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| December 17, 2007 | Monday | Zilhaj 6, 1428 |
Updated round-the-clock, with major updates after 10:00 PST (05:00 GMT)
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12 killed in Kohat bomb attack ISLAMABAD, Dec 17 (Reuters): A suicide bomber killed at least 12 people in northwest Pakistan Monday in an attack on a security checkpost, military officials said. The attack was near an army-run school in Kohat town in North West Frontier Province. The Pakistan Television quoting an ISPR spokesmen said 12 people were killed in the attack. Army recruits were passing by the checkpost at the time of the attack, a military official said, adding that 10 bodies were found at the scene. (First Posted @ 13:05 PST, Updated @ 21:28 PST)
Musharraf has more to do for free and fair vote: White House WASHINGTON, Dec 17 (AFP): The White House n Monday welcomed President Pervez Musharraf's move to lift a state of emergency, but said he had more to do to ensure that elections set for January 8 are free and fair. “It was good to see President Musharraf follow through on his pledge to lift emergency,” spokeswoman Dana Perino said. “Now that they move forward, towards the election, it's very important that the opposition parties, and everybody, have access to a free media so that they can have a free and fair election,” Perino told reporters. (Posted @ 20:18 PST)
Protesters, police clash in Islamabad ISLAMABAD, Dec 17 (AFP): Police used batons and fired tear gas in a clash Monday with 200 protesters who hurled rocks and bricks at them in the capital, AFP journalists on the scene said. The demonstrators were trying to make their way to the residence of deposed chief justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, who is under house arrest, but were blocked by police. Police said 14 officers were hurt in the melee while an AFP reporter said at least one local journalist was taken to hospital after being beaten. The clash lasted about 45 minutes. (First Posted @ 18:20 PST Updated @ 18:44 PST)
Boy killed, policeman among 9 injured in Quetta blast QUETTA Dec 17 (APP): A boy was killed while nine other including a policeman were injured as a bomb exploded on main Abdul Sattar Road Monday evening in front of Malik Plaza, a police official said. The bazaar was packed with people busy shopping for eid. (Posted @ 21:52 PST)
Pakistani troops arrest 17 militants in Swat ISLAMABAD, Dec 17 (AFP) - Pakistani security forces apprehended 17 pro-Taliban rebels as part of the ongoing operation against militants in northwestern Swat valley , the army said Monday.. “Our troops arrested the 17 militants Sunday from different parts of Swat,”chief military spokesman Major General Waheed Arshad told AFP. He said all the arrested militants were allied with pro-Taliban cleric Maulana Fazlullah, who is in hiding. According to government reports, around 330 militants have been killed in the area during the recent campaign to clear the scenic valley of fighters. (Posted @ 12:15 PST)
Rice urges Musharraf to allow fair campaign PARIS, Dec 17 (AFP) - US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice called Sunday on President Pervez Musharraf to ensure campaigning ahead of Pakistan's elections in January was conducted freely and fairly. “It is extremely important now that there be a very robust and concerted effort to make sure... that the political campaign that needs to take place can take place in an atmosphere conducive to free and fair elections,” Rice told journalists. “And that means that the opposition has to be able to gather and mobilize and has to have access to the press,” she told journalists on the plane to Paris, where she was to attend a Palestinian donors' conference. If there are real efforts that are made to make sure that the opposition can act on its own behalf... then this can be an election that can move Pakistan forward on the democratic road,” Rice said. “This is going to be a very closely watched election,” she added. (Posted @ 10:10 PST)
Benazir alleges PML-Q of setting up of ghost polling stations in Punjab KARACHI, Dec 17 (PPI): PPP chairperson and former premier Benazir Bhutto alleged the elections are going to be rigged in favour of the PML-Q party, for which, according to her, the Ghost Polling Stations have been setup. ''There are 148 seats in Punjab, the government has been told to give 108 seats to them. That means we'll only be fighting over 40 seats,'' she said in an interview, which appeared in US newspaper Washington Post Monday. To a question whether PML-Q will win in Punjab, Benazir said,'' They won't win it. Hopefully we will make them lose it.” When asked if she thinks that is possible, Benazir said, ''Well, observers are coming from the European Union (among others). So I think if we can get observers to ensure that the ballots don't get siphoned off, it'll be a huge setback to their rigging plans. They've also got ghost voting stations. They don't exist, or if they exist, nobody knows where they're placed. We want the observers to go to the improvised polling stations and force the election commission to identify them.” When asked what happens if the election is rigged, she said, '' It all depends on how much they can manipulate the numbers. If the judicial and police staffs refuse to rig the elections for them or if the observers can work against the rigging, the ruling party is going to lose badly…I can't speak for Musharraf, but my assessment is that they would like to have the ruling party win but take a prime minister from the Pakistan People's Party. The PPP will not buy into it.” (Posted @ 15:55 PST)
Two injured in Parachinar grenade attack PARACHINAR Dec 17 (APP): Two persons were injured when a hand- grenade was thrown at a house here Monday, official sources said. The explosion created panic. The area was cordoned by the Levies who started a search operation to catch the culprits. BLAST IN QUETTA (PPI): One person was injured when a land mine exploded in a graveyard here Monday. The incident occurred in Brewery area along the Western Bypass. Police reached the site and found another land mine which was defused by the bomb disposal squad. (Posted @ 19:22 PST)
JUP contesting poll: Anas Noorani HYDERABAD, Pakistan, Dec 17 (APP): Chief of Jamiat Ulema-i- Pakistan (JUP) Maulana Shah Ahmed Anas Noorani Siddiqui has said that the party has changed the decision of boycotting the elections in view of the prevailing conditions and now the party candidates are taking part in the general elections. The MMA remains united and Qazi Hussain Ahmed is still its President, he told newsmen Sunday but expressed reservations over the conduct of elections (Posted @ 10:40 PST)
Iraqi Kurds agree to postpone key vote on oil city ARBIL, Iraq, Dec 17 (AFP): The Kurdish regional government in north Iraq has agreed to delay by six months the referendum on the future of the oil-rich city of Kirkuk, easing immediate tensions among the mixed population. According to article 140 of the Iraqi constitution, the referendum was to be held by the end of 2007 to decide whether the region with its oil wealth should go under the control of the autonomous Kurdish government. Nechirvan Barzani, prime minister of the autonomous Kurdish government, told AFP that his government favoured postponing the vote. (Posted @ 21:20 PST)
New Jersey becomes first U.S. state in 42 years to ban death penalty TRENTON, New Jersey, Dec 17 (AP): Governor Jon Corzine signed into law Monday a measure that abolishes the death penalty, making New Jersey the first U.S. state in more than four decades to reject capital punishment. The bill, approved last week by the state's Assembly and Senate, replaces the death sentence with life in prison without parole. The move comes as the top U.S. court, the Supreme Court, considers the legality of execution by lethal injection. (Posted @ 21:18 PST)
Two pilots breach Indian PM's security, protocol NEW DELHI, Dec 17 (AFP) Two pilots were briefly held Monday after landing a helicopter on a helipad where the Indian prime minister was waiting to take off after campaigning in a northern state, a report said. The pair were flying for a charter service owned by Deccan Aviation, which also runs India's largest low-cost carrier Air Deccan, the Press Trust of India news agency said. Despite ground staff warnings, the helicopter landed to pick up another politician from the same party as Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, the agency said. The pilots, both former army men, were taken into custody but later released after being charged with breaching the prime minister's security, the report said. (Posted @ 21:14 PST)
Sri Lanka may ban Tamil Tigers if attacks continue: President COLOMBO, Dec 17 (Reuters): Sri Lanka may outlaw the Tamil Tigers if the rebels continue to mount large scale attacks, President Mahinda Rajapaksa said Monday, a move that would put any hope of renewed peace talks even further out of reach. “One or two more attacks, we have no option,” Rajapaksa told reporters in the capital Colombo. “(We will) have to ban. There is a limit to our patience,” he added. The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam is outlawed as a terrorist group by the United States, Britain and the European Union. (Posted @ 21:04 PST)
Sri Lanka says 33 killed in fresh violence COLOMBO, Dec 17 (AFP): Renewed violence between Tamil rebels and government forces left at least 33 people dead in northern Sri Lanka, the defence ministry said Monday. In clashes, soldiers Monday shot dead 16 Tiger rebels in Vavuniya district, the military said, adding that two government troops were injured in the attacks. Among Monday's casualties were two civilians killed by unidentified attackers in Jaffna peninsula, where 15 Tamil Tiger rebels died in clashes with troops on Sunday, the ministry said in a statement. (First Posted @ 09:55 PST Updated @ 21:00 PST)
Nigeria secretly hanged seven prisoners in 06: Amnesty LAGOS, Dec 17 (Reuters): Nigeria secretly hanged at least seven prisoners in 2006 despite government statements there hadbeen no executions in years, human rights group Amnesty International said Monday. The rights group said it had evidence seven prisoners convicted in the northern state of Kano had their death warrants signed by the state governor, were transferred to prisons in other states where they were hanged. (Posted @ 20:50 PST)
Truck bomb explodes near Iraq's largest dam MOSUL, Dec 17 (Reuters): A truck packed with explosives blew up Monday close to Iraq's largest dam, Mosul Dam, partly destroying the main access bridge and killing a policeman, police said. The blast caused no damage to the dam itself, which U.S. Army engineers have previously warned is poorly constructed and in danger of imminent collapse. (Posted @ 20:40 PST)
Israel criticised after musician prevented from entering Gaza BERLIN, Dec 17 (AP): Conductor Daniel Barenboim criticized Israel Monday for preventing a Palestinian musician in an ensemble that was to perform at a music festival from entering the Gaza Strip for a concert. Barenboim said his group of 20 musicians from England, the U.S. France and Germany, and the Palestinian musician, had been authorised by Israeli authorities to travel to Gaza for a baroque music festival, where they were to play on Sunday. But the 27-year-old Palestinian was stopped at the Israel-Gaza border and informed he needed individual permission to enter. The group was held for seven hours and canceled its concert in solidarity. (Posted @ 20:36 PST)
Nine killed as car crashes into crowd in Egypt CAIRO, Dec 17 (Reuters): Nine Egyptians were killed and seven injured Monday when a car crashed into a group of people celebrating a religious festival in the Sinai Peninsula, security sources said. The car ploughed into a crowd of hundreds in Hurghada town celebrating a local saint. Its brakes had failed, sources said, adding police were investigating the incident. (Posted @ 19:36 PST)
Russian general says missiles could target US shield MOSCOW, Dec 17 (AFP): Russia's nuclear weapons chief threatened Monday to target a planned US missile defence shield in central Europe if Washington fails to take into account Moscow's worries, the Interfax news agency reported. General Nikolai Solovtsov, head of strategic missile forces, said that such a decision could be taken if the US shield is seen to “undermine the Russian nuclear deterrent capability. (Posted @ 19:00 PST)
Putin ready to accept PM's post next year MOSCOW, Dec 17 (AFP): Russian President Vladimir Putin said Monday he would accept the prime minister's post next year if his ally Dmitry Medvedev succeeds him in a March presidential election. (Posted @ 18:48 PST)
2007 deadliest year for journalists: media rights group GENEVA, Dec 17 (AFP): Record numbers of journalists have been killed around the world this year, with at least 110 dying in 27 countries, the media defence group Press Emblem Campaign (PEC) said Monday. “This year's tally represents a 14 percent increase over the 2006 figure,” said Secretary-General Blaise Lempen. (Posted @ 18:46 PST)
German national kidnapped in Afghanistan HERAT, Afghanistan, Dec 17 (AFP) A German national has been kidnapped in western Afghanistan’s Herat province, officials said Monday. The man, a convert to Islam who has a family with an Afghan woman, was kidnapped Sunday, a police official said. “He was going to his father-in-law's home. Along the road he was kidnapped by four unknown armed men.” (Posted @ 18:26 PST)
EU ponders 50-member election observer mission for Pakistan BRUSSELS, Belgium, Dec 17 (AP) The European Union will send a 50-member team to monitor parliamentary elections in Pakistan on January 8 if the country can ensure that observers can operate safely and freely, officials said Monday. The European Commission welcomed the lifting of Pakistan's state of emergency by President Musharraf but urged him to ensure a free and fair vote, EU spokesman Amadeu Altafaj Tardio said. He said EU External Relations Commissioner Benita Ferrero-Waldner believes the EU could send an observer mission if Pakistan agrees with the EU on setting out ''the rights and obligations of the mission,'' as well as ''ensuring the safety'' of the monitors. (Posted @ 17:54 PST)
Seven drown in new illegal immigrant disaster off Turkey ANKARA, Dec 17 (AFP) Seven bodies were recovered Monday after a boat carrying illegal immigrants sank off southwest Turkey in a sea accident, local officials told Anatolia news agency. The coast guard located the wreck of the six-metre boat off the popular Aegean resort of Bodrum. Several of the bodies were found inside the vessel, Bodrum's sub-governor Abdullah Kalkan said. Nine people - seven Afghans, a Pakistani and a Turk suspected of being an organisers of the trip - managed to swim ashore, Anatolia said. The survivors said 17 people were on board the craft, Kalkan told the agency. Police detained 10 people, including two Iranians, suspected of being organisers of the journey. (Posted @ 17:38 PST)
Four killed in Mogadishu mortar blast MOGADISHU, Dec 17 (AFP) A mortar shell smashed into Mogadishu's main Bakara market Monday, killing at least four people and wounding four others, witnesses said. (Posted @ 17:20 PST)
Lebanon presidential vote postponed to December 22 BEIRUT, Dec 17 (Reuters): A Lebanese presidential election scheduled for Monday was postponed until December 22, the parliament speaker said, in the ninth postponement of the vote. Rival pro- and anti-Syrian leaders have agreed on army chief General Michel Suleiman as a consensus candidate but are yet to reach a broader political deal that will allow the election in parliament to go ahead. The term of President Emile Lahoud ended on November 23 and the post has been vacant since then. (Posted @ 16:30 PST)
Palestinian plea to avert 'catastrophe' at donors meet PARIS, Dec 17 (AFP): Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas urged the international community Monday to step up support to the Palestinians or risk a “catastrophe”, as he appealed for 5.6 billion dollars in aid at a major donors' conference. Ninety international delegations gathered in Paris for the one-day conference to agree an aid package to stabilise the Palestinian economy and shore up the peace process with Israel. “Without this support, without the payment of aid that will allow the Palestinian treasury to fulfil its role, we will be facing a total catastrophe in the West Bank and Gaza,” Abbas told the opening ceremony, at a conference centre near the Arc de Triomphe. Palestinian prime minister Salam Fayyad formally asked donors for 5.6 billion dollars, including 3.9 billion dollars in direct support to the budget for his plan to develop a viable economy and institutions for a future Palestinian state. “To make this vision reality, we need your financial, political and moral support,” said Fayyad. French President Nicolas Sarkozy pledged 300 million dollars on behalf of host country France, while the United States, the European Union and Germany were expected to donate a further 1.35 billion dollars. Abbas called on Israel to freeze all settlements in the Palestinian territories to allow the newly-relaunched peace process to gain a foothold. “I expect a complete halt of all settlement activities without exception,” Abbas said, while also calling for the dismantlement of 127 “wildcat settlements,” the lifting of military barrages, a halt to construction of the separation barrier and prisoner releases. (First Posted @ 10:05 PST, Updated @ 16:25 PST)
Iran says first nuclear fuel consignment arrives from Russia TEHRAN, Dec 17 (AFP): The first consignment of nuclear fuel from Russia for Iran's first atomic power station has arrived in the country, the head of its atomic energy organisation Gholam Reza Aghazadeh said Monday. “The first consignment arrived in Iran on Monday. The transfer of the fuel will continue and everything will be given to Iran according to the timetable,” he told the IRNA news agency. Russia on Monday announced the start of nuclear fuel deliveries for the Bushehr plant. (First Posted @ 12:50 PST, Updated @ 16:05 PST)
Briton's uncle helped in Pakistan escape: security official ISLAMABAD, Dec 17 (AFP): The Briton suspected of a plane bombing plot who escaped from custody in Pakistan got away after police let his uncle drive him back to jail following a court appearance, a security official said Monday. Rashid Rauf, a British national of Pakistani origin wanted for an alleged plan to blow up trans-Atlantic jetliners, slipped away in unclear circumstances Saturday after appearing in an Islamabad court. The senior security official, who declined to be named, said Rauf's uncle Mohammad Rafiq had convinced the two police escorts to make the drive back to jail in Rafiq's more comfortable van - instead of in a police vehicle. The official said that on the way to jail in Rawalpindi Rauf asked for permission to stop at a fast-food restaurant - where the uncle bought a meal for all of them. Then Rauf asked to visit a mosque for prayers, which was also allowed. While the prayer service was going on Rauf and his uncle disappeared. “Rauf's uncle who helped him escape from custody has been arrested and is under interrogation,” the official said. Mohsin Rafiq, superintendent of Rawalpindi’s Adiala Jail where Rauf was being held, told AFP that the police escorts may have even unlocked his handcuffs when he went to pray. “It is said that he asked permission to offer prayers and the two police officials who were escorting him allowed this,” Rafiq said. “It is sheer police negligence.” (Posted @ 15:40 PST)
Russian sub test fires ballistic missile: navy spokesman MOSCOW, Dec 17 (AFP): A Russian submarine on Monday successfully test-fired a new ballistic missile from the Barents Sea to the far east of the country, navy spokesman Igor Dygalo told AFP. The Sineva missile was launched from the submerged submarine “towards the Kura test ground in Kamchatka,” Dygalo said. “The head section of the missile reached the test ground on time,” he said. The Sineva has the NATO classification Skiff SS-N-23 and a range of 8,900 kilometres. (Posted @ 14:50 PST)
Saudi king pardons female rape victim RIYADH, Dec 17 (AFP): Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah has pardoned a teenage girl sentenced to six months in jail and 200 lashes after being gang raped, Al Jazirah newspaper reported Monday. The ruling against the 19-year-old girl had attracted widespread international condemnation. She had been sentenced for being in a car with an unrelated male. (Posted @ 13:50 PST)
Nine hurt as Cambodian monk protest turns ugly PHNOM PENH, Dec 17 (Reuters): Three Cambodian Buddhist monks and six riot police were hurt on Monday in a fight that broke out when the monks tried to deliver a protest letter to the Vietnamese embassy in Phnom Penh, officials and witnesses said. About 40 saffron-robed monks were trying to demand Vietnam stop persecuting Buddhists. When their path was blocked, they started throwing bottles and hitting the 100 riot police positioned near the embassy compound. The riot police chased the monks away with electric batons. (Posted @ 13:45 PST)
Russia starts nuclear fuel deliveries to Iran MOSCOW, Dec 17 (AFP): Russia's Atomstroiexport corporation said Monday it had begun deliveries of nuclear fuel for Iran's first power station at Bushehr. “On December 16, 2007, Atomstroiexport began delivery of the fuel for the initial installation at the future Bushehr power station,” the corporation said in a statement. (Posted @ 12:50 PST)
Roadside bomb kills Afghan family of five; 20 Taliban killed in fighting KANDAHAR, Afghanistan, Dec 17 (AP): A family of five riding on a motorbike, including three young children, hit a roadside bomb in southern Afghanistan’s Uruzgan province Tuesday that killed all five, a police official said, while 20 Taliban fighters were killed in a clash. (Posted @ 12:35 PST)
Muslim pilgrims leave Makkah at start of Haj Makkah, Saudi Arabia, Dec 17 (Reuters) - The annual Haj pilgrimage began on Monday when hundreds of thousands of Muslim pilgrims left for Mina’s tented encampment on the edge of the holy city. They would leave for Mount Arafat on Tuesday, followed by night-long prayers at Musdalfa, and back to Mina for the ritual of stoning the Satan. (Posted @ 12:35 PST)
Kyrgyz leader's party wins absolute election victory BISHKEK, Dec 17 (Reuters) - Kyrgyz President Kurmanbek Bakiyev's Ak Zhol party won every available seat in the next parliament, preliminary results showed on Monday, following a weekend election condemned as rigged by the opposition. Ak Zhol won 48 percent of Sunday's vote, the Central Election Commission said on Monday, citing results after 80 percent had been counted. The opposition Ata Meken party was the only other party to pass the nationwide threshold of 5 percent needed to make it into the chamber, with 9.3 percent. But it failed to meet a separate requirement of taking 0.5 percent of the vote in each of Kyrgyzstan's seven regions and two main cities. “We don't accept this election's result,” said Kubatbek Baibolov of the Ata Meken party. “The authorities ... are just cynically appointing their own people into parliament. It will lead to trouble. People feel deceived.” (Posted @ 12:25 PST)
UAE charity to pay Haj costs of abandoned pilgrims ABU DHABI, Dec 17 (AFP) - The Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Foundation, a UAE charity, said Sunday it would pay for 400 Muslims from Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan to enable them to perform Haj after the would-be pilgrims fell victim to fraud. The 400 prospective pilgrims were abandoned by their tour organiser in the UAE from where they had been due to travel on to Saudi Arabia. (Posted @ 10:30 PST)
39 slain in Al-Qaeda clash with Iraqi Sunnis BAQUBA, Iraq, Dec 17 (AFP) - At least 39 people were killed in fierce clashes Sunday between suspected Al-Qaeda in Iraq fighters and Sunni Arab villagers in the province of Diyala, police said. Baquba police chief said two Sunni villages were attacked by Al-Qaeda militants at around 3:30 pm (1230 GMT). “Fierce fighting broke out between the villagers and Al-Qaeda fighters in which 17 villagers and 22 Al-Qaeda militants have been killed,” he told AFP adding that three women were among the villagers killed. (Posted @ 10:25 PST)
Kadhafi makes unexpected trip to Malaga MADRID, Dec 17 (AFP) - Libyan leader Moamer Kadhafi and his entourage quit Sunday a five-star hotel in southern Spain a day earlier than expected and headed to the port city of Malaga, a source close to his delegation said. On the way south, he visited Cordoba and Granada, which were centres of power during the centuries of Moorish Muslim domination from 711 to 1492, the source added. He also stopped to talk along the way to talk with local farmers: about the Arabic language origins of Spanish towns such as Guadalajara -- from the Arabic Wadi Al-Ljara or Valley of Stones -- or about the European Union. Later, he went for a walk in the streets of Malaga, posing for pictures with passers-by and accepting some Christmas gifts. Kadhafi intended to travel to Madrid Monday by car for the start of the official part of his Spanish visit, during which he is scheduled to meet Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero on Monday and King Juan Carlos on Tuesday, a government source said.(Posted @ 10:15 PST)
Canada, US hit by major snowstorm MONTREAL, Dec 17 (AFP) - A major snowstorm tore through eastern Canada and northeastern United States Sunday. Southern Ontario and Quebec provinces took the brunt of the bad weather, with Toronto, Ottawa and Montreal struggling under 40 centimeters (16 inches) of snow, as the storm continued unabated Sunday afternoon. In Toronto, the snowstorm caused some 600 traffic accidents on Sunday morning alone. Around 100 flights were cancelled at Toronto-Pearson and Montreal-Trudeau airports. The same winter storm front also hammered the Great Lakes and northeastern regions of the United States, with winter storm warnings extending from Michigan and Indiana to Maine. (Posted @ 09:50 PST)
Karachi Stocks down 12.31, points: KARACHI, Dec 17: At the close of trading, the KSE-100 index was at 14544.22, down 12.31, points. (Bureau Report) (Updated @ 12:00 PST)
Forex update: KARACHI, Dec 17: The Pakistani Rupee was traded at Rs 60.95, to the US Dollar in the open market. (Bureau Report) (Updated @ 12:00 PST)
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