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| September 29, 2007 | Saturday | Ramazan 16, 1428 |
Updated round-the-clock, with major updates after 10:00 PST (05:00 GMT)
Musharraf's nomination papers for presidential polls accepted ISLAMABAD, Sept 29 (APP): The Election Commission Saturday accepted the nomination papers filed by President General Pervez Musharraf as a candidate for presidential election. The nomination papers of two other candidates in the run for presidential election including Justice (retd) Wajihuddin Ahmed, as fielded by the lawyers' fraternity, and Makhdum Amin Fahim, the nominee of Pakistan Peoples Party were also accepted after scrutiny. Chief Election Commissioner Justice (retd) Qazi Farooq cleared all 17 nomination papers of President Musharraf after scrutiny. Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz along with other proposers and seconders including PML President Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain, PML Secretary General Senator Mushahid Hussain Sayed, Chief Ministers from Punjab, Sindh and Balochistan and several ministers witnessed the process. The lawyers for PPPP candidate Amin Fahim, Justice Wajihuddin Ahmed and Faryal Talpur raised numerous objections on the nomination papers of President Pervez Musharraf. They objected to Musharraf's holding of dual office, contesting election in uniform, not fulfilling promises made to nation, and failure to fulfil certain articles of the Constitution. These were over-ruled. The Commission also accepted the nomination papers of President Musharraf's covering candidates: Senate Chairman Mianmuhammad Soomro and National Assembly Speaker Ch Amir Hussain. It also accepted the nomination papers of Ms Faryal Talpur, cover candidate for Makhdoom Amin Fahim. Justice (retd) Tariq Mehmood appeared as the nominee of Justice (retd) Wajihuddin while MNA Raja Pervaiz Ashraf and Dr Babar Awan represented Makhdum Amin Fahim. The Commission had allowed only the candidates, their proposers and seconders and the authorized agents to enter the premises. Limited number of journalists were allowed. However no cameras were permitted inside the building. Following a scuffle of journalists with police outside the Election Commission the media staged a sit-in, blocking the exit and prevented the Prime Minister from leaving for over an hour. (Posted @ 17:20 PST)
Pakistani police baton-charge, teargas anti-Musharraf lawyers ISLAMABAD, Sept 29 (Agencies) Police used batons and teargas to disperse hundreds of lawyers Saturday as the election commission scrutinised nomination papers of President General Pervez Musharraf and others for next week’s presidential polls. Around two dozen protesting lawyers were injured and a similar number arrested in the clashes outside the Election Commission. Chanting anti-Musharraf slogans, around 900 lawyers tried to approach the commission from the nearby Supreme Court but riot police with shields and helmets blocked their way and scuffles broke out. Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz and other government stalwarts were at the Election Commission during the scrutiny. Television footage showed some of them watching the violence from the lobby of the building. Protesters at one point pulled Deputy Information Minister Tariq Azeem from a car as he tried to leave the commission and hit him several times, before police stepped in and whisked him away. At least two lawyers and a journalist were seen with blood oozing from head wounds, one of them apparently after being hit by a stone thrown by the police. Several ambulances were seen transporting the injured to hospitals. Noted lawyer and PPP leader Aitzaz Ahsan said he was among those manhandled. “The brutality of General Musharraf is being seen worldwide. Only the blind governments of the United States and Britain cannot see it,” Ahsan said. “I was targeted, the police were waiting for an opportunity. I tried to crouch down for safety but they started beating us viciously with batons,” added Ahsan, who was a minister under Benazir Bhutto in the 1990s. “There is a ban on gatherings of five or more people in the capital territory and we are not going to allow anyone flout this law,” a senior Islamabad police official said. At least a dozen lawyers were seen with bloody heads and several other people including mediamen fainted because of tear gas. An official claimed 12 policemen were also hurt. “It was a peaceful protest but police beat up women lawyers. Policemen were laughing and enjoying it as they were beating lawyers,” said prominent human rights lawyer Asma Jehangir, wearing a blood-stained white scarf. Cable news channels went off the air in Islamabad but it was unclear if authorities had blocked coverage of the protests. Another 500 lawyers later rallied in Lahore to protest the beatings of their colleagues in Islamabad. Similar protest rallies were held by lawyers in Karachi, Peshawar and some other major towns. (First Posted @ 11:00 PST Updated @ 17:52 PST)
Pakistani warders taken hostage in jail riot QUETTA, Pakistan, Sept 29 (Reuters) Inmates at a prison in Balochistan province rioted during a search for illegal drugs on Saturday and took about 24 wardens hostage. Prison authorities are negotiating with the inmates at the Mach prison where about 1,100 inmates are crowded into a jail built for 600, a prison official said. “The inmates turned violent when being searched. They have taken control of the jail and are also holding about 24 jail officials,” provincial interior minister Furqan Bahadur told Reuters. The inmates, who also set fire to a building in the prison, complained of maltreatment, said an official at the prison, about 70 km east of the provincial capital, Quetta. Police had fired shots into the air but had not tried to enter the jail to end the uprising, the official said. (Posted @ 18:30 PST)
Iran to sign gas deal with Pakistan in October TEHRAN, Sept 29 (AFP) Iran will sign a multi-billion dollar gas pipeline deal with Pakistan in the absence of India by the end of October, a top Iranian oil official said on Saturday. “The peace pipeline contract ... will be ready to sign by the end of October,” Hojatollah Ghanimi-Fard, Iran's representative to the talks, told the oil ministry's news service Shana. “It was agreed that the price be calculated according to the current gas market standards,” Ghanimi-Fard was quoted as saying by the IRNA news agency. “Pakistan asked for 60 million cubic metres per day, 30 million of which was approved,” he said. “All issues of disagreement were studied again and all points have been finalized,” he said, adding the final meeting will be held in Pakistan in mid-October to “study the text of the contract to see if it does not contradict agreements.” Ghanimi-Fard said India was welcome to join the contract “whenever this country's problems are resolved and it will be a tripartite deal.” An Iranian official said earlier this week that India was not taking part in the discussions because it had yet to finalise a deal with Pakistan over the cost of transit across its neighbour's territory. The 2,600-kilometre pipeline from Iran's giant South Pars gas field would initially carry around 60 million standard cubic metres of gas per day. (Posted @ 16:20 PST)
Bomb on Afghan army bus kills at least 31 KABUL, Sept 29(Reuters): A suicide bomber killed 31 Afghan troops and an unknown number of civilians on Saturday in an attack on an army bus in the capital, Kabul, officials said. “So far the information that we have is that 31 Afghan National Army personnel were killed and 21 were wounded,” said an army spokesman. “There are also civilian casualties but we don't know the exact number,” he added. The Defence Ministry said the Taliban claimed responsibility. The bus was split into two by the blast and shop windows were shattered all around. (First Posted @ 08:45 PST Updated @ 09:47 PST)
Bombs damage Buddhist relic in Pakistan PESHAWAR, Pakistan, Sept 29 (AFP) A seventh-century Buddhist relic in Swat in northwestern Pakistan was damaged partially when militants blasted it with dynamite late Friday, police said Saturday. They said the militants used home-made bombs to try to blow up the mountainside engraving, a Buddhist pilgrimage site, and fired at it using automatic weapons. (Posted @ 20:45 PST)
Iran's parliament signs resolution to label the CIA, U.S. Army 'terrorist organizations' TEHRAN, Iran, Sept 29 (AP) Iran's parliament Saturday approved a nonbinding resolution to label the CIA and the U.S. Army ''terrorist organizations.'' ''The aggressor U.S. Army and the Central Intelligence Agency are terrorists and also nurture terror,'' said a statement by the 215 lawmakers who signed the resolution at an open session of the Iranian parliament. (Posted @ 20:10 PST)
Towers blown up at world's oldest nuclear plant LONDON, Sept 29 (Reuters) Fifty years of British industrial history were reduced to rubble within a couple of minutes Saturday. Four 88-metre high cooling towers at Calder Hall, the world's oldest industrial scale nuclear power station, were blown up with 192 kgs of explosive as part of the plant's decommissioning. Calder Hall, in northwest England, is part of the Sellafield nuclear site. The station's decommissioning is due to be completed by 2117. (Posted @ 20:05 PST)
Two US soldiers killed in Iraq BAGHDAD, Sept 29 (AFP) Two US soldiers were killed Saturday in separate incidents in Iraq, the military said. One was shot dead in Diyala province, northeast of Baghdad, while the second was killed by small arms fire during an operation in a southern Baghdad district, statements from the military said. (Posted @ 19:55 PST)
Lorenzo batters Mexico's Gulf coastline, kills four VERACRUZ, Mexico, Sept 29 (AP) Hurricane Lorenzo's pounding rains caused mudslides and floods that killed at least five people, slashed roads and drove tens of thousands from their homes in eastern Mexico. Rivers that had swollen 6.4 meters above usual levels began to recede Saturday, but officials said it might take weeks for all flooding to subside. Lorenzo hit Mexico's Gulf coast Friday and quickly faded into a potent rainstorm as it moved over the mountains of east-central Mexico, dumping more than 32 centimetres of rain in some areas in less than a day. (Posted @ 19:40 PST)
4 Red Cross hostages freed in Afghanistan KABUL, Sept 29 (AP) - Four Red Cross employees kidnapped earlier this week in central Wardak province were freed in good health Saturday, officials said. The four men _ one from Myanmar, one from Macedonia and two from Afghanistan _ were taken captive on Wednesday while working to secure the release of a German hostage. There is however no news about Blechschmidt, one of two German engineers and five Afghans who were snatched together. The other German was found shot dead on July 21, while one of the Afghans managed to escape. (Posted @ 19:00 PST)
12 tourists wounded in first-ever bomb blast in the Maldives COLOMBO, Sri Lanka, Sept 29 (AP) - A bomb exploded at the entrance to a recreation park in the Maldives, wounding at least 12 foreign tourists on Saturday, a government official said. Among the injured were two Britons with burn injuries, government spokesman Mohamed Shareef said. “The Maldives has never had something like this before. We are taking this very seriously because tourism is our life blood,” Shareef said. (Posted @ 18:45 PST)
US missile defence system scores intercept in test WASHINGTON, Sept 29 (AFP) A US missile intercepted a long range target missile over the Pacific Friday in a successful test of the US missile defence system, a defence spokesman said. “It was a direct hit,” said Chris Taylor, a spokesman for the Pentagon's Missile Defence Agency. The interceptor missile was launched from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California 17 minutes after the target missile was launched from Kodiak Island in Alaska, he said. (Posted @ 18:25 PST)
Afghan president 'ready to talk' to rebel leaders KABUL, Sept 29 (AFP) Afghan President Hamid Karzai said Saturday he would talk to top insurgent leaders Mullah Mohammad Omar and Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, both wanted by the United States, to bring peace to his country. The president, however, again rejected demands from the Taliban, led by Mullah Omar, and Hekmatyar's Hezb-i-Islami faction that the 50,000 international troops helping Kabul must quit for any negotiations to occur. (Posted @ 18:10 PST)
Six killed in road accident near Jaranwala JARANWALA, Pakistan, Sept 29 (APP) Six passengers were killed while a minor was injured in a head-on collision between a passenger van and a trailer on Jaranwala-Bucchiana road near here Friday, police said. (Posted @ 17:30 PST)
18 killed in sectarian violence in Iraq BAGHDAD, Sept 29 (AP) Three Iraqi soldiers and three civilians, killed in a suicide truck bombing near Mosul, were among 18 victims of sectarian violence across Iraq on Saturday. Seventeen persons were also injured after a bomber in a pickup truck detonated his explosives as he was heading west from Mazra village toward Mosul. Also killed Saturday was a Sunni sheik in Mosul's Mithaq neighbourhood and a 50-year-old journalist. Late Friday, the U.S. military handed over nine decomposing bodies to a hospital in Samarra. The young men were insurgents killed by U.S. forces and U.S. military officials told the hospital to expect at least 15 more bodies in the coming days. (First Posted @ 14:11 PST, Updated @ 16:50 PST)
Fourteen killed in Iran road crash TEHRAN, Sept 29 (Reuters) A fuel tanker collided with a bus in southeastern Iran Friday evening setting the two vehicles on fire and killing 14 people, ISNA news agency reported Saturday. Fifteen people were injured in the incident in the southeastern province of Sistan-Baluchestan, it added. “Because the tanker was carrying fuel the two vehicles caught fire and because of its intensity, 12 passengers along with the two drivers ... were killed,” ISNA said. (Posted @ 16:30 PST)
Protesters beaten in Myanmar YANGON, Sept 29(AFP): Security forces on Saturday charged a crowd of about 100 protesters in the centre of Myanmar's main city Yangon, beating many of them and arresting five, witnesses said. (Posted @ 14:21 PST)
Fire breaks out at Japanese nuclear plant construction site TOKYO, Sept 29(AFP): A minor fire broke out at a nuclear power plant construction site in northern Japan on Saturday but there was no danger of radiation leakage, an official said. No one was hurt in the small fire at a half-built reactor at Tomari Nuclear Power Plant on Japan's northern island of Hokkaido, which is scheduled to be tested early next year. (Posted @ 14:20 PST)
Two Iraqi policemen killed in convoy attack KIRKUK, Sept 29(AFP): Two Iraqi police officers, including a senior commander, have been killed and three others wounded in a bomb attack on their convoy in the northern province of Kirkuk, police said on Saturday. (Posted @ 13:33 PST)
Four killed in fresh Somalia violence MOGADISHU, Sept 29(AFP): At least four civilians were killed in Somalia's capital during an attack against a police station, witnesses said on Saturday. Militants armed with rocket launchers and machine guns and fired rounds at the police station in southern Mogadishu and briefly seized control of it, they said. They also torched two vehicles said another resident. (Posted @ 12:46 PST)
10 killed in Sri Lanka fighting COLOMBO, Sept 29(Reuters): Sri Lankan warplanes pounded Tamil Tiger targets in the far north of the island on Saturday, and nine rebels and a soldier were killed in a series of battles in the same region, the military said. The violence is just the latest in a series of near-daily clashes over recent months. “The army killed nine LTTE terrorists in four different confrontations in Vavuniya on Friday,” said a defence ministry spokesman. He said one solders was killed. (Posted @ 11:30 PST)
Two shot dead in southern Thailand YALA, Sept 29(AFP): Militants in Thailand's troubled south have shot dead two people, including a government official, and wounded a third, police said on Saturday. A gunman killed a 28-year-old border patrol police captain in Bannang Sata district of Yala. A 42-year-old female road sweeper was shot and wounded by militants in front of a mosque while earlier a 40-year-old Muslim man died in a drive-by shooting. (Posted @ 10:02 PST)
China launches $200 billion govt investment fund BEIJING, Sept 29(Reuters): China's government formally launched a company on Saturday to invest $200 billion from its vast foreign reserves, creating one of the world's richest investment funds at a time of rising scrutiny of such state-run entities. Financial analysts are watching to see where the new company invests and the impact on financial markets. (Posted @ 09:52 PST)
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