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| August 13, 2008 | Wednesday | Sha'aban 10, 1429 |
Updated round-the-clock, with major updates after 10:00 PST (05:00 GMT)
Suspected suicide blast in Pakistan's Lahore kills five: police LAHORE, Pakistan, Aug 14, (AFP) - A suspected suicide blast targeted police in the eastern Pakistani city of Lahore on Wednesday night, killing at least five people, a police official said. The bombing hit policemen on the outskirts of the city as they stood guard during preparations for Pakistan's Independence Day, police officer Mohammad Umar said. “It appears that a suicide bomber blew himself up next to the police in a very crowded area. We have five people killed at the moment,” Umar told AFP. (Posted @ 00:18 PST)
Washington calls for NATO meeting on Georgia: alliance BRUSSELS, Aug 13 (AFP/Reuters): The United States on Wednesday called on NATO to hold an extraordinary meeting of foreign ministers in Brussels next week to discuss the crisis in Georgia, a NATO spokeswoman said. “Washington this morning asked the organisation to hold a NATO foreign ministers' meeting, and consultations are underway to organise one at the beginning of next week,” spokeswoman Carmen Romero told AFP. The meeting is planned to take place in the Belgian capital next Tuesday. A NATO spokeswoman said all 26 NATO member were bring consulted on the proposal and a final decision on holding such a meeting would be taken later in the day. Russian tanks block Georgian highway to South Ossetia: TBILISI: Russian tanks have blocked the main Georgian highway connecting the rebel region of South Ossetia with the rest of the country, Georgia's foreign ministry said in a statement. “Tank units of the armed forces of the Russian Federation have closed the main highway which links the road from Tbilisi to Tskhinvali at the outskirts of Gori,” the statement said. Down two Georgian drones: MOSCOW: Russia said on Wednesday its forces had shot down two Georgian spy drones over the South Ossetian capital Tskhinvali, the Russian Defence Ministry said. One drone was downed last night and another was shot down earlier on Wednesday, a ministry spokesman said. (Posted @ 23:34 PST)
Cricket: Pakistan drop idea of hosting New Zealand for ODI series KARACHI, Aug 13 (Reuters): A planned three match one-day series by New Zealand in Pakistan has been scrapped, the Pakistan Cricket Board said Wednesday. “We have got no confirmation or reply from New Zealand on the tour as yet. And now it would not be possible for us to arrange the series even if they say they are coming,” Shafqat Naghmi, the PCB'S Chief Operating Officer, told Reuters. Naghmi said it would now be impossible to organize a series at such short notice. ICC officials are due to visit Australia, New Zealand, South Africa and England to brief players and officials on security arrangements for the eight-nation Champions Trophy. (Posted @ 23:00 PST)
Rickshaw falls in drain; three children drown, seven rescued DERA GHAZI KHAN, Aug 13 (APP): Three children drowned in Seim nullah after a motorcycle rickshaw plunged into it here on Wednesday while seven others were rescued. A rickshaw driver was travelling with 10 children of his family when the three-wheeler fell into a nullah near village Biagan. Two girls, the daughters of the rickshaw driver, and their cousin drowned while seven other children including were rescued by people. (Posted @ 22:24 PST)
India set for 7.7 pct economic growth: govt NEW DELHI, Aug 13 (AFP): Indian economic growth is likely to slow to 7.7 percent in the current financial year due to a cooling global economy and high inflation, a government panel said in a report released Wednesday. The forecast from the Indian prime minister's Economic Advisory Council is a sharp downwards revision from its earlier prediction of 8.5 percent growth in the 2008-2009 fiscal year. (Posted @ 22:04 PST)
Car bomb kills two in Hub, Balochistan: police QUETTA, Aug 13 (AFP): A car bomb targeting factory workers on Wednesday killed two pedestrians and injured four others in Hub, an industrial town in Balochistan, close to Karachi, police said. The bomb exploded on the roadside when a van carrying factory workers home was passing in Hub in Balochistan province, senior police official Habibullah Sherani told AFP. “Two pedestrians were killed in the blast and four others were injured,” he said. (Posted @ 21:02 PST)
Pakistan rupee hits another new low against dollar KARACHI, Aug 13 (AP): The Pakistani rupee hit a new record low against the dollar Wednesday as the country's political and economic crises deepened, dealers said. The rupee closed at 75.10 against the dollar in the official interbank market. In the open market, it closed at 75.60. The rupee has been sliding for months amid a deteriorating economic situation that includes yawning deficits, depleted foreign exchange reserves and soaring inflation. (Posted @ 20:46 PST)
Three killed as police, farmers clash near Indian capital NEW DELHI, Aug 13 (AFP): At least three people were killed and scores injured in clashes between police and farmers on Wednesday in a suburb of the Indian capital, police said. The violence erupted after farmers went on a rampage to protest what they said was inadequate compensation for their land, which was acquired by local authorities for industrial use. The police inspector-general said three people were killed, one of them a policeman, after teargas failed to disperse the thousands of farmers who had taken to the streets. But a police official at the scene said the death toll was higher. “Three people have died in police firing and two constables were killed by the mob,” he said. He added some 50 people were injured in the clashes in Greater Noida. (Posted @ 20:42 PST)
Indian troops martyr six more Kashmiris ISLAMABAD, Aug 13 (APP): Indian occupation troops in Kashmir martyred six more Kashmiris including a 12-year-old boy, in fresh acts of state terrorism. Three of the dead were those who succumbed to njuries they received in firing by Indian troops at angry mobs in Bagh-e-Mahtab, Aaribal and Qamarwari areas on Tuesday. Indian troops shot dead three youth in Samba including a 12-year boy in Kishtwar, KMS reported. Hindu rioters set ablaze three residential houses, one hotel and a patrol pump belonging to the Muslim community in Kishtwar town. The anti-India protest demonstrations continued Wednesday, all over occupied Kashmir. (Posted @ 20:32 PST)
Pakistan to free 34 Indian fishermen: interior ministry ISLAMABAD, Aug 13 (AFP): Pakistan will free 34 Indian fishermen and a civilian prisoner as a goodwill gesture this week when India celebrates its 61st Independence day, the interior ministry said Wednesday. The 35 will be released on Friday when India celebrates its 61st independence day, a day after Pakistan marks its own. In May Pakistan released 97 Indian fishermen, days after peace talks between the two nuclear-armed rivals, first launched in 2004. (Posted @ 20:14 PST)
40 dead in southwest China floods, landslides: state media BEIJING, Aug 13 (AFP): Landslides and flash floods killed at least 40 people in southwest China, and forced 16,000 to evacuate their homes, state media Xinhua news agency reported Wednesday. Tropical storm Kammuri affected 1.25 million people in Yunnan, according to civil affairs officials' estimates, Xinhua reported. (Posted @ 20:08 PST)
NATO soldiers kill Afghan civilian KABUL, Aug 13 (AFP): NATO soldiers shot dead an Afghan man who came close to a military patrol in southern Afghanistan fearing he was going to launch an attack, the alliance's force said Wednesday. The incident on Tuesday was the latest in a series in which soldiers with NATO's International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) have killed civilians. (Posted @ 20:04 PST)
Bombs kill seven Afghan police: officials KANDAHAR, Aug 13 (AFP): A series of bomb attacks in Afghanistan killed seven policemen and wounded several NATO-led soldiers, while four Taliban rebels died in a gunfight with police, authorities said Wednesday. Five of the policemen were killed while on patrol late Tuesday when their vehicle was blown up by a roadside bomb in Helmand province, a provincial government spokesman told AFP. Two other policemen were killed in a similar bomb blast in Kandahar province Wednesday, the provincial police chief said, also blaming Taliban. Elsewhere in Kandahar, a bomb hit a patrol of the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force and wounded several soldiers, ISAF said. It did not give details. (First Posted @ 13:35 PST Updated @ 19:40 PST)
Three foreign female aid workers shot dead in Afghanistan KABUL, Aug 13 (AFP): Three female international aid workers and their Afghan driver were shot dead Wednesday by gunmen who opened fire on their vehicle near the capital Kabul, Afghan authorities said. The group was driving to the capital in a two-vehicle convoy when they came under attack near the town of Pul-i-Alam, about 50 kilometres south of Kabul, the Logar province police chief said. “Three females, foreign nationals, and an Afghan male have been killed,” he told AFP. Afghan police said the women were Canadian, Irish and US nationals but this could not immediately be confirmed by the relevant embassies or their employer, the International Rescue Committee (IRC). The police said the Taliban were responsible. (First Posted @ 16:25 PST Updated @ 19:18 PST)
20 die in Mumbai building collapse MUMBAI, Aug 13 (AFP): At least 20 people died and 21 others were injured Wednesday when part of a four-storey building collapsed in India's financial capital Mumbai, police said. “The back portion of the building, which was over 60 years old, collapsed suddenly when people were asleep,” a police official told AFP. “The death toll stands at 20 so far” from the pre-dawn collapse, he said. Such incidents are common in India where dwellings often collapse due to poor construction materials, lack of building regulations and heavy rains. (Posted @ 19:10 PST)
Two killed, 21 wounded in south Thailand attacks: police YALA, Aug 13 (AFP): Two people were killed and 21 wounded on Wednesday in separate bomb and shooting attacks by suspected separatist rebels operating in Thailand's south, police said. Militants shot dead a 26-year-old man early Wednesday in Pattani province, and as police and soldiers rushed to the scene to investigate, a bomb hidden on a nearby motorcycle exploded. Six police officers, four soldiers and nine civilians sustained minor injures in the small blast, local officials said. In a separate attack Wednesday, a 52-year-old man was shot dead at his home in nearby Yala province, while his wife and son were also hurt in the gunfire. (Posted @ 18:36 PST)
Russian military seen going deeper into Georgia GORI, Georgia, Aug 13 (AFP): A column of Russian tanks and armoured personnel carriers on Wednesday left Gori and headed in the direction of the Georgian capital Tbilisi, an AFP journalist witnessed. Looting, pillaging near Georgian city: DZARDZANIS: Scores of houses were ablaze on Wednesday outside the Georgian city of Gori as local fighters and Russian soldiers looted homes in Georgian villages, an AFP reporter witnessed. Hundreds of fighters, primarily local Ossetian rebels but with some Russian army personnel mingled amongst them, went house to house in villages on the road toward the Georgian city of Gori, removing TV sets and other belongings. Irregular fighters and some Russian servicemen could be seen along the road entering shops and bars and emerging carrying looted boxes of cigarettes and bottles of beer and cognac. (Posted @ 18:18 PST)
Palestinian national poet Mahmoud Darwish buried RAMALLAH, West Bank, Aug 13 (AP): Poet Mahmoud Darwish, who gave a voice to the Palestinians' longing for independence, was buried Wednesday in a ceremony fit for a head of state. Thousands marched behind the casket, draped in a Palestinian flag and covered with wreaths, as it was driven through Ramallah in a black pickup truck. Uniformed officers sat to either side of the casket and many in the crowd waved Palestinian flags. Huge posters of Darwish were draped across Ramallah's main square. (Posted @ 18:04 PST)
Fire burns building at Apple HQ in California CUPERTINO, California, Aug 13 (AP): Firefighters have put out a blaze that burned for more than three hours at the headquarters of computer maker Apple. The Santa Clara County Fire Department said the fire scorched the roof and the second level at one of the six buildings on the company's northern California campus in Cupertino. It was put out early Wednesday morning and no one was injured. (Posted @ 17:30 PST)
Rebel Georgian regions rule out talks with Tbilisi: report MOSCOW, Aug 13 (AFP): The leaders of two Russian-backed rebel regions, South Ossetia and Abkhazia, ruled out talks with Georgia's leaders, accusing them of war crimes, Interfax news agency reported Wednesday. “There can be no talks with organisers of genocide.... Only judges at an international tribunal should talk to them,” South Ossetia's leader, Eduard Kokoity, was quoted as saying. Abkhaz rebel leader Sergei Bagapsh said: “There will be no more negotiations with Georgia. One should put state criminals on trial,” Bagapsh added. Their latest comments were reported after Russia and Georgia agreed on a French peace plan to end fighting in and around the two regions. Russian army says 74 troops dead, 19 missing: MOSCOW: The Russian army said Wednesday 74 troops were killed, 171 wounded and another 19 were missing in its conflict with Georgia. The toll was issued at a daily briefing. The earlier toll on Monday was 18 dead and 52 wounded. (Posted @ 17:05 PST)
Three foreign female aid workers killed in Afghanistan KABUL, Aug 13 (Reuters): Three female international aid workers were killed on Wednesday in an ambush by insurgents in southern Afghanistan, a provincial governor said. The three were driving in a car when the attack happened in Logar province, which lies to the south of Kabul, Logar's governor Abdullah Wardak told Reuters. (Posted @ 16:25 PST)
Occupied Kashmir protests spread to Indian cities SRINAGAR, occupied Kashmir, Aug 13 (AP): Riots erupted across Indian-occupied Kashmir on Wednesday as Muslims mourned 15 people killed in a day of bloody violence, as the protests spread to other parts of India. The protests spilled over to parts of India, with Hindu nationalist groups blocking traffic and railway lines for several hours in New Delhi, Mumbai and the tourist hub of Agra. In Srinagar, several thousand protesters took to the streets of Srinagar, attacking police posts and calling for revenge. “Blood for blood” and “We want freedom,” they chanted as they ransacked sandbagged police bunkers across the city. Special prayers were held in Indian occupied Kashmir, for those killed on Tuesday, the bloodiest day since the unrest started. Political leaders called for three days of mourning and urged people to keep the protests peaceful. “Kashmiris will continue to agitate peacefully and we should not give Indian oppressors any chance to use brute force,” said Mirwaiz Omer Farooq, a Kasmiri leader. Indian police were ordered to shoot protesters defying a curfew in Kishtwar town in Indian-occupied Kashmir. (Posted @ 16:15 PST)
US against any Israeli strike on Iran: defence minister JERUSALEM, Aug 13 (AFP): The United States is at present opposed to any Israeli military strike against Iranian nuclear facilities, Israeli Defence Minister Ehud Barak said Wednesday. “The Americans are not ready to allow us to attack Iran,” Barak told army radio. “Our position is that no option is to be taken off the table but in the meantime we have to make diplomatic progress.” Israel, the region's sole if undeclared nuclear power, considers Iran its main strategic threat. (Posted @ 15:40 PST)
Twenty-five die in China bus accident BEIJING, Aug 13 (AFP): Twenty-five people, mostly youth, died when a bus overturned in China's northwest Xinjiang region, state media said Wednesday. Seventeen people died at the scene of Tuesday's accident, while eight others later succumbed to their injuries in hospital, Xinhua news agency reported. The five remaining people on the bus were receiving medical treatment. Many of the passengers were high school students. (First Posted @ 08:30 PST, Updated @ 15:35 PST)
Sindh Assembly passes resolution asking Musharraf to resign KARACHI, Aug 13 (AP/AFP): The Sindh Assembly on Wednesday unanimously passed a resolution to push President Pervez Musharraf to quit. The opposition boycotted the vote, letting the resolution pass with the support of 93 lawmakers. The resolution accuses Musharraf of violating the constitution and gross misconduct, and demands that he seek votes of confidence from parliament and the provinces or resign. Otherwise, lawmakers will push for his impeachment. The Sindh resolution was approved amid shouts of “Go, Musharraf, Go!” and desk thumping. “The resolution is adopted,” assembly Speaker Nisar Khuhro said after the resolution was approved through a show of hands, as members chanted “Go Musharraf, Go!” “This resolution is against the authoritarian regime of Musharraf. If he cares a little bit about his honour and dignity he must resign forthwith,” assembly member and provincial Information Minister Shazia Mari said. Jam Madad Ali of the pro-Musharraf Pakistan Muslim League-Q said the resolution was “unconstitutional and illegal” and pledged continued support for the embattled president. The Sindh Assembly was the third of four provincial assemblies to have passed a resolution against President Musharraf. (Posted @ 15:11 PST)
Lebanon bomb kills 16, including seven soldiers TRIPOLI, Lebanon, Aug 13 (Reuters): A bomb targeted a civilian bus in the northern Lebanese city of Tripoli Wednesday, killing at 16 people, including seven soldiers, security sources said. At least 30 people were wounded, two seriously, by the bomb, which was planted either inside the bus or beside it and exploded in a busy district of Lebanon's second largest city. No one has claimed responsibility for the attack. (First Posted @ 11:50 PST, Updated @ 13:40 PST)
Five police killed in Afghanistan blast KABUL, Aug 13 (AFP): A roadside bomb blew up a police vehicle in southern Afghanistan, killing five policemen and injuring four others, an official said Wednesday. The officers were on patrol late Tuesday when the remote controlled device planted by Taliban militants went off under their jeep in Helmand province, a provincial spokesman said. “The police car was on a routine patrol. It hit a roadside bomb in which five policemen were martyred and four others were wounded,” Daud Ahmadi, a spokesman for the local government, told AFP. “It was the work of Taliban,” he added. Yousuf Ahmadi, a militant spokesman, called AFP to claim responsibility for the attack. “We did this. We killed and injured nine policemen,” Ahmadi said. (Posted @ 13:35 PST)
Three dead in small plane crash in Somalia MOGADISHU, Aug 13 (AP): A small plane crashed 50 kilometers south of Mogadishu Wednesday, killing at least three people, witnesses said. (Posted @ 13:25 PST)
Northern Sri Lanka fighting kills 19 COLOMBO, Aug 13 (AP): Scattered battles across northern Sri Lanka killed 15 Tamil Tiger rebels and four government soldiers, the military said Wednesday. The fighting erupted Tuesday when army troops attacked rebel fighters across the front lines in the Vavuniya, Jaffna, Mullaitivu and Welioya regions that surround the rebels' de facto state in the north, said Brig. Udaya Nanayakkara, the military spokesman. In the worst fighting, soldiers killed nine rebels in clashes in Vavuniya, while a confrontation in Mullaitivu killed two rebels and one soldier, he said. Battles in Welioya killed three rebels and a soldier, while two soldiers were killed in a booby trap explosion in Mannar. Fighting on the Jaffna front killed one rebel, while rebel mortar fire wounded three soldiers, said Nanayakkara. Rebel spokesman Rasiah Ilanthirayan was not available for comment. (Posted @ 13:20 PST)
Ten dead in blast in north Lebanon city TRIPOLI, Lebanon, Aug 13 (AFP): Ten people were killed in a bomb blast in the main north Lebanese city of Tripoli on Wednesday, a security official told AFP. “Ten people were killed and 24 were injured in the bombing,” the official said, adding that most of the casualties were from the Lebanese army. The bomb, placed in front of a garage door close to a bus stop in the Masarif Street commercial district, exploded near a bus that was also carrying Lebanese soldiers. (First Posted @ 11:50 PST, Updated @ 13:00 PST)
Leader of banned group shot dead in Khyber tribal region PESHAWAR, Aug 13 (AP): Unidentified gunmen shot dead the leader of an outlawed militant group in the country's northwest Wednesday, his spokesman said. The attackers burst into the headquarters of the Vice and Virtue Movement in the Khyber tribal region Wednesday morning and shot its leader Haji Namdar. Namdar died of his wounds after he was shifted to a local hospital from the shooting in Barqambarkhel, about seven miles from the region's main town of Bara, the spokesman Munsaf Khan said. His supporters captured two suspects after the shooting, Khan said. He refused to identify the suspects and said it was too early to say who was behind the attack. Government officials could not immediately be reached for comment. (Posted @ 12:20 PST)
Lebanon bomb kills nine, including seven soldiers TRIPOLI, Lebanon, Aug 13 (Reuters): A bomb targeted a bus in the northern Lebanese city of Tripoli on Wednesday, killing at least nine people, including seven soldiers when it exploded in a busy square, security sources said. At least seven more people were wounded by the bomb, which was planted either inside the civilian bus, or just by it. (First Posted @ 11:50 PST, Updated @ 12:05 PST)
Missiles kill 10 militants in Pakistan tribal area PESHAWAR, Pakistan, Aug 13 (AFP): At least 10 militants were killed when four missiles fired from Afghanistan hit their hideouts in a Pakistani tribal area, officials said Wednesday. The missiles struck two militant hideouts in Baghar village in the district of South Waziristan on Tuesday night, a senior security official told AFP. “At least 10 militants were killed in the strikes,” he said adding that the casualties may rise. “This is their work,” he said referring to the coalition forces deployed across the border in Afghanistan. In Kabul the US military said the missiles were not fired by either NATO's International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) or the US-led coalition. “This is not true. We have no reports of missiles being fired into Pakistan,” US Lieutenant Nathan Perry told AFP. The Pakistani security official said foreign militants were reported to be in the hideouts. “There were reports about presence of Arab, Turkmen and local militants in the two hideouts, run by a local commander Zanjir Wazir,” the official said. It was not clear whether Wazir was in either of the hideouts when the missiles struck. (First Posted @ 10:15 PST, Updated @ 12:05 PST)
Gas pipeline blown up at Sindh-Balochistan border SUKKUR, Pakistan, Aug 13 (APP): Unidentified miscreants blew up a gas pipeline on the Sindh-Balochistan's border here Tuesday, police said Wednesday. Explosives were planted near a 16-inch gas pipeline causing damage to the supply line and disrupting gas supply to various areas of Sui. The explosion was said to have damaged 3-feet wide part of pipeline. (Posted @ 11:55 PST)
Northern Lebanese city hit by blast TRIPOLI, Lebanon, Aug 13 (AFP): An explosion went off in the northern Lebanese port city of Tripoli on Wednesday morning, a security official told AFP. “A bomb exploded on Masarif Street in central Tripoli Wednesday morning,” the official said adding that there was thought to be a number of casualties. (Posted @ 11:50 PST)
Phelps wins most Olympic golds in history BEIJING, Aug 13 (AP): Michael Phelps swam into history Wednesday as the athlete to win the most Olympic golds ever with his 10th and 11th career gold medals, and five world records at the Beijing Games. A day after etching his name alongside Mark Spitz and Carl Lewis, Paavo Nurmi and Larysa Latynina with gold No. 9, Phelps claimed the record all to himself when he won the 200-meter butterfly Wednesday morning. An hour later, he returned to swim the leadoff of a runaway victory by the U.S. 800 freestyle relay team, which shattered the old mark by more than 4 seconds. Phelps claimed the 200 butterfly record in 1 minute, 52.03 seconds, lowering his old mark of 1:52.09 from the 2007 worlds. (Posted @ 10:55 PST)
Doctor examines Aafia Siddiqui NEW YORK, Aug 13 (Reuters): Pakistani scientist Dr. Aafia Siddiqui suspected of links to Al Qaeda and accused of trying to kill U.S. soldiers in Afghanistan was examined by a doctor on Tuesday after complaining of pain from gunshot wounds, her lawyer, Elaine Sharp, said. Siddiqui, 36, was ordered by a judge to receive urgent medical treatment after she appeared in court in a wheelchair and had been held in custody for a week without seeing a doctor. “She was examined for abdominal pain related to gunshot wounds,” Sharp said. The physician's report found no visible signs of infection but ordered a CT scan, according to Sharp, who said her client had stitches down the front of her torso from major surgery. Siddiqui was shot in the abdomen last month when the United States said she tried to fire on a group of American troops who wanted to question her in Afghanistan's Ghazni province. (Posted @ 10:35 PST)
Missiles kill 10 militants South Waziristan tribal region ISLAMABAD, Aug 13 (AFP): At least 10 militants were reported killed when four missiles fired from Afghanistan hit their hideouts in a Pakistan’s South Waziristan tribal region, officials said Wednesday. The missiles struck two militant hideouts in Baghar village in the area Tuesday night, a senior security official told AFP. “At least 10 militants were killed in the strikes according to our initial reports,” he said. (Posted @ 10:15 PST)
Jailed Pakistani scientist Aafia Siddiqui a 'treasure trove' of information WASHINGTON, Aug 13 (AFP): Jailed Pakistani scientist Aafia Siddiqui, charged with trying to murder US officials in Afghanistan, is a “terrorist Mata Hari” and “treasure trove” of information on Al Qaeda, US officials said in a media report Tuesday. “She is the most significant capture in five years,” former CIA agent John Kiriakou told ABC News, adding that she lives up to her reputation as an “alleged terrorist Mata Hari.” Siddiqui, 36, a frail mother of three who graduated with honors from the Massachussetts Institute of Technology, was arrested July 17 in Afghanistan, extradited to New York August 4 and indicted the next day on attempted murder. When she was arrested in Afghanistan, she was in possession of bomb-making instructions, suspicious liquids and, according to ABC, “a one gigabyte digital media storage device” containing emails between terrorist cells. Citing sources involved in the investigation, ABC said Siddiqui was also carrying maps and information concerning potential “targets in New York City that... included the subway, Times Square and the Statute of Liberty.” As well, she carried “documents detailing United States military assets” and detailed chemical, biological and radiological weapon information. The information found on Siddiqui has led government sources to describe her as a potential “treasure trove” of information on terrorist supporters, sympathizers or sleeper cells in the United States and overseas, according to ABC. (Posted @ 10:10 PST)
Four killed in German ice cream parlour attack BERLIN, Aug 13 (Reuters): Three men and a woman were killed in an attack at an ice cream parlour in the German town of Ruesselsheim near Frankfurt on Tuesday, police said. At least four assailants fled the scene and both guns and knives might have been used in the attack, a police spokesman said. The motive for the killings was not known. (Posted @ 09:35 PST)
Zimbabwe talks break to give Tsvangirai 'time to consider': Mbeki HARARE, Aug 13 (AFP): South African President Thabo Mbeki said Wednesday talks over Zimbabwe's political crisis had paused to allow opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai “time to consider.” After three days spent mediating power-sharing negotiations to end Zimbabwe's political crisis, Mbeki said he remained “confident” that all three parties in the talks would find a resolution. The talks have included Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe, opposition Movement for Democratic Change leader Morgan Tsvangirai and the head of a smaller MDC faction, Arthur Mutambara. “We have dealt with all the elements on which President Mugabe and Mutambara agree, but there is disagreement on one element over which Morgan Tsvangirai had asked for time to reflect,” said Mbeki. (Posted @ 09:35 PST)
6.2 quake shakes sea floor near Vanuatu WELLINGTON, New Zealand, Aug 13 (AP): A 6.2 magnitude earthquake rocked the sea floor near the South Pacific nation of Vanuatu, but there are no immediate reports of damage or injury. The quake struck 464 kilometers northwest of the country's second city Luganville on the island of Espiritu Santo at 4:26 p.m. Tuesday, according to the US Geological Survey, at a depth of 92 kilometers. A chain of 83 islands, Vanuatu lies just over 2,200 kilometers northeast of Sydney. (Posted @ 09:25 PST)
Georgia files complaint for 'ethnic cleansing': ICJ THE HAGUE, Aug 13 (AFP): Georgia filed a complaint with the International Court of Justice on Tuesday for “ethnic cleansing” in its conflict with Russia, the court said. “The Republic of Georgia today instituted proceedings before the International Court of Justice (ICJ) against the Russian Federation for 'its actions on and around the territory of Georgia” in breach of the 1965 International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (CERD),” a court statement said. Georgia contends that the “Russian Federation, through its State organs, State agents, and other persons and entities exercising governmental authority, and through the South Ossetian and Abkhaz separatist forces and other agents acting on the instructions of, and under the direction and control of the Russian Federation, is responsible for serious violations of its fundamental obligations under [the] CERD”. According to Georgia, Russia “violated its obligations under [the] CERD during three distinct phases of its interventions in South Ossetia and Abkhazia” in the period from 1990 to August 2008. (Posted @ 08:55 PST)
Georgia, Russia agree to peace plan: Nicolas Sarkozy TBILISI, Aug 13 (AFP): Georgia and Russia have agreed to a peace plan brokered by France after Moscow ordered a halt to its military onslaught, French President Nicolas Sarkozy said here Wednesday. “There is a text. It has been accepted in Moscow, it was accepted here in Georgia. I have the agreement of all the protagonists,” Sarkozy said at an early morning news conference in the Georgian capital. But Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili said at an early morning news conference with Sarkozy his country would not allow its territorial integrity to be put into doubt under any peace agreement. “The territorial integrity and belonging of South Ossetia and Abkhazia to Georgia can never be put under doubt.” A key reference to negotiation on the “future status” of two rebel zones in Georgia was cut from the peace plan, they said, with talks to focus instead on how to ensure “security and stability” there. The six-point plan, which obliges the parties to halt fighting, will be reviewed by EU foreign ministers meeting in Brussels on Wednesday, Sarkozy said. Meanwhile, the United States cancelled Tuesday a joint naval exercise with Russia in response to the conflict in Georgia. Plans for the August 15-23 FRUKUS naval exercise in the Sea of Japan “have been scrapped,” a senior defence official, requesting anonymity, said. (Posted @ 08:45 PST)
China bus overturns, killing 24 BEIJING, Aug 13 (Reuters): Two dozen students and parents died in China's far northwest on Tuesday when their bus flipped over, the Xinhua news agency reported. The bus was on a mountainous road between Akqi County and the small city of Atux in the Xinjiang region when it turned over, Xinhua said. Most of the 24 killed were students, the agency said. The cause of the deadly incident was under investigation. (Posted @ 08:30 PST)
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