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| October 12, 2007 | Friday | Ramazan 29, 1428 |
Updated round-the-clock, with major updates after 10:00 PST (05:00 GMT)
SC to hear appeals against Benazir deal ISLAMABAD, Oct 12 (AFP) Pakistan's Supreme Court agreed Friday to hear legal challenges against a controversial government deal that gives former premier Benazir Bhutto an amnesty on graft charges. The court accepted five petitions against the national reconciliation ordinance, which was signed by President Pervez Musharraf a week ago and provides an amnesty for politicians charged with graft between 1985 and 1999. “Any benefit drawn or intended to be drawn by any of the public office holders shall be subject to the decision on these petitions,” Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry said. “The beneficiaries would not be entitled to claim any protection (from prosecution) if this court concludes that the ordinance and its provisions are beyond the constitution,” Justice Chaudhry said. He ordered that lawyers do not mention Benazir, Musharraf or any other public figures by name during the court sessions. “We are not against anyone, we only have to examine this law. We are not hearing a case against any specific individual,” he said. “This is a very important case and we have to hear it.” (Posted @ 13:05 PST)
Nominated Pakistan army chief says 'no let up' in war on terror ISLAMABAD, Oct 12 (AP) - President Gen. Pervez Musharraf's designated successor as army chief Gen. Ashfaq Kayani said Friday there would be “no let up” in Pakistan's effort in the U.S.-led war on terror. After a visit to Pakistan's militant-troubled northwest, General Kayani “reiterated that there would be no let up in the war against terrorism till it is taken to its logical conclusion,” a military statement said. In his first publicized comments on the situation in the troubled Waziristan region, he told commanders there to “spare no effort in eradicating the menace of terrorism,” the statement said. (Posted @ 17:05 PST)
Seven die, three injured as two cars collide head-on near Attock in Pakistan Attock, Pakistan, Oct 12 (PPI) Seven persons died on the spot and three others sustained serious injuries when two speeding cars collided head-on at GT Road near Gondal Mandi Muweshian (cattle market), 20km from Attock Friday morning. A car with six inmates was going to Peshawar from Lahore while another car with four people, coming from Peshawar, was bound for Abottabad. (Posted @ 12:50 PST)
Gore, UN climate panel win Nobel Peace Prize OSLO, Norway, Oct 12 (Reuters) Former U.S. Vice President Al Gore and the U.N. climate panel won the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize on Friday for raising awareness of the risks of climate change. The Norwegian Nobel Committee chose Gore and the United Nations' Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) to share the $1.5 million prize from a field of 181 candidates. (Posted @ 14:10 PST)
Benazir return unaffected by court move: aide DUBAI, Oct 12 (AFP) - Benazir Bhutto's plan to return home next week will not be affected by Pakistan Supreme Court decision to examine the legality of a government amnesty, and she will fly directly from Dubai, Mohammad Akram Farooqui, president of her Pakistan People's Party in the United Arab Emirates, said Friday. Farooqui said Benazir Bhutto had now decided to fly to Karachi directly from Dubai instead of going back to London first and then returning to Pakistan via Dubai. (Posted @ 21:20 PST)
Eid in Pakistan on Sunday ISLAMABAD, Oct 12: Shawwal moon was not sighted anywhere in Pakistan on Friday. Eidul Fitr will therefore be celebrated on Sunday, the Central Ruyet-i-Hilal Committee announced. (Posted @ 21:10 PST)
Rail track, power pylon, gas pipeline blown in Balochistan QUETTA, Pakistan, Oct 12 (PPI): In separate incidents in Pakistan’s Balochistan province, rail track was blown near Quetta, gas pipeline in Pir Koh and power towers in Kohlu area. According to details, rail track as blown up at Spezand, some 25 Km south of Quetta along Quetta-Sibi section, Friday morning. A 2-feet piece was destroyed. Railways repaired the track in about four hours and restored traffic on the section. Suspected terrorists also blew up two towers of 132 kv transmission line in Kahan area of Kohlu and Bakhtiarabad. In Pir Koh area of District Bugti terrorists damaged the 6- inch diameter gas pipeline which was quickly repaired. Terrorists also attacked security checkposts in Pesh Bogi near Dera Bugti and Dairy Farm area in Kohlu. In all, about seven rockets were fired. Security forces retaliated but the attackers escaped. There were no injuries. (Posted @ 21:05 PST)
Militants publicly behead six 'criminals' in Pakistan PESHAWAR, Pakistan, Oct 12 (AFP) - Militants in Pakistan publicly beheaded six alleged criminals and lashed three others in an outbreak of vigilante violence on Friday, officials and witnesses said. In Mohmand tribal district bordering Afghanistan ,militants decapitated six members of a kidnapping-for-ransom gang, local government official Miraj Khan said. It started when militants on Thursday night raided the house of the gang's chief in connection with the death of one of their colleagues, the official said. The gang leader opened fire, killing four of the militants, but they later killed him and five of his family members, burned down his house and seized another six of his followers. “The militants on Friday publicly beheaded all six of them,” Miraj told AFP. Meanwhile a vigilante group lashed three alleged kidnappers in front of a crowd of 20,000 people in Matta, a town in Swat Valley in North West Frontier Province. “Such punishments will deter others from committing crimes,” hardline cleric Maulana Fazal Ullah said in his speech before the lashings. The three men were found guilty of kidnapping two young girls by a committee of clerics and sentenced to 15, 25 and 30 lashes respectively. Police confirmed the public lashings. (First Posted @ 18:20 PST; Updated @ 19:40 PST)
Subdued Eid festivities in Pakistan’s tribal areas MIRAMSHAH, Pakistan, Oct 12 (AFP) -A prayer leader Friday blamed President Pervez Musharraf for civilian deaths in recent clashes as thousands of tribesmen held subdued ceremonies on the occasion of the Eidul-Fitr festival. Some 10,000 tribesmen gathered for the Eid prayers in Miramshah, the main town of North Waziristan tribal district bordering Afghanistan, where days of clashes earlier this week left around 250 people dead. “This Eid our hearts are sad. Our sisters and brothers and children have died,” the town's chief cleric, Maulvi Mohammed Rooman, said in his Eid sermon. Mir Ali, the second largest town in North Waziristan, where most of the fighting was centred, was almost deserted, remaining residents told AFP by telephone. Eid was celebrated in Pakistani tribal areas bordering Afghanistan a day ahead of the rest of the country due to differing sightings of the moon. Meanwhile, militants fired rockets at two checkposts in North Waziristan late Thursday and troops returned fire but there were no casualties, the army said. (Posted @ 16:25 PST)
Bus, truck crash in western Mexico kills 15 MEXICO CITY, Oct 12 (Reuters) - A bus and a truck crashed on a road in the western Mexican state of Jalisco on Friday, killing 15 people including three children, emergency services said.The cause of the accident was unknown. (Posted @ 20:00 PST)
Nine SAfrican soldiers killed in shooting accident JOHANNESBURG, Oct 12 (AFP) - Nine South African soldiers were killed and 15 others injured on Friday in a shooting accident involving an anti-aircraft gun during a training exercise at a base in the central Bloemfontein region, spokesman Brigadier General Kwena Mangope told AFP. “We are still waiting for details but we do know it was an exercise, a yearly exercise that 27 soldiers participated in. “We use a variety of weapons (in the training exercise). This particular one is a 35mm MK5 anti-aircraft gun,” he added. (Posted @ 19:45 PST)
Women, children bear brunt of bloody start to Iraq's Eid BAGHDAD, Oct 12 (AFP) - Iraqi women and children bore the brunt Friday of a bloody start to Eidul-Fitr as the US military admitted killing 15 in an air raid and a sinister suicide attack on a playground shocked a northern town. “Nineteen suspected insurgents, six women and nine children were killed in an operation Thursday in Lake Tharthar region,” northwest of Baghdad, a US military spokesman told AFP in a rare admission of civilian deaths. Further north in Tuz, near Kirkuk, a suicide bomber exploded a cart of sweets on a crowded playground, killing a child, a father and wounding 20 children, officials said. The father, who had come to the playground with his children for Eid festival, tried to prevent the suicide bomber from setting off his explosives but failed. In further bloodletting Friday, a car bomb ripped through a police patrol in a crowded square in central Baghdad, killing two policemen and two civilians and wounding 15 people, officials said. The post-Ramadan celebrations in the capital had already been marred by a suicide bomber who drove his car into an Internet cafe full of young men. At least eight people were killed and 25 were wounded. (Updated @ 15:55 PST)
UN calls for inquiry into deadly US strike in Iraq BAGHDAD, Oct 12 (Reuters) - The United Nations mission in Iraq urged U.S. forces on Friday to pursue a “vigorous” probe into an air strike that killed 15 women and children and said its findings must be made public so that lessons can be learned. “Civilians are getting caught far too often between warring combatants,” said U.N. mission spokesman Said Arikat. (Posted @ 18:45 PST)
Mullah Omar urges Afghanistan's neighbours to help drive out foreign troops KABUL, Oct 12 (AP) - Fugitive Taliban leader Mullah Omar called on Afghanistan's neighbours to help his militants oust the government of President Hamid Karzai and force foreign troops out of the country. Omar's message _ the authenticity of which couldn't be immediately confirmed _ said “neighbours should help Afghans drive Western forces from Afghanistan as they helped them during the Soviet Union invasion.” “They should abandon any kind of support and understand that they (Western forces) are a danger to the whole region,” said Omar's statement, posted on a Web site that previously carried militant messages. (Posted @ 17:10 PST)
Cricket-Pakistan board stands firm over Hair LAHORE, Oct 12 (Reuters) - Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) still maintains that Australian umpire Darrell Hair should not be allowed to officiate top matches as a member of the International Cricket Council's elite panel., Board chairman Nasim Ashraf told a news conference on Friday. However, Pakistan could change its stance after the ICC executive board revisits Hair's case in six months, he said .“Our stand on Hair at the moment is clear, it has not changed. He is not fit to stand in big matches,” Ashraf said. “We will wait and see how the next six months pass and how the executive board reviews his case. “He was suspended from supervising big matches by the board and if they feel he can do the job again after his rehabilitation process we would definitely consider it,” he said. (Posted @ 16:55 PST)
Cricket-Pakistan v South Africa - second test - drawn Lahore, Oct 12 (Reuters) - Pakistan managed a honourable draw in the second test against South Africa ending the final day on 316 for four in Lahore on Friday. Mohammad Yousuf (63 not out) and Shoaib Malik (20 not out) were the batsmen to see out the draw for Pakistan. South Africa won the two-match series 1-0 after winning the first match in Karachi by 160 runs. Summarised scores: South Africa (357 and 305-4dec). Pakistan (206 and 316-4). (Posted @ 16:46 PST)
Cricket-Pakistan pick Afridi and Nazir for one-day games LAHORE, Oct 12 (Reuters) - Pakistan included Shahid Afridi, Sohail Tanvir and Imran Nazir in a 15-member squad announced on Friday for the first three one-day internationals against South Africa. The selectors have dropped leg-spinner Danish Kaneria, Faisal Iqbal and opener Taufeeq Umar from the squad called up for the tests. The first two one-dayers are in Lahore on Oct. 18 and Oct. 20, with the third in Faisalabad on Oct. 23. Squad: Shoaib Malik (captain), Mohammad Yousuf, Younis Khan, Shahid Afridi, Salman Butt, Mohammad Hafeez, Imran Nazir, Kamran Akmal, Misbah-ul-Haq, Mohammad Asif, Rao Iftikhar, Umar Gul, Yasir Hameed, Abdul Rehman, Sohail Tanvir. (Posted @ 16:45 PST)
Cricket: Inzamam fails to beat Miandad’s record LAHORE, Pakistan, Oct 12 (AFP) - Inzamam-ul Haq fell short of a Pakistan runs record in his farewell Test match as the home team fought for a draw on day five of the second Test against South Africa on Friday. Inzamam was stumped for three, just three away from outstripping Javed Miandad's all-time Test mark. The 37-year-old former captain finished with 8,830 runs, including 25 hundreds, in 120 Tests. Miandad's record is 8,832. (Posted @ 16:07 PST)
Hamas warns Abbas not to concede to Israelis GAZA CITY, Oct 12 (AFP) - Senior Hamas leader and sacked prime minister Ismail Haniya on Friday warned Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas against making concessions to Israel at a scheduled international summit. Ismail Haniya after leading thousands in Eid prayerscalled on Abbas to “reject new concessions to the Israeli occupation, on the refugees, on the land, on Jerusalem, to our sacred right to that holy land”. (Posted @ 16:15 PST)
Indian PM hopes to complete full term, avoid poll NEW DELHI, Oct 12 (Reuters) Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh hopes to complete his full five-year term and avoid early elections, suggesting Friday this was a higher priority than forcing through a controversial nuclear deal with the United States. “Elections are still far away. This government still has one-and-a-half years to complete its time,” he told a seminar in Delhi. “It is my hope and expectation we will stay the course.” The government's communist allies have threatened to withdraw crucial parliamentary support if the deal goes ahead, prompting talk of a snap poll ahead of its scheduled date in 2009. (Posted @ 14:05 PST)
Russia threatens to leave missile treaty MOSCOW, Oct 12 (AFP) Russian President Vladimir Putin threatened Friday in talks with US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice to abandon a key nuclear missile treaty, while also telling Washington to freeze plans for a European anti-missile shield. Speaking at the start of talks with Rice and US Defence Secretary Robert Gates, the Kremlin leader said the Cold War-era INF treaty limiting Russian and US short and medium range missiles was outmoded because other countries were acquiring such weapons. “If we are unable to make such a goal of making this treaty universal, then it will be difficult for us to keep within the framework of such a treaty, especially when other countries do have such weapons systems,” Putin said. Putin urged the US delegation, which was in Moscow to address spiralling Russian-US tensions, “not to force” the planned deployment of an anti-missile system in new NATO members Poland and the Czech Republic. (First Posted @ 08:40 PST, Updated @ 14:00 PST)
US to go ahead with anti-missile system talks: Rice MOSCOW, Oct 12 (AFP) - US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice on Friday rejected a Russian call to freeze a planned anti-missile defence system in central Europe, saying that talks on possible deployment of the system would continue. (Posted @ 18:10 PST)
Four killed in bomb blast in Afghanistan: NATO KABUL, Oct 12 (AFP) A bomb exploded Friday in southern Afghanistan, killing four people, near a mosque packed with hundreds of worshippers marking the start of Eid al-Fitr, the NATO-led force said. A NATO-led military spokesman said several others were wounded in the blast in Gereshk district of Helmand province. A local police commander however put the toll at two dead.“It was a roadside bomb detonated against one of our vehicles remotely. Two police were martyred and four others were injured,” provincial police chief Mohammad Hussein Andiwal said. (Posted @ 13:50 PST)
Fresh fighting kills 12 in Sri Lanka COLOMBO, Oct 12 (AFP) At least 11 Tamil Tiger rebels and a government soldier were killed in clashes across Sri Lanka's embattled northern region, the defence ministry said Friday. Six members of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) and the soldier died in the Wanni region while four more guerrillas were killed further north on the Jaffna peninsula Thursday, the ministry said. One rebel was killed in a separate attack by the navy off the island's northwestern coast Thursday, it added. (First Posted @ 10:00 PST, Updated @ 13:10 PST)
Gunman plotting attack killed in Afghanistan HERAT, Afghanistan, Oct 12 (AFP) Afghan police Friday shot dead a would-be assailant and captured two others as they planned to attack a government reception marking the Eid al-Fitr holiday, officials said. The gunmen were intercepted in an exchange of fire a few minutes away from the governor's office in Herat, police chief Juma Khan Adil said. (Posted @ 12:10 PST)
Militant killed in occupied Kashmir as police camp gunfight ends: SRINAGAR, occupied Kashmir, Oct 12 (AFP) Indian police Friday killed a militant who had shot his way into a heavily guarded police camp in Srinagar in occupied Kashmir, police said, hours after his colleague was shot dead as they tried to storm the camp. “A militant who had managed to enter our camp was neutralised around 6:00 am this (Friday) morning,” P. Tripathi, a spokesman for the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF), told AFP, adding that three police were wounded. (Posted @ 09:30 PST)
Twin-engine plane crashes near Bogota, killing seven: BOGOTA, Oct 12 (AFP) A private, twin-engine plane crashed Thursday in a rural area near Bogota killing five people on board and two on the ground, authorities said. The airplane, which was providing hospital service in the area, crashed shortly after taking off from Bogota's El Dorado airport, Fire Chief Mauricio Toro said. (Posted @ 08:20 PST)
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