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| February 13, 2008 | Wednesday | Safar 05, 1429 |
Updated round-the-clock, with major updates after 10:00 PST (05:00 GMT)
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Blast at JUI election rally in Swat, two dead PESHAWAR, Feb 13 (AFP): A blast ripped through an election meeting by Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam, a pro-Taliban Islamic party in Peshawar on Wednesday, killing at least two persons and wounding 11, police said. The explosion happened at Charbagh, a town in the restive Swat Valley, during a meeting of the party, police official Khan Bahadur said. “One person died and 11 were wounded in the explosion which also injured a former provincial assembly member belonging to the party,” Bahadur told AFP. (First Posted @ 17:45 PST, Updated @ 19:00 PST)
Missing Pakistan ambassador still alive: foreign office ISLAMABAD, Feb 13 (AFP): Pakistan's foreign office said Wednesday it was “sure” the country's ambassador to Afghanistan is still alive after being abducted in a tribal region. It would not however, confirm television reports Taliban rebels were holding the envoy and had demanded that a captured senior militant commander Mullah Mansoor Dadullah be released in exchange. “I am sure he is alive,” Foreign Office spokesman Mohammad Sadiq told reporters. He said no one had claimed responsibility for the abduction and dismissed a report Taliban militants wanted to swap the envoy for Dadullah, who was captured in Pakistan on Monday. “Nobody has contacted the Pakistan government,” Sadiq said. (Posted @ 17:00 PST)
Pakistan test-fires short-range nuclear-capable missile Pakistan's military said Wednesday it has successfully test-fired a short-range missile capable of carrying a nuclear device. The army's Strategic Missile Group launched the Ghazanvi missile, which has a range of 290 kilometres, from an undisclosed location, a military statement said. Caretaker Prime Minister Mohammedmian Soomro, top army officials and scientists witnessed the test, it said. With the launch, the army's Strategic Force Command ''concluded its highly successful winter collective training,'' the statement said. Soomro said Wednesday that Pakistan seeks peace in the region, but ''peace comes from strength'' and ''weakness invites aggression.'' Pakistan is ''fully committed to retain a strong conventional and unconventional deterrence and will meet all the needs of a strong national defence,'' the military statement quoted him as saying. (First Posted @ 10:35 PST, Updated @ 13:10 PST)
Italian soldier, three Afghan troops killed near Kabul KABUL, Feb 13 (AFP): An Italian soldier returning from an aid distribution mission near Kabul was killed in a Taliban attack Wednesday while three Afghan soldiers died in a rebel bomb blast in the volatile south. Another Italian soldier was wounded in the gunfight that erupted after the mid-afternoon attack about 60 kilometres from Kabul.(First Posted @ 17:50 Updated @ 20:30 PST)
Over 100 Bulgarian ministers were communist agents SOFIA, Feb 13 (Reuters): Over 100 Bulgarian ministers, who came to power since the fall of communism, served as agents of the former secret police, a historical commission said Wednesday. Bulgaria, a European Union newcomer, has been among the last former Soviet bloc countries to deal with its painful communist past and in late 2006 approved a law to unmask members of its Cold War spy agency, Darzhavna Sigurnost. Last year the commission said President Georgi Parvanov and more than 100 deputies elected to Bulgaria's parliament since 1989 had also been agents.(First Posted @ 17:50 Posted @ 20:15 PST)
Cricket: Indian Twenty20 League agrees $50 million title deal MUMBAI, Feb 13 (Reuters): The Indian cricket board's official Twenty20 League (IPL) has secured five-year title sponsorship rights worth over $50 million ahead of its launch in April, organisers said on Wednesday. Indian real estate developer DLF won the deal with a bid of Rs2 billion ($50.3 million). “We had a minimum bid price of Rs1.25 billion. We are very happy with the bid we got,” IPL chairman Lalit Modi told reporters.(Posted @ 20:10 PST)
India's smoking epidemic will kill a million a year: study CHICAGO, Feb 13 (AFP): India is in the midst of a smoking epidemic which will kill about a million people annually, accounting for nearly one in every 10 deaths from 2010, researchers said Wednesday. Some 70 percent of those people will die before they reach the age of 70, according to the study published in the New England Journal of Medicine. “I am alarmed by the results of this study,” India's Health Minister Abumani Ramadoss said in a statement.(Posted @ 20:00 PST)
Police arrest politicians in Mumbai over migrant row MUMBAI, Feb 13 (Reuters): Police arrested a political leader in Mumbai on Wednesday for inciting violence after his party's workers attacked north Indians who migrated to the financial capital. Extra police officers and paramilitary forces were posted around the city before Raj Thackeray, head of the local party Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS), was arrested. Police also arrested Abu Azmi, a local leader of the Samajwadi Party, which is based in Uttar Pradesh in northern India. He was released on bail soon after. He is accused of encouraging north Indians in Mumbai to retaliate. Television news channels said shops closed in parts of the city, either as a precaution or because they were forced to by party workers.(Posted @ 18:45 PST)
Police mount huge drugs raid around London LONDON, Feb 13 (AFP): More than 500 police mounted dawn raids around London on Wednesday to break up a suspected 100-million-pound cocaine network, a senior officer said.Eighteen people were arrested in the raids in homes and offices, which followed six months of surveillance by Scotland Yard, said the head of the operation. Police also seized nearly three million pounds in cash, as well as 70 kilogrammes of cocaine with a street value of 500,000 pounds and four guns, police said.(Posted @ 18:30 PST)
Nepal hit by strike as political tensions mount KATHMANDU, Feb 13 (AFP): Nepal's ethnically tense south was hit by an indefinite strike launched Wednesday, compounding a fuel shortage in the impoverished and landlocked nation's capital and fears for the peace process. The strike in the Terai region is the latest protest action by the Mahadhesi minority, who are seeking greater autonomy. The region has seen a year of violence that has left at least 200 people dead. (Posted @ 17:15 PST)
Syria rights watchdog accuses Israel of 'terrorism' DAMASCUS, Feb 13 (AFP): A Syrian human rights watchdog, which regularly reports the jailing of dissidents by the Damascus regime, accused Israel on Wednesday of state terrorism in the killing of a top Hezbollah commander. “The killing of Imad Mugnieh in Damascus followed repeated threats by Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert to have Hezbollah and Hamas leaders killed wherever they are,” the National Organization for Human Rights in Syria said. “The action carried out by the Israeli government is a terrorist act of the sort condemned under international law,” the watchdog's chairman Ammar Qorabi said. (Posted @ 17:10 PST)
Death toll in China cold snap reaches 107: state media BEIJING, Feb 13 (AFP): The ferocious cold weather that struck southern China over the past month killed 107 people and caused over $15 billion in economic losses, state media reported Wednesday. Minister of Civil Affairs Li Xueju said freezing temperatures, icy rain and heavy snow also led to about 1.5 million people having to be evacuated from dangerous situations, according to Xinhua news agency. (Posted @ 15:35 PST)
Ukraine says will not allow NATO bases: agency MOSCOW, Feb 13 (Reuters): Aspiring NATO member Ukraine is prepared to adopt legislation banning the alliance's bases from its soil, Russia's RIA news agency quoted Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko as saying on Wednesday. “If the Russian side is worried about military bases then Ukraine will never go for that ... We are ready to underpin that constitutionally,” he said at a meeting with members of the Ukrainian community in Moscow. (Posted @ 15:15 PST)
Syria blast kills Hezbollah commander BEIRUT, Feb 13 (Reuters): A car bomb in Damascus Tuesday killed Hezbollah commander Imad Moughniyah, the group said, announcing the death of the man widely believed to be behind a wave of western hostage taking in Lebanon in the 1980s. The group in a statement accused Israel of the killing. (First Posted @ 09:25 PST, Updated @ 14:10 PST)
Kidnapped journalist to be freed: Iraq militia BASRA, Iraq, Feb 13 (AFP): A British journalist abducted in Iraq's Basra city is to be freed “within hours,” a powerful Shiite militia announced Wednesday after negotiations with the kidnappers. “We have already completed negotiations with the kidnapper of the British journalist and he will be released and handed over to us within hours,” the office of cleric Moqtada al-Sadr's movement in Basra said. The journalist and his Iraqi translator working for US television network CBS were taken at gunpoint by masked men from their hotel Sunday. (Posted @ 14:05 PST)
EU concerned by Pakistan elections ISLAMABAD, Feb 13 (AFP): The European Union Wednesday expressed concerns about Pakistan's general elections, urging authorities to improve arrangements for next week's polls and free political detainees. An EU statement said that while it welcomed President Musharraf's commitment to hold free and fair elections, it “has concerns about a number of issues relating to the conduct of the elections.” ”The EU urges the authorities to take all possible steps in the remaining days to improve the conditions in which the elections are being held, including preventing the local government officials to misuse the state assets,” it said. Pakistani authorities should issue and enforce instructions for detailed results to be displayed at all polling stations immediately after polling is completed, the statement said. It also urged the authorities to deal with complaints and appeals in a “timely, effective and transparent manner” and to provide an independent means of redress. The EU also renewed a call for the immediate release of political detainees including judges and lawyers “as an essential step in restoring confidence in the independence of the judiciary, rule of law and democratic process.” (Posted @ 14:00 PST)
Roadside bombs kill seven in Afghanistan KABUL, Afghanistan, Feb 13 (AP): Roadside bombs struck Afghan security forces in two separate incidents, killing seven people and wounding five, officials said Wednesday. Three Afghan soldiers were killed and four wounded when their vehicle was hit by a roadside bomb Wednesday in Helmand province’s Musa Qala district, said Gen. Mohammad Zahir Azimi, the Defence Ministry spokesman. In eastern Khost province, meanwhile, four Afghan guards working for the U.S. military were killed when their vehicle was struck by a roadside bomb Tuesday, said Wazir Pacha, a spokesman for the provincial police chief. Another guard was wounded in the blast in the Shinkay district, he said. (First Posted @ 10:35 PST, Updated @ 13:20 PST)
Gunmen kill five Iraqi workers BAQUBA, Iraq, Feb 13 (AFP): Attackers stormed onto a building site in Iraq's Diyala province’s Al-Sadiyah town Wednesday and sprayed workers with automatic gunfire, killing five and wounding two, police Major Mohammed al-Karkhi told AFP.(Posted @ 12:40 PST)
Dozens killed in Sri Lanka fighting COLOMBO, Feb 13 (AFP) Fighting continued to rage between Sri Lankan government forces and Tamil Tiger rebels in the north of the island Wednesday. In the latest fatalities, the Sri Lankan military said two of its soldiers on a routine patrol died in a roadside bomb attack in the Vavuniya district, close to the de facto mini-state controlled by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE). But the military also said 30 Tamil Tigers died in separate clashes Tuesday. The pro-rebel Tamilnet.com website however reported that in Tuesday's fighting alone, at least 42 government troops were killed and another 53 wounded in the northwestern Mannar district. (First Posted @ 10:25 PST, Updated @ 12:05 PST)
German aid worker released in northern Somalia MOGADISHU, Feb 13 (AFP) A German aid worker who had been held by gunmen in northern Somalia was released Wednesday following an operation by the Somaliland forces, a local official told AFP. The worker - employed by the Bonn-based German Agro Action non-governmental organisation - was kidnapped Tuesday in a region disputed by the breakaway states of Puntland and Somaliland. “The armed forces have succeeded in releasing the German aid worker during an operation launched last night,” local Somaliland district commissioner Osmail Haji Nur said. (Posted @ 11:55 PST)
McCain edges Huckabee in capital area primaries WASHINGTON, Feb 13 (AFP): John McCain, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, swept rival Mike Huckabee in three capital area primaries Tuesday. The southern state of Virginia returned closer than expected results, with McCain tallying 50 percent of the vote compared to Huckabee's 41 percent with most precincts reporting. The nation's capital showed a wider lead for McCain according to early reports: 67 percent of voters to 17 percent for Huckabee, and Maryland had McCain winning with 55 to 33 percent. (Posted @ 10:40 PST)
Bolivia declares emergency after flooding kills 51 LA PAZ, Feb 13 (AFP): The Bolivian government declared a national disaster Tuesday after severe floods in the country's northeast killed 51. Some 47,000 families have been hit by the flooding, which threatened the Amazon city of Trinidad. (Posted @ 09:35 PST)
Government, opposition supporters clash in Beirut BEIRUT, Feb 13 (AFP): Government and opposition supporters clashed in the Lebanese capital Tuesday as tensions rose ahead of a mass rally called by the government to mark the third anniversary of the assassination of ex-premier Rafiq Hariri. Militants from the opposition Amal movement and members of the pro-government Future Movement led by Hariri's son Saad threw stones at each other in Beirut’s Mazraa neighbourhood, an AFP correspondent witnessed. Shots were fired as the army deployed troops to prevent any escalation. A security official said there were no casualties in the clashes. (Posted @ 09:35 PST)
Obama delivers Clinton triple vote blow WASHINGTON, Feb 13 (AFP): Democrat Barack Obama won a triple victory in Tuesday's primaries taking Virginia, Maryland and Washington DC and dealing a huge blow to rival Hillary Clinton's White House hopes, US media said. His victories followed hot on the heels of a weekend clean sweep when Obama beat Clinton in five contests, as the two vye for delegates to the party's August convention which will crown the Democratic presidential nominee. (Posted @ 09:25 PST)
US Senate passes wiretap bill, bows to White House pressure WASHINGTON, Feb 13 (AFP): The Senate on Tuesday gave in to pressure from President George W. Bush's administration and passed a controversial measure authorizing security agencies to tap foreign telephone calls and emails in the US “war on terror.” By a vote of 68 to 29, the Senate passed the bill, which now moves to the House of Representatives and faces stiff opposition from some Democrats. After heated debate, the Senate authorized the measure offering blanket immunity to telecommunications companies for potential violations of US laws requiring warrants to spy on US citizens. (Posted @ 09:20 PST)
Karachi Stocks up 19.14 points: KARACHI, Feb 13: At close of trading, the KSE-100 index was at 14116.05, up 19.14 points. (Bureau Report) (Updated @ 14:17 PST)
Forex update: KARACHI, Feb 13: The Pakistani Rupee was traded at Rs 63.2 to the US Dollar in the open market. (Bureau Report) (Updated @ 14:17 PST)
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