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| June 22, 2008 | Sunday | Jamadi-us-Sani 17, 1429 |
Updated round-the-clock, with major updates after 10:00 PST (06:00 GMT)
 Abductors free 16 Christians in northwest Pakistan ISLAMABAD, Pakistan, June 22 (AP) A group of armed men freed 16 Christians hours after kidnapping them in Peshawar, capital of North West Frontier Province, late Saturday night, police said. Police official Mohammed Khan says the minority Christians were kidnapped as they prayed at a home and were freed early Sunday after officers contacted the captors. There was no clue to the cause of the incident but one newspaper reported that the kidnappers wanted possession of the building which they claimed was a madressah (religious school). (Posted @ 12:20 PST)  PM condemns Christians' kidnapping in Peshawar ISLAMABAD, June 22 (APP): Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani on Sunday condemned the kidnapping of 16 Christians in Peshawar last night and said the incident will be inquired and the culprits punished. Speaking in the National Assembly after the minority members raised the issue in the house, the prime minister said the interior ministry acted promptly and recovered all of them. He however noted that one Muslim, also kidnapped with the Christians, was still missing and efforts were underway for his recovery. Replying to another point of order, the Prime Minister said that the government will fulfill its commitment for minorities seats in the Senate which is part of the constitutional package. He said he will also direct the concerned authorities that minorities quota in the jobs should be strictly adhered to. (Posted @ 13:40 PST) Pakistan to consult Kashmiri leaders before start of next round of talks with India ISLAMABAD, June 22 (APP): Foreign Minister Makhdoom Shah Mahmood Qureshi Saturday said Pakistan will consult with the leadership from both the sides of the Kashmir before starting next round of talks with India by end of this month. Talking to reporters after arriving from Campala, Uganda, where he attended the OIC Foreign Ministers conference, the Foreign Minister said he had invited leaders of All Parties Hurriyat Conference to Pakistan to exchange views with them on the issue of Kashmir, and will meet other Kashmiri leaders in New Delhi before the start of the talks with his Indian counterpart. Hailing the unity among the Kashimir leadership under the banner of APHC, he said it would be a good omen to promote the cause of the Kashmiris in a better and effective way. The Minister said the representatives of Kashmiris from both the sides of Line of Control attended the OIC Foreign Ministers conference in Campala where Kashmir issue was included in the Campala Declaration. He said Pakistan also asked countries having good relations with India, to put pressure on India for taking measures to end human rights violations in occupied Kashmir. (Posted @ 11:10 PST)  Pakistan names Asia Cup squad KARACHI, Pakistan, June 22, (AP) - The Pakistan cricket selectors on Sunday named a 15-member squad for the Asia Cup. Pakistan is placed in Group B and will play its opening match against Hong Kong on Tuesday. The selection committee has dropped out-of-form wicket-keeper Kamran Akmal and has picked Sarfraz Ahmed. India is also placed in the same group. Squad: Shoaib Malik (Captain), Salman Butt, Younis Khan, Mohammad Yousuf, Misbah-ul-Haq, Shahid Afridi, Fawad Alam, Sohail Tanvir, Umar Gul, Sarfraz Ahmed, Rao Iftikhar, Nasir Jamshed, Wahab Riaz, Mansoor Amjad. (Posted @ 23:18 PST) PML-N accepts new strength of SC to ensure restoration of deposed judges ISLAMABAD, Jun 22 (APP): The sole purpose for accepting the new strength of Supreme Court up to 29 is to ensure the restoration of judiciary on November 2 position, Central leader of Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz) Khawaja Saad Rafique said Sunday. Talking to a private TV channel he said PML-N has not given up its basic demand of restoration of deposed judges. The present judges would only be accepted as ad hoc judges that too after the restoration of the deposed judges. (Posted @ 21:10 PST) Dr. Abdul Qadeer Khan says no links to Swiss nuclear experts GENEVA, June 22, (AFP) - Pakistan's nuclear scientist Dr. Abdul Qadeer Khan, on Sunday denied that Islamabad or his laboratory were linked to alleged plans found on Swiss engineers to make nuclear weapons. The Swiss government revealed last month that three engineers were found with “detailed plans of how to make nuclear weapons” when they were arrested four years ago on suspicion of smuggling nuclear secrets to Libya. Dr. Khan told Swiss newspaper NZZ Sonntag that although he knew the engineer, named by the paper as Urs Tinner, and his two sons for more than 30 years, the plans were not connected to his programme. (Posted @ 18:48 PST) Mohtarma's promise to reinstate judges to be fulfilled: PM MULTAN, June 22 (APP): Shaheed Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto had promised to reinstate the judges and the PPP government would honour her pledge, said Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani here Sunday. Talking to media persons at the airport he said that government facilitated lawyers' long march and got the salaries of the deposed judges paid which reflected its sincerity towards resolving the issue. He said 160 million people have given mandate to the Parliament, which is a supreme institution, and it would tackle the President's issue according to the Constitution. (Posted @ 23:05 PST) National Assembly passes Budget 2008-09 ISLAMABAD, June 22 (APP): The National Assembly on Sunday passed the Federal Budget for the financial year 2008-09. (Posted @ 13:40 PST) Benazir was champion of Pak-India friendship: Gujral NEW DELHI, June 22 (APP): Former Prime Minister of India I. K Gujral Saturday said Benazir Bhutto was a champion of Pak-India friendship. Speaking at a function to celebrate the 55th birth anniversary of Benazir Bhutto, Gujral recalling his association with Benazir Bhutto said he found her a sincere lady who wanted to develop friendship between Pakistan and India adding that in her death South Asia has lost a great leader. (Posted @ 13:35 PST) 4 killed in clashes between Indian forces and militants in occupied Kashmir SRINAGAR, occupied Kashmir, June 22 (AP) Indian forces killed three suspected militants in clashes in occupied Kashmir on Sunday, while a policeman died in a raid on a home, police said. The police officer and one militant were killed when Indian forces raided a house on the outskirts of Srinagar, a spokesman for the Central Reserve Police Force said. One militant and one officer also were wounded, he said. The army killed two militants during a gunbattle in the village of Nariwan, 37 miles south of Srinagar, a senior police officer said. Kashmiris have been fighting since 1989 to win Kashmir's independence or its merger with Pakistan. More than 68,000 people, most of them civilians, have died since the start of the insurgency. (Posted @ 13:25 PST) Rockets from Pakistan kill 2 near Afghan NATO base: police KHOST, Afghanistan, June 22 (AFP) At least two civilians were killed when militants on the Pakistan side of the border fired rockets at NATO military outposts in eastern Afghanistan, police said Sunday. NATO officials said that the military responded by firing artillery rounds at the site from where the rockets were launched late Saturday, but there were no reports of insurgent casualties. “Several rockets were fired on two NATO bases. One rocket landed on a civilian home which killed a woman and a child,” Khost's deputy provincial police chief Mohammad Yaqoub Mandozai told AFP. “The rockets were fired from the Pakistan side of the border,” he said, adding that a number of people were injured. In a separate incident ISAF said Saturday that one of its bases and an Afghan army outpost were attacked from Pakistan in the neighboring province of Paktika. There were no casualties. ISAF in a statement said it launched several artillery rounds on militants firing the devices from across the border. (Posted @ 13:20 PST) Saudi king announces oil production boost JEDDAH, Saudi Arabia, June 22, (AFP) - Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah announced Sunday that his country has increased output to 9.7 million barrels a day as he opened a summit on the soaring international price of crude. The king also said Saudi Arabia would give one billion dollars to an OPEC fund for developing countries and give 500 million dollars in soft loans for poor countries to finance energy and development projects. (Posted @ 18:06 PST) Pakistan reports new bird flu outbreak PESHAWAR, Pakistan, June 22, (AFP) - Pakistani authorities Sunday reported a new outbreak of avian flu at a commercial poultry farm in the country's northwest, killing thousands of birds, officials said. Tests conducted at a government-run laboratory in Islamabad confirmed the presence of the deadly H5N1 strain of bird flu at a farm in Swabi district, local livestock department chief Ibrahim Khan told AFP. “The virus was detected after the owner of the farm informed us on Friday that some 4,000 birds had died within the past few days,” he said. (Posted @ 20:18 PST) 229 dead in Philippines typhoon: official ILOILO, Philippines, June 22, (AFP) - At least 229 people are confirmed dead and at least six missing after Typhoon Fengshen ravaged the central and southern Philippines, Red Cross and civil defence officials said on Sunday. The toll does not include those dead or missing from a ferry that sank in the central Philippines with about 747 people aboard. Four people have been confirmed dead and there are four survivors from that accident. The rest are unaccounted for. The central province of Iloilo has suffered the heaviest losses after being hit by the typhoon on Saturday, with 101 dead, Philippine Red Cross chairman Richard Gordon said. (First Posted @ 09:45 PST Updated @ 19:38 PST) Female suicide bomber kills 16 in Iraq BAQUBA, Iraq, June 22, (AFP) - A woman suicide bomber blew herself up in the centre of the Iraqi city of Baquba on Sunday, killing at least 16 people and wounding 40, a medic told AFP. The bomber detonated her explosive vest against a police patrol near the gate of the Diyala provincial governor's headquarters and a courthouse, a security official said. Doctor Ahmed Fuad from Baquba hospital said 16 bodies had been recieved by the hospital's mortuary. Among those killed were eight policemen, two women and one child, he told AFP. (Posted @ 17:28 PST) Roadside blast kills two police commandos in Sri Lanka: military COLOMBO, June 22, (AFP) - Tamil Tiger rebels on Sunday set off a roadside mine killing two police commandos in eastern Sri Lanka, the defence ministry said. The fragmentation mine was placed on a parked bicycle in the district of Batticaloa and targeted the Special Task Force police commandos, the ministry said. (Posted @ 16:56 PST) Six killed in road accident in India ISLAMABAD, June 22 (APP): In the Indian state of Gujrat, six persons including two women and two children were killed in a road accident on Rajkot-Morbi state highway Saturday night. All India Radio said a truck crushed two motorcycles on which the ill-fated persons were travelling. (Posted @ 13:50 PST) Cricket-Glenn McGrath's wife Jane loses cancer battle SYDNEY, June 22 (Reuters) Jane McGrath, the wife of former Australian fast bowler Glenn McGrath, died on Sunday at her Sydney home with her husband and their two children by her side after a long battle with breast cancer, Cricket Australia announced. (Posted @ 11:25 PST) Olympic torch begins Qinghai leg BEIJING, China, June 22 (AFP) The Beijing Olympic torch continued its circuit through sensitive minority regions on Sunday, kicking off a leg in Qinghai province with a relay through the remote city of Golmud in the centre of the mountainous province, state television reported. (Posted @ 11:15 PST) Cricket-New Zealand beat England by 22 runs, third ODI Bristol, June 22 (Reuters) New Zealand beat England by 22 runs in the third one-day international at Bristol on Saturday. Scores: New Zealand 182 ( Elliott 56) v England 160. (Posted @ 10:45 PST) Six foreign soldiers slain in Afghanistan KABUL, June 22 (AFP) Six foreign troops including a Polish national were slain in bombings in Afghanistan on Saturday, the forces said. Four of the foreign troops were killed when insurgents attacked them with an improvised bomb and small arms fire just outside Kandahar city on Saturday, the force said. Two more were seriously wounded. Another soldier died in a similar bomb explosion overnight in Farah province while in another bomb attack a Polish soldier was killed in Paktika. Four other soldiers were injured. (Posted @ 10:40 PST) Football: Russia beat Holland to reach Euro 2008 semi-finals BASEL, Switzerland, June 22 (AFP) - Russia beat 1988 champions Holland 3-1 after extra-time in their Euro 2008 quarter-final here on Saturday. Two goals in extra-time sealed a deserved victory for the Russians, whose coach Guus Hiddink is a former Dutch national coach. (Posted @ 10:25 PST) Boxing: Khan survives Gomez test BIRMINGHAM, England, June 22 (AFP) Amir Khan had to pick himself up off the floor before successfully defending his Commonwealth lightweight title with a fifth round stoppage of Michael Gomez at the National Indoor Arena here Saturday. Victory meant Khan had won all 18 of his fights since turning professional after winning a silver medal at the 2004 Athens Olympics. But Khan, having knocked Gomez down in the first round, was on the canvas himself early in the second and this fierce yet brief contest suggested the British rising star was still some way off fighting for a world title. (Posted @ 10:20 PST) 10,000 British soldiers unfit for frontline LONDON, June 22 (AFP) More than 10,000 British soldiers are unfit for frontline duty as the pressure of supplying troops for years of conflict in Iraq and Afghanistan takes its toll on the army, the Sunday Telegraph reported. It said the Ministry of Defence admits that 8,500 soldiers from the 59,000-strong “Field Army” -- units such as tank, artillery and infantry regiments --- are classified as unfit to serve at the front. When other soldiers classified as unfit from the overall 101,800-strong army are taken into account, the total figure is likely to exceed 10,000, said the newspaper, which is traditionally close to the armed forces. (Posted @ 10:00 PST) Eight gold-miners killed and burnt at remote camp in Guyana GEORGETOWN, June 21 (AFP) A mining camp owner said Saturday he found the bodies of at least eight gold miners killed at a mining camp in Guyana's remote southeast. Cabinet Minister Robert Persaud confirmed receiving information that eight people were killed at the camp. The bodies of the eight men burnt and wrapped in a tarpaulin were found at a mining camp located near Lindo Creek near Christmas Falls where security forces three weeks ago had a shootout with Guyana's most wanted fugitive, Rondell Rawlins, and five other gunmen. (Posted @ 09:55 PST)
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