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| May 07, 2008 | Wednesday | Jamadi-ul-Awwal 1, 1429 |
Updated round-the-clock, with major updates after 10:00 PST (05:00 GMT)
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 Oil price hits record high 122.81 dollars LONDON, May 7 (AFP): The price of oil struck a record high 122.81 dollars on Wednesday amid concerns over tight supplies, traders said. New York crude reached the new high -- beating Tuesday's record of 122.73 dollars -- despite news that US energy stockpiles had risen by a bigger than expected amount last week. In London, Brent crude also hit an all-time peak of 121.47 dollars, beating Tuesday's record of 120.99 dollars. Runaway oil prices have almost doubled in the past year and have jumped by more than 20 dollars since the beginning of 2008. (Posted @ 22:20 PST)  US diplomat says 100,000 may have died in Myanmar cyclone WASHINGTON, May 7 (AP): The top U.S. diplomat in Myanmar has said 100,000 may have died in the cyclone and that 95 percent of buildings in the affected area are demolished. Head of the U.S. Embassy in the capital Yangon, Shari Villarosa, said food and water were running short in the Myanmar delta area inundated by the storm. She called the situation increasingly horrendous. (Posted @ 00:00 PST) NATO appoints new civilian envoy to Afghanistan BRUSSELS, May 7 (AP): NATO says it has appointed Italian diplomat Fernando Gentilini as its new civilian envoy to Afghanistan. Gentilini replaces Daan Everts of the Netherlands who stepped down in December. Gentilini previously has served as a European Union envoy to Kosovo and deputy diplomatic adviser to Italian Prime Minister Romano Prodi. As NATO's senior civilian representative Gentilini will consult with the alliance's 47,000-strong military force, Afghan authorities and the United Nations. NATO announced the appointment Wednesday. (Posted @ 23:40 PST) Bangladesh court accepts graft charges against ex-PM Hasina Wajed DHAKA, May 7 (AP): A Bangladesh court charged former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina with corruption Wednesday over contracts awarded to a Canadian oil and gas company in 2001, an investigator said. Eight other people, including Hasina's political colleagues, former bureaucrats and a local representative of Calgary-based Niko Resources Ltd., have also been charged with corruption, said a deputy director of the official Anti-Corruption Commission. He said Dhaka's Chief Metropolitan Magistrate's Court accepted the conclusions the commission reached following an investigation and the case will now go to trial. (Posted @ 23:20 PST) Donors pledge $4.8 billion in aid for Sudan OSLO, May 7 (AFP): An international donor conference for Sudan concluded in Oslo on Wednesday with pledges of $4.8 billion for humanitarian and reconstruction aid in the war-ravaged country. “The pledges ... stand at 4.8 billion dollars,” World Bank director of Strategies and Operations Hartwig Schafer said as the conference wrapped up. In a report published ahead of the conference, the Sudanese government and the regional government of semi-autonomous South Sudan said they needed around $6.1 billion of international aid through 2011. (Posted @ 23:00 PST) Three foreign soldiers, nine civilians dead in Afghanistan violence KABUL, May 7 (AFP): Twelve people including three foreign soldiers were killed in violence in Afghanistan, including a firefight between police and opium growers, officials said Wednesday. A fierce gun battle erupted when farmers resisted anti-drugs forces trying to destroy their illegal crop. A policeman and four locals were killed in the fight in Laghman province, about 70kms northeast of Kabul, a provincial government spokesman said. Five policemen were wounded, he said. In one of a string of incidents in the eastern border province of Khost Wednesday, two NATO soldiers and a civilian were killed when they were hit by a bomb on a routine patrol, the alliance force said. Another two International Security Assistance Force troops were wounded, ISAF said in a statement. Most of the troops in Khost are US nationals. Hours later a child was killed and at least three other people, including another child, wounded when explosives in a car blew up on the outskirts of the town, police said. The Canadian military announced it lost a soldier in an attack in the southern province of Kandahar on Tuesday. (First Posted 13:10 PST; Updated @ 22:50 PST) Police, gangs fight deadly gun battle in Karachi KARACHI, May 7 (AP): Police in Karachi were embroiled in a deadly gunbattle with gangsters Wednesday in Lyari, a rundown town of the country's biggest city. Police sent 100 officers and four armoured vehicles into Lyari on Wednesday in a bid to arrest underworld kingpins fighting a bloody turf war, Lyari police chief Imran Shaukat said. However, the officers met stiff resistance from gang members armed with automatic weapons and hand grenades. Shaukat said there were “a few casualties, some fatal.” He said at least one gangster was killed and police also suffered casualties. He said with reinforcements he hoped to finish the operation by late evening. (Posted @ 22:35 PST) Strong earthquake rocks Tokyo region TOKYO, May 7 (AFP): A strong earthquake measuring 6.7 on the Richter scale hit north of Tokyo early Thursday following an earlier series of tremors, Japan's meteorological agency said. The earthquake hit at 1645 GMT off the Pacific coast and rattled buildings in central Tokyo, it said. The impact was strongest in areas just north of the Japanese capital. (Posted @ 22:10 PST) Myanmar cyclone zone 80 percent destroyed: MSF GENEVA, May 7 (AFP): Cyclone Nargis destroyed 80 percent of buildings in the worst-hit parts of Myanmar, aid workers for Doctors without Borders (MSF) reported Wednesday. Their chief coordinator on the ground in Myanmar appealed for the authorities to let aid workers and supplies already standing by enter the country. “Our first assessments show that in Daala and Twantey zones, south of Yangon, home to 300,000 inhabitants, 80 percent of buildings have been destroyed,” a statement posted on the group's website said. Some parts were still flooded under a metre of water, it added. 40 percent of dead are children: charity LONDON: An estimated 40 percent of the dead or missing from the Myanmar cyclone are believed to be children, international charity Save the Children said Wednesday. The agency said its workers on the ground believe that the casualty toll could be “much higher” than the official toll of 22,000 dead and one million homeless. (Posted @ 21:00 PST) Two Japan tourists kidnapped in Yemen SANAA, May 7 (Reuters): Two Japanese tourists were kidnapped from Marib town in Yemen on Wednesday, a government official said. The official said the kidnappers were believed to be tribesmen and that the tourists were women, but did not give further details. Disgruntled tribesmen often kidnap Western tourists to press for better living conditions in the Arabian Peninsula country, one of the poorest outside Africa. (Posted @ 20:30 PST) Brian Cowen elected Ireland’s prime minister DUBLIN, May 7 (Reuters): Members of Ireland's Dail (lower house of parliament) on Wednesday confirmed Finance Minister Brian Cowen as prime minister, succeeding Bertie Ahern who stepped down on Tuesday after 11 years in office. The Dail supported Cowen, recently elected leader of Ahern's Fianna Fail party, with 88 votes in favour and 76 against. (Posted @ 20:10 PST) Top lawyer killed in London police shootout LONDON, May 7 (AFP): A 32-year-old lawyer was killed in a shootout with police in London's plush Chelsea district in what was described by colleagues Wednesday as an unexplained “tragedy.” The gun battle sparked a major security clampdown on Tuesday, with parts of the King's Road sealed off in an operation which ended when crack police commandos stormed the house where he was holed up. Divorce barrister Mark Saunders died after a tense five-hour standoff with police marksmen surrounding his flat in upmarket Markham Square. (Posted @ 19:50 PST) Palestinian killed, 20 others injured in Israeli raid on Gaza GAZA CITY, May 7 (AFP): A Palestinian was killed and nearly 20 people were wounded on Wednesday during an Israeli attack into the southern Gaza Strip, according to Palestinian medics and witnesses. Israeli armoured vehicles and bulldozers backed by aerial drones entered the region east of Khan Yunis in southern Gaza, they said. A Palestinian man was killed and five others were wounded in an air strike. An earlier air strike targeted a house injuring two Palestinians. (First Posted @ 12:35 PST; Updated @ 18:50 PST) Slovakia gets green light to join euro zone in 2009 BRUSSELS, May 7 (Reuters): Slovakia got the green light on Wednesday to adopt the euro in 2009. The European Commission said the nation of 5.4 million people is ready to switch to the currency now shared by 15 states. “Slovakia has achieved a high degree of sustainable economic convergence and is ready to adopt the euro on Jan 1, 2009,” EU Monetary Affairs Joaquin Almunia said in a statement. (Posted @ 17:40 PST) North Korean worker starves to death in Russia: report MOSCOW, May 7 (AFP): A North Korean man died of hunger in the Russian Far East after the wood company he was working for failed to provide him with enough food, a migration official said Wednesday. The body was found at a remote site on the Pacific island of Sakhalin during an inspection by migration authorities two weeks ago, Interfax news agency reported. A second, severely malnourished North Korean was also discovered. The migration service has asked prosecutors to open a case against the company, which did not pay the pair during 18 months of employment. (Posted @ 17:20 PST) Ukraine seeks 15-year gas deal with Russia KIEV, May 7 (Reuters): Ukraine's state energy firm Naftogaz is seeking a 15-year contract from Gazprom which would fix gas import price increases for the next five years, the head of the firm, Oleh Dubyna told reporters on Wednesday. Russia and Ukraine have had periodic disputes in recent years over gas prices which have led to supply cuts, including one at the beginning of 2006 which briefly affected European Union countries. The ex-Soviet state transits some 115 billion cubic metres of gas westwards, accounting for almost a quarter of the European Union's needs and some 80 percent of Russia's total gas exports. (Posted @ 16:35 PST) Clashes erupt in Lebanon as opposition stages strike BEIRUT, May 7 (AP): Protesters from the opposition clashed with supporters of Lebanon's U.S.-backed government Wednesday as a strike by paralyzed large parts of the capital, Beirut. The violence deepened tensions in a country already mired in a 17-month-old political crisis pitting Hezbollah against the government. The troubles have left the country without a president since November. The strike was called by labor unions after they rejected a last-minute pay raise offer by the government as insufficient. (Posted @ 15:15 PST) Sri Lanka military says battles kill 35 rebels, 2 civilians COLOMBO, May 7 (Reuters): Battles between government forces and Tamil rebels across the embattled northern region killed 35 rebels while a blast blamed on rebels killed two civilians, the military said Wednesday. The latest clashes continued throughout Tuesday along the front lines in Mannar, Welioya and Vavuniya, a defence ministry official said. In the worst fighting, soldiers killed 25 rebels in five separate battles in Mannar. The clashes also wounded 20 rebels and 11 soldiers, the official said. (First Posted @ 11:15 PST, Updated @ 15:00 PST) Indonesia landslide death toll rises to 19 JAKARTA, May 7 (APP/AFP): The death toll from a landslide in Indonesia's eastern province of Papua rose to 19 Wednesday as bad weather forced a halt to the search for survivors, miners involved in the rescue effort said. A spokesman for Freeport Indonesia, which operates a nearby mine, said it was unclear how many people had been buried when a cliff slid down on a mining operation late Monday. (Posted @ 13:50 PST) Spanish police break up ring that trafficked in fake luxury goods, five Pakistanis arrested MADRID, Spain, May 7 (AP): Spanish police Wednesday said they had arrested five Pakistani men, aged between 22 and 45, on suspicion of trafficking in fake luxury goods and forcing people to work in illegal conditions. Police said the gang was distributing around 2,500 fake items a day. Clothing and accessories were made in Asia and imported to Spain to be ''finished'' and have fake designer labels attached. Police said the gang exploited four workers in a windowless warehouse in the southern Madrid suburb of Villaverde. (Posted @ 13:30 PST) Medvedev sworn in as Russian president MOSCOW, May 7 (Reuters): Dmitry Medvedev was sworn in as president in a solemn ceremony in the Kremlin's throne room Wednesday. Medvedev, a 42-year-old former corporate lawyer and longtime Putin ally, placed his hand on a red, leather-bound copy of the Russian constitution to take the oath of office. The inauguration ceremony in the Grand Kremlin Palace broadly followed the pattern set in 2000, when Putin was sworn in. (First Posted @ 13:15 PST, Updated @ 13:40 PST) India tests ballistic missile capable of reaching China BHUBANESWAR, India, May 7 (AFP): India's military Wednesday tested a medium-range nuclear-capable missile which can hit targets inside China, defence research officials said. The Agni-III missile, India's longest-range ballistic missile, was fired from a testing site on Wheeler Island, 180 kilometres northeast of Orissa state capital Bhubaneswar. “Today's test was a confidence-building exercise meant to fine-tune the missile,” a defence official said, requesting anonymity. The missile, which has a 3,000-kilometre range and can carry nuclear or conventional warheads, was first tested in 2006. (Posted @ 11:20 PST) Clinton wins narrowly in Indiana INDIANAPOLIS, Indiana, May 7 (AFP): Hillary Clinton won the Democratic presidential primary in Indiana, eking out a two-point victory after a protracted vote count, US networks Fox and MSNBC reported. With 100 percent of votes tallied, Clinton won the midwestern state by 51 to 49 percent, in a result given more than five hours after polls closed in the race. (First Posted @ 09:20 PST, Updated @ 11:10 PST) Clashes continue in Baghdad’s Sadr City BAGHDAD, May 7 (AP): A rocket slammed into Baghdad's city hall and another hit a downtown park as more frightened civilians fled Sadr City where U.S.-led forces are locked in fierce street battles. Fresh salvos of rockets from militants arced over the city Tuesday, wounding at least 16 people. One rocket blasted the nearby city hall. Three 122 mm rockets hit parts of central Baghdad. An Iraqi police station was damaged by a rocket that failed to detonate, the U.S. military said. An attack aircraft later fired two Hellfire missiles and killed three militants who were planting a roadside bomb in the neighbourhood of New Baghdad Tuesday, the military added. At least four civilians were killed in the clashes, medics said. (Posted @ 11:05 PST) Democrats question $6 billion given to Pakistan to fight terrorists as ineffective WASHINGTON, May 7 (AP): Congressional Democrats sharply questioned Tuesday a U.S. aid program that has reimbursed Pakistan's military $6 billion since 2001 for anti-terror operations along its Afghanistan border. They contended the program has grown too costly without demonstrated results. ''The Bush administration has basically been shovelling taxpayer money to Pakistan, no questions asked, crossing its fingers and hoping that our al Qaeda problem goes away,'' said Democratic Senator Robert Menendez. Also Tuesday, a top counter-terror official told the Senate Intelligence Committee that al Qaeda terrorist leaders continue to hatch new plots from their sanctuary on Pakistan's western frontier. ''We have clearly not succeeded in stopping core al Qaeda plotting,'' said acting National Counterterrorism Center Director Michael Leiter. ''We have not disrupted the senior leadership that exists in (Pakistan's tribal areas) or their promulgating messages that successfully gain them more recruits.'' (Posted @ 10:05 PST ) Japan, China vow to deepen trust, settle gas row TOKYO, May 7 (Reuters): The leaders of Japan and China vowed Wednesday to deepen trust and cooperate on issues from climate change to regional security, and said they were on track to resolve a feud over energy rights in the East China Sea. “We both believe relations between China and Japan are at a new starting point,” Chinese President Hu Jintao told a joint news conference with Japanese Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda. The two leaders also said they had made progress to resolve a dispute over rights to gas beneath the East China Sea. “There are already prospects for resolving this issue,” Hu said, adding the two sides would continue consultation and seek a solution as soon as possible. The two leaders signed a joint document on future relations between the two Asian economic giants, agreeing that “cooperation for peace and friendship is the only option for Japan and China”. (Posted @ 09:55 PST ) Five nations, including Pakistan, unfit to serve on UN rights body UNITED NATIONS , May 7 (AFP): Gabon, Bahrain, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Zambia do not deserve a seat on the Human Rights Council, the United Nations' top rights body, UN Watch and Freedom House said in a joint report Tuesday. The report said Gabon and Zambia were guaranteed seats on the council because of a lack of competition from more democratic countries in their African group. Their report was unveiled here as the UN General Assembly is set to elect 15 new members of the Geneva-based Human Rights Council (HRC) on May 21. No country can be elected to the HRC unless an absolute majority (at least 97 members) of the UN General Assembly writes in the name of the candidate on a ballot. Members are elected to staggered three-year terms. (Posted @ 09:40 PST ) Sri Lanka's president suspends Parliament for one month amid corruption allegations COLOMBO, May 7 (AP): Sri Lanka's President Mahinda Rajapaksa has suspended Parliament sessions for a month, an official said Tuesday, a move criticized by the opposition as an attempt to disrupt ongoing investigation into corruption allegations. A decree announcing the suspension would be issued early Wednesday, a government official said requesting anonymity. Tissa Attanayake, the general secretary of Sri Lanka's main opposition United National Party, charged that Rajapaksa's action was an attempt to disrupt Parliamentary probe into corruption allegations against his government because all committees appointed for the purpose will be dissolved with the decree. (Posted @ 09:25 PST ) Barack Obama wins North Carolina primaries RALEIGH, North Carolina, May 7 (AFP): Barack Obama won the Democratic presidential primaries in North Carolina Tuesday in an important step towards wrapping up the party's nomination, US media predicted. CNN and Fox news networks both predicted that Obama had defeated Hillary Clinton in the state as the two battle to be the party's standard bearer and take on Republican John McCain in the November elections. (Posted @ 09:00 PST) Karachi Stocks up 46.45 points: KARACHI, May 07: At close of trading, the KSE-100 index was at 14455.29, up 46.45 points. (Bureau Report) (Updated @ 14:14 PST) Forex update: KARACHI, May 07: The Pakistani Rupee was traded at Rs 67.3 to the US Dollar in the open market. (Bureau Report) (Updated @ 14:14 PST)
Founder: Quaid-i-Azam Mohammad Ali Jinnah
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