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| October 13, 2007 | Saturday | Ramazan 30, 1428 |
Updated round-the-clock, with major updates after 10:00 PST (05:00 GMT)
Militants release 30 more hostages in South Waziristan PESHAWAR, Pakistan, Oct 13 (APP):The militants Saturday released thirty more security personnel after 44 days captivity as they were made hostage when a convoy of the security forces was captured on August 30 last in South Waziristan Agency. They also released four vehicles of the total sixteen on Saturday The militants had earlier set free 26 security personnel after successful talks with the Amn Committee and grand peace jirga some two weeks back. The captors also killed three of the hostages few days back and threw their bodies on main Wana-Jandola road. The convoy comprising 245 security personnel and sixteen vehicles was captured between Wana and Ladha tehsil. The elders of Mehsud tribes are making hectic attempts to get the remaining security personnel released at the earliest. The political administration is also putting pressure on the respective tribes for the release of other security men as well. (Posted @ 17:50 PST)
Pakistan urges Benazir to delay return ISLAMABAD, Oct 13 (AFP) – Pakistan has once again urged former premier Benazir Bhutto to delay her return until the Supreme Court rules on a government amnesty on corruption charges against her. “After yesterday's development in the Supreme Court it is a different scenario. Benazir Bhutto should delay her return till the challenges are cleared,” Deputy Information Minister Tariq Azim said Saturday. He said Benazir could still face corruption charges if the court overturns the accord, adding that the government would abide by any court decision. “If the court declares the national reconciliation ordinance null and void, then all cases and charges against her will be reinstated. Such a situation could create political turmoil,” he told AFP. “But she is free to come back, this is just friendly advice,” he added. Information Minister Mohammad Ali Durrani said Benazir Bhutto should accept the advice “to help maintain political harmony in the country.” ”Let everything be streamlined and then she can come back,” he told AFP. “But it is her decision, we are just making a suggestion,” he said. (Posted @ 17:00 PST)
Benazir's return is not outcome of any deal: Sardar Assef KASUR, Pakistan, Oct 13 (APP): Former foreign minister and central leader of PPP, Sardar Assef Ahmad Ali, Saturday said that the return of Benazir was not the outcome of any deal. Addressing party workers he termed that the decision of Benazir to return Pakistan is wise and in accordance with the present political situation. He said the party has finalized all arrangements to accord warm welcome of Benazir on October 18. (Posted @ 17:55 PST)
Pakistan elections will be defining moment: Imran Khan New Delhi, Oct 13 ( PPI) :Pakistan Tehrik Insaf chief Imran Khan described upcoming general elections due to be held in January 2008 as a “most defining moment” in his country. Speaking at HT Leadership Summit here, Imran Khan slammed pre-poll deal between President Pervez Musharraf and former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto, terming it “political opportunism at its worst. There will be 'constant movement' in political landscape until Pakistan witnesses free and fair polls.” He was highly critical of the role played by the United States in cobbling together its “dream team” of General Musharraf and Ms Bhutto to bolster a government that it believes is helping America in “unwinnable war” against Taliban in Pakistan's tribal areas. “Benazir is under-estimating Pakistan. It has changed a lot in recent years, mainly due to the (impact of) private television channels. It is not the same Pakistan anymore,' he maintained. (Posted @ 18:15 PST)
Cricket: Sri Lanka beat England in final one-dayer COLOMBO, Oct 13, 2007 (AFP) - Sri Lanka defeated England by 107 runs in the fifth and final one-day international here on Saturday. England clinched the series 3-2 after winning the second, third and fourth one-dayers. Brief scores: Sri Lanka 211 in 48.1 overs; England 104 in 29.1 overs. (Posted @ 20:50 PST)
Rice criticises Kremlin's grip on power MOSCOW, Oct 13 (AFP) - US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice on Saturday criticised the extent of Russian President Vladimir Putin's grip on power as human rights activists urged her to pressure Moscow ahead of upcoming elections. “There is too much concentration of power in the Kremlin. Everybody has doubts about the full independence of the judiciary,” Rice told reporters on the second day of a visit to Moscow. Rice said she had raised the issue of human rights in meetings with Prime Minister Viktor Zubkov and the two first deputy premiers, Dmitry Medvedev and Sergei Ivanov, and that she would also speak with Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on the issue. She also held talks with civil society leaders at the residence of the US ambassador, where she said Russia must respect basic liberties. (Posted @ 19:30 PST)
Militants kill four 'criminals' in Pakistan PESHAWAR, Pakistan, Oct 13 (AFP) – Ccleric Fazlullah’s men killed four alleged criminals Saturday in Matta, a town in the Swat valley, in Pakistan's northwest, local administration chief Syed Mohammad Javed said. The killing followed complaints from residents that the four had gone into hiding after being accused of crimes in the area, Javed said. The cleric’s men chased a car carrying the four men before opening fire. One of alleged criminals escaped. (Posted @ 18:50 PST)
IPI joint working group to meet in Islamabad from Oct 16 ISLAMABAD, Oct 13 (PPI)- The Iran Pakistan India Gas Pipeline Project working group would meet here from October 16 to 19. (Posted @ 18:35 PST)
Indian troops martyr one more youth in occupied Kashmir Srinagar, occupied Kashmir, Oct 13 (PPI)- Indian troops martyred one more Kashmiri youth in Handwara town during crack down operation in Shatugund neighbourhood. Two dead bodies including one of a girl were also recovered from Udhampur and Tral areas, while a Sub- Inspector of Indian Central Reserve Police Force was found dead in his unit at Lethpora in Pampore under mysterious circumstances, KMS reported. (Posted @ 18:25 PST)
Earthquake hits Pakistan’s Hub region ISLAMABAD, Oct. 13 (PPI)- An earthquake measuring 4.5 on the Richter scale hit Hub region of Balochistan on Saturday. The epicenter was about nine hundred and ninety kilometers south of Peshawar. (Posted @ 18:20 PST)
At least 9 killed in gas explosion in eastern Ukraine KIEV, Ukraine, Oct 13 (AP) - A natural gas explosion ripped through a 10-storey apartment building in the industrial city of Dnipropetrovsk, about 600 kilometers from Kiev in eastern Ukraine on Saturday, killing at least nine people and damaging other nearby buildings, an emergency official said. Interfax news agency said 18 more people, including three children, were injured, and 12 of them were hospitalized. (Posted @ 17:35 PST)
Six killed as Sri Lanka army clashes rebel Tigers boats COLOMBO, Oct 13 (Reuters) - Sri Lanka's military said it sank a Tamil Tiger rebel boat in the north on Saturday, killing three rebels on board, but three of its soldiers were missing after their boat was also sunk in the skirmish. Saturday's battle took place when Sri Lankan army boats escorted fishing boats in Lagoon in Jaffna peninsula. (Posted @ 17:20 PST)
Two US soldiers killed in Iraq BAGHDAD, Oct 13 (AFP) - A mortar attack in the vicinity of Baghdad on Wednesday killed two US soldiers and wounded four others, the American military said Saturday. The deaths took US military losses since the March 2003 invasion to 3,817, according to an AFP tally based on Pentagon figures. (Posted @ 17:00 PST)
5 trucks engulfed in flames after pileup in southern California SANTA CLARITA, California, Oct 13 (AP): Five trucks were in flames inside a tunnel after a 15-truck pileup on a rain-slicked road in the U.S. that left 10 people injured and one missing, authorities said. A fire inspector said the accident, the wreckage of which stretched for half a mile happened late Friday in a southbound truck-only tunnel in northern Los Angeles County, California. (Posted @ 14:45PST)
Three killed in Bangladesh train derailment, more than 100 hurt CHITTAGONG, Oct 13 (AP): An overcrowded train jumped the tracks in southern Bangladesh on Saturday, killing at least three passengers and injuring more than 100 others, a railway spokesman said. The Probhati Express with many passengers riding atop the carriages bound for Dhaka, saw a car derail about 40 kilometers north of Chittagong. (Posted @ 13:53 PST)
Sri Lanka rejects UN call for human rights monitoring COLOMBO, Oct 13 (AFP): Sri Lanka's Human Rights Minister Mahinda Samarasinghe rejected on Saturday demands by a top UN envoy for international monitoring of the island's deteriorating rights situation. He told the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Louise Arbour, that Sri Lanka would not agree to her call for UN monitoring of human rights in the country. (Posted @ 13:45 PST)
Iran calls on Muslims to boycott peace conference TEHRAN, Oct 13 (Reuters): Iran's top cleric urged Muslim countries on Saturday to boycott a U.S.-sponsored international peace conference on Palestinian statehood next month. “When Palestinians consider this conference as deceitful and refuse to participate, how can Muslim countries take part?” Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said in a sermon broadcast live on state media. (Posted @ 11:50 PST)
Six killed in Azerbaijan helicopter crash BAKU, Oct 13 (Reuters): All six passengers and crew were killed in Azerbaijan on Friday when their helicopter crashed soon after taking off from an offshore oil platform, the state airline said in a statement on Saturday. The helicopter, with four crew and two passengers on board, crashed into the Caspian Sea as it evacuated a sick worker from a platform operated by Azerbaijan's state oil company. (Posted @ 11:10 PST)
Four killed as Thai Muslims celebrate Eid YALA, Oct 13 (AFP): Rebels killed four people and wounded two others as celebrations for Eid al-Fitr got underway in southern Thailand, police said on Saturday. Three Muslims were killed late Friday after militants targeted their car in Yala, police said. In nearby Narathiwat province, a 47-year-old Buddhist man was gunned down in a drive-by shooting, while his 50-year-old brother was seriously injured, they added. (Posted @ 10:22 PST)
Former US commander calls Iraq 'nightmare with no end' WASHINGTON, Oct 12 (AFP): A former top US military commander in Iraq said on Friday the current White House strategy in Iraq will not achieve victory in the four-and-a-half-year war, which he described as “a nightmare with no end in sight.” In the bluntest assessment of Iraq by a former senior Pentagon official yet, retired Lieutenant General Ricardo Sanchez also lambasted US political leaders as “incompetent, inept, derelict in the performance of their duty” and suggested they would have been court-martialed had they been members of the US military.(Posted @ 10:07 PST)
Haiti floods kill at least 45, damage dozens of homes PORT-AU-PRINCE, Oct 13 (AFP): At least 45 people have died in the poverty-stricken island of Haiti as homes were swept away in floods triggered by heavy rain, the interior ministry said. Interior Minister Paul Antoine Bien-Aime told AFP 23 bodies had been found in Cabaret, north of the capital. More than 6,000 people have had to leave their flooded homes, witnesses said. Other areas also reported casualties after more than a week of rain. (Posted @ 10:07 PST)
US covering up Iraqi corruption: lawmakers WASHINGTON, Oct 12 (AFP): Four Democratic lawmakers on Friday warned Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice that “endemic corruption” in Iraq was fueling the insurgency, and accused her department of covering it up. The House of Representatives committee chairmen also accused US officials of refusing to answer questions on corruption in Iraq, and complained the department had reclassified data on the issue after it had been released. They sent their letter a week after the US Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction Stuart Bowen testified to a House committee that corruption was imperiling the US mission in Iraq. (Posted @ 09:40 PST)
Costa Rica landslide kills 10 people, 3 missing SAN JOSE, Costa Rica Oct 12 (Reuters): Ten people were killed and three others were missing after heavy rains caused an early morning landslide that engulfed homes in a small town in central Costa Rica, the Red Cross reported on Friday. About 2.5 acres (1 hectare) of land on a steep slope gave way and fell on the small town of Atenas, about 30 kms west of the Costa Rican capital. Rescue workers were searching through mud and debris for the missing people, who are presumed dead, said a Red Cross spokesman. (Posted @ 09:35 PST)
U.S. judge jails Russian U.N. diplomat for 4 years NEW YORK, Oct 12(Reuters): A Russian diplomat who once chaired a U.N. budget committee was sentenced to more than four years in prison for helping launder more than $300,000 in bribes and taking a share of the money. U.S. District Judge Deborah Batts sentenced Vladimir Kuznetsov to 51 months in prison and fined him more than $73,000. (Posted @ 09:15 PST)
310 people detained in France in vast child porn sweep PARIS, Oct 13 (AP): More than half of 310 people recently detained in France on suspicion of spreading child pornography over the Internet have admitted to downloading images of naked children, police officials said Friday. The arrests were part of a vast crackdown on pedophilia in France that began on Monday (Posted @ 09:07 PST)
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