees, Afghan Minister for Refugees, Mohammad Akbar Akbar, told Reuters in Islamabad on Thursday, as the war-torn country struggles to absorb a large number of returnees. More than 4.6 million Afghans have already gone home from Pakistan and Iran, but the two countries are still “ hosting millions more”. “We hope that they show their patience,” he said adding that the repatriation should be “gradual and voluntary.” Akbar is in Islamabad to sign a tripartite agreement with Pakistan and the U.N. refugee agency, the UNHCR, to extend for three years the programme of voluntary returns for Afghan refugees. Judy Cheng-Hopkins, UNHCR Assistant High Commissioner for Refugees, who signed the agreement for her agency, said she was glad to note there had not been any forced repatriation from Pakistan, which last month shut one of four camps it said had become fertile recruiting grounds for Afghan Taliban insurgents. Pakistan hopes to close the remaining three camps, which have a total Afghan refugee population of over 150,000, by end-2007. (Posted @ 17:32 PST)
Bangladesh supreme court denies bail to ex-PM DHAKA, Aug 2 (AFP) - Bangladesh supreme court Thursday ruled that former prime minister Sheikh Hasina Wajid arrested as part of the emergency government's corruption crackdown should not be released on bail, deputy attorney general Abdur Rouf said. The ruling overturned a lower court order made on Monday that said Sheikh Hasina , who faces a 435,000 dollars extortion case, should be released from detention. (Posted @ 16:42 PST)
Lebanese troops kill four militants; two soldiers die in fighting in northern refugee camp BEIRUT, Lebanon, Aug 2 (AP) Lebanese troops battled militants barricaded in the Nahr el-Bared camp in northern Lebanon, killing at least four militants, the National News Agency reported. A Lebanese soldier was also killed in Wednesday's fighting with Fatah Islam militants on the outskirts of Tripoli, a senior military official said. Another soldier had died Tuesday, the official said.(Posted @ 11:50 PST)
Large quake hits off Vanuatu PORT VILA, Aug 2 (AFP) A strong 7.2 magnitude earthquake damaged buildings and roads in the South Pacific island nation of Vanuatu Thursday but there were no immediate reports of casualties, officials said. Hardest hit was the town of Luganville on the island of Espiritu Santo, where the temblor knocked out power supplies, the director of the Vanuatu National Disaster Management Office told AFP. The undersea quake struck 45 kilometres east of Luganville at 4:08 am at a depth of 172 kilometres, the US Geological Survey said. The quake was 245 kilometres northwest of the capital Port Vila.(Posted @ 11:25 PST)
White House urges Congress to quickly pass spy law WASHINGTON, Aug 2 (AFP) The White House Wednesday pressed Congress to quickly pass electronic spying legislation that would allow the government to eavesdrop on international communications without a warrant. White House spokesman Tony Snow urged lawmakers to pass the bill, which would modify the 1978 Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA), before departing for their August break later this week. “We need a system that is going to permit our intelligence agencies to act quickly and flexibly (on) intelligence that may be used to keep America safer,” Snow told reporters after President George W. Bush held a breakfast meeting with Congress's Democratic and Republican leaders.(Posted @ 09:50 PST)
Karachi Stocks up 81.67 points: KARACHI, Aug 02: At the close of trading the KSE-100 index at 13770.57 ,up 81.67 points. (Bureau Report) (Updated @ 14:20 PST)
Forex update: KARACHI, Aug 02: The Pakistani Rupee was traded at Rs 60.95 to the US Dollar in the open market. (Bureau Report) (Updated @ 14:20 PST)
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