|
| August 11, 2007 | Saturday | Rajab 26, 1428 |
Updated round-the-clock, with major updates after 10:00 PST (05:00 GMT)
Pak-Afghan peace jirga ends on Sunday KABUL, Aug 11(AFP): The 700 delegates attending the three-day Pakistan-Afghanistan peace jirga, are expected to announce a “joint strategy” on the final day of the meeting on Sunday, “They'll meet today and will declare what they decide tomorrow,” a spokesman for the meeting, told AFP. President Pervez Musharraf is also due to address the talks. (Posted @ 12:00 PST)
President Musharraf wants exiled Pakistani leaders to stay away ISLAMABAD, Aug 11 (Reuters) President Pervez Musharraf wants exiled former prime ministers Benazir Bhutto and Nawaz Sharif to stay away from Pakistan before forthcoming parliamentary elections, a cabinet minister said Saturday. President Musharraf told newspaper editors the return of the leaders of two mainstream political parties could stir political instability. “Elections must be free and fair and all political parties should play their part in creating an environment conducive to such polls,” Information Minister Mohammad Ali Durrani, who attended the meeting, told Reuters. “The president said the political status quo should be maintained to avoid political instability,” he said, referring to the exiled politicians' plans to return home. Durrani said President Musharraf told editors there was a proposal for declaring emergency rule. “But I didn't sign it,” he quoted the president as saying. (Posted @ 18:48 PST)
Pak-Afghan peace jirga to be successful; says former Afghan Foreign Minister KABUL Aug 11 (APP) Former Afghan Foreign Minister and Chairman Pak-Afghan Joint Peace Jirga Abdullah Abdullah Saturday expressed confidence that the historic peace conference would prove a success and help in further promoting the bilateral ties between Pakistan and Afghanistan in the days to come. It would also prove a milestone in removing distrust and mistrust from both the countries about each other. Talking to APP here, Abdullah Abdullah said that the joint jirga provided an opportunity to the people of both sides of the divide to sit together to discuss the issues and problems and exchange views directly with each other. People of both the countries eagerly wanted to achieve the desired goals from this historic event and are very serious to this effect as well, he explained. He said he was glad to learn that President Pervez Musharraf will attend the concluding session of the jirga Sunday. (Posted @ 21:28 PST)
Taliban say two South Korean hostages released GHAZNI, Afghanistan, Aug 11 (AFP) The Taliban Saturday freed two women among 21 South Korean hostages held in Afghanistan as a “gesture of goodwill,” a spokesman for the militia told AFP. “Our leadership council decided to free unconditionally and as a gesture of goodwill two women hostages who are sick,” said spokesman Yousuf Ahmadi. (First Posted @ 20:30 PST Updated @ 20:40 PST)
Taliban may release S. Koreans 'today or tomorrow' GHAZNI, Aug 11(AP): A Taliban leader taking part in hostage negotiations of 21 South Koreans said on Saturday that the hostages would “definitely” be released and possibly as soon as “today or tomorrow.” Mullah Qari Bashir said that face-to-face negotiations with four Korean officials that began Friday were going well. “I'm very optimistic. The negotiations are continuing on a positive track,” Bashir said. Asked when the Koreans might be freed, he said: “Hopefully today or tomorrow.” (Posted @ 12:35 PST)
Thousands march in Niger against desert rebels NIAMEY, Aug 11 (Reuters) Some 50,000 people marched through the streets of Niger's capital Niamey Saturday to demand Tuareg-led rebels in the desert far north lay down their weapons and free army hostages. The Niger Movement for Justice (MNJ) has killed at least 40 soldiers and kidnapped dozens since February in a campaign of attacks against military and industrial targets in the north. The government dismisses the MNJ as common bandits and drug traffickers and refuses to negotiate. The group says it wants more autonomy for its desert region in the southern Sahara and a greater share of the mineral wealth it contains. The march was called by President Mamadou Tandja's ruling National Movement for a Developing Society (MNSD) party. (Posted @ 21:12 PST)
CJ constitutes larger bench to hear petitions of Sharif brothers, other cases ISLAMABAD, Aug 11 (APP) Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry Saturday constituted a 4-member larger bench to hear the petitions of former prime minister Nawaz Sharif and Shahbaz Sharif as well as other cases next week. The bench consists of Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry, Justice Javed Iqbal, Justice Faqir Mohammad Khokhar and Justice M Javed Buttar. The four-member bench will also continue hearing of the petition filed by former prime minister and PPP chairperson, Benazir Bhutto on August 16 about non-registration of over 22 million eligible voters. The Chief Justice also constituted benches for hearing different cases in Karachi and Lahore. (Posted @ 20:34 PST)
Death toll in Karachi storms rises to 26 KARACHI, Aug 11 (AFP) At least 13 people, including six children, died Saturday in the aftermath of storms that pounded Karachi for two days, officials said. Separately two men were killed when they were struck by lightning in Badin district of southern Sindh province, raising the total death toll in southern Pakistan to 28, provincial health minister Syed Sardar Ahmed told AFP. Of a total of 26 deaths in Karachi, 18 were caused when the roofs of houses caved in, and eight by electrocution, he said. (First Posted @ 16:15 PST Updated @ 20:10 PST)
Flood victims clash with police in India, 30 hurt PATNA, India, Aug 11 (Reuters) At least 30 people were injured in the flood-hit eastern Indian state of Bihar when they clashed with police demanding food and clothes, witnesses and officials said Saturday. Police used batons to disperse villagers fighting for food and relief material late Friday in Begusarai and Nalanda districts of Bihar. Flood victims protested Saturday against the police action, forcing authorities to transfer some relief officials. At least 61 new deaths by drowning have been reported from Bihar since Thursday evening, raising the death toll in the South Asian flood to nearly 700 in the past few weeks. In Bangladesh, drowning and disease killed another 27 people overnight, officials said, taking the death toll in the floods to 253. In Pakistan, 28 people, 26 of them in Karachi, died in rain-related accidents in Sindh over the past two days, provincial health minister Syed Sardar Ahmed told Reuters. He said eight people died of electrocution and 18 because of wall and roof collapses in Karachi. (Posted @ 20:02 PST)
Two dead in occupied Kashmir ammunition depot fire SRINAGAR, occupied Kashmir, Aug 11 (AFP) A huge fire broke out in a major Indian army ammunition depot in occupied Kashmir Saturday, killing two people and forcing an evacuation of the surrounding area, police said. Shells and grenades exploded in the air as panic-stricken villagers rushed to leave their homes in Khandroo village, where the high-security installation was located, witnesses said. Police evacuated an area of nine kilometres after the fire erupted. An army statement said a civilian and a soldier were killed in the fire and subsequent blasts at Khandroo, 70 kilometres south of Srinagar. “The known casualty figures at the moment are two dead and 20 wounded,” the statement said. Police said more than 30 people were hurt, mostly firefighters. (First Posted @ 11:35 PST Updated @ 19:52 PST)
Indian PM challenges communist allies over nuclear deal with US NEW DELHI, Aug 11 (AP) India's Prime Minister Manmohan Singh challenged his communist party allies in a deepening rift over a nuclear deal with the United States, saying in a report Saturday they were free to withdraw their support from the government if they object to the pact. The four-party, Left Front alliance said days ago that it rejected the deal, which allows India to buy nuclear fuel and technology from the U.S. ''I told them that it is not possible to re-negotiate the deal. It is an honourable deal, the Cabinet has approved it, we cannot go back on it,'' Singh said in an interview published Saturday in the Calcutta-based newspaper The Telegraph. (Posted @ 19:48 PST)
Bush says he is encouraged by Iraq and Afghanistan KENNEBUNKPORT, Maine, Aug 11 (AFP) US President George W. Bush said Saturday the situation in Iraq and Afghanistan was developing favourably, despite existing difficulties. “And this month, we've had some encouraging news from both Afghanistan and Iraq,” Bush said in his weekly radio address from Kennebunkport, Maine. He said US strategy “is delivering good results, and our commanders recently reported more good news.” The president, who held talks Monday with his Afghan counterpart Hamid Karzai, argued that in Afghanistan “the Taliban fighters can still launch attacks on the innocent, but they cannot stop the march of democracy.” Speaking about Iraq, Bush cited among the good news there the death of Haitham Al-Badri, a mastermind of attacks against a mosque in Samarra, adding that “the enemy in Iraq is still dangerous, and the surge is still in its early stages.” (Posted @ 19:34 PST)
Two Somali radio journalists killed within hours in Mogadishu MOGADISHU, Aug 11 (AP) Two prominent Somali journalists were assassinated within hours of each other Saturday, one just outside his office and the other as he returned from the first man's burial, authorities said. Mahad Ahmed Elmi, 30, was shot as he headed to HornAfrik Media Company, witnesses said. Ali Iman Sharmarke, who owns HornAfrik, was killed by a remote-controlled land mine as he drove home from Elmi's burial, said another company official, Farah Berey. (First Posted@15:55 PST Updated @ 19:26 PST)
Roadside bomb kills Iraqi governor, police chief DIWANIYA, Iraq, Aug 11 (Reuters) The governor and police chief of Iraq's southern Qadisiya province were killed in a roadside bombing Saturday, police said. Police said the two men had been returning to Diwaniya, the provincial capital, from a funeral for a tribal sheikh 30 km south of the city when the bomb hit their convoy. (Posted @ 19:22 PST)
U.S. soldier dies in non-combat incident BAGHDAD, Aug 11 (AP) A Task Force Lightning soldier died in a non-combat incident, the U.S. military reported Saturday. In a statement from Tikrit, north of Baghdad, the military said the death was under investigation. (Posted @ 18:26 PST)
Pak-Afghan highway opened after three days KHYBER AGENCY, Aug 11 (APP) The Pak- Afghan highway was opened late Friday for all types of vehicular transportation after three days closure. The officials told APP here that perpetrators of the incident, who blocked the road over a land dispute were handed over to the political administration of Landi Kotal. (Posted @ 18:22 PST)
23 killed in week of violence in India's northeast GAUHATI, India, Aug 11 (AP) Suspected separatist rebels gunned down a group of migrant workers and bombed two markets in India's northeast, bringing the total number of people killed in a week of violence to 23, police said Saturday. A group of gunmen armed with assault rifles entered Dolamora village late Friday and opened fire, killing 11 people, a senior police officer in Assam state said. In a separate incident late Friday militants threw a hand grenade from a moving car into a crowded market, killing a 2-year-old girl and wounding seven others, the officer said. Also Friday, a bomb exploded in a market wounding 13 people, including two policemen, he said. Both incidents occurred in the Karbi district, 300 kilometres southeast of Gauhati. (First Posted @ 10:10 PST Updated @ 18:16 PST)
Heater explosion at Austrian home kills two VIENNA, Aug 11 (Reuters) A heater exploded in an Austrian holiday home, killing two men and injuring six other people, one of them critically, police said Saturday. The force of the explosion blasted away three walls of the house, prompting the concrete ceiling to come crashing down on the group, police said in a statement. Seven were Austrian nationals and one of the women was from Germany, Austrian media said. (Posted @ 17:46 PST)
Floods, landslides kill 35 in China BEIJING, Aug 11 (AFP) At least 35 people were killed after violent rainstorms triggered floods and landslides in various parts of China, the Xinhua news agency reported Saturday. At least 25 people were killed and 37 went missing in northwest China after continuous downpours began to hit cities and counties in Shaanxi province Tuesday, Xinhua news agency reported, quoting the local flood control headquarters. Meanwhile, another Xinhua report said at least ten were killed and two missing after a landslide hit a hydropower station under construction in southwest China's Sichuan province Friday. (Posted @ 17:44 PST)
Rocket hits Kabul, no damage or casualties KABUL, Aug 11 (Reuters) A rocket was fired on the Afghan capital Saturday, the interior ministry said. The rocket landed in an open ground in Kabul, several kilometres away from a high security zone where the grand peace jirga, or assembly, between the two countries is going on. There was no damage or casualties, the interior ministry said, adding one suspect was taken into custody. (Posted @ 16:30 PST)
Intensified gang fighting in Nigeria leaves at least 4 dead PORT HARCOURT, Nigeria, Aug 11(AP): Nearly a week of gang violence in southern Nigeria intensified on Saturday, with at least four people dead as security forces moved to curtail gunbattles that raged in largely deserted streets, witnesses said. Sporadic fighting between members of rival criminal gangs broke out on Monday in Port Harcourt, the main city in Nigeria's southern oil region, with at least half a dozen confirmed deaths through Friday. On Saturday, the battles intensified as most residents cowered in their homes and security forces mounted roadblocks and patrols. Witnesses said at least four people -- two fighters, one police officer and one civilian -- had died in the violence that erupted before dawn. (Posted @ 15:40 PST)
20 hurt in clashes after Fatah members held in Gaza GAZA CITY, Aug 11(AFP): At least 20 demonstrators were injured in clashes overnight with Hamas militants in northern Gaza Strip after around 10 members of the rival Fatah party were arrested, relatives said on Saturday. Members of the Hamas Executive Force waded in with batons and fired shots in the air when some 150 relatives -- mostly women and children -- of those rounded up staged protests outside Hamas offices in Beit Hanun, witnesses said. (Posted @ 15:15 PST)
Two dead, four injured in explosion in East Java JAKARTA, Aug 11(AFP): At least two people were killed and four injured in a strong blast that destroyed six houses in Indonesia's East Java province on Saturday, witnesses and reports said. Witnesses told local Elshinta radio that two bodies had been recovered from the blast site, while a doctor said four people were hurt. “Four people were rushed here. One of them is in a critical condition with head injuries,” a doctor from a local hospital, told the station. Police could not immediately be reached for comment. (Posted @ 15:10 PST)
Indian religious site attack mastermind killed SRINAGAR, Aug 11, 2007 (AFP) A militant suspected of masterminding an attack on a top religious site two years ago was killed on Saturday in a gunbattle with police in Indian held Kashmir, police said. The man, identified as Saifullah Kari, was believed to have planned the attack in which militants blasted their way into a heavily guarded religious complex in the northern Indian town of Ayodhya on July 5, 2005, police said. “Saifullah Kari, divisional commander of Jaish-e-Mohammed, was killed in an encounter,” a police spokesman said in Srinagar. “Kari's four associates have been arrested,” the spokesman said, adding the raid was carried out by police from New Delhi and Kashmir. (Posted @ 13:05 PST)
Troops fatally shoot civilian, wound 2 others in Waziristan MIRAN SHAH, Aug 11(AP): Pakistani security forces fatally shot a civilian and wounded two others on Saturday shortly after a roadside bomb went off near their vehicles, officials said. The soldiers were travelling through Mir Ali town in North Waziristan when militants tried to blow up their vehicles, a security official said. The troops responded by firing on suspects who were later found to be local villagers, the official said on condition of anonymity. (Posted @ 11:05 PST)
Dozen insurgents said killed in new Afghan battle KABUL, Aug 11(AFP): Coalition war planes were called in to help a military convoy under attack in southern Afghanistan in a day-long battle estimated to have killed a dozens insurgents, the US-led force said on Saturday. About 30 rebels ambushed the reconnaissance patrol from three hilltops as it was moving through Kandahar on Friday, the coalition said in a statement. The attackers opened fire on the soldiers with heavy machineguns, rocket-propelled grenades and small-arms fire, it said. The soldiers retaliated and called in fighter planes for help. “An estimated dozen insurgents were killed in the battle,” the coalition said. (Posted @ 10:05 PST)
Japan to develop stealth fighter jets TOKYO, Aug11 (AP): Japan is set to develop its own next-generation stealth fighter jets to reduce its dependence on foreign technology and counter similar moves by China and Russia, a news report said onSaturday. Japan, also approached Washington on the possibility of purchasing the U.S. F-22 Raptor stealth fighter. However, the U.S. Congress has repeatedly banned the sale of the plane to any foreign government, in an attempt to safeguard the country's advanced technology. (Posted @ 10:00 PST)
Founder: Quaid-i-Azam Mohammad Ali Jinnah
Editor: Abbas Nasir
The DAWN Group of Newspapers
Haroon House, Dr. Ziauddin Ahmed Road, Karachi 74200, Pakistan.
Phone:+92 (21) 111-444-777 Fax: +92 (21) 569-3995
webmaster@dawn.com
Make sure to reload these pages so you're viewing the current version.
|
|
|
Contributions |