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| May 19, 2008 | Monday | Jamadi-ul-Awwal 13, 1429 |
Updated round-the-clock, with major updates after 10:00 PST (05:00 GMT)
Three killed, 40 injured in Sindh in two road accidents KARACHI, May 19 (PPI): Three persons were killed and more than injured in two traffic accidents in interior Sindh. The first accident occurred in Tando Jam on Monday morning in which two men died and 20 injured when a bus overturned while saving a cyclist. Six persons were critically injured. The driver and a passenger died on the spot. In the second accident, a driver died and 21 passangers were injured, when their Nawabshah bound bus overturned when the vehicle’s tire-rod broke. (Posted @ 23:28 PST)
Top woman rebel surrenders in Colombia BOGOTA, May 19 (AFP): One of the top-ranking women leaders of Colombia's Marxist FARC guerrillas, Nelly Avila Moreno alias Karina, turned herself in after decades of eluding capture, officials said Monday. Authorities said Karina, who led the 47th Front until her surrender Sunday was considered one of the most violent female leaders of Latin America's longest-running insurrection. (Posted @ 23:02 PST)
10 faint in Nawabshah as mercury hits 48C Nawabshah, May 19 (PPI): Ten people fainted after suffering a heat stroke as the temperature in Nawabshah rose to 48 degrees centigrade on Monday. The affected persons belong to areas including Daur, Bandhi, and Sakrand who were shifted to different hospitals. Jacobabad braves very hot day: Jacobabad and its surrounding areas braved a very hot day on Monday. The temperature was 47 degrees centigrade. Many persons fainted due to extreme heat and sunstroke. The hot whether also affected business activities as roads and markets wore a deserted look. (Posted @ 22:48 PST)
Cricket: Afghanistan take first step towards cricket World Cup KARACHI, May 19 (AFP): Burgeoning cricket talent, Afghanistan is confident as they prepare for the first step towards the 2011 World Cup, Captain Norooz Khan Mangal was quoted as saying Monday. Afghanistan are one of 12 teams featuring in the division five event of the ICC (International Cricket Council) World Cricket League, which starts in Jersey from May 23. “A few years ago, any talk of Afghanistan playing in the World Cup would have been laughable. But not any more as we are taking the first step with the qualifying rounds,” Mangal is quoted as saying in an ICC press release. The winners will qualify for the next stage of the qualifying rounds. India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh host the World Cup in 2011. (Posted @ 22:05 PST)
Firing on WAPDA employees in Peshawar ISLAMABAD, May 19 (APP): Four WAPDA employees were shot at in Shaikh Muhammadi on Monday. The employees were repairing an electricity tower damaged by a bomb blast. Repairs on the 500 KW electricity tower were stopped after the incident, according to a local TV channel. (Posted @ 21:36 PST)
PML-Q Forward Block to support PML-N govt in Punjab ISLAMABAD, May 19 (APP): Twenty-four members of the PML-Q Forward Block in Punjab Assembly met Pakistan Muslim League-N Punjab President Zulfikar Khosa in Lahore and assured the PML-N of their support. According to a local TV channel, the PML-Q MPAs also assured that they would not become a part of any effort to destabilize the Punjab Government. The forward block members also agreed to rename their group the Unification Block. (Posted @ 20:48 PST)
Foreigners flee as Johannesburg clashes death toll hits 22 JOHANNESBURG, May 19 (AFP): Crowds of foreigners sought refuge at crowded community centres and police stations in Johannesburg on Monday as the death toll from a wave of xenophobic violence rose to 22. Mobs roaming through poor townships around South Africa's economic capital have killed and beaten up immigrants over the past week, with Zimbabweans and other Africans reporting purges by armed locals looking for foreigners. The violence erupted in Alexandra township early last week when two people were killed in an attack, and police said Monday that the number dead had risen to 22 with more than 200 arrested. (First Posted @ 17:45 PST Updated @ 20:34 PST)
Gunmen kill two factory workers in Balochistan QUETTA, May 19 (AFP): Unidentified gunmen killed two factory workers and an intelligence official in Balochistan, police said Monday. The factory workers were killed and five others were injured when gunmen sprayed bullets at their van taking them home in the industrial town of Hub on Monday, a local police official told AFP. Separately, assailants shot dead an intelligence official late Sunday in Hub. “A junior official of military intelligence was shot dead by unknown gunmen late Sunday,” the police official told AFP. (Posted @ 20:20 PST)
Iraq says senior Qaeda chief seized fleeing crackdown MOSUL, May 19 (AFP): Iraqi security forces arrested a man they believe to be a major Al-Qaeda leader who was trying to flee a crackdown around Mosul, the defence ministry said Monday. A military source said the captured man was thought to be Al-Qaeda's military chief for Nineveh province. “Abdel Khaleq Awad al-Sabawi, a senior commander of Al-Qaeda in Iraq, was arrested on Sunday in a raid by the Iraqi army and the police,” a ministry spokesman told AFP. He was arrested in Hay Al-Qadisiyah, in Salaheddin province, close to Tikrit, about 200 kilometres south of Mosul, capital of Nineveh where Iraqi troops launched a crackdown against Al-Qaeda last Wednesday. (Posted @ 20:10 PST)
At least 16 killed in election violence in eastern India CALCUTTA, May 19 (AP): At least 16 people were killed in clashes between rival political parties during local council elections in eastern India, a government official said Monday. Supporters of the Communist Party which governs West Bengal state, and the Congress Party which heads the federal government, fought battles using guns and rocks on Sunday. The violence which left more than 200 people injured, was centered in Murshidabad district, the district chief medical officer said. Murshidabad is about 200 kilometers north of the state capital, Calcutta. (Posted @ 19:54 PST)
Ex-Nigerian president's daughter held on corruption charges ABUJA, May 19 (AFP): The daughter of former Nigerian president Olusegun Obasanjo was arrested Monday and charged with two counts of accepting 10 million naira ($85,000 dollars) of funds allegedly stolen from the health ministry. Obasanjo-Bello appeared at Abuja High court and was remanded in police custody until May 21. She pleaded not guilty to both charges. (Posted @ 19:46 PST)
Pakistan, India composite dialogue on May 20, 21 ISLAMABAD, May 19 (PPI): Pakistan and India resume the Composite Dialogue here on May 20. Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi will meet Indian counterpart Pranab Mukherjee on May 21, a day after Foreign Secretary Salman Bashir and Indian counterpart Shivshankar Menon hold talks on Tuesday. Foreign Office spokesman Mohammad Sadiq said, “Pakistan is committed to peace process and seeks peaceful resolution of all issues including Jammu & Kashmir dispute.” The talks agenda is: Peace & Security including Confidence Building Measures CBMs, Jammu & Kashmir, Siachen, Sir Creek, Wullar Barrage, terrorism, drugs trafficking, economic, commercial cooperation and promotion of friendly exchanges. (First Posted @ 12:35 PST Updated @ 19:28 PST)
Twenty killed, dozens missing in Nepal bus plunge: report KATHMANDU, May 19 (AFP): Up to 20 people were killed Monday and dozens are missing presumed dead after a packed passenger bus skidded off a mountain road and plunged into a river in Nepal, local media reported. “Seventeen bodies have been pulled out of the river,” a police officer Purna Gurung told AFP from Dang district, 280 kilometres west of Kathmandu. The Himalayan Times website reported that 20 people had been killed in the bus crash on Monday afternoon, and another 40 were missing. The bus was carrying around 100 passengers, about half of whom were Indian nationals on a pilgrimage, according to police. (Posted @ 19:25 PST)
Two dead in Bosnia scrap munitions blast SARAJEVO, May 19 (Reuters): Two men were killed and three injured when a shell exploded at a scrap metal depot in central Bosnia on Monday, state radio reported. The accident occurred near the central town of Visoko, while workers were trying to cut up a shell left over from the 1992-95 war to prepare it for transport, the radio said. (Posted @ 19:04 PST)
Aga Khan to inaugurate new education academy in Bangladesh DHAKA, May 19 (AP): The Aga Khan will lay the foundation stone for a $50 million academy in Bangladesh, his foundation said Monday. The Aga Khan began a four-day visit to the country Monday to promote educational services. The Aga Khan Foundation said the visit is part of commemorations marking the Aga Khan's 50th year as imam of the world's Shia Ismaili Muslims. (Posted @ 19:02 PST)
Bomb explodes in southern Philippines, two hurt COTABATO, May 19(AP): A powerful bomb exploded in a bus terminal in the southern Philippines on Monday, wounding two men, damaging two buses and sparking panic among commuters, police said. The bombing shortly after nightfall in Cotabato city may have been the work of extortion gangs because the company that owned the buses had been threatened by such groups before and their vehicles damaged by explosions, the Cotabato police chief said. (Posted @ 18:34 PST)
Bomb under bed kills local Iraqi police chief NASSIRIYA, May 19 (Reuters): A local Iraqi police chief was killed on Monday when a bomb placed under his bed in the local police headquarters exploded as he slept, police said. Major Farhan al-Saeedi was head of a police unit in the southern town of Suq al-Shiyukh. The town, 400 km southeast of Baghdad, was the scene of clashes last month between government forces and militiamen loyal to Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr in which 22 people were killed. (Posted @ 18:26 PST)
South Africa police use tear gas, arrests to fight anti-foreigner violence; at least 22 killed REIGER PARK, South Africa, May 19 (AP) Police fired rubber bullets and made arrests Monday to try to quell outbursts of anti-foreigner violence in and around Johannesburg, and said the death toll had reached 22. Foreigners, many of them Zimbabweans, were being driven from shacks in squatter camps Monday. Men bearing clubs and sticks patrolled in groups along the road near one camp, apparently South Africans guarding against any foreigners trying to return. Police spokesman Govindsamy Mariemuthoo said that, since the violence broke out last week, 22 people had been killed. Mariemuthoo said more than 200 people had been arrested. (Posted @ 17:45 PST)
Tainted liquor kills 59 in southern India over weekend NEW DELHI, May 19 (AP) Locally brewed liquor apparently tainted with lethal chemicals killed at least 59 people in southern India over the weekend, police said Monday. Bootleggers began selling the deadly brew on Saturday after police shut authorized liquor shops in parts of the Karnataka state because of voting for the state government, said Sri Kumar, the state police chief. Since Saturday, 59 people, most of them poor laborers, have died and 17 others were in hospital, said Kumar. Twenty-seven deaths occurred in Bangalore and 19 died in the neighboring Kolar district. Another 13 people died in a village just across the state border with Tamil Nadu state, he said. Kumar said six people have been arrested for selling the killer concoction. (First Posted @ 14:35 PST Updated @ 17:40 PST)
Pakistan offers rewards for tips on wheat hoarding ISLAMABAD, May 19 (Reuters) Pakistani authorities are offering rewards for information about wheat hoarding, acting Food and Agriculture Minister Nazar Mohammad Gondal said Monday. “We will offer rewards to informers who give us information about wheat stocks held by hoarders,” Gondal told a news conference. He did not say what rewards informers would get. (Posted @ 17:38 PST)
Pakistan will not negotiate with militants: PM Gilani SHARM EL-SHEIKH, Egypt, May 19 (AFP) Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani vowed Monday that his government would not negotiate with militants unless they laid down their arms, amid US concerns over Islamabad's talks with the Taliban. “One thing should be clear,” Gilani told journalists at the World Economic Forum for the Middle East. “We will not have a dialogue with militants, we will not have dialogue with extremists or terrorists.” ”We only have dialogue with those forces, these tribals, who decomission themselves,” Gilani said. “If they lay down their arms then they are in the mainstream with us.” He also held talks with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak Monday. (Posted @ 17:35 PST)
PM Gilani, Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak discuss bilateral cooperation SHARM EL SHEIKH, Egypt, May 19 (APP) Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani Monday discussed ways and means to further strengthen bilateral relations and cooperation in various fields with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak. The two leaders who met on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum on the Middle East discussed issues of mutual interest as well as the prospects of enhanced cooperation in various fields including defense, trade and investment, science and technology, agriculture and tourism. They also discussed the Palestine issue and expressed support for an independent Palestinian state. Gilani said Pakistan was keen to expand its relations with Egypt in all areas. He said the existing level of economic relationship between the two countries was not commensurate with the level of political cooperation and there was a need to focus on promoting interaction in infrastructure, IT, science and technology, health, tourism, real estate development and food processing sectors. Gilani expressed confidence that the Joint Ministerial Commission between Egypt and Pakistan, that provides institutional framework for expanding multifaceted cooperation, would help in furthering ties between the two countries. (Posted @ 16:10 PST)
Indian soldier dies in Pakistan border shooting SRINAGAR, occupied Kashmir, May 19 (AFP): An Indian army soldier died Monday in shooting across the line dividing the Himalayan region of Kashmir between India and Pakistan, the army said. The incident was reported early Monday in mountainous Poonch district, about 500 kilometres south of Srinagar. “The soldier died in unprovoked firing from across the Line of Control (LOC),” an army spokesman, lieutenant colonel Anil Kumar Mathur, told AFP, referring to the de facto border. Mathur said it was not clear whether it was militants trying to sneak into occupied Kashmir or Pakistani troops who opened fire. “We are gathering more information,” he said. (Posted @ 16:00 PST)
Asif Ali Zardari acquitted of drugs smuggling charges LAHORE, May 19 (AFP): A Pakistani court Monday acquitted Pakistan People’s Party’s co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari of decade-old charges of drugs smuggling, his lawyer said. Zardari was accused of trafficking in 1998 by the government of then-premier Nawaz Sharif and his lawyers asked the court to exonerate him because the case was politically motivated, lawyer Latif Khosa said. “Judge Ejaz Hasan Awan acquitted Asif Ali Zardari and co-accused Arif Baloch in a fake drugs smuggling case,” Khosa told reporters outside the court in Lahore. “The court accepted our application for acquittal since no offence has been made out so far and the case had been registered on a political basis just to harass and blackmail the petitioner,” he said. (Posted @ 15:10 PST)
Shahbaz Sharif's papers accepted from PP-141 LAHORE, May 19 (APP): The Returning Officer in PP-141 accepted the nomination papers of PML-N President Shahbaz Sharif here Monday. Returning Officer Shahid Hussain Chaudhary, while rejecting all objections, accepted Shahbaz Sharif's papers for contesting the by-election from this constituency. (Posted @ 14:50 PST)
Police chief in southern Iraqi city killed by bomb in police station BAGHDAD, May 19 (AP): A police chief was killed Monday by a bomb planted in his office in a southern Iraqi town. Also Monday, Iraqi security forces launched raids in Shiite militia strongholds in Basra after gunmen killed one policeman and wounded three others. Monday's bombing killed Lt. Col. Farhan Qassim, chief of police in Suq al-Shiyoukh, an area outside Nasiriyah, 320 kilometers southeast of Baghdad. The blast went off inside Qassim's office as he entered it in the morning, police in Nasiriyah said. Further south, Iraqi soldiers and police launched pre-dawn raids in four neighborhoods of Basra, including two Shiite militia enclaves, arresting several suspects, Basra's operations command Maj. Gen. Mohammed Jawad Huwaidi said. (Posted @ 14:40 PST)
Tainted liquor kills 36 in southern India over weekend NEW DELHI, May 19 (AP): Locally brewed liquor apparently tainted with lethal chemicals killed 36 people in southern India over the weekend, police said Monday. Bootleggers began selling the deadly brew Saturday after police shut authorized liquor shops in parts of the Karnataka state because of voting for the state government, said Sri Kumar, the state police chief. Since Saturday, 36 people, most of them poor laborers, have died and six others were in the hospital, said Kumar. Eighteen deaths occurred in Bangalore, and 12 died in the neighboring Kolar district. Another six people died in a village just across the state border with Tamil Nadu state, he said. Kumar said six people have been arrested for selling the killer concoction. (Posted @ 14:35 PST)
Car bomb explodes in northern Basque town GETXO, Spain, May 19 (AP): Suspected members of the militant group ETA exploded a car bomb in a northern Basque town Monday, causing considerable damage but no injuries, police said. Monday's explosion outside a boat club in the town of Getxo, near the Basque port of Bilbao, came after a warning call in the name of ETA to traffic authorities, a police spokesman said requesting anonymity. The spokesman said police found a van parked near the club, cordoned off the area and evacuated people from nearby houses before the blast. The blast caused serious structural damage to the club. (Posted @ 14:30 PST)
France acknowledges 'contacts' with Hamas PARIS, May 19 (AFP): French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner said Monday that Paris had resumed contacts with Hamas. “It would be hard to say the contrary,” Kouchner told Europe 1 radio when asked to confirm a report in Le Figaro newspaper on French contacts with Hamas. Hamas is considered a terrorist group by the European Union, Israel and the United States, which refuse any official contact with the organization. Kouchner defended the contacts as essential for its diplomacy in the region, while insisting they remained limited. “These are not relations, they are contacts,” he said. “We are not the only ones to have them.” He added: “We have to be able to talk if we want to play a role, if we want our emissaries to be able to get into Gaza.” (Posted @ 14:15 PST)
Confirmed China quake death toll tops 34,000 BEIJING, May 19 (AFP): The confirmed death toll from the massive earthquake in China one week ago has risen to 34,073, a government spokesman said Monday. The new toll marked a rise of 1,900 confirmed deaths since Sunday from the earthquake, the epicentre of which was located in southwestern Sichuan province's Wenchuan county. “By 12 noon on May 19, the 8.0 magnitude earthquake in Wenchuan, Sichuan, China, has caused 34,073 deaths,” Hua Qing, a spokesman for the State Council, or Cabinet, told a news conference. The government has estimated that the May 12 earthquake killed more than 50,000 people. Authorities in Sichuan said Monday more than 71,000 people were dead, buried or missing in the province. (First Posted @ 12:40 PST, Updated @ 14:00 PST)
Thirteen killed, dozens missing in Nepal bus plunge KATHMANDU, May 19 (AFP): At least 13 people were killed and dozens more were missing Monday after a packed passenger bus skidded off a mountain road and plunged into a river in southwest Nepal, police said. “Thirteen bodies have been recovered from the accident site,” local police officer Purna Gurung told AFP from Dang district, 280 kilometres west of Kathmandu. The bus was carrying around 100 passengers, around half of whom were Indian nationals on a pilgrimage, police said. “The bus fell some 100 metres off the road into the Rapti river. Thirty-two people have been rescued,” Gurung said. He said the bus was underwater and that rescue operations were continuing. (Posted @ 13:50 PST)
Military says a day's clashes kill 78 in northern Sri Lanka COLOMBO, May 19 (AP): A day of fierce clashes in northern Sri Lanka's left 61 Tamil Tiger rebels and 17 soldiers dead, military said Monday. Government soldiers and the rebels fought several battles in northern Mannar district Sunday, killing 40 rebels and 10 soldiers while three other soldiers are reported missing, the military said in a statement. Twenty-one other rebels and seven soldiers were also killed Sunday in scattered fighting, mortar fire and mine blasts across Jaffna, Vavuniya and Welioya regions, the statement said. Rebels spokesman Rasiah Ilanthirayan was not immediately available for comment. However, a pro-rebel website reported that the rebels stalled a military advance in Mannar, killing 26 soldiers and wounding more than 50. Three insurgents were also killed in the battle the website reported, quoting an unnamed rebel official. (First Posted @ 12:40 PST, Updated @ 13:40 PST)
Suicide bomber wounds 4 Afghan soldiers, 1 translator in eastern Afghanistan KABUL, Afghanistan, May 19 (AP) - A suicide bomber struck troops on patrol in Paktika province Monday wounding four Afghan troops and a civilian translator, Provincial government spokesman Ghamai Mohammadyar said. The bomber is dead, he added. (Posted @ 12:55 PST)
NATO beefs up forces along Afghan-Pakistan border KABUL, May 19 (Reuters) - NATO has reinforced troops along the Afghan border anticipating peace deals between Pakistan and the Taliban will allow the insurgents to launch more attacks into Afghanistan, NATO's commander in Afghanistan General Dan McNeill said. “Our analysis of the previous peace deals ... is that when that dialogue is ongoing or when talks have been consummated in peace deals we see a spike in the untoward events that we experience on our side of the border,” he said. NATO says there has already been a sharp increase in militant attacks in eastern Afghanistan, the area closest to the parts of Pakistan where peace talks are underway. Mostly U.S. troops are responsible for helping Afghan forces patrol mountainous region. “We are going to have a bit of a plus-up in the U.S. sector,” McNeill told Reuters. “Because we expect more activity there, we attune some of our intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance processes and systems to focus where we anticipate things.” Asked whether his forces would carry out strikes against the Taliban inside Pakistan, McNeill said: “The NATO mandate goes only as far as the border, that's as far as I'll go.” (Posted @ 12:50 PST)
50 killed in heavy Sri Lanka fighting COLOMBO, May 19 (AFP) - At least 50 people have died in fresh fighting between government troops and Tamil Tiger rebels in northern Sri Lanka, the defence ministry said Monday. The clashes left 40 guerillas dead and 13 soldiers killed or missing, the ministry said. (Posted @ 12:40 PST)
More than 71,000 people dead, buried or missing in Sichuan BEIJING, May 19 (AFP) - More than 71,000 people are dead, buried or missing in southwest China's Sichuan province following last week's earthquake, state-run Xinhua news agency quoted the top provincial leader as saying Monday. The number of people confirmed killed in the province as of late Sunday is 32,173, Sichuan Communist Party chief Liu Qibao said, according to Xinhua. Another 9,509 people remained buried and 29,418 others were missing, Liu said. (Posted @ 12:40 PST)
Indian diplomat heads to Pakistan to boost flagging peace process NEW DELHI, May 19 (AFP) - India's foreign secretary is to leave for Pakistan Monday for the first contact with Islamabad's new civilian leadership and in a bid to kick-start a stagnant peace process, officials said. Shivshankar Menon is to meet his Pakistani counterpart Salman Bashir on Tuesday for a review of the four rounds of talks between the two nuclear-armed rivals that have been held since January 2004, diplomats said. The talks will focus on “terrorism, levels of infiltration” by Islamic rebels into India “and ways to build on the peace process” after a gap in serious contacts of more than a year, an Indian foreign ministry official said. “It will also prepare the ground for talks between the two foreign ministers on Wednesday,” said the official, who asked not to be named. This week's talks will be the first high-level contact between the two sides since February 2007, when Indian Foreign Minister Pranab Mukherjee travelled to Pakistan. It will also be the first interaction between the Indian government and the new civilian administration in Pakistan. “At the talks, we will see what exactly the new government has in mind,” said the Indian foreign ministry official. While ties have improved, the rivals have made no significant progress on their key dispute -- the status of the divided, Muslim-majority Himalayan region of Kashmir, which both hold in part and claim in full. Kashmir has been the trigger for two of their three wars since 1947, and the Indian part of the region has been rocked by an insurgency since 1989. (Posted @ 12:35 PST)
China comes to a standstill one week after quake tragedy BEIJING, May 19 (AFP) -China came to a standstill on Monday exactly one week after its earthquake tragedy, observing three minutes of silence to mourn the tens of thousands of people killed in the disaster. Across the vast country, millions of people stopped where they were and fell silent, while air-raid sirens blared and motorists honked their horns.The silent memorial began precisely at 2:28 pm (0628 GMT), the exact moment a week earlier when the quake struck southwestern China. Several thousand people gathered in Tiananmen Square in central Beijing, standing silently around a flagpole from which the red Chinese flag waved at half-mast. They burst into chants when the three minutes passed. China kicked off a three-day national mourning period on Monday, ordering all flags at half-mast throughout the country and at Chinese embassies and missions overseas. It halted all cultural and entertainment activities.The Beijing Olympic torch relay that had been making its way through China also has been halted for three days. (Posted @ 09:55 PST, Updated @ 12:30 PST)
Mudslides bury 200 China quake relief workers BEIJING, May 19 (AFP) - More than 200 earthquake relief workers have been buried over the past three days by mudslides in southwestern China while working to repair quake-damaged roads, state media said on Monday. Two construction machines and six vehicles also were buried, Xinhua news agency said, quoting a transport ministry official. It did not specify whether the workers were dead or alive. (Posted @ 12:30 PST)
Newspapers go black to honour China quake victims BEIJING, May 19 (AFP) - China's newspapers and Internet news portals went black Monday, banishing colourful headlines as the country began three days of mourning for the nation's earthquake victims. The Beijing Morning Post ran an entirely black front page apart from the headline: “China in Tears,” followed by the confirmed official death toll of 32,476, and banned all colour photographs from its Monday edition. The People's Daily, mouthpiece of the Chinese Communist Party, jettisoned its trademark bright red masthead, running a front page in black and white set off by a photograph in colour showing China's President Hu Jintao comforting a child in tears. The Beijing Times was also in black, with the front page showing a photograph of a candle with the caption: “Day of Mourning,” followed by the death toll. The normally brash and gaudy pages of popular Internet portals such as Sina.com, Sohu.com and Yahoo China, as well as the website of China's official news agency Xinhua, were also presented in sober black and white. Flags were lowered to half-mast and cultural and entertainment activities halted Monday as China begun a three-day national mourning period to honour victims of the quake. Across the country three minutes silence is scheduled to be observed from 2:28 pm (0628 GMT), the moment when the quake struck. The Beijing Olympic torch relay, currently on a three-month long journey through China, has been halted to observe the mourning period. (Posted @ 11:15 PST)
Pakistani Taliban claim responsibility for Mardan suicide attack PESHAWAR, Pakistan, May 19 (AFP) - Pakistani Taliban militants Monday said a weekend suicide attack in Mardan city in North West Frontier Province that killed 13 people was carried out in revenge for a suspected US missile strike on a rebel hideout. “Our local Taliban leaders in Mardan have telephoned us and claimed responsibility for the attack,” Maulvi Omar, the spokesman for Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (Pakistan Taliban Movement), told AFP. “The Mardan attack was in reaction to Damadola,” he said, referring to a missile strike last week that killed 14 people in Bajaur tribal belt bordering Afghanistan. The Pakistani military has accused US-led coalition forces based in Afghanistan of launching the missile from a pilotless drone and lodged a complaint over the violation of its territorial sovereignty. (Posted @ 11:10 PST)
Storm kills 13 in north India, over a dozen hurt CHANDIGARH, India, May 19 (Reuters) - A house collapse triggered by a storm in Gurgaon near Delhi killed 13 labourers and injured over a dozen on Sunday, officials said. They were buried under piles of rubble after portions of a house they were constructing collapsed on them, police said. (Posted @ 10:25 PST)
Malaysia ex-PM Mahathir quits ruling party KUALA LUMPUR, May 19 (Reuters)- Malaysian former prime minister Mahathir Mohammad said he has quit the ruling United Malays National Organisation (UMNO), the Star newspaper reported in a text service on Monday. (Posted @ 10:20 PST)
Bangladesh arrests Islamic party chief for graft DHAKA, May 19 (Reuters) - Bangladesh police have arrested the chief of the country's Jamaat-e-Islami over allegations of kickbacks in a port deal, police said on Monday. Moulana Matiur Rahman Nizami, who was also a minister in the government of Begum Khaleda Zia, was picked up from his home in Dhaka on Sunday night and will be questioned for an illegal contract given to a local company for handling of cargo operations at the main Chittagong port, a police officer said. The arrest came hours after two former members of the Khaleda government, who were also wanted in the cargo contract case, gave themselves up in a court and were sent to jail. (Posted @ 10:15 PST)
Bin Laden calls on Muslims to end Israeli Gaza blockade: website DUBAI, May 19 (AFP) - Osama bin Laden has called on Muslims to help lift the Israeli blockade on the Hamas-run Gaza Strip, in an audio message purportedly recorded by the Al-Qaeda chief and posted on the Internet Sunday. The message, which could not immediately be authenticated, was addressed to the “Islamic nation” and posted on a website used by Islamist militants. It called on Muslims, especially those in Egypt, to work to break the “unjust blockade” on Gaza, which has resulted in “dozens of deaths.” (Posted @ 10:05 PST)
Eight killed, six hurt in Philippine gun rampage MANILA, May 19 (AFP) - Eight people were killed, including at least four children, and six wounded in a shooting spree at a small farming community outside the Philippine capital Monday, police said. They said the unidentified suspect went amok using an automatic rifle while residents slept in the early hours of the morning in Urnalan village in Laguna province, just south of Manila. The suspect strafed four houses made of light materials, causing the deaths. He also shot and killed farm animals in the area, leading police to suspect the gunman might be mentally troubled. (Posted @ 10:00 PST)
Flags at half-mast as China begins mourning period BEIJING, May 19 (AFP) - China lowered flags to half-mast and ordered a halt to all cultural and entertainment activities Monday as it begun a three-day national mourning period to honour victims of its killer quake. “At 2:28 p.m. Monday (0628 GMT), Chinese citizens nationwide will observe three minutes of silence to mourn quake victims, while air raid sirens and horns of cars, trains and ships will wail in grief,” Xinhua news agency said. The Beijing Olympic torch relay that had been coursing through China also has been halted for three days, Games organisers said on Sunday. All national flags will fly at half-mast at home and at Chinese diplomatic missions abroad from Monday to late Wednesday, Xinhua added. (Posted @ 09:55 PST)
Storm toll in Philippines rises to 12 MANILA, May 19 (AFP) - Eight more people were reported killed in the northern Philippines as tropical storm Halong intensified Monday, raising the death toll to 12, the civil defence office said. As of early Monday, Halong was moving northeastward away from the Philippines, with maximum sustained winds of 95 kilometers per hour near the centre and gusts of up to 120 kilometers an hour. Damage to infrastructure and agriculture “are expected to be extensive,” it added. Some 34,756 people were affected in 12 towns and three cities in five provinces, it said. (Posted @ 09:50 PST)
Oil prices creep higher despite higher Saudi output SINGAPORE, May 19 (AFP) - World oil prices crept toward the 127-dollar level in Asian trade Monday as traders predicted costlier crude despite Saudi Arabia's disclosure that it had boosted production, analysts said. New York's main oil futures contract, light sweet crude for June delivery, rose 62 cents to 126.91 dollars per barrel.The benchmark contract had peaked at a record 127.98 dollars on Friday before settling at an all-time closing high of 126.29 dollars. London's Brent crude contract for July rose 29 cents to 125.28 dollars a barrel, after settling at 124.99 dollars on Friday. It had earlier climbed to an all-time high of 126.34 dollars. (Posted @ 09:45 PST)
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