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| April 06, 2008 | Sunday | Rabi-ul-Awwal 28, 1429 |
Updated round-the-clock, with major updates after 10:00 PST (05:00 GMT)
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 PPP's Nisar Khuhro, Shehla Raza file nomination papers for Speaker, Deputy Speaker slots KARACHI, Pakistan, April 6 (APP): Nisar Ahmed Khuhro and Shehla Raza of Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) are certain to be elected unopposed as Speaker and Deputy Speaker of Sindh Assembly when it meets on Monday. They were the only ones to file nomination papers on Sunday. The PML-Q had already announced that it will not put up any candidate while the MQM obtained the nomination forms but took the policy decision to extend unconditional support to the PPP candidates. Talking to newsmen after filing the nomination papers, Nisar Khuhro regretted the misbehaviour with the former Chief Minister Arbab Ghulam Rahim on Saturday and said there should be no indiscipline inside the assembly premises which hurts the sanctity of the House. Syed Qaim Ali Shah who has been nominated by the PPP to be the leader of the house welcomed the MQM decision not to put up any candidates for the two offices. He referred to the visit of PPP Co-Chairman Asif Ali Zardari to MQM Headquarters “90” and said the committee formed for talks with MQM held fruitful dialogue with Muttaheda on Saturday and earlier on Friday night. “We all want to work for the betterment of people of Sindh and we can do this by joining hands together”.(First Posted @ 17:38 PST Updated @ 17:50 PST)  London leg of Olympic torch relay finishes LONDON, April 6, (AFP) - The London leg of the Beijing Olympics torch relay finished at the O2 Arena in the east of the capital on Sunday, after police earlier battled to keep pro-Tibet protesters away from the flame. Runner Kelly Holmes completed the relay by carrying the torch on its last leg, and lit a cauldron on a stage as spires atop the indoor arena shot off fireworks with hundreds of onlookers watching. (Posted @ 23:26 PST) Judicial crisis to be sorted out in the parliament: PM ISLAMABAD, April 6 (APP): Prime Minister Syed Yusuf Raza Gilani on Sunday said the judicial crisis will be sorted out in the parliament. Talking to a delegation of notables from different parts of the country, the prime minister said his government will take along all the political forces while making the important decisions. “To every wrong there is a remedy. There is no problem in the world which does not have a solution. We will create bridges not walls,” he said. (Posted @ 22:36 PST) May 12 incident was conspiracy against MQM KARACHI, April 6 (APP): Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) Members of National Assembly (MNAs) Sunday said the incident of May 12, 2007 was a conspiracy against MQM. According to a joint statement issued by MQM here, they said their party is taking full part in the process of national reconciliation for the promotion of democracy and prosperity and development of the country and people but the adversaries of democracy are against the positive act of MQM. They said MQM has repeatedly raised the demand for investigation into the May 12, 2007 and post- December 27, 2007 incidents and the operation against MQM in 1992 under the supervision of International Court of Justice. (Posted @ 20:20 PST) Indian PM reshuffles cabinet as polls loom NEW DELHI, April 6 (AFP) - India's prime minister Manmohan Singh reshuffled his cabinet Sunday with seven new ministers but key portfolios are unchanged ahead of mid-2009 elections. Among the new faces are Jyotiraditya Scindia, and ex-bureaucrat M.S. Gill, a Sikh from Punjab state. (Posted @ 19:38 PST) 
Balochistan Assembly’s inaugural session on Monday QUETTA, Pakistan, April 6 (APP) : The inaugural session of the Balochistan Assembly will be held on Monday with the single item agenda of administering oath to the newly-elected members. Meanwhile, Nawab Aslam Raisani of Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) has emerged as the lone candidate for the office of chief minister after winning the support of independent candidates, MMA, BNP (A), PML-Q (Ham- Khiyal Group) and ANP members for power sharing and forming a coalition government in the province. Ex-federal minister Sardar Yar Muhammad Rind of PML-Q is likely to be the only opposition member in Balochistan Assembly. (Posted @ 19:30 PST) Two killed, 45 injured in road mishap in Pakistan SAHIWAL, Pakistan, April 6 (APP): Two persons were killed while 45 others sustained injuries, seven of them seriously when a bus turned turtle on GT road Sunday morning. According to police, the bus on way to Lahore from Multan overturned while overtaking a donkey cart at a sharp turn near chak No 86/9-L. (Posted @ 18:26 PST)
Afghanistan, Pakistan will fight extremists together: Karzai KABUL, April 6 (AFP) - Afghan President Hamid Karzai Sunday expressed confidence that his government would work closely with the new Pakistani prime minister to fight extremism plaguing both countries. “There is no doubt that the continuation of the war on terrorism is a priority for Afghanistan. There is no doubt that Pakistan suffers at the hands of terrorism,” Karzai told a press conference. “This is a joint struggle. If either of us comes up short in this struggle, then we will have harmed our people,” he said upon his return home from a NATO summit in Bucharest. He said he had had “broad contacts” with the new leaders of Pakistan's coalition government, including Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani and former premier Nawaz Sharif. (Posted @ 18:18 PST) 20 killed as Shiite fighters, US forces clash in Baghdad BAGHDAD, April 6 (AFP) - Fierce clashes between Shiite gunmen and US forces in the Iraqi capital's Sadr City district killed at least 20 people on Sunday. Officials said women and children were among the dead and 52 wounded in the clashes that broke out at around midnight and continued sporadically through the day. The US military said it carried out an air strike in Sadr City in which nine “criminals” were killed. Shiite fighters, mostly from Sadr's Mahdi Army militia, have been clashing with security forces since March 25 after Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki ordered a crackdown on militiamen in the southern city of Basra. The military assaults triggered firefights across Shiite areas of Iraq, including Sadr City, that killed at least 700 people, according to the United Nations. (Posted @ 18:10 PST) Rain kills six students in northwestern Pakistan MANSEHRA, Pakistan, April 6 (APP): Six students of a religious school were killed and four others injured in rainstorm in the area of Kaladhaka in northwestern Pakistan .They were returningg to their homes after taking an examination when they were caught in the rainstorm at Nambal, administrator Shamshad Khan said. (Posted @ 17:28 PST) Sarkozy condemns attack on WWI Muslim graves ABLAIN-SAINT-NAZAIRE, France, April 6 (AFP) - Vandals desecrated 148 Muslim graves in France's biggest war cemetery, hanging a pig's head from one tombstone and daubing slogans insulting France's Muslim justice minister, officials said. President Nicolas Sarkozy expressed “profound outrage” at the “sordid” attack on the Muslim quarter of the Notre Dame de Lorette cemetery, near the northern town of Arras on Saturday night. He vowed those responsible would be punished. The attack came almost exactly a year after a similar incident in which neo-Nazi vandals scrawled swastikas on 52 of the cemetery's Muslim graves. “This is the most inadmissible kind of racism and the president of the republic shares the pain of France's entire Muslim community,” Europe's largest at around five million, said a statement issued by the presidency after the latest attack. “This hateful act is also a attack on the memory of all veterans of World War I, beyond the faith of each one,” it said. The state prosecutor for Arras, Jean-Pierre Valensi, said “the slogans directly target Islam and they gravely insult Rachida Dati, the justice minister,” who is the daughter of north African immigrants. (Posted @ 16:32 PST) Sri Lanka minister, 12 others killed in bomb attack COLOMBO, April 6 (AFP/Reuters): Sri Lanka's highways minister Jeyaraj Fernandopulle, and at least 12 other people were killed in a town in Sri Lanka's western district of Gampaha on Sunday, police said. The minister was presiding over traditional New Year celebrations in the town of Weliveriya near Colombo when the blast occurred, the official said, adding that at least 12 other people were also killed. A police official said at least 90 people were wounded in the blast. (First Posted @ 09:25 PST Updated @ 10:15 PST) Hollywood legend Charlton Heston dead at 84 LOS ANGELES, April 6 (AP): Charlton Heston, who won the 1959 best actor Oscar as the chariot-racing “Ben-Hur” and portrayed Moses, Michelangelo, El Cid and other heroic figures in movie epics of the '50s and '60s, has died. He was 84. A spokesman for the actor's family said Heston died Saturday at his home in Beverly Hills. His wife Lydia was at his side. (Posted @ 09:15 PST ) 
15 Taliban killed, top commander held in Afghanistan: officials KABUL, April 6 (AFP) - Afghan and NATO forces killed 15 Taliban insurgents in separate raids in southern Afghanistan, where police also captured a senior Taliban commander, officials said Sunday. Ten Taliban militants were killed in a joint operation in Zhari district of Kandahar province on Saturday, the defence ministry said in a statement. Another five rebels were killed in a similar operation in another part of the district on Saturday, the statement said. Meanwhile, in Kandahar city on Saturday, police arrested Taliban commander Abdul Jabar, who served as deputy to captured militant leader Mullah Mansoor Dadullah, the interior ministry said. The ministry described Jabar as the most senior Taliban commander after Dadullah, who was taken into custody in Pakistan in February. “Mullah Abdul Jabar had a significant role in terrorist activities after Dadullah,” it said in a statement. (First Posted @ 16:20 PST Updated @ 16:28 PST) Russia still opposes U.S. missile shield SOCHI, , April 6 (Reuters): President Vladimir Putin said on Sunday he still opposes U.S. plans to deploy a missile defence shield in Europe but that there had been positive developments in talks with President George W. Bush. “I want to be understood correctly. Strategically, no change happened in our principal attitude to U.S. plans,” Putin told reporters at a joint news briefing with Bush. “At the same time there are some positive developments. Our concerns were finally heard by the U.S. side,” Putin said. (Posted @ 13:45 PST )
Cricket-Sri Lanka 268 all out in 2nd Test Port of Spain, April 5 (Reuters) - Sri Lanka were 268 all out at the close of play on the third day of the second and final test against West Indies in Port of Spain, Trinidad on Saturday.West Indies need 253 to win. Scores: Sri Lanka 278 (C. Silva 76, T. Dilshan 62; F. Edwards 4-84) and 268 ( Samaraweera 125) v West Indies 294 (Sarwan 57; Muralitharan 5-79). (Posted @ 17:14 PST) Cricket-Sharma, Munaf in India squad for third South Africa test AHMEDABAD, India, April 6 (Reuters) - India bolstered their bowling attack for next week's third and final test against South Africa by including fit-again paceman Ishant Sharma and recalling medium-pacer Munaf Patel to a 16-man squad on Sunday. However, the hosts will be without Sachin Tendulkar who aggravated a groin injury in the first test which ruled him out of the remaining part of the series. Squad: Wasim Jaffer, Virender Sehwag, Rahul Dravid, Saurav Ganguly, Vangipurappu Laxman, Yuvraj Singh, Mohammad Kaif, Mahendra Singh Dhoni, Irfan Pathan, Anil Kumble (captain), Harbhajan Singh, Piyush Chawla, Ramesh Powar, Ishant Sharma, Shanthakumaran Sreesanth, Munaf Patel. (Posted @ 17:08 PST)
Iraqi forces free 42 kidnapped students MOSUL, Iraq, April 6 (AFP) - Iraq's security forces Sunday freed 42 university students kidnapped by gunmen near Iraq's northern city of Mosul earlier in the day. “We freed the students who were kidnapped this morning south of Mosul,” said Brigadier General Khalid Abdul Sattar, spokesman for Mosul's security plan. (First Posted @ 16:15 PST Updated @ 16:24 PST) 15 dead in Yemeni clashes: witnesses SANAA, April 6 (AFP): Fifteen people were killed in Yemen during fierce gun battles between Shiite rebels and members of a tribe loyal to the government, witnesses said on Sunday. Thirteen people were wounded in the fighting between the pro-government Al-Bukhtan tribe and the rebels, they said. The fighting broke-out on Saturday in a market in the mountainous Saada province near the border with Saudi Arabia. (Posted @ 13:50 PST ) BD cricket team arrives for ODI series KARACHI, April 6 (APP): Bangladesh cricket team led by Mohammad Ashraful arrived here on Sunday to play a series One-day Internationals (ODIs) against Pakistan starting with opening match at Gaddafi Stadium Lahore on April 8. During their 15-day trip, , Bangladesh will be played five ODIs and twenty20 internationals against the host. (Posted @ 12:20 PST) Montenegro holds first presidential election since splitting from Serbia PODGORICA, April 6 (AP): Montenegrins voted Sunday in the tiny Balkan state's first presidential election since it split from Serbia two years ago.The ballot is a test for Montenegro's reformed socialists, who have ruled virtually unchallenged for the past 20 years. It will also determine whether the nation of 620,000 people cements its independence or slides back to Serbia's influence. (Posted @ 12:15 PST) Al Qaeda kills seven from Iraqi guard unit: police BAGHDAD, April 6 (Reuters); Seven members of an Iraqi neighbourhood security force were killed during fighting with Al-Qaeda militants north of Baghdad, police said Sunday. They said the incident took place on Saturday when the unit raided an Al-Qaeda stronghold near Samarra city in Salahuddin province. “Seven of the group, including a local tribal leader were killed in a security operation near Samarra,” a police captain in provincial capital Tikrit said. (Posted @ 11:55 PST) Zimbabwe ruling party wants presidential vote recount, snubs unity govt HARARE, April 6 (AFP): Zimbabwe's ruling party called on the country's electoral commission to recount all results from last weekend's presidential elections, state media reported Sunday. “ZANU-PF has requested the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) to recount and audit all its electoral material relating to last week's presidential election following revelations of errors and miscalculations in compilation of the poll result,” said a Sunday Mail report. It said the ruling party rejected an approach by the opposition Movement for Democratic Change to join a national unity government following last week's elections, state media said Sunday. (Posted @ 11:25 PST)
Founder: Quaid-i-Azam Mohammad Ali Jinnah
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