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| March 08, 2008 | Saturday | Safar 29, 1429 |
Updated round-the-clock, with major updates after 10:00 PST (05:00 GMT)
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 Power sharing; PPP offers PML-N five ministries ISLAMABAD, March 8 (APP) Pakistan People's Party (PPP) has offered its coalition partner Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) five ministries in the federal cabinet, it was learnt Saturday. The ministries offered to PML-N under formal power sharing formula include defence, communications, privatization and investment, women development and ports and shipping, PPP sources said. “The ministry of water and power would be given to Asfandyar Wali-led Awami National Party (ANP),” these sources said, adding Jamiatulema-Islam (F) would be offered ministry of religious affairs, in case it joins the coalition government. Currently, senior leaders from both the PPP and JUI (F) are engaged in finalizing the modalities of coalition “with focus on Balochistan where Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal (MMA) has secured considerable seats and is in position of bargaining,” PPP sources said. They said name of Senator Anwar Baig is also being considered for the federal cabinet and he might get foreign ministry in case Makhdoom Amin Fahim is nominated for the office of prime minister. “Similarly, Aijaz Jakhrani and Nawab Wasan - both from Sindh province, are also strong candidates to be ministers.” “The deputy speaker of the National Assembly would be a woman candidate from PPP,” they added. (Posted @ 18:12 PST)  
JUI-F to join federal cabinet: Fazl PESHAWAR, Pakistan, March 8 (APP) Chief of his own faction of Jamiatulema-i-Islam, Maulana Fazlur Rehman Saturday said that JUI (F) would join the national government as he was close to reaching agreement with coalition partners in this regard. However, he reiterated that JUI (F) will sit on opposition benches in the NWFP. Briefing newsmen at the outset of the party’s Provincial Council meeting, he said he had held constructive talks with the PPP leadership and agreement about formation of the government. The new government, he argued, should adopt a viable policy for restoring law and order in the country and added that the religious alliance also favoured negotiated settlement of all the issues. Maulana Fazlur Rehman wondered what factors were delaying summoning of the National Assembly. (Posted @ 18:30 PST)  Musharraf tells next Pakistan govt 'focus on basics' ISLAMABAD, March 8 (Reuters) President Musharraf Saturday advised an incoming coalition government to focus on fighting terrorism and sustaining economic growth rather than politics. Musharraf said political peace was essential to keep the fight against terrorism on track and maintain growth in an economy pressured by rising crude oil and cooking oil prices. “These are very serious challenges,” Musharraf said at the launch of a new television station in the city of Multan in Punjab province. “As soon as the governments are formed in the centre and in provinces, this is the cut off when there should be less politics and governance starts,” he said. “Put politics on a back-burner.” Musharraf said he will convene the new National Assembly once he receives notification from the Election Commission. (Posted @ 19:20 PST) ECP sends gazette notification of returned MPs to assemblies’ secretariats ISLAMABAD, March 8 (APP) Pakistan Election Commission has sent the gazette notification of the newly-elected members of national and provincial assemblies to the concerned assembly secretariats and the Ministry of Law and Parliamentary Affairs, a press release of the commission Saturday said. (Posted @ 19:24 PST) Ex-Pakistani minister nabbed for human trafficking ISLAMABAD, March 8 (Reuters) Pakistani security agencies Friday night arrested Mushtaq Victor, a state minister in the outgoing PML-Q government on charges of human trafficking to Europe and Canada, Umar Hayat Gondal, an official of the Federal Investigation Agency(FIA), said Saturday. He was picked up in Islamabad after a case was registered against him last month, he said. “In all, he sent three women and 16 boys to Germany, Britain, Austria and Canada between 2003-06, passing them off as his wives and sons,” Gondal told Reuters. Gondal said the job-seekers paid him up to 800,000 rupees each. During the investigation, Victor said he was innocent and that his staff might have been misusing his name. (Posted @ 18:44 PST) Zardari, Nawaz to meet Sunday to finalize power sharing ISLAMABAD, Pakistan, March 8 (AP) - Asif Ali Zaardari and Nawaz Sharif whose PPP and PML-N emerged on top in Pakistan's parliamentary election will meet Sunday to finalize a power-sharing deal, a party spokesman said. Sadiqul Farooq, a spokesman for Sharif's party, told The Associated Press the two leaders “ will meet to give a final shape to matters about formation of the coalition government.” “There is a progress in our talks,” he said but gave no further details. (Posted @ 15:50 PST) 
Dream of independent judiciary to become reality soon: Aitzaz Ahsan ISLAMABAD, March 8 (PPI) President of Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA), Aitzaz Ahsan Saturday said that the dream of judiciary's independence would soon become a reality, thanks to unwavering and unremitting sacrifices rendered by the members of the legal fraternity, the civil society and others. Addressing a corner meeting arranged by the traders, he said an FIR has been registered against the unwarranted house-arrest of deposed chief justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry and his family members and reiterated that all the energies should be utilized for independence of judiciary and to make Pakistan a welfare state. Earlier, private television channels reported that Aitzaz Ahsan accompanied by a large number of lawyers marched to the Supreme Court building but was unable to get access as the security guards locked all the entrances to the building. The SCBA chief in his address on the occasion reiterated the demand for the restoration of the superior court judges. (Posted @ 19:46 PST) Pakistan lawyers begin Black Flags week KARACHI, Mar. 08, (APP): Hundreds of black flags were hoisted at the premises of Karachi Bar Association and City Courts complex on Satruday, a day ahead of March 09 which falls on Sunday, a weekly off. Black flags were similarly hoisted at the premises of the Sindh High Court Bar Association. The call to observe Black Flag Week from March 9-16 was given by President of Supreme Court Bar Association Pakistan to press the demand for the restoration of the deposed judges a year ago by President Musharraf through an emergency order. Reports from other cities say that black flags were also being hoisted at the premises of their respective bar associations. (Posted @ 17:52 PST) Bomb at hotel kills 1 in southwestern Pakistan QUETTA, Pakistan, March 8 (AP) - A bomb exploded Saturday at a small hotel in Kolhu, a remote town about 200 kilometers east of Quetta, the capital of Balochistan province, killing one person, police said. Police were trying to find out the identity of the dead man and how the bomb was taken into the hotel, he said. “So far we only know that it was a bomb, but we have no other details,” police said. (Posted @ 17: 30 PST) Blast damages carriages of goods train in Balochistan QUETTA, March 8 (APP) A blast damaged several carriages of a goods train going to Ahmedwall from Noshki in Balochistan province Saturday, Railway officials confirmed. The explosive device was planted with the track, police said but gave no further details. (Posted @ 18:08 PST)
Dr Abdul Qadeer Khan’s health improves ISLAMABAD March 8, (APP): Dr Abdul Qadeer Khan, who was admitted to the hospital on Wednesday with fever and low blood pressure has significantly improved and feeling better. He is being treated for enteric fever and endotoximia infection. He may be discharged from the hospital in a couple of days, according to the hospital sources. (Posted @ 23:10 PST) Cyclone hits Mozambique, northern coastal areas on red alert MAPUTO, Mozambique, March 8 (AP) A tropical cyclone hit northern and central Mozambique Saturday destroying homes and cutting power lines, state media reported. Cyclone Jokwe lashed Mozambique Island before hitting the northern coastal province of Nampula, travelling with winds of up to 130 kph, Radio Mozambique said. No casualties have been reported and the extent of the damage is not yet known. The government declared a red alert, the highest level, in Nampula and a lesser, yellow, alert in the central provinces amid fears the storm will cause more damage. Cyclone Jokwe is moving in the southwestern direction toward the inland districts of Nampula and is expected to hit the central province of Zambezia Monday. (Posted @ 21:06 PST) Serb PM resigns blaming divided coalition BELGRADE, March 8 (Reuters) Serbian Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica announced his resignation Saturday, saying his government was no longer functioning because of disunity in the coalition. “This is the end of the government,” he told a news conference. “I have called a government session on March 10 to discuss dissolution of parliament.” He said it was likely that a snap election would be held on May 11, the date already set for local elections in Serbia. The nationalist leader has indirectly accused his pro-western coalition partners of giving up on defending Serbia's claim to Kosovo in favour of better ties with the west, which backs Kosovo's secession. (Posted @ 20:34 PST) Egypt discovers and destroys six smuggling tunnels RAFAH, Egypt, March 8 (AP) Six underground tunnels used to smuggle weapons and contraband between Egypt and the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip were detected and destroyed, Egyptian authorities said Saturday. The tunnels, which run under the border, were discovered during a search that began Thursday in and around the frontier town of Rafah. (Posted @ 19:55 PST) NATO soldier killed by roadside bomb in Afghanistan KABUL, Afghanistan, March 8 (AP) One NATO soldier was killed and two others wounded when a roadside bomb hit their vehicle during a routine patrol Saturday in eastern Afghanistan’s Paktia province, military officials said. (Posted @ 19:50 PST) 
Tremors felt in Swat, Lower Dir, Malakand Peshawar, March 8 (PPI) Tremors of 4.2 magnitude on Richter scale were felt Saturday morning in Swat, Lower Dir, Malakand, Bonair and Shangla. The epicentre of the earthquake was in Dirbala, 220 kilometres, north of Peshawar. (Posted @ 19:26 PST) Indian foreign minister rejects snap polls amid US nuke deal trouble NEW DELHI, March 8 (AFP) India's foreign minister Pranab Mukherjee Saturday ruled out early polls after new threats by the government's Left allies to withdraw their support if the ruling party implements a nuclear pact with the United States. Describing the leftist bloc's warning as a “known position,” Mukherjee said: “I do not visualise that anybody is thinking of early elections. “None of the coalition partners or coalition supporters are talking of early elections,” Mukherjee told India's NDTV news channel when asked about the chances of snap polls. The government wanted to “have elections in due time (in 2009),” he said. (Posted @ 19:12 PST) NATO aims to replace UN: Putin NOVO OGARYEVO, Russia, March 8 (AFP) Russian President Vladimir Putin Saturday accused the Western military alliance NATO of aiming to replace the United Nations and warned this raised the potential for conflict. “You get the impression that attempts are being made to set up an organisation that would substitute for the UN,” he said after talks with German Chancellor Angela Merkel. “I believe the potential for conflict would only increase.” (Posted @ 19:08 PST) Pakistan not to accept anything against national interest: FO ISLAMABAD, March 8 (APP) Pakistan Saturday said it will not accept any proposal from any foreign government, not consistent with its national interest. “Nothing is accepted that is not consistent with our national interest and impinges upon our sovereignty,” the Foreign Office spokesman Mohammad Sadiq said while commenting on a report in a section of the local press. “Foreign governments make proposals from time to time to secure facilities and privileges for their personnel in the event of temporary assignment or transit,” he said. However, “only those proposals are considered that are in line with our domestic laws and international instruments such as the Vienna Conventions on Privileges and Immunities,” the spokesman said. (Posted @ 19:04 PST) Five killed, 25 injured in Pakistan road mishap GUJRANWALA, March 8 (APP) Five persons, including three women, were killed and 25 others sustained injuries in a head-on collision between two passenger wagons on GT road near Gujranwala in Punjab province on Saturday. (Posted @ 19:02 PST) Sindh, Balochistan to get rain from Monday ISLAMABAD, Pakistan, Mar 8 (APP): Met office has forecast isolated dust thunderstorm and rain in upper Sindh and northern Balochistan for Monday and Tuesday. Dry weather is expected during the next 48 hours over most parts of Punjab, NWFP, Balochistan, Sindh, Northern Areas and Kashmir, it said. However, a westerly trough is likely to influence central parts of the country after two days, it added. (Posted @ 19:00 PST) About 100 bodies found in Iraq mass grave BAGHDAD, March 8 (Reuters) - Iraqi security forces found about 100 badly decomposed bodies in a mass grave near Khalis, 80 km north of Baghdad, the U.S. military said Saturday. Iraqi police said they suspected those in the grave were likely to have been killed some time after the 2003 U.S.-led invasion to topple Saddam Hussein. Mass graves are found fairly regularly in Iraq but the latest one near Khalis is among the largest in recent months. Last month a grave with about 50 bodies was found near Samarra, 100 km north of Baghdad. In 2003, Iraqi and U.S. human rights investigators said they suspected Iraq had up to 260 mass graves containing the bodies of up to 300,000 people murdered during Saddam's rule. (Posted @ 17:30 PST) Train derails in central Greece; 23 injured ATHENS, Greece, March 8 (AP) - A passenger train proceeding from Athens to the northern city of Thessaloniki derailed in central Greece on Saturday, injuring 23 people, authorities said. The fire department said it had sent 25 firefighters and eight vehicles to the scene, and that its crews had freed six people from the wreckage. (Posted @ 17:48 PST) Six killed in head-on Cotswolds car collision LONDON, March 8 (Reuters) Six people were killed in a head-on car collision in the Cotswolds in central England, British police said Saturday. Five people - three men, a woman and a 15-year-old girl - were pronounced dead at the scene of the accident between Moreton-in-Marsh and Stow-on-the-Wold Friday night, while a woman died in hospital early Saturday. (Posted @ 17:25 PST) Ten Chinese dead after van hits truck BEIJING, March 8 (Reuters) - A van carrying 14 rural migrant workers collided with a truck in Hebei province on Saturday, killing 10, state media reported. (Posted @ 17:25 PST) 18 injured in three blasts in India's restive northeast GUWAHATI, March 8 (AFP) - At least 18 people were injured, two critically, in three separate explosions on Saturday in India's restive northeast , officials said. In the more powerful of the explosions, at least 16 people were injured in Tinsukia, about 520 kilometres from Guwahati, police said. Meanwhile, a “low intensity bomb” injured two pedestrians in Guwahati city. The bomb was planted “beneath a parked truck in a market. In neighbouring Manipur, suspected militants on Saturday lobbed a bomb inside the legislative assembly building in Imphal. “There were no casualties, but partial damage to the building,” a police official said by telephone from Imphal. The militants' demands range from independence to autonomy. More than 20,000 people have lost their lives to insurgency in the two states during the past 20 years. (Posted @ 17:05 PST) Police chief killed in restive Russian Caucasus MOSCOW, March 8 (AFP) - The head of Russia’s North Ossetia province's organised crime fighting unit, Mark Metsayev, was shot in the provincial capital Vladikavkaz on Friday. state television reported Saturday Metsayev died in a hail of automatic gunfire following a minor car accident that appeared to have been part of the assassination plan. North Ossetia is part of the mostly Muslim North Caucasus region, where non-ethnic-Russian groups are in the majority and Moscow faces numerous guerrilla movements. (Posted @ 16:10 PST)
Five Filipinos, two others die in Brunei fire MANILA, March 8 (AFP) - Five Filipinos and two other foreign workers were killed in a fire at a dormitory in Brunei on Friday, the Philippine Department of Foreign Affairs said. Seventeen other Filipinos survived the fire in the Kuala Balait district, including a Filipina who jumped from the second floor, the department said, quoting the Philippine embassy in Brunei. The woman suffered spinal injuries. The cause of the pre-dawn fire is still being investigated, the embassy said, declining to provide details on the two foreign workers who died. (Posted @ 16:05 PST) APHC leader arrested in occupied Kashmir Srinagar occupied Kashmir, March 08 (PPI)- In occupied Kashmir, a senior leader of All Parties Hurriyet Conference, Shaikh Abdul Aziz was arrested Saturday morning from his house in Pampore, reports Kashmir Media Service. Shaikh Abdul Aziz was released in November 2007 after a 33-month detention in different jails of India and occupied Kashmir. (Posted @ 15:55 PST) Iraqi president says he wants strategic partnership with Turkey ANKARA, Turkey, March 8 (AP) - Iraq's president said Saturday he was seeking a “strategic” partnership with Turkey as he wrapped up a visit aimed at easing tension sparked by Turkey's eight-day military mission inside Iraq. Jalal Talabani, speaking to members of a Turkish-Iraqi joint business group, said:“We want to forge strategic relations in all fields including oil, the economy, trade, culture and politics,” Talabani, himself a Kurd, also said Kurdish rebels would not be tolerated inside its borders, and said Iraq was continuing to put pressure on them to lay down their arms. (Posted @ 15:40 PST) UN special envoy to Myanmar meets Suu Kyi YANGON, Myanmar, March 8 (AP) - The U.N. special envoy to promote political reconciliation in Myanmar met Aung San Suu Kyi and other opposition party members Saturday. Suu Kyi, who has been detained without trial for 12 of the past 18 years, was seen being driven from the residence where she is held under house arrest to the state guest house where Ibrahim Gambari was staying. Details of their meeting were not yet available. The U.N. envoy earlier held hour-long talks with representatives of ethnic groups, NGOs and several political parties including executives of Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy party. The five NLD leaders told him of their desire for an accelerated dialogue with the junta and the release of political prisoners, according to one of the party members present. Information Minister Brig. Gen. Kyaw Hsan told Gambari that Myanmar has no political prisoners and that Suu Kyi was detained because she tried to disrupt stability of the country, state-controlled media reported. (Posted @ 15:35 PST) Iraq: 3 of a family killed in Baquba Baghdad, March 8 (Reuters) - Three bodies were found in different areas of Baghdad on Friday, police said. Separately, a roadside bomb killed three members of the same family, including a mother and daughter, and wounded two others near Baquba, 65 km north of Baghdad, while two people were killed and eight wounded when a roadside bomb hit a minibus near Baquba, police said. Meanwhile, one U.S. soldier was killed and one injured by an explosion during operations on Friday in Diyala province northeast of Baghdad, the U.S. military said. (Posted @ 15:00 PST) Afghans stage anti-cartoon and film protests HERAT, Afghanistan, March 8 (Reuters) - About 15,000 people protested in Afghanistan on Saturday to condemn the reprinting of the blasphemous cartoon in Danish newspapers and an anti-Islam film by a Dutch politician. Protesters burned Danish and Dutch flags and chanted anti-Western slogans. In the western city of Herat, scene of the largest of the protests, demonstrators smashed the windows of a police vehicle, while a grenade was hurled at police close to government buildings before the demonstrators dispersed. Afghans also gathered in the eastern province of Kunar. (Posted @ 14:55 PST) Sri Lanka fighting kills 14 Tamil rebels, 1 soldier COLOMBO, March 8 (AP): At least 14 Tamil rebels died in gunbattles with government soldiers in northern Sri Lanka, while a roadside bomb killed one soldier in the government-controlled south, the military said Saturday. There was no immediate comment from the rebels.(First Posted @ 10:35 PST, Updated @ 13:20 PST) Bush vetoes bill against torture in interrogation WASHINGTON, March 8 (AFP): US President George W. Bush said Saturday he had vetoed legislation on intelligence funding because of a provision aimed at cutting back harsh interrogation methods like waterboarding. The bill calls for the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) to question suspected terrorists under the US Army Field Manual rules, which forbids the controlled-drowning tactic and other methods widely seen as torture. “The bill Congress sent me would take away one valuable tool in the war on terror -- the CIA program to detain and question key terrorist leaders and operatives, so today, I vetoed it,” said Bush said in his weekly radio address. (Posted @ 10:30 PST) Cricket: New Zealand 147-8 (& 470) v England 348 HAMILTON, March 8 (Reuters): New Zealand were 147 for eight, a lead of 269 runs with two second-innings wickets remaining, at the close of play on the fourth day of the first test against England on Saturday. Scores: New Zealand 470 (R.Taylor 120, J.How 92, D.Vettori 88, B.McCullum 51; R.Sidebottom 4-90) and 147-8 (S.Fleming 66; R.Sidebottom 5-37, M.Panesar 3-33) England 348 (P.Collingwood 66, M.Vaughan 63, T.Ambrose 55; J.Patel 3-107, C.Martin 2-60) (Posted @ 10:00 PST) Three dead as 12 tornadoes rip through Florida, Georgia CAPITOLA, Florida, March 8 (Reuters): Tornadoes cut through Florida and Georgia Friday, destroying homes, felling trees and power lines and killing three person as a record series of winter tornadoes continued to pound the United States. The National Weather Service had reports of at least 12 tornadoes that flipped cars, damaged homes and interrupted power supplies in northern Florida and southern Georgia. (Posted @ 09:35 PST) Latin American nations end crisis SANTO DOMINGO, March 8 (Reuters): The presidents of Colombia, Ecuador and Venezuela ended a border dispute on Friday with a handshake after a week of diplomacy. Ecuadorean President Rafael Correa shook hands with his US-backed conservative Colombian counterpart, Alvaro Uribe. Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, who blamed the United States for the crisis joined them. The accord came after Uribe apologised to Correa under pressure from governments across the region. Another top rebel leader killed: A top commander of Colombia's biggest rebel group was killed by his bodyguard in the second major blow to the left-wing insurgency's leadership in less than a week, the government said in Bogota Friday. Ivan Rios, the youngest person on the seven-member secretariat of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), was shot dead this week. (Posted @ 09:25 PST) Two Palestinians injured in Israeli strike on Gaza GAZA CITY, March 8 (AFP): Two Palestinians were injured, including one in serious condition, late on Friday in an Israeli strike in the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip, medical sources and witnesses said. The two were injured after Israeli forces fired at them east of Gaza City, the sources said. An Israeli army spokeswoman told AFP that ground forces fired a missile at a “group of men approaching the security fence erected by Israel near Nahal Oz. (Posted @ 09:05 PST)
Founder: Quaid-i-Azam Mohammad Ali Jinnah
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