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| July 27, 2008 | Sunday | Rajab 23, 1429 |
Updated round-the-clock, with major updates after 10:00 PST (06:00 GMT)
 PM Gilani meets President Bush on Monday Washington, July 27 (PPI/AP): Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani arrived in Washington on Sunday on an official three-day visit to the United States at the invitation of President Bush. His first plunge into the center of American power begins with separate meetings Monday with President George W. Bush, Vice President Dick Cheney and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice. His hectic, three-day schedule also includes appointments with lawmakers, academics and journalists. Officials say he may meet with the contenders in November's presidential election, Barack Obama and John McCain. Gilani, whose government is wrestling with daunting economic problems exacerbated by skyrocketing oil prices, also is to meet with members of Bush's economic team and address business leaders. But the sharpest questions are likely to address the growing disagreement between Islamabad and Washington over how to counter violent Islamic extremists. U.S. officials have voiced support for efforts to woo moderate tribal elders and isolate hard-liners. But U.S. civilian and military leaders _ and the presidential hopefuls _ frown on the government's decision to strike cease-fires with militants. (First Posted @ 10:30 PST Updated @ 16:40 PST)  Haqqani urges patience with anti-terrorism strategy ahead of PM Gilani’s visit WASHINGTON, July 27 (APP): Urging Washington to be patient with the government's anti-terrorism strategy, Pakistan's envoy to the United States Husain Haqqani Sunday hoped that Congress would be receptive to Pakistan's views on security in the region. He reaffirmed Islamabad's commitment to address extremism through a multifaceted approach along its Afghan border and said the U.S. legislators “should be patient with the new government for a year or so and see if it is able to translate its ideas into actions.” His remarks came ahead of Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gialni's arrival in Washington for an official visit. (Posted @ 21:10 PST) Three Pakistani troops, 12 rebels killed in Balochistan fighting QUETTA, July 27, 2008 (AFP) Three Pakistani soldiers and at least 12 suspected insurgents were killed in fighting after militants ambushed a convoy in Balochistan province, an official said Sunday. The clash was the second in just over a week in Dera Bugti district. Thirty rebels and six soldiers were killed in fighting there last weekend. Paramilitary chief Major General Salim Nawaz said the fighting broke out after insurgents ambushed a troop convoy from their hideout in mountains near major natural gas installations in the Sui area. (Posted @ 14:40 PST) ISI will continue to perform under PM ISLAMABAD, July 27 (APP) The Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) will continue to work under the prime minister, an official spokesman clarified late Saturday night. The spokesman said the earlier notification regarding control of ISI was being misunderstood and reiterated that “ ISI will continue to perform its functions under the Prime Minister”. “The said notification only re-emphasizes more coordination between Ministry of Interior and ISI in relation to war on terror and internal security. Details will be clarified in a comprehensive notification”, he added. (Posted @ 11:45 PST)  50 to 70 rebels killed in Afghan air strikes: governor KHOST, Afghanistan, July 27 (AFP) Between 50 and 70 Taliban-linked militants were killed in air strikes by international forces in eastern Afghanistan early Sunday, Khost province governor Arsala Jamal told AFP. “Taliban attacked one of our police posts. As they retreated, international military air forces came in and bombed them. Fifty to 70 Taliban have been killed,” he said. (Posted @ 12:00 PST) Boy killed, two injured in Swat explosion PESHAWAR, July 27 (APP): A boy was killed and two others injured when a bomb planted near a general store went off at Charbagh in Swat district on Sunday, a police official said. He said a shop owner was busy in cleaning his general store when a remote control bomb exploded. A nine-year-old boy, Faisal Khan was killed while two other boys sustained serious injuries and were hospitalized. (Posted @ 18:38 PST) Sri Lanka says 13 rebels killed in fresh fighting COLOMBO, July 27 (AFP): At least 13 Tamil Tiger rebels were killed by security forces in fresh clashes in northern Sri Lanka, the defence ministry said Sunday. Soldiers killed the guerrillas in Wanni region on Saturday, the scene of weeks of heavy fighting, the ministry said. It said the bodies of 19 Tiger rebels killed by security forces on Friday were handed over to the International Committee of the Red Cross in the north of the island Sunday to be returned to the guerrillas. (Posted @ 23:40 PST) Bangladesh rules scrapping “Mujib” holiday illegal DHAKA, July 27 (Reuters): The Bangladesh High Court ruled on Sunday that the cancellation of a public holiday to mark the death of the country's founding leader Sheikh Mujibur Rahman was illegal. The August 15 annual holiday was scrapped six years ago by the government of former prime minister Begum Khaleda Zia. “The High Court also asked the country's incumbent interim government to take steps to rectify the illegal decision,” a court official told reporters. (Posted @ 22:56 PST) Three injured in Kurram Agency's tibal skirmish PARACHINAR July 27 (APP): Clashes between tribesmen of Pewar village and Kharoti Mangal tribes erupted again in Kurram Agency after the expiry of a 10-day ceasefire seriously injuring three persons including a woman. A political administration official said both groups were using heavy weaponry including mortars, rockets and automatic machine guns against each other. The cause of the feud was a dispute over a house and construction of a road. (Posted @ 22:28 PST) Egypt arrests 16 from anti-govt protest group CAIRO, July 27 (Reuters): Egyptian security forces arrested 16 members of a nascent anti-government protest group, and two of the activists are being held in an unknown location and may be at risk of torture, Amnesty International said. Security sources said the activists were arrested since Wednesday after several dozen members of the opposition Sixth of April Youth group held an anti-government protest in the port city of Alexandria. Amnesty said the activists, mainly students from Cairo, chanted slogans urging political and economic reforms before police broke up the protest, arresting 15. Another activist was arrested the following day. (Posted @ 22:05 PST) Russia plans new carriers, subs to boost navy MOSCOW, July 27 (Reuters): Russia announced plans on Sunday to revive its once-mighty navy by building several aircraft carriers and upgrading its fleet of nuclear submarines in the coming years. Russia will build five or six aircraft carrier battle groups, RIA news agency quoted Navy Commander Vladimir Vysotsky as telling Navy Day festivities in St Petersburg, the second city. Vysotsky said Russia would also modernise its new-generation nuclear submarines of the Borei class (Arctic Wind). The first Borei submarine, the Yuri Dolgoruky, is expected to be operational by 2008 end. Two other submarines of this class are now being built. (Posted @ 21:32 PST) One dead, eight missing after boat capsizes in Nepal village KATHMANDU, July 27 (AP): A boat capsized Sunday in a river swollen by monsoon rain in western Nepal, killing one person and leaving eight others missing, feared dead, an official said. Kailali district chief administrator Chhetra Bahadur Bhandari said the boat was ferrying passengers across the Kanari river, about 500 kilometers west of Katmandu, when it capsized. (Posted @ 20:38 PST) Indian president urges calm, army called out after attacks AHMEDABAD, July 27 (AFP): Indian leaders issued appeals for calm Sunday as the army was called out after a wave of bombings killed 45 people in Ahmedabad, a city rocked by deadly Hindu-Muslim riots six years ago. The string of 16 bombings left more than 160 people injured. Bomb squads defused at least three unexploded devices in Ahmedabad Sunday, Indian news channels reported, as soldiers staged a 'flag march' -- show of authority -- in sensitive parts of the city. Police, soldiers and paramilitary forces fanned out across the city. Indian President Pratibha Patil expressed “grief and sorrow” and also “appealed to the people of Ahmedabad to maintain peace and harmony. (Posted @ 20:22 PST) Tariff row by developing states threatens WTO deal GENEVA, July 27 (AFP): A clash between developing countries over protectionist measures to save farmers from surging imports threatened Sunday to scupper a bid for a new global trade pact, delegates said. Among the issues being thrashed out by trade ministers in Geneva are “special safeguard mechanisms” (SSM) that increase tariffs on agricultural products to protect domestic markets if imports surge above a certain level. Latin American exporters such as Paraguay and Uruguay are at odds with fellow developing nation India which wants the measures to kick in at a lower level to protect its millions of subsistence farmers. (Posted @ 20:12 PST) Nepal's new president appeals for end to political deadlock KATHMANDU, July 27 (AFP): Nepal's first president in his maiden address to the people on Sunday appealed for rival parties in the newly-republican nation to form a consensus government and end weeks of political deadlock, “I hope the new government which is going to be formed soon will work in consensus and include all political parties and bring policies and programmes that will benefit all,” Ram Baran Yadav said in a televised address. “We don't have any alternative other than politics of consensus and reconciliation to bring the peace process to a logical conclusion,” he said. (Posted @ 20:00 PST) Gunmen kill seven pilgrims south of Baghdad BAGHDAD, July 27 (AP): Gunmen south of Baghdad killed seven pilgrims marching to a shrine in the capital, Iraqi police said. A police official said the gunmen ambushed the group of young men in Madain village Sunday as they were en route to the shrine in the Baghdad neighborhood of Kazimiyah. Tens of thousands pilgrims are expected to converge on Kazimiyah as part of a major pilgrimage marking the death of a saint buried in the shrine. (Posted @ 19:48 PST) Floods kill 13 in Ukraine, 4 in Romania KIEV, July 27 (Reuter): Floods described by a senior government official as the worst in a century have killed 13 people in western Ukraine and four in neighbouring Romania, officials said on Sunday. Ukraine's Emergencies Ministry said water levels were dangerously high on the Prut and Dnestr rivers after five days of non-stop rain. More than 20,000 homes have been flooded and 7,000 people evacuated, many by boat or helicopter, it said. At least five of the dead were children and two had been struck by lightning, the ministry said. In Romania, a child drowned and three people were killed when a house collapsed into swirling flood water in northeastern Maramures county. Two people were missing. About 9,000 people from 200 villages were evacuated as rain damaged over 2,000 houses and 19,000 hectares of farmland. (First Posted @ 17:38 PST Updated @ 19:24 PST) Germany braces for first Lufthansa strike in 13 years BERLIN, July 27 (Reuters): A strike over wages by ground crew and cabin staff at Lufthansa is expected to cause disruptions at Germany's 10 largest airports on Monday after a key union voted overwhelmingly to walk off the job. The Verdi union, which represents 52,000 air industry workers, planned to start the strikes at midnight (2200 GMT) but would not reveal in advance where the walkouts would happen to prevent the airline from making plans to thwart the impact. Union officials said that the unlimited strike, the first in 13 years at Lufthansa, would affect all areas -- from catering and cargo to maintenance and repair staff. (Posted @ 19:18 PST) Typhoon nears Taiwan, markets to close Monday TAIPEI, July 27 (Reuters): A typhoon in the Pacific Ocean with wind gusts of 173kph was on course to hit Taiwan late Sunday, prompting local governments, including Taipei, to cancel work and classes on Monday and close markets. Typhoon Fung-Wong, Chinese for phoenix, was moving northwest on Sunday evening, on course to make landfall early Monday in central Taiwan, with sustained winds of 137 kph, Taiwan's Central Weather Bureau said on its website (http://www.cwb.gov.tw). Scattered rain was falling throughout the island as the storm approached and winds began to pick up. (Posted @ 18:24 PST) One killed in Afghan suicide blast KHOST, July 27 (AFP): A suicide bomber blew himself up inside a tent of security guards in eastern Afghanistan Sunday, killing one of them and injuring six more, officials said. The attacker, who had strapped explosives to his body, detonated them after entering the tent used by guards in charge of security for a road construction company in the province of Khost, officials said. “One guard was killed and six others were injured in the suicide bombing. They were from a private security company,” the district chief of Yaqoubai, where the bombing took place, told AFP. (Posted @ 18:06 PST) Jordan plans regional railway, oil link with Iraq AMMAN, July 27 (AFP): Jordan is seeking six billion dollars from international donors to build a railway link with its neighbours to import Iraqi crude oil by rail, the transport ministry said Sunday. The railway will link Jordan's Red Sea port of Aqaba in the south with the Syrian border, through Amman and then the industrial city of Zarqa, the ministry said in a report carried by the official Petra news agency. Covering more than 1,000 kilometres the railway would also link the Saudi and Iraqi borders with Jordan's northern city of Irbid, and the northeastern towns of Mafraq and Azraq. (Posted @ 16:58 PST) Five die as stormy weather hammers northern New Zealand WELLINGTON, July 27 (AP): Fierce winter winds and heavy rain hammered northern New Zealand, killing five people and cutting electricity to more than 70,000 homes, police and emergency services said Sunday. The weekend storm was most intense in upper North Island. It ripped off roofs, tore down hundreds of trees and smashed power line poles, cutting off electricity. Driving winds and blizzard conditions also forced the evacuation of about 10,000 skiers from Mount Ruapehu in central North Island. (Posted @ 16:20 PST) Death toll in Ahmedabad bomb blasts climbs to 46: official AHMEDABAD, July 27 (AFP/AP): The death toll from a string of bomb attacks in the Indian city of Ahmedabad rose to 46, the Press Trust of India news agency said Sunday. A police spokesman and medical officials said nine people had died overnight. Around 162 others are still in hospital, PTI reported. An unexploded bomb was found and defused early Sunday, city police commissioner, O.P. Mathur, said. He said police had detained 30 people in their investigation. A state government spokesman Jaynarayan Vyas said 161 people were wounded when at least 16 bombs went off Saturday evening in several crowded neighborhoods of Ahmadabad. (First Posted @ 10:40 PST Updated @ 15:55 PST) S. Korean police clash with beef protesters, 43 held SEOUL, July 27 (AFP): South Korean riot police clashed with protesters on the streets of Seoul overnight, detaining at least 43, when a rally against US beef imports turned violent, officials said Sunday. Police wielded riot shields and sprayed hand-held fire extinguishers at the demonstrators, who hit back with kicks and punches in clashes that left dozens hurt on either side, according to witnesses. Those held were among around 1,000 protesters who took to the city centre late Saturday and into the early hours of Sunday. “Police rounded up at least 43 violent protesters, who are now under questioning,” a Seoul police spokesman told AFP. (Posted @ 15:50 PST) Legendary Egyptian film-maker Chahine dies: state media CAIRO, July 27 (AFP): Egyptian film-maker Youssef Chahine, Arab cinema's most celebrated director, has died after several weeks in a coma, Egyptian state television reported on Sunday. He was 82 years old. (Posted @ 15:30 PST) Bomb wounds Iraqi councillor, kills two guards BAGHDAD, July 27 (Reuters): A bomb wounded an Iraqi provincial council member and killed two of his bodyguards in the city of Falluja on Sunday, in what police said was an assassination attempt. Zeki al-Mohammedi, a member of the Anbar provincial council and head of the Falluja branch of the Iraqi Islamic Party, escaped with minor wounds when the bomb exploded inside the garage of his home, police said. (Posted @ 14:50 PST) Road accident leaves at least 32 dead in Haiti PORT-AU-PRINCE, July 27 (AFP): A road accident involving a truck with failed brakes left at least 32 people dead and about 50 injured in southern Haiti, officials said. The accident occurred in Cavaillon town Saturday, when a heavily loaded truck with failed brakes plowed head-on into at least three oncoming vehicles. Two Canadians were among the injured, authorities said. Nineteen people died at the scene while the rest succumbed to wounds on the way to hospital. UN helicopters helped evacuate the injured. The victims included at least 15 women and about a dozen children, officials said. (First Posted @ 10:15 PST Updated @ 14:45 PST) Israeli troops kill Hamas militant in West Bank raid HEBRON, West Bank, July 27 (AP) Israeli troops killed a Hamas militant in the West Bank town of Hebron early Sunday. Israeli troops surrounded a house in Hebron and bulldozed it hours later when the man they were seeking refused to surrender. The man's body was removed from the rubble. Palestinian security officials identify the man as a 25-year-old militant from Hamas. (Posted @ 11:00 PST) Boxing: Mexican claims WBA welterweight world title LAS VEGAS, Nevada, July 27 (AFP) Mexico's Antonio Margarito stopped previously unbeaten Miguel Cotto in the 11th round here Saturday to claim the Puerto Rican's World Boxing Association welterweight world title. The Mexican, who gave up the International Boxing Federation belt to fight Cotto, sent his bloodied opponent to the canvas twice in the 11th, with Cotto's corner throwing in the towel at 2:05 of the round. Through 10 rounds, two judges had Margarito leading 96-94, while a third judge had it even. Cotto suffered his first defeat in 33 fights. Margarito improved to 37-5 with 27 victories inside the distance. (Posted @ 10:50 PST) Rice arrives in Samoa APIA, Samoa, July 27 (AFP) US Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice arrived here Saturday for regional talks aimed at urging Fiji to hold free elections next year. Rice, accompanied by New Zealand Foreign Minister Winston Peters, is to attend a meeting of the Pacific Islands Forum, which includes New Zealand, Australia and 14 island states. Earlier this month Fiji's interim Prime Minister Voreqe Bainimarama reneged on a promise to hold elections by March 2009, saying the timetable was no longer achievable because of the need for electoral reforms. (Posted @ 10:00 PST) Cambodian voters poised to extend Hun Sen's rule PHNOM PENH, July 27 (AFP) Cambodians looked set to extend Prime Minister Hun Sen's 23-year rule in elections Sunday. The 15,000 polling stations opened at 7:00 am (0001 GMT) for eight hours of balloting, conducted under the eyes of 13,000 domestic and international observers. More than eight million people are registered to vote. Official results could take days to be announced, but the parties are expected to release their own tallies Sunday evening. Hun Sen's Cambodian People's Party (CPP) says it wants to expand its majority in the 123-seat parliament so that it can form a single-party government. The CPP currently has 73 seats, and under new rules party officials say they expect to cinch at least eight more. (Posted @ 09:50 PST)
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