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| August 06, 2008 | Wednesday | Sha'aban 3, 1429 |
Updated round-the-clock, with major updates after 10:00 PST (06:00 GMT)
 President Musharraf to attend Beijing Olympics opening ISLAMABAD, Aug 6 (AFP): President Pervez Musharraf will go to the Beijing Olympics as planned, officials said Wednesday, hours after he cancelled his departure amid fears that his opponents could impeach him. The president abruptly scrapped a flight to China in the early hours of Wednesday, after leaders of the coalition government reportedly agreed during talks a day earlier to oust him if he would not quit. But in a sign of the turmoil caused by the ongoing cold war between Musharraf and the government, the foreign ministry announced that he would now leave for Beijing on Thursday. “In view of our special relations with China, the president has decided to attend the opening ceremony of the Beijing Olympics,” foreign ministry spokesman Mohammad Sadiq said in a statement. “The president will now leave for China tomorrow,” he added. Sadiq and other officials had earlier said that Musharraf would not attend the ceremony. (First Posted @ 11:10 PST Updated @ 19:48 PST)  Militant commander, 8 others killed in Swat Valley PESHAWAR, Aug 6 (AP): A top pro-Taliban commander died Wednesday in a clash with Pakistani security forces in Swat Valley, a militant spokesman said. Pakistan security officials confirmed that Ali Bakht and eight other militants died in fighting at a village in Kabal area. Militant spokesman Muslim Khan said Bakht was deputy to Mullah Fazlullah, who is the leader of Pakistani Islamic militants in the valley. His supporters have been fighting troops there since 2007 seeking enforcement of Taliban-style Islam. Bakht was a key figure in talks that led to a May peace deal between Fazlullah and the government in North West Frontier Province. (Posted @ 20:36 PST) US mly jury finds Hamdan guilty on one terrorism charge US NAVAL BASE AT GUANTANAMO BAY, Cuba, Aug 6 (AFP): Military jurors on Wednesday found Osama bin Laden's former driver guilty of providing material support to terrorism in the first US war crimes trial since World War II. But the jury found Salim Hamdan not guilty on a count of conspiracy, in the first case before the special tribunals created by President George W. Bush to try suspects in the “war on terror.” His trial is seen as an important test of the controversial military commission system set up by the George W. Bush administration. Hamdan's lawyers have already announced they will appeal and argued that although he served as bin Laden's driver, Hamdan was not implicated in any terrorist activity. Human Rights Watch slammed the proceedings as marred by irregularities and built-in handicaps, making it all but impossible for Hamdan to get a fair hearing. “A trial that depends on handicapping the defense can't possibly be fair,” said a senior counsel at Human Rights Watch. (Posted @ 20:56 PST) Aafia Siddiqui faces US judge NEW YORK, Aug 6 (AFP): Aafia Siddiqui, a Pakistani woman who graduated from a top US university, then vanished five years ago, was charged Tuesday in New York with attempted murder of US officers in Afghanistan. Suffering from a bullet wound sustained during the alleged assault in Afghanistan, Aafia, 36, had to be helped into the New York courtroom to face murder and assault charges. Aafia shook her head in apparent bewilderment as the judge read out the criminal complaint. She had been flown from Afghanistan into New York's JFK Airport Monday after being formally arrested earlier that day, officials and her lawyers said. US officials claim Aafia is an Al Qaeda operative. On July 18 she allegedly seized a US serviceman's rifle during interrogation in Afghanistan and opened fire, while defence lawyers say Aafia has for the past five years been held captive - possibly in a secret US or allied prison - and that attempted murder charges were invented as a pretext to bring her to US territory. The defence asserts Aafia was physically incapable of assaulting officers at an Afghan police station, as alleged. “Picture this woman, who is very tiny, and ask yourself how she engaged in armed conflict with six military men,” said defence lawyer Elaine Whitfield Sharp. “It's not plausible. It's not credible and there's nothing to support it,” Elizabeth Fink, another lawyer, said. Aafia had suffered “enormous human rights violations,” Fink said. She faces a maximum sentence of 20 years prison on each charge, if found guilty. Aafia will attend a bail hearing on Monday and is scheduled for a preliminary hearing on August 19, when a judge will decide whether there is sufficient ground to hold a trial. Sharp said Aafia had no idea of who held her and where. She said her client was abused during her confinement without indicating how. (Posted @ 09:25 PST)  Govt to restore deposed CJ: Asif Zardari ISLAMABAD, Aug 6 (APP): PPP Co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari said Wednesday government will restore all judges including deposed chief justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry, a private television channel reported. Zardari said the issue of judges' reinstatement would be resolved soon but declined to give any timeframe in this regard. (Posted @ 13:40 PST) Bicycle bomb kills four, wounds five in Sibi QUETTA, Pakistan, Aug 6 (AFP): Four people were killed and five wounded on Wednesday when a bomb attached to a bicycle exploded in a bazaar in Sibi, police said. “It was a remote controlled bomb fixed to a bicycle in the main bazaar of Sibi. Four people were killed and five wounded, three seriously,” local police told AFP. “Three of the victims were from a pro-government tribe and one was a passer-by,” he said. “It appears the bombing was a targeted attack. We are investigating if the victims had any rivalry with the bombers,” he said. Separately one person was injured on Wednesday when a hand grenade exploded at a stall in Quetta which was selling flags for the country's independence day on August 14, police said. Another small blast near a road bridge on the outskirts of Quetta on Wednesday caused no casualties, said police. (First Posted @ 15:55 PST, Updated @ 16:55 PST) Strike, curfew in occupied Kashmir ISLAMABAD, Aug 6 (APP): A complete strike was observed in occupied Kashmir on Wednesday to protest the anti-Muslim riots and economic blockade by Hindu communal groups of Jammu. All shops, business establishments, educational institutions, courts, banks, government and semi- government offices were remained close and traffic is off the roads in all towns and cities of the occupied territory, KMS reported. (Posted @ 15:10 PST) School bombers killed in Swat valley MINGORA, Pakistan, Aug 6 (Reuters): Three militants were killed by their own explosives while planting a bomb at a girls' school in Swat valley on Wednesday, police said. “The improvised explosive devise they tried to plant went off prematurely killing three militants on the spot,” police official Sanober Khan said from Kabal, 35 km northwest of Mingora. Another militant and a man were killed in clashes elsewhere in the valley. (Posted @ 16:25 PST) Coalition government parties’ heads talks continue for second day ISLAMABAD, Aug 6, (PPI) - Talks between heads and top leaders of ruling coalition parties continued for second day on Wednesday in Islamabad in order to evolve consensus on restoration of deposed judges, impeachment of President Pervez Musharraf and other issues of national importance. PPP Co-Chairman Asif Ali Zardari is assisted by Federal Ministers Syed Khurshid Shah, Sherry Rehman & Farooq Naik, while PML-N Chief Nawaz Sharif by Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif, Ch. Nisar Ali, Ishaq Dar and Tehmina Daultana. Maulana Fazlur Rehman of JUI-F also participated in the talks. Asif Zardari in talks on Tuesday agreed to further discuss issues today in presence of other coalition partners to reach on consensus decisions and make the coalition more effective. A 10-member delegation of FATA members, led by Munir Orakzai, called on Asif Zardari and assured full support to coalition partners. (Posted @ 23:48 PST) Talks with Israel making progess: Syrian official DAMASCUS, Aug 6 (Reuters): Indirect peace talks between Syria and Israel have made progress but not enough to move to face-to-face talks as favoured by the Jewish state, a senior Syrian official said on Wednesday. “If the talks had not progressed then they would have been stopped,” said Buthaina Shaaban, who was recently promoted from expatriates minister to adviser to President Bashar al-Assad. Shaaban would not be drawn on what was discussed in four rounds of talks held in Turkey since May. She said the talks will continue. (Posted @ 23:20 PST) India completes key trade road in Afghanistan KABUL, Aug 6 (AFP): India has almost completed a key road linking Afghanistan to Iranian sea ports despite Taliban attacks that claimed more than 100 lives in two years, the deputy public works minister said Wednesday. The 217-kilometre route connects a nearly completed ring road around Afghanistan to the Iranian port cities of Bandar-i-Abas and Chabahar, the official told AFP. Eight Indian engineers and more than 100 Afghan workers were killed in Taliban attacks since the construction of the road began more than two years ago, said Minister Wali Mohammad Rasouli. There were a few sections of route that had to be touched up before a handing over ceremony was held in a few weeks, he said. (Posted @ 22:54 PST) Four more ministers quit Maldives government COLOMBO, Aug 6 (Reuters): Four more cabinet ministers resigned from the Maldives government on Wednesday, the president said, a day before a new constitution is to be ratified which will ban ministers from running businesses. The ministers of justice, fisheries, youth and housing resigned to pursue business interests, President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom said. Ten ministers have now quit Gayoom's cabinet in the past 19 months. (Posted @ 22:15 PST) India claims ceasefire violation at Kashmir frontier SRINAGAR, occupied Kashmir, Aug 6 (AP): The Indian army claimed that Pakistani soldiers violated the cease-fire in Kashmir on Wednesday, shooting across the heavily fortified frontier in the Himalayan region for the third time in two weeks. Pakistani soldiers opened machine gun fire just after noon Wednesday and “we returned fire but there were no casualties,” Brigadier Gopala Krishnan Murali, a senior Indian army officer in occupied Kashmir said. The skirmish lasted about 15 minutes, he said. A Pakistani military spokesman was not immediately available for comment. (Posted @ 21:38 PST) Israel to release more than 150 prisoners: Palestinians RAMALLAH, West Bank, Aug 6 (AFP): Israel will release more than 150 Palestinian prisoners before the end of August to bolster US-backed peace talks, senior Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erakat told AFP on Wednesday. The announcement was made following a meeting between Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Palestinian President Mahmud Abbas in Jerusalem. (Posted @ 20:30 PST) Nepal extends deadline for new govt: official KATHMANDU, Aug 6 (AFP): Nepal's president has extended a deadline for ex-rebel Maoists to form the first government of the new republic in a bid to end weeks of political deadlock, an official said Wednesday. President Ram Baran Yadav “has given the Maoists three days additional time to form a consensus government,” Lokhari Pandey, Joint Secretary of the president's office, told AFP. The deadline was extended at the request of Maoist chairman Prachanda after reaching an understanding with the other political parties. (Posted @ 19:38 PST) Russia buries Solzhenitsyn in Moscow monastery MOSCOW, Aug 6 (Reuters): Russian mourners buried Soviet-era dissident Alexander Solzhenitsyn in a sixteenth-century Moscow monastery on Wednesday during an elaborate religious ceremony attended by President Dmitry Medvedev. Hundreds of elderly Russians came to bid farewell to the deeply religious Nobel literature prize laureate whose body lay wrapped in cloths and red roses for several hours in an open coffin in the Russian Orthodox ceremony. Solzhenitsyn was buried on the monastery's grounds after the service which was broadcast live on state television, featured a military band and had all the hallmarks of a state funeral. (Posted @ 19:18 PST) German climber dies in Italian Alps, 3 injured ROME, Aug (AP): A rescue official said a climbing accident in the Italian Alps had left a German man dead and three others seriously injured. Valle d'Aosta region mountain rescuer Adriano Favre says the accident occurred as the group was ascending the south slope of Monte Rosa. He said the four were roped together when one of the climbers slipped at 4,000 meters. (Posted @ 18:46 PST) WFP to give 9,000 tonnes of rice to Bangladesh's poorest DHAKA, Aug 6 (Reuters): The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) will distribute some 9,000 tonnes of rice worth $7.9 million among 100,000 of Bangladesh's poorest people over the next six months, a WFP official said Wednesday. “The programme for food distribution among 100,000 ultra-poor people is entirely financed by the government of Japan,” said a WFP spokesman. (Posted @ 18:38 PST) Lifting of ban on Indian Muslims students group, top Indian court halts ruling NEW DELHI, Aug 6 (AP): India's Supreme Court on Wednesday halted a lower court order lifting a ban on an Islamic group that the authorities have repeatedly blamed for a string of deadly bombings. The Supreme Court ruling comes one day after the Indian government was left red-faced by a New Delhi court refusing to extend a seven-year ban on the Students Islamic Movement of India, saying the government had been unable to supply any new evidence of illegal activities by SIMI. On Wednesday the government appealed to the Supreme Court, which said the ban would stay in place until it could consider further evidence to be presented by the government within three weeks. (Posted @ 18:16 PST) Afghan clerics protest US detentions JALALABAD, Aug 6 (AFP): About 200 people, mostly clerics demonstrated here on Wednesday to protest the detention of innocent people by US-led forces in eastern Afghanistan, witnesses said. The men blocked a key road between the eastern town of Jalalabad and the Pakistani border, demanding the release of a cleric detained by US forces over the weekend. “The Americans are arresting innocent people for no reason. They should free our men or we will declare war against them,” said a protester. Others shouted “Death to America, Americans stop arresting our people,” a witness told AFP by phone from Nangarhar province, where the demonstrations took place. Demonstrators said troops had picked up three clerics over the weekend. Two were released but the third was still being held, they said. (Posted @ 18:10 PST) Bush arrives in Thailand BANGKOK, Aug 6 (AFP): US President George W. Bush arrived Wednesday in Bangkok for talks with Thailand's prime minister and a separate meeting with Myanmar dissidents, before heading to Beijing for the Olympics. Bush, who arrived after a visit to South Korea, was to meet Thai Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej for dinner, officials said. He will leave for Beijing on Thursday. (Posted @ 17:50 PST) Coup in Mauritania :president, PM arrested NOUAKCHOTT, Aug 6 (AFP): Troops staged a coup in the West African nation of Mauritania on Wednesday, arresting the president and prime minister and shutting down state radio and television, security sources said. President Sidi Ould Cheikh Abdallahi and Prime Minister Yahya Ould Ahmed Waghf had been placed under arrest after troops moved through the capital early Wednesday, security sources and witnesses said. (Posted @ 16:15 PST) Ten Thai airmen killed in helicopter crash YALA, Thailand, Aug 6 (AFP): Ten members of Thailand's armed forces were killed Wednesday when their military helicopter crashed while on a mission in the insurgency-hit far south, an army spokesman said. “All 10 people on board were killed and their bodies are already recovered,” Colonel Acra Tiproch told AFP from Yala province, where the incident occurred. Acra said they suspected technical malfunction was to blame and ruled out any involvement of separatist rebels. (First Posted @ 12:45 PST, Updated @ 15:40 PST) Suspected cholera outbreak in Philippines kills 21 MANILA, Philippines, Aug 6 (AP): A suspected cholera outbreak in a remote southern Philippine township has killed 21 people and sickened at least 50 others, officials said Wednesday. Most of the victims of the outbreak in several mountainous hamlets near Palimbang town in Sultan Kudarat province were children, Mayor Samrud Mamansual said. The area is about 600 miles (1,000 kilometers) south of Manila. Mamansual blamed poor water supplies and inadequate sanitation. (Posted @ 15:45 PST) Quake kills three in China's Sichuan BEIJING, Aug 6 (AFP): A 6.0-magnitude earthquake killed three people in southwest China's Sichuan province as the Olympic torch passed through the area on its final leg before reaching Beijing, state media said Wednesday. At least 22 people were injured in the quake on Tuesday, one of the strongest since a devastating tremor hit the region in May, the China News Service reported. (Posted @ 13:35 PST) Israel frees Palestinians as part of Hezbollah deal JERUSALEM, Aug 6 (AFP): Israel on Wednesday freed five Palestinian prisoners as part of a UN-brokered prisoner exchange with the Hezbollah militia, the prisons administration said. “Five Palestinian prisoners were released from the Hasharon prison,” said prisons spokeswoman Yarona Linhar, adding that they would be taken to the West Bank. She said the five were minors jailed for hurling rocks or firebombs and who were due for release by the end of next year. (Posted @ 12:55 PST) Seven people found shot dead on Dominican beach SANTO DOMINGO, Aug 6 (Reuters): Seven people were discovered shot dead on Tuesday on a beach along a heavily transited drug-smuggling route south of the Dominican capital, authorities said. Police said the victims were believed to be Colombians, based on accounts from residents of the Ojo de Agua village where they were found, about 40 miles south of Santo Domingo. (Posted @ 12:50 PST) 42 die in rebel attack in Sri Lanka COLOMBO, Aug 6 (AFP): Some 38 guerrillas and four soldiers died in fierce fighting as Sri Lankan troops beat back a major Tamil rebel attack in the island's north, the defence ministry said Wednesday. The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) mounted the counter-offensive in the district of Vavuniya late on Tuesday, the ministry said, adding troops returned fire with artillery and multi-barrel rockets. Some 38 rebels were killed and another 94 wounded in the clashes in the northern region while four soldiers were killed and 13 wounded. There was no immediate word from the Tigers about the latest fighting. (Posted @ 12:10 PST) Final K2 survivor airlifted from mountain GILGIT, Pakistan, Aug 6 (AFP): A helicopter airlifted an Italian climber from K2 Wednesday, five days after he survived an ice avalanche which killed 11 others on the world's second highest peak, officials said. Frostbitten Marco Confortola, 37, hobbled into the 5,200-metre base camp on the mountain on Tuesday but had to spend another night there when bad weather grounded helicopters. “Marco has been rescued by a helicopter from the base camp this morning,” Italian embassy spokesman Oddo Sergio told AFP. “He is about to arrive in the town of Skardu, where he will undergo medical examination and hopefully fly to Islamabad today,” Sergio said. A spokesman for the firm that operates the helicopter, Askari Aviation, confirmed that it had taken off in the early morning to rescue Confortola after the weather had cleared. “We are waiting for it to return,” the spokesman said. (Posted @ 11:35 PST) Bush says too early to drop North Korea from “axis of evil” SEOUL, Aug 6 (AFP): US President George W. Bush expressed concern Wednesday at North Korea's nuclear weapons programmes and rights record, and said it is premature to drop the communist state from his “axis of evil.” Bush also said the North has “a lot to do” if it wants swiftly to be removed from an official US terrorism blacklist. He was speaking at a press conference after summit talks with South Korean President Lee Myung-Bak. “I told the president I'm concerned about North Korea's human rights record, I'm concerned about its uranium enrichment activities as well as its nuclear testing and proliferation and its ballistic missile programmes,” Bush said. “The best way to approach and answer the concerns is strong verification measures. That's where we are in the six-party talks.” (First Posted @ 10:20 PST, Updated @ 11:30 PST) US coalition soldier dies in Afghanistan KABUL, Aug 6 (AP): One coalition soldier died of wounds sustained in a roadside bombing Monday in western Afghanistan, the U.S.-led coalition said in a statement. Separately, another coalition unit killed “several militants” and detained two others while searching the compound of a militant commander in the northern Kapisa province Tuesday. (Posted @ 10:55 PST) Three Colombia airmen killed in helicopter bombing BOGOTA, Aug 6 (Reuters): Three Colombian airmen were killed when suspected FARC rebels detonated explosives just as their helicopter landed in a training exercise near one of the country's largest military bases, authorities said Tuesday. The bombing came late Monday as the airmen practiced landings in Tolima province, the site of the base. “Explosives were placed 100 meters from the area where it was going to land, leading to the helicopter's total destruction and the death of the three crewmen,” Colombian Air Force commander Gen. Jorge Ballesteros said. “It has all the characteristics and methods of the FARC,” he said. (Posted @ 10:50 PST) Hiroshima marks bomb anniversary with hope for US change on nukes HIROSHIMA, Japan, Aug 6 (AFP): The Japanese city of Hiroshima Wednesday marked the 63rd anniversary of the world's first nuclear attack amid hope the next US president will work for the abolition of atomic weapons. Some 45,000 people, including Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda, gathered at a memorial to the dead within sight of the A-bomb dome, a former exhibition hall burned to a skeleton by the bomb's incinerating heat. They stood up and offered silent prayers at 8:15 am, the exact moment in 1945 when a single US bomb instantly killed more than 140,000 people and fatally injured tens of thousands of others with radiation or horrific burns. Delivering a speech at the memorial, Hiroshima mayor Tadatoshi Akiba noted the United States was one of only three countries which oppose a UN resolution submitted by Japan calling for the abolition of nuclear arms. “We can only hope that the president of the United States elected this November will listen conscientiously to the majority, for whom the top priority is human survival,” he said. Three days after the Hiroshima bombing, the United States dropped a second nuclear bomb on Nagasaki, which killed another 70,000 people in the port city. (Posted @ 10:45 PST) Two police killed, several hurt in Caucasus attacks MOSCOW, Aug 6 (AFP): Two policemen were killed Tuesday and several others were hurt in the Caucasus province of Ingushetia in two separate attacks, Interfax cited interior ministry officials as saying. One attack took place in Nazran, the main town in the province, when unknown gunmen opened fire on a police car, killing one officer and causing another to be hospitalized, the Russian news agency said. The second attack took place in the village of Orjonikidzevskaya, a member of the Ingush interior ministry was reported as saying, with a police car again shot at. A policeman was killed and several others were injured. (Posted @ 10:35 PST) Nine Kyrgyz doctors jailed for infecting kids with HIV BISHKEK, Aug 6 (AFP): A court in Kyrgyzstan jailed nine doctors for infecting children with HIV in several hospitals across the south of the country, a judicial source said Tuesday, cited by the Aki news agency. The doctors were sentenced to prison terms ranging from three to five years and ordered to pay 10,000 dollars in damages and interest to the children and their families, after being found guilty of negligence. Prosecutors said 41 children and four mothers were contaminated in four different hospitals in a scandal that was first made public last summer. Four doctors were sacked in July for allowing the virus, which causes AIDS, to spread. The health ministry said last August that the infections occurred “during injections and blood transfusions.” (Posted @ 10:20 PST) Olympics- Torch starts journey through Beijing BEIJING, Aug 6 (Reuters): Flag-waving crowds cheered the Olympic torch through China's national capital Wednesday as it began the final steps of a 130-day relay marked by patriotic pomp, controversy and strict security. The flame for the Beijing Games started its final journey from the ancient Forbidden City, once home of China's emperors, held up by China's first man in space, Yang Liwei. People shouting “Go Olympics!” stood dozens deep near Tiananmen Square, symbolic heart of the capital, brandishing white Games banners and red national flags. Several people arrived at dawn to wait for the torch. Thousands of people not pre-selected to view the relay stood nearby, to get as close as they could to the torch. But many were held back from a glimpse by stringent security, with phalanxes of guards guarding torch carriers. In a tradition introduced before the 1936 Berlin Olympics, the flame is lit from the sun's rays in ancient Olympia, Greece, then carried across the globe by thousands of runners. (Posted @ 10:10 PST) Texas defies World Court, executes condemned Mexican DALLAS, Aug 6 (Reuters): Texas defied the World Court and executed a Mexican national by lethal injection on Tuesday over the objections of the international judicial body and neighboring Mexico. Jose Medellin, 33, was pronounced dead at 0257 GMT, the Texas Department of Criminal Justice said in a statement. He had been condemned for the 1993 rape and murder of 16-year-old Elizabeth Pena in Houston and late on Tuesday night lost his last-ditch bid to the U.S. Supreme Court for a stay. The World Court last month ordered the U.S. government to “take all measures necessary” to halt the upcoming execution of five Mexicans including Medellin on the grounds that they had been deprived of their right to consular services after their arrests. (Posted @ 09:50 PST) Karachi Stocks down 363.65 points: KARACHI, Aug 06: At close of trading, the KSE-100 index was at 9678.82, down 363.65 points. (Bureau Report) (Updated @ 14:13 PST) Forex update: KARACHI, Aug 06: The Pakistani Rupee was traded at Rs 73.2 to the US Dollar in the open market. (Bureau Report) (Updated @ 14:13 PST)
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