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| February 07, 2008 | Thursday | Muharram 28, 1429 |
Updated round-the-clock, with major updates after 10:00 PST (05:00 GMT)
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Thousands attend Benazir's Chehlum at Garhi Khuda Bakhsh GARHI KHUDA BAKHSH, Pakistan, Feb 7 (AFP): Tens of thousands of people beat their chests in anguish at Benazir Bhutto's tomb Thursday as they marked the end of 40 days of mourning (chelum) for the slain former premier. Asif Ali Zardari, Benazir's widower and political successor, said in a speech to the massive crowd outside the white marble building that he feared he would be assassinated like his late wife. “We will avenge Benazir Bhutto's martyrdom in a democratic way,” said Zardari. “If I succeed, you will see me alive. If I am martyred like her, you will be the ones to take my coffin to the grave.” Heavy security was in place for the rituals in the rural southern village of Garhi Khuda Bakhsh, where Benazir Bhutto was buried the day after her assassination on December 27. Hundreds of paramilitary troops and police stood guard, while walk-though scanners were set up to check the crowds flooding into the mausoleum to throw rose petals over her grave. Despite the warnings, and the bitter cold, many visitors including women and children stayed overnight in tents before rising at dawn to recite verses from the Holy Quran. People arrived on foot - some from towns hundreds of kilometres away - and others by trucks and buses. Many were listening to cassettes of Bhutto speeches. PPP provincial leader for Sindh province Nisar Khauro lamented what he called the government's “double standards” following reports that it was negotiating with those blamed for Benazir's killing. The PPP has said it will officially begin campaigning from Thursday for the polls. (First Posted @ 13:00 PST, Updated @ 14:20 PST)
Pakistan arrests two 'terrorists' over Benazir killing ISLAMABAD, Pakistan, Feb 7 (AFP) - Pakistani officials said they arrested two “very important alleged terrorists” in Rawalpindi on Thursday morning in connection with the slaying of Benazir Bhutto In Rawalpindi on December 27 last. “I can confirm two people have been arrested in connection with the probe into Bhutto's murder and they are being interrogated by the joint investigation team,” Interior Ministry spokesman Brigadier Javed Cheema said. A statement by a Pakistani investigation team probing the attack said it “arrested two very important alleged terrorists, Hasnain and Rafaqat, this morning from Rawalpindi with the help of Rawalpindi police.””They are being interrogated,” it added. Both men had “tentacles from the tribal region and Baitullah Mehsud,” a senior security official said. “It is a major breakthrough. These two men were involved in the assassination and they are from a militant group which is relatively new,” the official said. Thursday's arrests also coincided with the return to Pakistan of a Scotland Yard team invited by President Pervez Musharraf to help probe Bhutto's murder. The British detectives are due to present their report on the killing to the Pakistani government on Friday. (First Posted @ 15:40 PST Updated @ 17:56 PST)
India invites Western observers to nuclear site war games near Pakistan border NEW DELHI, Feb 7 (AFP) - India will invite Western observers and diplomats to a major war games exercise near its border with rival Pakistan next month, officials said on Thursday. The exercise involving land forces, armour and the air force will begin March 19 at Pokhran in western desert state of Rajasthan where India conducted a series of nuclear weapons tests in 1998 that drew international sanctions, they said. “A host of foreign dignitaries and defence attaches from friendly countries will witness the exercise that is aimed at putting the mechanised formations through their paces in a simulated, deep offensive scenario in a desert terrain,” an air force spokesman said. The drill will comprise Israeli-supplied drones, Russian artillery, tanks and warplanes and thousands of troops from one of India's three main strike Corps, a military statement added. The announcement came as global defence companies heat up a race to try to corner Indian military contracts worth billions of dollars. Up for grabs are deals for six submarines worth 2.3 billion dollars, artillery worth three billion dollars and a global tender for 312 helicopters. India also has already invited tenders to buy 126 war planes worth 10.24 billion dollars. (Posted @ 17:58 PST)
Bomb kills three, wounds 11 in Pakistan's southwest QUETTA, Pakistan, Feb 7 (Reuters) - Three people were killed and 11 wounded in Dera Murad Jamali, a town about 300 km southeast of Quetta, capital of Baluchistan province, on Thursday when a bomb being planted by a suspected militant near a bus stand exploded prematurely, police said. The explosion blew off the bomber's legs. “He was trying to place the explosives in a sewerage drain near the bus stand when it exploded, killing two people on the spot,” senior police official Mujahid Akbar told Reuters. A third man later died in the hospital. Akbar said the wounded bomber had been arrested. It was not immediately known which group the man belonged to. (First Posted @ 14:20 PST Updated @ 18:24 PST)
Imran Khan barred from entering Karachi KARACHI, Pakistan, Feb 7 (AFP) - Pakistani authorities barred opposition politician Imran Khan from entering Karachi on Thursday because he has called for a boycott of upcoming elections, officials said. Former cricket legend Khan was put back on a plane to Islamabad after officials prevented him from entering the southern province of Sindh, of which Karachi is the capital, Sindh home minister Akhtar Zamin said. “We do not want anything to disrupt the elections. That is why have sent him back,” Zamin told AFP. “If he does not want to contest elections, it is fine, but he should not incite other people to do so. He will be welcome to visit Sindh after elections.” “It is for the third time that Imran Khan had been externed from Karachi and it is highly condemnable,” Khan's party secretary general Arif Alvi told AFP. (Posted @ 18:48 PST)
Tremors jolt Northern Pakistan ISLAMABAD, Feb.07 (PPI): Tremors of mild intensity Thursday morning jolted several parts of northern Pakistan. According to Metrological Department, tremors of 4.0 intensity were felt in Mansehra and Balakot districts and other adjoining areas. The epicenter was 200 kilometers northeast of Hazara Division, it said. No material or human loss was reported. (Posted @ 18:40 PST)
Fire breaks out in NYC high rise; 33 injured NEW YORK, Feb 7 (AP) - A fire tore through a store in the lobby of an apartment building in Manhattan's Upper East Side Thursday morning, injuring 33 people, officials said. Nearly 140 firefighters fought the blaze, which closed three blocks of Third Avenue and forced tenants out of the 34-story apartment building. (Posted @ 21:16 PST)
One Internet cut explained, but four others still a mystery CAIRO, Feb 7 (AFP) - A ship's anchor severed one undersea Internet cable damaged last week, it was revealed on Thursday amid ongoing outages in the Middle East and South Asia, but mystery shrouds what cut another four. There has been speculation that five cables being cut in almost as many days was too much of a coincidence and that sabotage must have been involved. India's Flag telecom said in a statement that the cut to the Falcon cable between the United Arab Emirates and Oman “is due to a ship anchor... an abandoned anchor weighing five to six tonnes was found.” Flag said repair work on the cable which broke on February 1 was continuing despite rough weather, and it was expected to be completed by Sunday. The company said repairs to its other Flag Europe Asia cable, one of two that were cut off Egypt's Mediterranean coast, were continuing and would also be complete by Sunday. The damage to the first three cables caused widespread disruption to Internet and international telephone services in Egypt, Gulf Arab states and South Asia. A fourth cable linking Qatar to the United Arab Emirates was then also damaged causing yet more disruption, telecommunication provider Qtel said. (Posted @ 21:12 PST)
Police officer shot dead in Los Angeles stand-off LOS ANGELES, Feb 7 (AFP) - A man suspected of murdering three family members shot dead a Los Angeles SWAT team police officer and wounded another during a bloody gunbattle early Thursday, authorities said. The fatality was the first in the 41-year history of the Los Angeles Police Department's elite tactical response unit, police said. In LA’s suburb of Winnetka police were phoned by a man inside the home late Wednesday night who claimed to have shot dead three family members. Police entered the building shortly after midnight, engaging in a fierce gunbattle which left one officer dead and another injured. The man then barricaded himself inside the home. Shortly after day-break smoke could be seen coming from the home at the center of the standoff with around 200 police officers laying siege to the building, television footage showed. (Posted @ 21:06 PST)
Israeli troops kill seven Palestinians including teacher GAZA CITY, Feb 7 (AP): Israeli ground forces backed by warplanes entered into Gaza early Thursday, killing seven Palestinians including a teacher. The teacher died and two other staffers were hurt when an Israeli surface-to-surface missile struck an agricultural school in the northern town of Beit Hanoun, Hamas security forces said. Five Hamas men were killed, three by missiles and two by gunfire, said a Hamas spokesman. The Islamic Jihad faction said one of its members also died in the clash. (First Posted @ 09:10 PST, Updated @ 11:40 PST)
Rice, British counterpart, visit Kandahar KABUL, Afghanistan, Feb 7 (AP) - U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said Thursday she has seen progress in Afghanistan during the past few years, despite a determined Taliban insurgency that has disrupted security and prompted concerns that the NATO-led military campaign is failing. “Can we all expect the security situation will still be difficult _ yes, because Afghanistan has determined enemies who laid waste to this country over a period of a decade,” said Rice, adding that it would be unfair to say the NATO and Afghan government efforts aren't working. “The strategy is one that I believe is having a good effect.” Afghan President Hamid Karzai, stood beside Rice who told the news conference: “If you look at the Afghanistan of 2001 and the Afghanistan of now, there is a remarkable difference for the better.” In a show of unity, the secretary made the unannounced trip to Kabul and Kandahar with British Foreign Secretary David Miliband. She and Miliband never left a NATO airfield during a stay of less than three hours in which they met and thanked about 200 troops from NATO nations and others that are working around Kandahar. (Posted @ 20:18 PST)
Five rebels killed, NATO troops hurt in Afghan attacks KHOST, Afghanistan, Feb 7 (AFP) - Five militants were killed staging fresh attacks in Afghanistan, officials said. Three NATO soldiers were wounded in one incident and, in another, three civilians were hurt when a suicide vest detonated as it was being strapped to a would-be attacker in a small grocery store in Nimroz province, the provincial governor said. The man trying to put on the vest and someone helping him were killed in the explosion. “The shop collapsed and three civilians outside were wounded, two critically,” he said. Separately, a car bomb struck a vehicle of the NATO-led ISAF in Khost province. “Three soldiers are reported wounded,” ISAF said without giving the nationalities of the soldiers. Afghan police said the bombing was carried out by a suicide attacker who was the only person killed. In Helmand province Taliban militants attacked Afghan guards accompanying a military logistics convoy on Wednesday. “Police rushed to the site. Two Taliban were killed and three were arrested,” a spokesman said. (Posted @ 19:56 PST)
Curfew declared in Chad N'DJAMENA, Chad, Feb 7 (AP) - A dusk-to-dawn curfew was declared in Chad's capital and six southern and eastern regions Thursday in an attempt to restore calm after a rebel attack the government says was backed by neighbouring Sudan. Prime Minister Nouradin Koumakoye told reporters the curfew would take effect immediately and was taken to “restore calm in the country and deal with the damage done by the Sudanese army.” Sudan has repeatedly denied any involvement in an attack by rebels who entered the capital over the weekend, only to be pushed back by government forces. (Posted @ 19:25 PST)
Three policemen killed as bus explodes in Iraq Baghdad, Feb 7 (Reuters) - Three neighbourhood policemen were killed and seven wounded when a small bus exploded near a house in the town of Madaen, about 45 km south of Baghdad, police said. Separately, suspected al-Qaeda militants attacked a house and killed three brothers who worked as neighbourhood policemen in a town near Baquba, while three people, including a woman and a girl, were hurt in clashes and 16 detained after U.S. forces raided the Sadr City district of northeastern Baghdad, police said. A U.S. military spokesman said one person was killed and another was wounded when U.S. and Iraqi soldiers conducted raids “targeting criminal elements”. (Posted @ 18:20 PST)
NATO holds Afghanistan crisis talks VILNIUS, Feb 7 (AFP) - Arguments over Afghanistan dominated talks among 26 NATO defence ministers Thursday, with the United States pressing hard for allies to deploy more troops to tackle the Taliban in the restive south. US Defense Secretary Robert Gates fired a warning shot ahead of the two-day conference in Vilnius, saying failure in Afghanistan threatened the very future of the NATO military alliance. The message was also reinforced by US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and British Foreign Secretary David Miliband on a surprise visit to Afghanistan. ”Frankly, I hope that there will be more troop contributions and there need to be more Afghan contributions,” Rice told reporters in Kandahar. (First Posted @ 18:18 PST Updated @ 20:32 PST)
Bank of England cuts interest rate to 5.25 percent LONDON, Feb 7 (AFP) - The Bank of England trimmed its key interest rate by a quarter-point to 5.25 percent on Thursday amid concerns of slower economic growth, the central bank announced, in line with market expectations. The British central bank said in a statement that it needed to balance the risk of “a sharp slowing in activity” against the danger of rising inflation. (Posted @ 17:58 PST)
Moscow nightclub goes up in flames MOSCOW, Feb 7 (AFP): Moscow's most glamorous nightclub, the Diaghilev Project, went up in flames Thursday, injuring up to three people. Flames roared through the red brick four-storey building in the historic centre of the Russian capital, as two dozen fire engines and a helicopter dumping water fought to bring the blaze under control. One person suffered burns and two were hospitalised with smoke poisoning, Interfax news agency quoted the fire service as saying, although the emergency situations ministry said only one person was injured. (Posted @ 16:40 PST)
29 killed in nine-vehicle pileup on Egypt highway CAIRO, Egypt, Feb 7 (AP): At least 29 people were killed and 12 injured when nine cars and trucks slammed into each other on a fog-choked rural highway south of the Egyptian capital of Cairo early Thursday, police said. The string of cars collided due to heavy fog and their high rate of speed, some 100 kilometres south of Cairo, temporarily blocking the main agricultural road leading to Egypt's southern provinces. (First Posted @ 13:05 PST, Updated @ 15:50 PST)
Cricket- England beat New Zealand by 50 runs WELLINGTON, Feb 7 (Reuters): England beat New Zealand by 50 runs in their second Twenty20 international at Christchurch Thursday. Scores: England 193 for eight from 20 overs (Paul Collingwood 54); New Zealand 143 for eight from 20 overs. (First Posted @ 13:10 PST, Updated @ 14:25 PST)
Tanzania prime minister resigns NAIROBI, Feb 7 (Reuters): Tanzanian Prime Minister Edward Lowassa tendered his resignation Thursday to President Jakaya Kiwkete, the country's parliamentary speaker said. “Yes, he has submitted his resignation to the president. It does not mean he has resigned. The president will decide (whether to accept it),” speaker Samuel Sitta told Reuters by telephone from Tanzania's administrative capital Dodoma. Sitta gave no reason why Lowassa, who was appointed prime minister in December 2005, had tendered his resignation now. (Posted @ 14:05 PST)
10 killed in northwestern Kenya NAIROBI, Feb 7 (AFP): Ten people were killed in tribal clashes in Kenya's northwestern region of Trans Nzoia Wednesday and overnight, a police commander told AFP Thursday. (Posted @ 13:55 PST)
US soldier killed by Baghdad roadside bomb BAGHDAD, Feb 7 (AFP/AP): An American soldier was killed when his vehicle was hit by a roadside bomb in a western district of the Iraqi capital Baghdad, the US military said in a statement released Thursday. The soldier, assigned to Multi-National Division Baghdad, died in an attack that took place late on Wednesday. The death brought the number of US soldiers to have died in Iraq since the March 2003 invasion to 3,950, according to an AFP tally. (Posted @ 11:00 PST)
Sri Lankan soldiers kill five Tamil rebels, destroy six bunkers COLOMBO, Feb 7 (AP): Sri Lankan troops destroyed six Tamil Tiger rebel bunkers Thursday in clashes that killed five guerrillas and a soldier, the military said. Soldiers attacked the bunkers in Muhamalai and Nagarkovil villages at dawn and the two sides fought fiercely for about a half-hour, a defence official said. Five rebels and one soldier were killed, he said. Clashes across three northern fronts Wednesday killed 23 rebels and wounded 11 soldiers, he said. (Posted @ 10:05 PST)
Turkish parliament gives go-ahead for headscarf reform ANKARA, Feb 7 (AFP): The Turkish parliament early Thursday adopted a constitutional amendment allowing women to wear Islamic headscarves in universities, a controversial move that still had to be ratified by a final vote, assembly deputy speaker Nevzat Pakdil announced. The vote by secret ballot was 401 in favour to 99 against, easily giving the two-thirds majority necessary to modify the constitution. The ban on headscarves in universities has been implemented in varying degrees over the years, forcing many women to abandon their education and others to hide their headscarves under wigs to attend classes. (Posted @ 09:05 PST)
ICRC puts Chad toll at 160 dead NDJAMENA, Feb 7 (AFP): Chad President Idriss Deby declared a victory Wednesday over rebel forces and said he was back in control, as Red Cross officials put the toll from weekend clashes at more than 160 dead. The Chadian Red Cross said it had picked up 80 bodies and even more were left to collect. The head of a Red Cross delegation in Ndjamena told AFP that a further 1,000 people were thought to have been injured during the unrest. (Posted @ 09:00 PST)
Karachi Stocks down 24.26 points: KARACHI, Feb 07: At close of trading, the KSE-100 index was at 13993.92, down 24.26, points. (Bureau Report) (Updated @ 14:15 PST)
Forex update: KARACHI, Feb 07: The Pakistani Rupee was traded at Rs 62.95 to the US Dollar in the open market. (Bureau Report) (Updated @ 14:15 PST)
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