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| July 22, 2008 | Tuesday | Rajab 18, 1429 |
Updated round-the-clock, with major updates after 10:00 PST (06:00 GMT)
 Indian govt survives confidence vote: state TV NEW DELHI, July 22 (AFP): India's coalition government on Tuesday survived a parliamentary confidence vote sparked by left-wing opposition to a nuclear energy deal with the United States, state television showed. Results from electronic voting displayed by the parliament's official channel showed 253 deputies backing the government, 232 against and two abstentions. Members of the government congratulated a smiling Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and the head of the governing Congress party, Sonia Gandhi, the footage showed. The result came despite a furore in parliament surrounding opposition allegations that the coalition paid out large sums of cash in bribes to ensure it won the vote. US praises India's Singh over nuclear pact: US PRAISES SINGH: In Washington, the White House warmly praised embattled Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Tuesday for “soldiering on” with a controversial US-India nuclear pact despite stiff opposition at home. Singh was “very confident” about the agreement's prospects when he met with US President George W. Bush July 8th on the sidelines of a rich nation summit in Japan, spokeswoman Dana Perino told reporters. (First Posted @ 20:05 PST Updated @ 20:50 PST)  PPP leader shot dead in Karachi KARACHI, July 22 (APP/AFP): Khalid Shahenshah, a leader of Pakistan Peoples Party and Chief Security Officer of Bilawal House was killed in firing by unknown persons. Aijaz Durrani, Bilawal House spokesman confirmed the death of Khalid Shahanshah. He said Khalid was seriously injured and rushed to Ziauddin Hospital where he succumbed to bullet injuries. AFP adds: Unidentified gunmen on motorcycles shot dead Khalid Shahenshah, 45, as he was coming out of his house in the posh Defence Housing Authority (DHA). “He had four bullets in his body and was shifted to a hospital where he died,” Aijaz Durrani, custodian of Bhutto's house in Karachi, told AFP. Mohammad Ashraf, a local police official, said the assailants were on motorcycles and escaped after the attack. Co-Chairman Pakistan Peoples Party Asif Ali Zardari condemned the assassination of Khalid Shahenshah, a PPP leader and Security Officer of Bilawal House. In a statement, Mr Zardari said no effort will be spared to bring the killers to justice.(First Posted @ 15:40 PST, Updated @ 18:05 PST)  Pakistan, Iran trying to stem militant flow to Iraq ISLAMABAD, July 22 (Reuters): Pakistan is working with Iran on a joint-strategy to stem the flow of militants through their territory to and from Iraq, Rehman Malik, adviser to the prime minister on interior ministry affairs, said on Tuesday. “From Iran, they go to Iraq and then come back,” Malik told reporters after talks with his Iranian counterpart. “We are preparing a joint strategy to control it.” Malik also said Iran had agreed to set up a joint commission of clerics to reduce sectarian strife in Pakistan. (Posted @ 17:00 PST) Swiss arms exports up 63 percent, principally to Pakistan GENEVA, July 22 (AFP): Swiss arms exports rose 63 percent in the first half of the year compared with the equivalent figure last year, with Pakistan the leading destination, customs authorities said on Tuesday. Arms exports were valued at 348 million Swiss francs (215 million euros), of which Pakistan accounted for 67 million francs, according to the federal customs office. Pakistan's arms purchases from Switzerland came to just 900,000 francs in the first six months of 2007. (Posted @ 19:30 PST) Pakistani transporters strike against oil prices KARACHI, July 22 (AFP): Thousands of buses stayed off the streets of Karachi on Tuesday as transporters staged a strike against the government's latest increase in petrol prices. The government announced an increase in prices of between 14 and 17 percent on Sunday night, sparking anger among bus and truck companies in the city of 15 million people. “Our buses and minibuses will stay off the roads until the government accepts our demand and withdraws the latest raise,” Irshad Bokhari, president of the Karachi Transport Alliance, told AFP. Bokhari's organization controls around 20,000 buses and minibuses, the major mode of travel for Karachiites in the absence of any official public transportation system. Residents faced difficulties reaching their workplaces and were forced to use taxicabs and motor rickshaws, which are more expensive, an AFP correspondent said. “The previous government did not increase prices in five years but this government has increased them constantly for the last five months,” Bokhari said. (Posted @ 12:55 PST) Five killed, 17 injured in road accident in Pakistan’s Khuzdar KHUZDAR, Pakistan, July 22 (APP): Five people were killed and 17 others injured, some of them seriously, when a Quetta bound passenger van collided head-on with a truck coming from the opposite direction on RCD highway in Sani area of Khuzdar district on Monday, additional SHO Saddar police station Khuzdar Alam Lehri and Civil Hospital Khuzdar”s doctor Rafiq Sasoli told APP. (Posted @ 10:00 PST) India to discuss broader nuclear controls: diplomats VIENNA, July 22 (Reuters): India will start talks with the International Atomic Energy Agency next week about a broader nuclear inspection regime as it tries to garner support from IAEA governors for a U.S.-Indian nuclear deal, diplomats said. India has already negotiated a safeguards scheme with IAEA experts which will be considered by the U.N. watchdog's 35-nation governing board next week. Approval is a precondition for launching the U.S.-Indian nuclear trade accord. (Posted @ 23:30 PST) Turkish court to hear AK Party closure on July 28 ANKARA, July 22 (Reuters): Turkey's highest court will hold a final hearing in a case to close the governing AK Party for suspected Islamist activities on July 28, a court official said Tuesday. The Constitutional Court's verdict, nervously watched by financial markets, could be announced on the same day or soon after. Eleven judges will vote and seven votes in favour are needed to shut down the ruling party. The AK Party is on trial on charges of trying to introduce Islamic rule in Turkey, a predominantly Muslim but officially secular state. (Posted @ 23:00 PST) Five South Koreans kidnapped in Mexico SEOUL, July 22 (Reuters): Five South Koreans were kidnapped in a Mexican city bordering the United States by a group of gangsters, South Korea's Foreign Ministry said on Tuesday. The five, who were seeking job-related information, were taken captive on Monday in the city of Reynosa, the ministry said in a statement. The ministry did not offer further details about the incident or the victims. Yonhap news agency reported a diplomatic source in Seoul as saying the gangsters have called the families of the kidnap victims in South Korea seeking $30,000 in ransom. (Posted @ 22:40 PST) Somalia pirates seize Japanese ship NAIROBI, July 22 (AFP): Pirates have seized a Japanese-owned vessel transporting lead and zinc off the Somali coast, a Kenyan maritime official said Tuesday. The Panama-flagged MV Stella Maris was seized on Sunday near Calula, a port town in Somalia's breakaway northern region of Puntland, an official of the Kenyan chapter of the Seafarers Assistance Programme said. (Posted @ 22:15 PST) Warning strikes ground nearly 1,000 Lufthansa flights: airline BERLIN, July 22 (AFP): German flag carrier Lufthansa was forced Tuesday to cancel nearly 1,000 flights due to warning strikes by pilots working for two of its units, an airline spokeswoman said. She said 464 of 725 scheduled flights Tuesday on Lufthansa's Eurowings and Cityline carriers would remain grounded and another 525 flights on Wednesday, adding that both domestic and European destinations were affected. (Posted @ 20:25 PST) Nepal's Maoists withdraw plans to form new government KATHMANDU, July 22 (AP): Nepal's former rebels, the Maoists withdrew plans Tuesday to form the country's new government, pushing the Himalayan nation into fresh political turmoil. The ex-rebels, formally known as the Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist), said they could not lead a new government after their candidate for president was defeated Monday. “After our candidate was defeated in the president election we have lost the moral grounds to lead the new government,” Maoist leader Prachanda told reporters. He said the party will act as the opposition even though it emerged as the largest political party in the April election. Since then, the political parties have not been able to agree on a new coalition government. (Posted @ 19:50 PST) Militants kill four Afghan police brothers KABUL, July 22 (AFP): Militants killed four brothers, all police officers, and captured their father in an attack on their home in the central province of Ghazni, the interior ministry said Tuesday. The attack took place late Monday as Taliban fighters stepped up action in an insurgency against the US-installed government of President Hamid Karzai. (Posted @ 19:40 PST) Chavez arrives in Russia for arms talks BARVIKHA, July 22 (AFP): Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez on Tuesday met his Russian counterpart, Dmitry Medvedev, as part of a visit aimed at purchasing arms and bolstering ties with the Kremlin. Chavez's two-day visit to Russia -- a top oil power like Venezuela -- is the first leg of a European tour that will take in Belarus, Portugal and Spain. “Russia and Venezuela must become strategic allies in the oil sphere and in military-technical cooperation,” the RIA Novosti news agency quoted Chavez as saying upon arrival. “This will guarantee the sovereignty of Venezuela, because we are now threatened by the United States,” he added. (Posted @ 18:50 PST) Iraqi journalist shot dead in Kirkuk BAGHDAD, July 22 (Reuters): Gunmen shot dead an Iraqi journalist working for a Kurdish magazine in the northern Iraqi city of Kirkuk, police and the publication said on Tuesday. Soran Mamahama, 23, was killed outside his home on Monday evening in the multi-ethnic city, a police official said. A friend of Mamahama's, who declined to be identified, said the journalist had received threats by text message last year warning him to quit being a reporter or be killed. At that time he worked for a different publication. (Posted @ 18:25 PST) US, Afghan forces kill, wound more than 30 Taliban HERAT, Afghanistan, July 22 (Reuters): U.S.-led coalition and Afghan forces backed by airpower have killed or wounded more than 30 Taliban insurgents in fighting in the west of Afghanistan, a senior police official said on Tuesday. Fighting broke out in the Bala Boluk district of Farah province on Tuesday, regional police chief Ikramuddin Yawar said. “So far more than 30 Taliban insurgents have been killed or wounded in the operation,” Yawar told Reuters. “The toll might be more than 30 because the operation is ongoing.” In a separate incident , a suicide bomber struck early in the morning in the Gozargah area of Kabul, next to the walls of the historic tomb of Babur, the 16th century founder of India's Mughal dynasty. The bomber blew himself up as he was challenged by police, wounding five civilians, two of them lightly. (First Posted @ 09:15 PST, Updated @ 17:55 PST) EU toughens sanctions on Zimbabwe BRUSSELS, July 22 (Reuters): The European Union sought on Tuesday to step up pressure on Zimbabwe's President Robert Mugabe by widening sanctions to target more officials and companies linked to his government. “We are adding 37 people and four companies (to the EU sanctions list),” an EU official said of the move by EU foreign ministers after widely condemned elections. (Posted @ 17:35 PST) Israeli, Palestinian presidents meet over peace process JERUSALEM, July 22 (AFP): Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas met his Israeli counterpart Shimon Peres on Tuesday at Peres's official residence in Jerusalem to review developments in the peace process between the two sides. After the meeting, Peres told journalists: “We discussed the peace efforts. We hope to reach a true peace based on mutual understanding, culture and economic development; a peace that will permit both peoples to coexist peacefully in two states. (Posted @ 17:35 PST) Bulldozer driver rampages in Jerusalem, shot dead JERUSALEM, July 22 (Reuters): A bulldozer went on a rampage in Jewish west Jerusalem on Tuesday, in the second such attack this month, and rammed into cars before the bulldozer's driver was shot dead, police said. The attack occurred just down the street from the hotel where U.S. Democratic presidential hopeful Barack Obama is due to stay during a visit to Israel scheduled for Wednesday. “The bulldozer driver left a construction site, and hit two cars,” a police spokesman said. (Posted @ 17:25 PST) Forest fire rages amid munitions in Lebanon BEIRUT, July 22 (AFP): Firemen battled a forest fire in Lebanon on Tuesday, amid exploding cluster bombs and the danger of mines left over from the country's 1975-1990 civil war, a civil defence official told AFP. Flames swept near the summer resort town of Aley, east of Beirut, after breaking out overnight in the mountainous region of Bmikin, between Souk el-Gharb and Aley., “Firefighters are having a hard time extinguishing the flames because the region is full of Israeli cluster bombs and landmines left over from the 1975-1990 civil war which are exploding and making the situation worse,” said the official who asked not to be named. The region where the fire broke out used to be a front-line during the war. (Posted @ 16:20 PST) Cambodia seeks UN, regional intervention to resolve military standoff with Thailand PREAH VIHEAR, Cambodia, July 22 (AP): Cambodia asked the U.N. Security Council and its Southeast Asian neighbors to intervene in resolving a military standoff over disputed border territory around the ancient temple of Preah Vihear, stepping up its rhetoric against Thailand. “In the face of this imminent state of war, this very serious threat to our independence and territorial integrity, we have an obligation to resort to the U.N. Security Council,” said Cambodian Foreign Minister Hor Namhong, using the harshest terms yet in the confrontation. There was no immediate reaction from the Thai government. (Posted @ 14:20 PST) Kurdish journalist killed near northern Iraqi city of Kirkuk BAGHDAD, July 22 (AP): Gunmen killed a Kurdish journalist near the northern city of Kirkuk, a police official said Tuesday. Soran Mama Hama, a reporter for the Kurdish-language magazine Leven, was shot late Monday in the Rasheed Awa village. Kirkuk police Brig. Sarhat Qadir said the motive for the slaying of the 23-year-old journalist was not immediately known. (Posted @ 13:30 PST) Sri Lanka rebels declare ceasefire for SAARC summit COLOMBO, July 22 (AFP): Sri Lanka's separatist Tamil Tiger rebels declared Tuesday a ceasefire with the military during a 10-day meeting of South Asian leaders starting here this week. The Tigers said the unilateral ceasefire was an attempt to help ensure the success of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) conference in the capital. “Our movement will observe a unilateral ceasefire… during the period of the SAARC conference from 26th July to 4th August and give our cooperation for the success of the conference,” the Tamil Tigers said in a statement. (Posted @ 13:20 PST) Taliban kill Afghan provincial govt spokesman KABUL, July 22 (AFP): Suspected Taliban militants killed a provincial government spokesman in eastern Afghanistan overnight, during an attack on his house that also injured his wife and two relatives, an official said. Ghamai Khan Mohammadyar, spokesman for the governor of the eastern province of Paktika, was killed in his home in the neighbouring province of Paktia, the official told AFP. His wife, a nephew and a niece were wounded in a gunfight at the house and his brother was captured by the gunmen, provincial information and culture chief Din Mohammad Darwish said, blaming the attack on Taliban militants. Malik Tanai, an official in Paktika's provincial administration, confirmed the incident. (Posted @ 11:55 PST) US President seeks more support for Kosovo independence, opposes partition of new Balkan nation WASHINGTON July 22 (APP/AP): President George W. Bush has pledged to seek broader international support for Kosovo's independence from Serbia and said the United States opposes any partition of the new Balkan nation. Bush met in his official Oval Office with Kosovo's president, Fatmir Sejdiu, yesterday and its prime minister, Hashim Thaci. “I'm a strong supporter of Kosovo's independence,” the president said. “I'm against any partition of Kosovo. I believe strongly that the United Nations mission must be transferred to the EU as quickly as possible.” (Posted @ 11:00 PST) Three killed in Thai Muslim south BANGKOK, July 22 (Reuters): Separatist militants in Thailand's Muslim deep south have killed three Thais, including two security officers. One soldier was killed and five wounded on Tuesday when their patrol was ambushed in the southern province of Narathiwat. On Monday, six policemen and a civilian in the nearby province of Yala were wounded in a bomb attack. One of the officers died later in hospital. That same day in Narathiwat, a village chief was shot dead by suspected militants. (Posted @ 10:50 PST) Iran, North Korea, still in 'axis of evil:' U.S. WASHINGTON, July 22 (AFP): The White House said Monday that Iran and North Korea remain in what U.S. President George W. Bush dubbed an “axis of evil” with Saddam Hussein's Iraq. “I think that until they give up their nuclear weapons programs completely and verifiably, I think that we keep them in the same category,” spokeswoman Dana Perino told reporters. In his State of the Union speech to the US Congress in January 2002, Bush had lumped the three countries together in a bid to highlight global dangers in the wake of the September 11, 2001 terrorist strikes. Perino said US-backed diplomacy was bearing fruit with North Korea while “Iran is a different story.” (Posted @ 09:40 PST) Tractor bomb kills seven in Iraq BAQUBA, Iraq, July 22 (AFP): An explosives-filled tractor exploded in Iraq's Diyala province on Monday, killing at least seven members of a local anti-Qaeda group, a police officer and a medic told AFP. The tractor was parked by the side of road in the village of Wais, 100 kilometres east of Baquba, the capital of Diyala, the officer said. It exploded when a patrol of a group that fights Al-Qaeda militants was passing, he said. Doctor Yusuf Abdullah at a hospital in the nearby town of Khanaqin confirmed the casualties had been brought in. Eight others were wounded, including five anti-Qaeda group members. (Posted @ 09:00 PST) Karachi Stocks up 410.51 points: KARACHI, July 22: At close of trading, the KSE-100 index was at 10784.81, up 410.51 points. (Bureau Report) (Updated @ 14:17 PST) Forex update: KARACHI, July 22: The Pakistani Rupee was traded at Rs 72.2 to the US Dollar in the open market. (Bureau Report) (Updated @ 14:17 PST) Serbia captures Srebrenica genocide mastermind Radovan Karadzic BELGRADE, July 22 (AFP): Serbia said its security forces had on Monday captured Radovan Karadzic, the mastermind of the genocidal Srebrenica massacre who had been on the run for nearly 13 years. Karadzic, 63, had been “located and arrested tonight,” said a statement from the office of Serbian President Boris Tadic. “Karadzic was brought to the investigative judge of the War Crimes Court in Belgrade, in accordance with the law on cooperation with the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY),” it added. The presidency and prosecutors refrained from disclosing any more details about the operation, but a war crimes official who requested anonymity said Karadzic appeared “depressive” and offered “no resistance” when arrested on Serbian territory. The worst crimes on his indictment are the 43-month siege of the Bosnian capital, Sarajevo, in which some 10,000 civilians were killed, and the massacre in the eastern Bosnian town of Srebrenica in July 1995. He is said to have authorized “ethnic cleansing” in which more than a million non-Serbs were driven from their homes in villages where they had lived for generations. The expulsions were accompanied, according to international observers, by widespread killings and up to 20,000 rapes in a calculated programme of terror. (Posted @ 08:35 PST)
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