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| November 27, 2007 | Tuesday | Ziqa’ad 16, 1428 |
Updated round-the-clock, with major updates after 10:00 PST (05:00 GMT)
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Pakistan military reports big gains in Swat valley PESHAWAR, Pakistan, Nov 27 (AFP) - Troops have retaken a strategic peak from militants in the northwest Swat valley and shut down their radio station, officials and residents said Tuesday. The provincial government said security forces had secured more towns and seized Najia Top, the highest peak in Swat's Kabal district which has been a stronghold of cleric Maulana Fazlullah. Chief military spokesman Major General Waheed Arshad said 45 militants had been killed in the past two days of clashes alone. Updating an earlier official toll, he said 15 soldiers and 20 civilians had also died since the beginning of last week, with 40 soldiers wounded. “Troops took control of mountains. The militants had bunkers there, they have been evacuated,” he told Dawn News television. “The troops are consolidating their positions and are trying to make sure the militants do not return. The operation will continue in other areas where militants are hiding out.” Arshad estimated the insurgents' strength in the area at around 1,000 and said they were moving about in small groups of a few hundred. Residents and state television said Fazlullah's pirate radio station had been shut down. The local government has now set up its own FM radio station broadcasting programmes in the scenic valley. Officials said troops had seized about half a dozen towns in the past few days, first securing surrounding hilltops and then establishing control of the roads. Militants were reported earlier to be resisting in the Matta, Charbagh and Khawaza Khela areas, but residents said they had disappeared, abandoning bunkers stacked with weapons. Government forces have stepped up their offensive over the past few days, using artillery and helicopter gunships to flush the insurgents out of their mountain strongholds. Clashes since the beginning of last week have left more than 250 militants dead, according to army figures earlier. Officials Monday announced the death of three rebel commanders, including Khan Khatab, a top Fazlullah lieutenant who ran militant operations in Matta and Kabal, scenes of some of the fiercest fighting. (First Posted @ 10:40 PST Updated @ 18:32 PST)
Musharraf pays farewell visits to military headquarters RAWALPINDI, Nov 27 (PPI): President General Pervez Musharraf who is to relinquish charge of army chief on November 28 (Wednesday), paid farewell visits to various military headquarters Tuesday. He visited the Joint Staff Headquarters where he was presented a guard of honour. Later, he met Chairman Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee General Tariq Majid and the director generals of the Joint Staff Headquarters. They also exchanged souvenirs. He later visited naval Headquarters where he was presented a guard of honour. He met Chief of the Naval Staff Admiral Muhammad Afzal Tahir and the principal staff officers. He also visited air headquarters and met Chief of the Air Staff Air Chief Marshal Tanvir Mahmood Ahmed and other senior officers. General Musharraf will take oath of his office as a civilian president for a term of five years on November 29 after relinquishing the post of army chief, he had assumed on October 7, 1998. President Musharraf will also hand over the command of country's armed forces to the Vice Chief General Ashfaq Pervez Kiyani as a new army chief. General Kiyani will assume the charge the same day. (First Posted @ 09:20 PST Updated @ 14:43 PST)
Pakistan's Sharif urges Benazir to boycott poll LAHORE, Islamabad, Nov 27 (AFP) – Pakistan’s ex-premier Nawaz Sharif called Tuesday on Benazir Bhutto to join his party in boycotting upcoming general elections. Sharif said he had been in telephone contact with Benazir three or four times in the last few days. “I shall try to convince Benazir Bhutto to boycott the polls,” he told reporters in Lahore, adding that he had already asked her to take a “firm stance” against the vote. He said Musharraf wanted to rig the January 8 polls in order to secure a sufficient majority in parliament that would indemnify him over his imposition of emergency rule and his sacking of many of the nation's top judges.Benazir and Sharif are jockeying for position as they seek to lead a united front against Musharraf. Sharif will preside a meeting Thursday of a broad coalition of opposition groups to decide whether they should boycott the polls, senior party leader Raja Zafarul Haq said. Benazir’s party, however, is not part of the alliance. Her spokesman Farhatullah Babar said there had been no telephone contact between the two leaders yet. But “if they meet they will discuss how to make the elections free and fair or whether they should boycott the vote,” Babar told AFP. (Posted @ 19:44 PST)
Musharraf quitting army won't hurt 'terror' war: ministry ISLAMABAD, Nov 27 (AFP) - President Pervez Musharraf's imminent departure as army chief will not affect Pakistan's commitment to the US-led “war on terror”, interior ministry spokesman Brigadier Javed Cheema told a media briefing Tuesday. “I don't think doffing of uniform would have any impact on this war on terror,” he said. “I think it is a policy objective, we would continue with this policy -- uniform or no uniform it would not impact our war on terror,” Cheema said. “It is a challenge and a very serious threat to our internal security and we would continue our efforts against extremists and terrorists,” he added. (Posted @ 16:50 PST)
Pakistan frees almost all political detainees ISLAMABAD, Nov 27 (AFP) Pakistani authorities have freed 5,748 lawyers, political workers and rights activists arrested under emergency rule, with just 37 left behind bars, the interior ministry said Tuesday. Interior ministry spokesman Javed Cheema told a media briefing that “5,748 people have been released,” adding that it represented almost the entire total seized over the past three weeks. Of the remaining 37, police were holding 32 under charges of violent conduct and another five under the maintenance of public order act, he said. Last week officials put the figure of those released at just over 5,000. They included cricketer-turned-politician Imran Khan, who went on hunger strike to protest against his detention under anti-terror legislation. Several leading lawyers were released over the weekend. (Posted @ 16:05 PST)
Four more ministers inducted in Sindh Cabinet KARACHI, Nov 27 (APP): The Caretaker Sindh Cabinet swelled with the induction of four more Ministers raising the cabinet's strength to 17. The new ministers are: Ghulam Rasool Unnar, Arbab Naimatullah, Syed Saleem Khan Zaidi and Mansab Jakhrani. They were administered oath by Sindh Governor Dr. Ishrat- ul- Ebad Khan. (Posted @ 17:10 PST)
ECP to provide entire data on website KARACHI, Nov 27 (APP): Sindh Provincial Election Commissioner Chaudhry Qamaruzzaman said Tuesday that the filing of nomination papers, the first phase of the general elections, was completed on Monday and scrutiny of the nomination papers was now under way. The Election Commission of Pakistan has computerized the record of entire data - from voter lists to filling of nomination papers for general seats of National Assembly, Provincial Assembly and the reserved seats, he told APP adding that the entire data is loaded on ECP website for the general public which is updated regularly. The website is (www.ecp.gov.pk). (First Posted @ 17:24 PST Updated @ 20:06 PST)
Opportunity for peace will not be repeated: Abbas ANAPPOLIS, Maryland, Nov 27 (APP/AFP) - The conference in Annapolis is an opportunity for peace between Palestinians and Israelis that “will not repeat itself,” Palestinian leader Mahmud Abbas said Tuesday. (Posted @ 23:34 PST)
Israel ready to make 'painful compromise' for peace ANNAPOLIS, MARYLAND, Nov 27, (AFP) - Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said Tuesday that Israel was ready to make a “painful compromise” in order to make peace with the Palestinians. “We are prepared to make a painful compromise, rife with risks in order to realize these (peace) aspirations,” he said at the opening of a US-championed international conference for peace. (Posted @ 23:04 PST)
Pakistan ranks 136 on UN's Human Development Index UNITED NATIONS, Nov. 27 (APP) - Pakistan ranked 136 on U.N.'s 2007 Human Development Index (HDI), which measures achievements in terms of life expectancy, educational attainment and adjusted real income. The HDI forms part of the Human Development Report 2007, a flagship study produced annually by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). It was released in Brasilia and at UN Headquarters in New York on Tuesday. Last year, Pakistan was at 134 spot, while in 2005 it was placed at 135. India ranked 128 on the HDI, two down from last year's 126. (Posted @ 22:30 PST)
13 dead in China fireworks workshop blast BEIJING, Nov 27 (APP/AFP) - Thirteen people were killed and six others injured Tuesday in an explosion at an illegal fireworks workshop in central China, state media reported. The explosion tore through a home in Hunan province where villagers were making fireworks, Xinhua news agency reported. (Posted @ 21:38 PST)
Elections under emergency will be 'drama': JI LAHORE, Nov 27 (APP): Jamat-i-Islami chief Qazi Hussian Ahmed demanded of the government to lift emergency and reinstate the deposed judges of superior courts. Addressing the party’s central executive committee he said that all parties of APDM wanted to boycott the general elections and to launch protest campaign till the restoration of judiciary and formation of an independent Election Commission. “Contesting polls by all political parties will provide the logic of acceptance of PCO and Emergency “, he added. (Posted @ 21:02 PST)
Sri Lanka military kills 13 with mine - rebels COLOMBO, Nov 27 (Reuters) - Thirteen civilians were killed by a Sri Lankan military mine in rebel-held Killinochchi on Tuesday, the Tamil Tigers said, while the government said the air force bombed a rebel radio station. The Tigers said the air raids killed five radio station staffers and four others, including a 14-year-old girl. The military denied it had ground units operating in the rebel-held area where the Tigers said a mine explosion had killed civilians. (First Posted @ 17:04 PST Updated @ 20:48 PST)
Bush meets Israeli-Palestinian leaders ANNAPOLIS, Maryland, Nov 27 (AFP) - US President George W. Bush met Tuesday with Israeli premier Ehud Olmert and Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas in a new thrust to relaunch peace negotiations, a Palestinian delegate said. (Posted @ 20:46 PST)
US fire kills Iraqi civilians as 'shepherd' bombs police BAGHDAD, Nov 27 (AFP) - Seven Iraqis, including three women and a child, were reported killed by US fire, as a suicide bomber disguised as a shepherd killed seven people on Tuesday in an attack on police, officials said. Iraqi security officials said three women and a man were killed when the minibus carrying bank employees came under American military fire in Baghdad's northeastern Al-Shaab neighbourhood. The gunfire wounded another two people -- a woman and a man, they said. Meanwhile, at least 13 people were killed on Tuesday in a spate of attacks north of Baghdad, security officials said. In the deadliest attack, a suicide bomber disguised as a shepherd blew himself up in front of police headquarters in Baquba, killing seven people and wounding another seven, police said. Among the dead were three policemen and two women. (First Posted @ 12:15 PST Updated @ 20:44 PST)
Balochistan:4 towers of 220 kv transmission line damaged NASIRABAD, Pakistan, Nov 27 (PPI): Three explosions damaged four towers of 22 kv transmission near Dera Murad Jamali in Balochistan Monday-Tuesday night resulting in suspension of power supply to several parts of the province. (Posted @ 20:20 PST)
Demilitarisation of Kashmir can be mother of all CBMs LUTON (UK), Nov 27 (APP): President of Azad Jammu and Kashmir, Raja Zulqarnain Khan has said that demilitarisation of Jammu and Kashmir can be mother Confidence Building Measures (CBMs). If India opts for demilitarisation of occupied Kashmir and ask us to demilitarise Azad Jammu and Kashmir then we will not object to it, he said at a reception hosted by former Mayor of Luton Raja Waheed Akbar in his honour here. According to KMS, he said the flame of freedom has to be kept burning till Kashmir problem is resolved. (Posted @ 20:16 PST)
Right time for Mideast peace deal: Bush ANNAPOLIS, Maryland, Nov 27 (AFP) - President George W. Bush said Tuesday it was the “right time” for peace between Israelis and Palestinians, but admitted the road would be difficult, as he readied to open a major international gathering here. “In light of recent developments, some have suggested that now is not the right time to pursue peace. I disagree,” he said, according to remarks prepared for delivery. “I believe that now is precisely the right time to begin these negotiations -- for a number of reasons.”But, he noted, “Achieving this goal will not be easy - if it were easy, it would have happened a long time ago.””Today, Palestinians and Israelis each understand that helping the other to realize their aspirations is the key to realizing their own - and both require an independent, democratic, viable Palestinian state,” Bush said. “Such a state will provide Palestinians with the chance to lead lives of freedom, purpose and dignity. And such a state will help provide Israelis with something they have been seeking for generations: to live in peace with their neighbors,” he added. (Posted @ 19:00 PST)
Cricket-Pakistan's Shoaib Akhtar taken to hospital with fever KOLKATA, Nov 27 (Reuters) - Pakistan strike bowler Shoaib Akhtar was hospitalised on Tuesday after complaining of fatigue caused by fever, a team official said. “He was suffering from fever and got very tired after arriving here from New Delhi,” the official told Reuters. “So he has been taken to hospital, probably to be put on a drip.” The visitors have more fitness concerns with skipper Shoaib Malik nursing an ankle injury and batsman Misbah-ul Haq recovering from fever and throat infection he was suffering during the match. However, fast bowler Umar Gul has been cleared to play in the second test after missing the opener due to back trouble. (Posted @ 18:52 PST)
Strong quake hits Solomon Islands SYDNEY, Nov 27 (AFP) - A strong earthquake with a magnitude of 6.6 hit the Solomon Islands on Tuesday, but there have been no reports of damage and a destructive Pacific-wide tsunami was not expected, seismologists said. An 8.0-magnitude earthquake in the western Solomons in April triggered a tsunami that killed more than 50 people and displaced thousands. (Posted @ 18:08 PST)
No accord yet on joint document for Mideast peace talks ANNAPOLIS, Maryland, Nov 27 (AFP) - Israelis and Palestinians early Tuesday had yet to agree on a joint document on future peace negotiations even after talking late into the night in Washington, sources from both sides said. There is “no agreement,” a senior official in the Israeli delegation told AFP just hours before US President George W. Bush was to open the peace conference in Annapolis, Maryland. A Palestinian official confirmed there was no deal. (Posted @ 18:06 PST)
Indian court rules airlines must compensate passengers for delays, cancellations NEW DELHI, Nov 27 (AP) An Indian court has ruled that airlines must compensate passengers for flight delays and sudden cancellations that cause mental agony and harassment. Justice J. D. Kapoor ordered private airline, Go Air, to pay 15,000 rupees (US$380, euro255) each as compensation to the passengers who had booked tickets on a New Delhi-Mumbai flight last February, the Hindustan Times reported. The flight was cancelled at the last minute without any explanation, according to complainant Yogesh Kumar, a New Delhi resident, the news report said. Kapoor, who heads the New Delhi State Consumer Disputes Redress Commission, said only delays beyond the airlines' control like bad weather were exempted, the daily reported. (Posted @ 15:50 PST)
Cricket: Kirsten named new India coach NEW DELHI, Nov 27 (AFP) Former South African opening batsman Gary Kirsten will take over as new Indian coach on December 3, just two weeks before India leave for Australia to play four Tests and a triangular one-day series also featuring Sri Lanka, a top cricket board official told AFP on Tuesday. “We have decided to appoint Kirsten as the coach. A formal announcement will be made in Kolkata,” the official said on condition of anonymity. (Posted @ 15:10 PST)
Thousands flock to Hamas anti-US peace meet demo in Gaza GAZA CITY, Nov 27 (AFP) Thousands of Hamas supporters began flocking to central Gaza City on Tuesday for a rally to reject a key Middle East peace conference due to open in the United States. Mosque loudspeakers also urged people to join the demonstration. “The decisions taken at Annapolis are not binding on the Palestinian people, who have not authorised anyone, either Arab or Palestinian, to erase their rights,” Hamas spokesman Fawzi Barhum told AFP. Speaking ahead of the Gaza demonstration, the premier of the dismissed Hamas government Ismail Haniya reiterated that stance, saying that “we will reject the decisions of Annapolis if they touch upon our rights. (Posted @ 15:05 PST)
India's Supreme Court gives bail to Sanjay Dutt NEW DELHI, Nov 27 (Reuters): India's Supreme Court granted bail on Tuesday to Bollywood actor Sanjay Dutt, jailed for six years for taking guns from gangsters involved in the country's worst bombings. Dutt, who is lodged in a jail in the western city of Pune, had challenged the conviction late last month and sought bail until the petition was heard. (Posted @ 11:45 PST)
Iran builds 2,000-km range missile TEHRAN, Nov 27 (AFP): Iran has built a new longer-range missile named “Ashura” with a range of 2,000 kilometres, the defence minister announced Tuesday, the Fars news agency reported. “The construction of the Ashura missile with a range of 2,000 kilometres is an accomplishment of the ministry of defence,” Defence Minister Mostafa Mohammad Najjar was quoted as saying. (Posted @ 11:40 PST)
Manila skyscrapers sway in 6.0 magnitude earthquake MANILA, Nov 27 (AP): A moderate earthquake shook the Philippines' main island of Luzon on Tuesday. There were no immediate reports of injuries or damage. Buildings across Manila shook for several seconds. Panicked residents ran out into the streets. The U.S. Geological Survey said the quake had a magnitude of 6.0, upgraded from a preliminary estimate of 5.8, with an epicenter 195 kilometers north-northwest of Manila and at a depth of 62.5 kilometers. ((Posted @ 10:00 PST Updated @ 10:30 PST)
Palestinian killed in Israeli fire in Gaza GAZA CITY, Nov 27 (AFP): A Palestinian member of Hamas died late Monday in an Israeli air attack in the north of the Hamas-run Gaza Strip, medics said. Israeli military sources said the attack targeted two Palestinians who were attempting to place explosives near the border fence separating the impoverished territory from Israel. The latest death brings to 5,940 the number of people killed since the start of the second Palestinian uprising in September 2000, the vast majority of them Palestinians. (Posted @ 10:25 PST)
7 dead, 30 missing in Ecuador mine blast QUITO, Nov 27 (AFP): Seven miners were killed, 40 injured and another 30 missing after a dynamite blast at a gold mine in Aznuay province in southern Ecuador, firefighters said Monday. “We have recovered seven bodies and sent 40 injured people to hospitals. There are some 30 people reported missing,” the firefighter chief told AFP. (First Posted @ 09:05 Updated @ 10:00 PST)
64 police officers injured in Paris riots PARIS, Nov 27 (AFP): French police said Tuesday 64 officers were injured in a second night of clashes with youth on Monday in and around the flashpoint Paris suburb of Villiers-le-Bel, adding that five of them were in critical condition. The injuries followed rioting in Villiers-le-Bel and the nearby towns of Sarcelles and Garges-les-Gonesses, a police source said. Violence erupted in Villiers-le-Bel Sunday after two teenagers died when their motorbike crashed into a police car. The accident sparked six hours of clashes. (First Posted @ 08:55 PST Updated @ 10:00 PST)
Car bomb attack on foreign convoy in Kabul kills two KABUL, Nov 27 (Reuters): A suicide car bomb targeting a foreign military convoy in Kabul killed two civilians Tuesday, a senior police official said. Several people were wounded by the blast in central Kabul outside a Defence Ministry building close to the British, Canadian and Pakistani embassies. Two white armoured Toyota Land Cruisers belonging to the U.S. force which trains Afghan troops were damaged by the blast which shattered windows across a wide area. Wreckage burned in a metre-wide crater in the road, but little remained of the attacker's car except the smouldering engine some 10 metres away. An Afghan civilian and an Afghan security guard were killed, a senior police official said. “There was no one injured from our convoy,” Lieutenant Colonel David Johnson of the Combined Security Transition Command said. A spokesman for Gulbuddin Hekmatyar’s Hizb-e Islami claimed responsibility for the attack. (First Posted @ 08:50 Updated @ 11:50 PST)
Typhoon leaves 12 dead in Philippines, blows toward Japan MANILA, Nov 27 (AP): A powerful typhoon that weakened into a tropical storm blew toward Japan Tuesday, leaving at least 12 people dead and 23 missing in the Philippines from Tropical Storm Mitag, officials said. Another weather disturbance, Tropical Depression Hagibis, continued to approach western Palawan island, disaster relief officials and forecasters said. (Posted @ 08:45 PST)
Karachi Stocks up 21.48 points: KARACHI, Nov 27: At close of trading, the KSE-100 index was at 13797.46, up 21.48 points. (Bureau Report) (Updated @ 14:20 PST)
Forex update: KARACHI, Nov 27: The Pakistani Rupee was traded at Rs 61.45, to the US Dollar in the open market. (Bureau Report) (Updated @ 14:20 PST)
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