| August 15, 2007 | Wednesday | Sha’aban 1, 1428 |
Updated round-the-clock, with major updates after 10:00 PST (05:00 GMT)
Boucher meets Musharraf ISLAMABAD, Aug 15 (AP) - -U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Richard Boucher told President Parvez Musharraf that Washington values his support in the fight against terrorism and reaffirmed his nation's desire to develop long-term relations with Islamabad, Pakistani officials said. Boucher made the comments at separate meetings on Wednesday with the Pakistani President and Foreign Minister Khursheed Kasuri, according to a government statement and an official at the president's office. At his meeting with Musharraf, Boucher said the United States “greatly values Pakistan's support” in the fight against terrorism, said the official on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to media.(Posted @ 20:55 PST)
US praises Pakistan's role in fight on terror, reaffirms long-term ties ISLAMABAD, Aug 15 (AP) - U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Richard Boucher praised Pakistan's efforts at fighting terrorism Wednesday and reaffirmed Washington's desire to develop long-term strategic relations with Islamabad, the Foreign Ministry said. Boucher held talks with Pakistani Foreign Minister Khursheed Kasuri in the capital Wednesday, and was due to meet President Gen. Pervez Musharraf before leaving the next day. At his meeting with Kasuri, Boucher said he “appreciated the contribution and sacrifices made by Pakistan ... in fighting extremism and terrorism,” the ministry said in a statement. It also cited Boucher as saying Washington was “committed to a long-term strategic relationship with Pakistan and (that) there existed a solid foundation for such a relationship.” Kasuri told Boucher his country was making “valuable contributions and immense sacrifices in fighting extremism and terrorism,” the statement said. However, the foreign minister expressed concern about recent legislation tying U.S. aid to Pakistan's progress at fighting terrorism. Pakistan has deployed some 90,000 troops to its border regions with Afghanistan, where there has been a surge in attacks in recent weeks.But U.S. officials have been pressing Pakistan to do more to stop militants from orchestrating attacks against U.S.-led international coalition forces in Afghanistan from its territory.(Posted @ 19:00 PST)
Abbas issues decree excluding Hamas from elections RAMALLAH, Aug 15(AFP): Palestinian President Mahmud Abbas on Wednesday issued a decree that effectively excludes the rival Hamas movement from elections. The decree makes changes to electoral law, including requiring candidates in presidential and legislative elections “to respect the political programme of the PLO,” according to the text of the signed decree seen by AFP. (Posted @ 16:00 PST)
Abbas office denies publishing electoral law decree RAMALLAH, West Bank, Aug 15 (AFP) - President Mahmud Abbas's office on Wednesday denied that it had published a decree that made changes to the current Palestinian electoral law.(Posted @ 18:10 PST)
Two Pakistani soldiers killed in Dera Bugti QUETTA, Pakistan, Aug 15 (AFP) Two Pakistani soldiers were shot dead Wednesday by suspected tribal rebels in Balochistan province, officials said. They were on a mine-clearing operation when armed men opened fire near the army checkpost in Dera Bugti town, 400 kilometres southeast of Quetta, a security official told AFP. (Posted @ 14:00 PST)
Five simultaneous car bomb attacks kill 200 in Iraq BAGHDAD, Aug 15 (Reuters) - Five simultaneous car bomb attacks overnight on a minority sect killed 200 people in northwestern Iraq, officials said Wednesday adding that rescue workers were still searching for bodies in the rubble of dozens of buildings destroyed in the attacks . The attackers, driving fuel tankers, struck densely populated residential areas west of Mosul that are home to members of the Yazidi sect The mayor of district Sinjar said remoteness of the area made it difficult to get details of the attacks or the number of casualties. Also because many bodies were still buried in the rubble of up to 30 houses destroyed in the blasts, he said. The U.S. military said five vehicle-borne bombs were detonated in Yazidi residential compounds in the villages of Kahtaniya and al-Jazeera. Jaad said the village of Tal Uzair was also hit.(Posted @ 17:55 PST)
Kashmiris boycott India's Independence Day SRINAGAR, occupied Kashmir, Aug 15(AFP): A strike on Wednesday paralysed life in occupied Kashmir on India's Independence Day, police said. The strike, sponsored by the state's political parties demanding India leave Kashmir, cleared the streets of the summer capital, Srinagar, and other town. All shops and businesses were closed.(Posted @ 16:30 PST)
Hundreds of US, Afghan soldiers target Al-Qaeda KABUL, Aug 15 (AFP) - Hundreds of US and Afghan soldiers have launched an assault on Al-Qaeda fighters believed holed up in the mountains of eastern Afghanistan near the border with Pakistan, the US military said Wednesday. The air and ground assault was launched about a day ago against carefully targeted positions in the Tora Bora region, military spokeswoman said.(Posted @ 21:00 PST)
U.S. forces launch offensive south of Baghdad FORWARD OPERATING BASE KALSU, Iraq, Aug 15 (Reuters) U.S. forces launched a major airborne offensive south of Baghdad on Wednesday against fighters who have fled a security crackdown in and around the capital. Operation Marne Husky is part of a countrywide push announced this week against both Sunni Arab and Shi'ite militants. Major-General Rick Lynch, commander of U.S. forces south of Baghdad, told Reuters about 4,000 of his men would be involved in the operation. They would use air strikes and air-mobile infantry units to attack insurgents in the Tigris River valley south of the capital.(Posted @ 20:55 PST)
Unfancied Indian beats Olympic champ Taufik Hidayat KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia, Aug 15 (AP) - Unfancied Indian Anup Sridhar beat Olympic champion Taufik Hidayat of Indonesia on Wednesday in the first major upset of the World Badminton Championships. Sridhar, 41st in world ranking, defeated World No. 10 Taufik _ the 2005 World Championship winner _ 21-14, 24-26, 22-20 after a 73-minute duel in the second round of the championships. “I couldn't believe it,” Sridhar said after the match.(Posted @ 20:55 PST)
Ten US soldiers killed in Iraq BAGHDAD, Aug 15 (AFP) Ten more American soldiers were reported killed across Iraq, including five when their helicopter crashed in the western Al-Anbar province, the military said Tuesday. The CH-47 Chinook helicopter crashed near the Al-Taqaddum air base “while conducting a routine post-maintenance check flight,” the military added, saying the incident was under investigation. Earlier, the military reported the deaths of another five soldiers in insurgent attacks. Three Task Force Lightning soldiers died and one more was wounded when insurgents set off a bomb near their vehicle Monday in Nineveh province, the military said. A soldier was killed and three more wounded during combat operations in western Baghdad Tuesday. Another soldier was also killed similarly in the same area of Baghdad Monday, the military added. (Posted @ 09:00 PST)
Six Italian mafia men killed in Germany DUISBURG, Germany, Aug 15 (AFP) - Six Italian men with mafia links were shot dead in an execution-style killing near a train station in this western German city, police said on Wednesday. Italy's Interior Minister Giuliano Amato said the men were the victims of a vendetta between families in the Calabrian mafia from southern Italy. A police patrol discovered the men in two vehicles, parked near Duisburg's central station Wednesday. Five were found dead but a sixth died on way to hospital.(Posted @ 19:45 PST)
Pakistan offers numerous incentives for investors; President RAWALPINDI, Aug 15 (APP): President General Pervez Musharraf Wednesday said Pakistan offers lucrative investment opportunities and a series of incentives were being given to facilitate them. He was talking to a delegation of Chinese Metallurgical Construction Corporation led by its President Hou Baoxu who called on him at the President's Camp Office.(Posted @ 19:20 PST)
Turkey's presidential candidate Gul pledges to adhere to secular principles ANKARA, Aug 15 (AP) - Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul, Turkey's presidential hopeful, tried Wednesday to ease concerns about his candidacy and pledged to respect the constitution's secular principles. “No one should have doubt on this issue,” Gul said, promising to abandon his political affiliations and be a neutral president. “Principles of the constitution will be my guide.” Gul spoke during a visit to the Turk-Is labour union, where union leader Salih Kilic declared the union's support for secularity. “We are in favour of the continuation of the republic's secular, social and legal system,” Kilic told a joint news conference with Gul, who is almost certain to win the presidency.(Posted @ 19:00 PST)
Taliban say SKorea hostage talks to resume Thursday GHAZNI, Aug 15 (AFP) - The Taliban militia and South Korean negotiators will resume direct talks on Thursday for the release of 19 South Korean hostages in Afghanistan, the Taliban said Wednesday. “The talks will resume tomorrow at 10 o'clock (0730 GMT) in the same place in Ghazni province,” Taliban spokesman Yousuf Ahmadi said, referring to the local headquarters of the Afghan Red Crescent Society. Jean-Pascal Moret, a spokesman for the ICRC said his organisation “has again been asked to make the venue available to the two sides on Thursday morning.”(Posted @ 17:20c PST)
Sri Lanka official calls UN aid chief ”terrorist” COLOMBO, Aug 15(Reuters): A top Sri Lankan government official called U.N. Under Secretary General for Humanitarian Affairs John Holmes a “terrorist” on Wednesday. Chief Government Whip Jeyaraj Fernandopulle, who is also the island's highways minister, told a media briefing he believed Holmes had taken a bribe from separatist Tamil Tiger rebels and had deliberately tried to harm Sri Lanka's reputation. “I would say Holmes is a terrorist who supports terrorism. We consider people who support terrorists also terrorists,” Fernandopulle told the briefing in the Sinhala language. Holmes had said on a visit to Sri Lanka last week the island had one of the worst records in the world for humanitarian aid worker safety. He said almost 30 aid workers had been killed over the past 18 months. (Posted @ 15:35 PST)
Cholera outbreak in Sudan kills 53 people KASSALA, Sudan, Aug 15(Reuters): The death toll from a cholera outbreak spread by devastating floods in east Sudan has risen to 53 with a total of 763 cases identified, Sudanese health officials said on Wednesday. Health ministry officials in the eastern Gedaref state said the total number of cases to date was 763, with 53 deaths. The World Health Organisation said the fatality rate was very high at 6-7 percent. (Posted @ 15:30 PST)
Policeman, serviceman killed in Chechnya ROSTOV-ON-DON, Russia, Aug 15 (AP) A policeman and an Interior Ministry serviceman were killed in separate attacks in Chechnya, officials said Wednesday. In Grozny, the capital, a policeman was killed by shots fired from a passing car, the Chechen Interior Ministry said. A member of the Interior Ministry forces was killed when assailants attacked a small ministry convoy with firearms and grenades near Avturi village, the ministry said. (Posted @ 12:05 PST)
Sixty feared dead in landslide in Indian Himalayas CHANDIGARH, India, Aug 15 (Reuters) Around 60 people are thought to have died in the Indian Himalayas after a cloudburst late Tuesday caused a landslide that buried an entire village, officials said Wednesday. The cloudburst occurred in Dharla village in the northern state of Himachal Pradesh. A local police officer said five bodies were recovered and around 55 people were missing, with 14 houses and a primary health centre buried. (Posted @ 11:30 PST)
Suicide car bomb kills two, wounds seven south of Baghdad BAGHDAD, Aug 15 (AP) A suicide car bomber killed two people and wounded seven south of Baghdad early Wednesday, police said. The attacker was apparently targeting the seven-car convoy of a prominent judge in the Hillah area, about 95 kilometres south of Baghdad. The judge, Aqeel Adnan Witwit, was injured but survived the attack. Two of Witwit's bodyguards were killed and six other people were hurt, police said. (Posted @ 10:50 PST)
Six rebels, one soldier killed in battle in northern Sri Lanka COLOMBO, Sri Lanka, Aug 15 (AP) A group of Tamil Tiger fighters attacked a military foot patrol in northern Sri Lanka, sparking a gunbattle that killed six rebels and one soldier, the army said Wednesday. The battle began Tuesday when the rebels used small arms and mortar shells to attack the soldiers in the northern Vavuniya area, on the frontier between government-controlled areas and rebel held parts of the north, the military said. (Posted @ 09:55 PST)
30 killed in Mogadishu in past 24 hours MOGADISHU, Somalia, Aug 15 (AP) Fighting in Somalia's capital killed more than 30 civilians and wounded 60, a local human rights group said. The most violent 24 hours in Mogadishu in two months began Monday when insurgents attacked government bases, said Sudan Ali Ahmed, chairman of Elman Human Rights, an independent Somali group. ''Thirty-one civilians were killed and another 60 were wounded in the past 24 hours,'' Ahmed said. Ethiopian troops opened fire after a bomb went off near their base, he said. The blast was followed by a bombing of a public minibus, several grenade explosions and a gunbattle with police, witnesses and authorities said. (Posted @ 09:30 PST)
Indian PM opens independence fest with cash for farmers NEW DELHI, Aug 15 (AFP) Prime Minister Manmohan Singh promised a six-billion-dollar package to bolster India's ailing agriculture sector as he launched celebrations Wednesday for the nation's 60 years of independence. In a speech from the ramparts of the historic 17th Mughal-built Red Fort, Singh said farmers “are the backbone of the country.” The celebrations of India's independence from British rule are being held amid tight security, with tens of thousands of security forces deployed across the country. (Posted @ 09:10 PST)
US to scrap nuclear deal if India tests weapons WASHINGTON, Aug 15 (AFP) The United States will scrap a landmark deal to export civilian nuclear fuel and technology to India if New Delhi conducts an atomic weapons test, the State Department said Tuesday. “The proposed 123 agreement has provisions in it that in an event of a nuclear test by India, then all nuclear cooperation is terminated, as well as there is provision for return of all materials, including reprocessed material covered by the agreement,” State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said. (Posted @ 09:10 PST)
Karachi Stocks up 38.68 points: KARACHI, Aug 15: At close of trading, the KSE-100 index was at 12787.30, up 38.68 points. (Bureau Report) (Updated @ 14:15 PST)
Forex update: KARACHI, Aug 15: The Pakistani Rupee was traded at Rs 60.85 to the US Dollar in the open market. (Bureau Report) (Updated @ 14:15 PST)
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