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| April 23, 2008 | Wednesday | Rabi-us-Sani 16, 1429 |
Updated round-the-clock, with major updates after 10:00 PST (05:00 GMT)
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 Pakistan drafts peace deal with militants: officials PESHAWAR, April 23 (AFP): Pakistan's new government has drafted a peace agreement with Taliban militants in its troubled tribal belt bordering Afghanistan, officials and a rebel spokesman said Wednesday. The government launched talks with the rebels soon after winning elections in February. “Work is in progress swiftly on a new peace agreement with the Taliban Movement of Pakistan,” a senior security official told AFP, adding that “indirect negotiations” through tribal elders were ongoing. “The draft agreement contains clauses under which both sides will not take armed action against each other. Military will be withdrawn from certain areas, attacks on security forces will be stopped by militants,” the official said.The chief spokesman for the country's umbrella militant group Tehreek-e-Taliban (Taliban Movement) Pakistan, Maulvi Omar, confirmed to AFP by telephone that “our negotiations with government are going on. There is significant positive development, we have accepted most of each others' demands. In next few days we hope that a positive outcome is achieved,” Omar said. (Posted @ 16:00 PST)  US concerned about Pakistan-Taliban peace deal WASHINGTON, April 23 (AFP): The United States is concerned about a possible peace deal between Pakistan and Taliban fighters along the border with Afghanistan, the White House said Wednesday. “We are concerned about it and what we encourage them to do is to continue to fight against the terrorists and to not disrupt any security or military operations that are ongoing in order to help prevent a safe haven for terrorists there,” said White House spokeswoman Dana Perino. (Posted @ 19:20 PST)  38-member Balochistan cabinet takes oath QUETTA, April 23: The Balochistan Governor, Nawab Zulfiqar Ali Magsi administered oath to 38 ministers of Balochistan government on Wednesday afternoon. The oath-taking ceremony was held in Governor House. (Posted @ 17:15 PST) Indian forces kill three Kashmiri freedom group commanders SRINAGAR, occupied Kashmir, April 23, (AFP): Indian security forces shot dead three top commanders of a militant group fighting to free Indian occupied Kashmir, police said on Wednesday. Two of them were killed in a gunbattle while the third was shot dead in a separate incident, they said. Srinagar’s senior superintendent of police told AFP the fighting erupted early Wednesday and carried on for several hours after police and soldiers raided a house. The dead militants, district commander Tanveer Ahmed Zargar and his deputy Imtiyaz Khan, belonged to Hizbul Mujahedin. Separately, police and soldiers shot dead another HM commander, Abu Haq. (Posted @ 17:10 PST) Troops martyr four more innocent Kashmiris ISLAMABAD, April 23 (APP): Indian troops in occupied Kashmir killed four more Kashmiri youth on Wedenesday at different places. Tanveer Ahmad and Imtiyaz Ahmad were killed when two houses were destroyed by mortar shelling during a siege and search operation in Baramulla. One youth each was shot dead at Kalian in Reasi and Mandher in Poonch, the Kashmir Media Service (KMS) reported. Meanwhile an Indian trooper was run over by a train near Sainik Colony in Jammu city. (Posted @ 20:30 PST) 700 rockets, mortar rounds fired in Baghdad in a month: US BAGHDAD, April 23 (AFP): Almost 700 rockets and mortar rounds were fired in Baghdad in the past month, US commanders said on Wednesday, insisting however that overall violence levels in the capital are falling. Colonel Allen Batschelet told reporters that a total of 697 rockets and mortar bombs were fired from various locations in the Iraqi capital between March 23 and April 20. Of these 114, hit the highly fortified Green Zone, also known as the International Zone (IZ), where the Iraqi government and US embassy are based, he said. (Posted @ 20:15 PST)
Iran agrees to explain weapons claims: ElBaradei SARAJEVO, April 23 (AFP): UN atomic watchdog chief Mohamed ElBaradei said Wednesday that Iran has agreed to clarify claims it has studied how to design nuclear weapons by the end of May. “It is my understanding that hopefully by the end of May we will be in a position to get an explanation and clarification from Iran as to these alleged studies,” ElBaradei told reporters during a visit to Bosnia. The head of the International Atomic Energy Agency said its deputy director general, Olli Heinonen, reported that he and Iranian officials “agreed on a process” to start explaining the studies within a few weeks. (Posted @ 20:00 PST) Two killed in Darfur camp after census starts KHARTOUM, April 23 (Reuters): Armed raiders shot dead at least two people in a Darfur displacement camp on Wednesday, residents and aid workers said. The attackers tried to force their way into the camp in south Darfur and then fired into the settlement, camp resident representative Abu Sherati told Reuters. “The bandits are still just outside the camp and we can still hear shooting. Everyone is very scared,” he said, speaking from the camp by phone. (Posted @ 19:50 PST) German police raid homes of Islamist suspects BERLIN, April 23 (Reuters): German police said Wednesday they were searching the homes and offices of nine Islamist suspects, who are accused of trying to radicalise Muslims and non-Muslims in Germany. Officials were searching 16 sites across Germany, including apartments and offices in the western city of Bonn and the eastern cities of Berlin and Leipzig, police said. The suspects were German nationals, mostly of immigrant origin, and aged between 25 and 47 years, they said. (Posted @ 19:40 PST) Sri Lanka says 90 dead in assault on Tamil rebel north COLOMBO, April 23 (AFP): At least 52 Tamil rebels and 38 soldiers were killed and hundreds more wounded on Wednesday, officials said, as Tamil separatists reported repulsing a Sri Lankan offensive. The defence ministry said 84 soldiers were wounded in the latest bid to take territory from Tamil Tiger rebels on northern Jaffna peninsula. A military source told AFP that security forces casualties were 40 dead and 375 wounded, while several more were missing. It was the military's heaviest losses in a single battle since October 2006. “Monitored radio communications and ground sources confirmed that 52 LTTE terrorists were killed and many injured in the skirmishes,” the defence ministry said. (Posted @ 11:15 PST; Updated @ 19:00 PST) Burundi rebels bomb capital BUJUMBURA, April 23 (Reuters): Rebels in Burundi fired mortar bombs at the capital Bujumbura, hitting the residence of the Pope's envoy in the latest flare-up of violence that has killed 33 people in a week, the army said Wednesday. Fighters from the Forces for National Liberation (FNL), the last active rebel group in the tiny central Africa nation, launched their attack from outside the city on Tuesday night. “We know that the FNL threw several bombs from hills around the capital,” an army spokesman said. (Posted @ 18:30 PST) Japan to build 1,000 schools in Africa TOKYO, April 23 (AFP): Japan will build 1,000 elementary schools in Africa in the next five years, the foreign minister pledged Wednesday, calling for a renewed international focus on education in the developing world. Foreign Minister Masahiko Komura said Japan would build 1,000 elementary schools across Africa in the next five years in a project estimated to cost 30 billion yen (300 million dollars). (Posted @ 18:15 PST) Fire sweeps through Siberian forests MOSCOW, April 23 (AFP): Russian fire services on Wednesday were battling blazes across Siberia blamed on an exceptionally mild winter and illegal logging. The emergency situations ministry said that 36,000 hectares were burning in the Amur, Buryatiya, Khabarovsk, Primorsky and Jewish Autonomous provinces. Another 11,000 hectares) of forest had been consumed by fire in the previous 24 hours, the ministry said. “To extinguish the fire, 6,551 people and 1,779 firefighting vehicles, including eight aircraft, have been deployed,” the ministry said. (Posted @ 17:45 PST) Strikes paralyse French ports MARSEILLE, April 23 (AFP): France's biggest port of Marseille ground to a halt on Wednesday as walkouts by port workers angry at privatisation plans sparked disruption across the country. Cargo traffic was paralysed in the Mediterranean port, although passenger ferries were allowed to move in and out freely, as around 1,000 crane-drivers, signals operators and dockers formed a picket line on site. “The port is not for sale,” striking workers scrawled across a highway bridge nearby. (Posted @ 16:55 PST) Death toll rises as fighting spreads in Baghdad BAGHDAD, April 23 (AFP): Another 19 people were killed in fighting between militiamen and security forces in Baghdad, officials said Wednesday, as the death toll from weeks of street battles passed 360. The US military said they had killed 15 people overnight in clashes in eastern Baghdad controlled by Mahdi Army militiamen loyal to anti-American cleric Moqtada al-Sadr. Iraqi officials said the fighting had spread to adjoining Hussainiyah district. The defence ministry put the toll in fighting at seven dead, including two women, and 20 wounded. (Posted @ 15:35 PST) 
Attacks on Afghan security forces kill 13, wound 24 KANDAHAR, April 23 (AP): A spate of suicide bombings and other attacks on Afghan security forces Wednesday left 13 people dead and 24 others wounded, officials said. In southern Kandahar province, a suicide bomber blew himself up next to a vehicle carrying intelligence agents in Spin Boldak, killing three civilians, the Kandahar Governor said. Two children and three intelligence agents were among the 14 hurt. Taliban attacked a police border post in Kunar province, killing five officers and wounding seven others, the provincial police chief said. A border police patrol in northwestern Badghis province hit a mine, killing three officers riding in the vehicle, the regional police chief said. (First Posted @ 09:55 PST, Updated @ 14:50 PST) Five killed in Pakistan as vehicle plunges into deep ravine MANSEHRA, Pakistan, April 23 (APP): Five persons were killed when the vehicle they were travelling in plunged into a deep ravine at Pattan area in Kohistan district here Wednesday morning. Police said a Telecommunication Northern Area (TNC) vehicle carrying employees skidded off the road while negotiating a sharp turn and plunged into a deep ravine near Indus River. The TCN employees were going to Gilgit from Peshawar when the accident happened. (Posted @ 13:40 PST) Iraqi officials say US air strike kills 10 in Baghdad BAGHDAD, April 23 (AFP): A US air strike Tuesday killed 10 people in Baghdad, Iraqi officials said. The US military initially denied there had been an air strike but later reported an “air weapons team engagement” in Baghdad’s Sadr City. Iraqi security officials said 10 people were killed and 17 hurt in the air strike, which they said took place around 7:00 p.m. in the district's Al-Nasr neighbourhood. US military spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Steven Stover confirmed the air strike. “The Hellfire missile struck a car being used to transport rockets and then the same air weapons team (AWT) used 30mm to destroy a rocket rail in an open field,” Stover said, adding that his was a preliminary report. (Posted @ 10:35 PST) 
Three foreign car dealerships firebombed in Athens, anarchists suspected ATHENS, Greece, April 23 (AP): Suspected anarchist arsonists firebombed three foreign car dealerships in Athens in pre-dawn attacks Wednesday, Greek authorities said. Nobody was injured in the attacks and no arrests were made. Fire brigade officials said two of the attacks occurred simultaneously. (Posted @ 10:30 PST) Oil rises near $120, drives US stocks lower NEW YORK, April 23 (Reuters): Oil prices surged to record highs near $120 a barrel as the dollar plumbed new lows against the euro Tuesday. U.S. crude oil hit an all-time peak of $119.90, boosted by supply worries from key producers Russia and Nigeria and a jump in demand last month from China, the second-largest energy consumer after the United States. The euro rose above $1.60 for the first time since its 1999 inception as expectations rose the European Central Bank may hike benchmark interest rates in a move to curb inflation. (Posted @ 10:00 PST) Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas arrives in US for talks with Bush WASHINGTON, April 23 (AFP): Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas arrived in Washington Tuesday for talks with US President George W. Bush and other top officials, an AFP correspondent said. Abbas arrived at Andrews Air Force Base late Tuesday, and was to visit with US lawmakers Wednesday morning, followed by a meeting with Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice at 2:00 p.m. Bush was to host Abbas on Thursday. Bush formally restarted the Mideast peace negotiations after a seven-year freeze, with a conference in Annapolis, Maryland in November, 2007. (Posted @ 09:50 PST)
Arrests as Olympic torch arrives in Australia CANBERRA, April 23 (AFP): Two people were arrested as the Olympic flame arrived in Australia Wednesday for the latest leg of a troubled global torch relay. A chartered airliner carrying the flame touched down under tight security at a military airfield in Canberra after a six-hour flight from Jakarta and was met by Australian and Chinese officials. There were no incidents at the tightly guarded airfield, but police said a man and a woman were arrested in Sydney while trying to display a banner on the iconic Harbour Bridge as the aircraft approached Canberra. “Two people, a man and a woman, were detained by security officers as they tried to unfurl a banner on the bridge,” a police spokeswoman told AFP, adding that they faced a small fine for doing so without a permit. (Posted @ 09:30 PST) Clinton clinches Pennsylvania primary PHILADELPHIA, Pennsylvania, April 23 (AFP): Hillary Clinton kept her wobbling White House quest alive Tuesday, triumphing over Barack Obama in Pennsylvania's Democratic primary. “Today here in Pennsylvania, you made your voices heard and because of you, the tide is turning,” Clinton told jubilant supporters after early results showed the former first lady triumphing over Obama in the key race. With 78 percent of precincts reporting, Clinton was said to be leading by 10 percent with 55 percent of the vote to 45 for Obama in her quest to be America's first woman president. (Posted @ 09:15 PST) Karachi Stocks down 73.38 points: KARACHI, April 23: At close of trading, the KSE-100 index was at 15470.14, down 73.38 points. (Bureau Report) (Updated @ 14:17 PST) Forex update: KARACHI, April 23: The Pakistani Rupee was traded at Rs 64.9 to the US Dollar in the open market. (Bureau Report) (Updated @ 14:17 PST)
Founder: Quaid-i-Azam Mohammad Ali Jinnah
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