|
| September 29, 2008 | Monday | Ramazan 28, 1429 |
Updated round-the-clock, with major updates after 10:00 PST (05:00 GMT)
Kidnapped Afghan envoy released Monday, 29 Sep, KHYBER AGENCY: The abducted Afghan ambassador-designate to Pakistan, Abdul Khaliq Farahi, Monday arrived in Peshawar after being released, private television channels reported official sources as saying. Earlier, the Afghan Embassy had also confirmed his release. Farahi was kidnapped on September 22 from Peshawar's Hayatabad area, while his driver was killed by the kidnappers. Abdul Khaliq Farahi will reach Peshawar in a day or two, sources said. (Posted @ 23:18 PST)
Concerns raised about Parliament's importance Monday, 29 Sep, ISLAMABAD: Leader of the opposition Nisar Ali Khan on Monday accused President Asif Ali Zardari for not taking the parliament in confidence before making decision on key issues. ‘Government should take decision about terrorism and foreign policy of the country within the parliament,’ the opposition leader said while speaking at a press conference at Punjab House. He said President Zardari was following the policies of former President Gen (retd) Pervez Musharraf who had never taken the parliament in confidence prior to make decision about the fate of the country. ‘Policies of Gen Musharraf completely failed and Mr Zardari’s policies will fail too,’ he added. (Posted @ 23:10 PST)
EU, India seek trade pact, France eyes nuclear deals Monday, 29 Sep, MARSEILLE: The European Union and India pledged on Monday to accelerate talks on a free trade deal, and EU president France said it would discuss doing business with New Delhi in the field of nuclear energy. Progress in negotiations on free trade has been slow due to disagreement on tariffs but the two sides said they had agreed to pick up the pace and try to reach a deal next year. 'We have decided to accelerate the discussions to negotiate a bilateral Europe-India free trade deal,' French President Nicolas Sarkozy told a joint news conference with Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. (Posted @ 23:06 PST)
Polish firm quitting Pakistan after engineer's kidnap Monday, 29 Sep, WARSAW: A Polish firm which employs an engineer kidnapped in northern Pakistan said Monday that it was poised to pull its staff out of the troubled country. 'We're preparing the withdrawal from Pakistan of our 18 other employees,' Leopold Sulkowski, boss of Geofizyka Krakow, was quoted as saying by Poland's PAP news agency. Sulkowski said after the kidnapping of Piotr Stanczak, Geofizyka Krakow considered its contract in Pakistan to be 'broken.' He said the company still had no information about Stanczak, who was seized on Sunday as he and colleagues were travelling to oil plants northeast of Islamabad to carry out tests. (Posted @ 22:36 PST)
Is the Bajaur operation truly successful? Monday, 29 Sep, ISLAMABAD: Military operations against militants have been a mixed bag of successes and setbacks; however no timeframe could be given with regard to the ongoing campaigns, sources in the military said. ‘It is a continual operation. It is not going to end in 2008 and it is not going to end in 2009. Don’t be optimistic, as far as the timeframe is concerned. It is a different ground and it will take some time’, military sources said in a media briefing here on Monday. These sources optimistic that Operation ‘Sherdil’ (Lion-Heart) was well on course to achieving its objective in gaining control of the Bajaur tribal region. (Posted @ 22:10 PST)
Taliban set condition for Chinese engineers’ release Monday, 29 Sep, MINGORA: Declaring unilateral ceasefire till the third day of Eidul Fitr, the Swat Taliban demanded the release of 136 militants in return to set free two kidnapped Chinese engineers working for a private cellular company. The demand was made by Taliban spokesman Muslim Khan while talking to journalists on telephone from an unspecified location on Monday. He said the Taliban are rejecting the Shariah regulations 'on the ground' that they are not in accordance with the injunctions of the Holy Quran and Sunnah. However, he added the final decision would be taken by Tehrik-i-Nifaz-iSharait-i-Muhammadi chief Maulana Sufi Mohammad. (Posted @ 22:00 PST)
Bush, Singh not sure of Zardari’s power: reports Monday, 29 Sep, NEW DEHLI: US President George W. Bush and Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had, during their White House discussions on September 25, discussed if President Asif Ali Zardari would be able to deliver on promises to contain terrorism, and both expressed apprehensions about it, Indian newspapers said on Monday. They quoted official sources travelling with the Indian prime minister as saying that Bush and Singh also agreed that Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence agency could not be allowed to ‘continue as a law unto itself’ and needed to be reined in. Both leaders felt that Zardari ‘must be given a chance’ in this regard, The Asian Age said. (Posted @ 21:52 PST)
Europe's space freighter destroyed in suicide dive Monday, 29 Sep, TOULOUSE, France: Europe's space freighter was destroyed on Monday in a controlled operation over the South Pacific after a maiden operation to resupply the orbiting International Space Station (ISS), mission officials said. The Jules Verne, as the first Automated Transfer Vehicle (ATV) was named, was sent plummeting to Earth, entering the atmosphere at an altitude of 120 kilometers. At mission control in Toulouse, southwestern France, engineers held up signs emblazoned with the words 'Bye Bye Jules' as the 1.3-billion-euro craft expired. (Posted @ 21:40 PST)
Militants pouring into Pakistan from Afghanistan Monday, 29 Sep, RAWALPINDI: Militants battling Pakistani forces are getting weapons and reinforcements from Afghanistan, security officials said on Monday, vowing no let-up in their offensive in the northwest. Government forces launched an offensive in the northwestern Bajaur tribal region on the Afghan border in August after years of complaints from US and Afghan officials that Taliban insurgents in Afghanistan were getting help from Pakistani border areas such as Bajaur. Now the tables have turned and the militants locked in heavy fighting with Pakistani forces are getting help from the Afghan side of the border, officials said. (Posted @ 20:46 PST)
Minimum price of wheat raised to Rs950 per 40 kg Monday, 29 Sep, ISLAMABAD: The special federal cabinet meeting on Monday approved enhancement of Rs325 per 40 kilogram in one go in the Guaranteed Minimum Price (GMP) of wheat to raise it to Rs950 per 40 kilogram as against the current Rs.625, to what was termed as bringing it at par with international market by setting production target at 25 million tons for next Rabi season Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani, who chaired the special cabinet committee, said at a news conference that the government had fixed wheat support price at Rs950 per 40 kilograms to encourage the farming community as well as to discourage its smuggling. (Posted @ 19:08 PST)
Baloch leader condemns military operations Monday, 29 Sep, National Party Chief Senator Dr. Malik Baloch has condemned the escalation of military operation in Dera Bugti in which innocent people were killed or wounded and alleged that the security forces was once again bleeding the Balochs. In a statement here on Monday he said though the government was changed, the establishment was still reluctant to change the behaviour against the Baloch people. Malik Baloch regretted that the apologetic statements of the rulers and the assurances of the government to stop the military operation and empower the provinces to control their resources were just hollow slogans to deceive the Balochs. (Posted @ 18:34 PST)
Five killed in bomb attack on Lebanese army bus Monday, 29 Sep, TRIPOLI, Lebanon: A car bomb tore through an army bus in northern Lebanon on Monday, killing four soldiers and a civilian passerby in the second attack on the army in less than two months, security sources said. Thirty-five people were also wounded in the blast in the city of Tripoli, scene of an August 13 bombing that killed 10 soldiers and five civilians at a bus stop. The car bomb exploded during the morning rush hour in the Buhsas area at the southern entrance to Lebanon's second largest city, hurling mangled metal through the bus, damaging other vehicles and shattering windows of nearby buildings. 'Once again the hand of treachery has reached the military institution in a clear targeting of security and stability,' the army said in a statement, describing the bombing as a terrorist act. There were no immediate claims of responsibility. (Posted @ 18:28 PST)
The fight is between secular and communal Hindus Monday, 29 Sep, 'So this has set up a Hindu-Muslim confrontation, then?' The TV anchor from a Pakistani news channel was clear in her mind as she lobbed her anxious question from across the border. As far as she knew the Nanavati Commission report had indicted Muslims for deliberately setting fire to a railway coach in Godhra that killed 59 Hindu passengers in February 2002. Muslims naturally opposed the report as biased. For Hindus it was a vindication of their claim that Muslims were terrorists. I tried to disabuse the lady of her simplistic notions of India’s political faultiness. The Nanavati Commission report was meant to whitewash Muslim blood on the hands of the Narendra Modi government in Gujarat, I told the anchor. This was not the argument of Muslim groups. This is what the Tehelka magazine’s sting operation, comprising Hindu and Sikh journalists, if it is necessary to see journalists by their religion, had shown last year. (Posted @ 18:00 PST)
Why west thinks it is time to talk to Taliban Monday, 29 Sep, KABUL: For the past few months an incongruous figure has passed through the airports of the Middle East and Europe: a senior Afghan cleric who defected from the Taliban. Bearded and in traditional dress, he has unsurprisingly needed the help of the Saudi Arabian and British intelligence services among others to pass unhindered between capitals. He has always travelled in great secrecy, his movements known only to a few individuals at the highest levels of the Afghan government, in Riyadh and among certain western allies. His mission: to talk to the Taliban leadership about a possible peace deal. The backing given by the west to these talks is a measure of how badly things have gone wrong in Afghanistan, and how far western governments are prepared to go to stabilise a deteriorating situation which is costing more in men, money and political capital than they ever imagined. The equally worrying situation in Pakistan, where the Taliban are largely based and where a separate but related insurgency has broken out, has given the initiative a new urgency. (Posted @ 17:44 PST)
China police detain 22 in tainted milk scandal Monday, 29 Sep, BEIJING: Police in northern China have detained 22 people after smashing a network that made and sold the industrial chemical melamine and added it to milk, state media said Monday. Nineteen of those detained in Hebei province were managers of ‘pastures, breeding farms and milk purchasing stations,’ Xinhua news agency reported. The detentions came after more than 800 police raided 41 sites in the city of Shijiazhuang, seizing 222.5 kilogrammes of melamine. ‘According to police investigation, melamine was produced in underground plants and then sold to breeding farms and purchasing stations,’ Xinhua said. (Posted @ 17:34 PST)
Blast kills 4 Indian paramilitary soldiers Monday, 29 Sep, NEW DELHI: A land mine exploded under a paramilitary vehicle in restive eastern India on Monday, killing four soldiers and critically wounding three others, police said. The soldiers were ambushed by suspected communist rebels in a forest area of Bastar district in Chattisgarh state, said Rahul Sharma, the senior superintendent of police. They were on their way to join other government forces providing security for a visit by Indian President Pratibha Patil, Sharma told The Associated Press. The soldiers belonged to India's paramilitary Central Reserve Police Force. (Posted @ 16:40 PST)
Zardari vows to 'suck oxygen' from Taliban Monday, 29 Sep, NEW YORK: President Asif Ali Zardari has pledged to free Pakistan of the Taliban militants, saying they are cancer to the society. ‘It is my decision that we will go after them, we will free this country,’ he said in an interview with The New York Times while responding to a question about The Taliban insurgency. ‘Yes, this is my first priority because I will have no country otherwise. I will be president of what?’ (Posted @ 16:32 PST)
Egypt hostages freed: state TV Monday, 29 Sep, CAIRO: The 11 Western tourists and eight Egyptians taken hostage in a remote border area of Egypt more than a week ago have been freed and are in good health, state-run Egyptian television said on Monday. The hostages were on their way back to Cairo, the state television reported, quoting an unidentified official source. Egypt had said four masked gunmen kidnapped the tourists - five Germans, five Italians and one Romanian - and their Egyptian guides and drivers while on a desert safari in a remote border area and then whisked them into Sudan. (Posted @ 16:26 PST)
Eight killed in Indian fireworks explosion Monday, 29 Sep, BHUBANESWAR, India: Five children and three adults died in India after a house exploded where firecrackers were being made for a Hindu festival, police said Monday. The roof of the two-room home caved in after a firecracker apparently went off and set fire to a pile of gunpowder, police said, though adding they were still investigating, reported AFP. ‘Eight people have died,’ Yashwant Kumar Jethwa, a senior police official in the eastern state of Orissa, told AFP. ‘Seven died on the spot on Sunday evening and one of the injured died later. Two have been seriously injured.’ (Posted @ 15:52 PST)
Defining the Taliban Monday, 29 Sep, While President Asif Ali Zardari says we are in a state of war, it is amazing that the government and the media have not yet clearly spelled out how the enemy is to be defined. Normally, an enemy is an enemy. But every war has, and must have, a well-developed jargon that conveys to the world and to the people the idea of the enemy as perceived by the belligerent power. We know that in the First World War, Germany was the principal enemy. But the western allies told their people that they were fighting a 'war to end all wars.' In the Second World War, Germany and Japan were the main foes, but to prove that they were not waging a war for territorial gains, the western Allies said their aim was to rid the world of fascism. (Posted @ 15:32 PST)
Hazards of unsafe blood Monday, 29 Sep, UNSAFE blood transfusions pose innumerable health risks to patients. It should therefore be welcomed that health experts have launched guidelines underlining the importance of the acquisition and safe transfusion of blood. The Sindh health authorities are once again focusing on the need for the elimination of substandard blood banks where the commercialisation of blood donation is worsening the problem of drug usage. Thousands of drug addicts sell their blood to finance their habit. The problem is that insufficient screening of such blood will mean that diseases the substance users may have, such as HIV/Aids and blood-borne hepatitis, will be passed on to ill-informed patients. In this regard UNAIDS has noted that only 50 per cent of the 1.5 million bags of blood transfused annually in Pakistan are screened illustrating the magnitude of the problem. According to a report, this is compounded by the fact that medical equipment such as intravenous bags, syringes and other items are regularly reused leading to the transmission of diseases. Without safe practices, low-income, poverty-stricken patients seeking blood are at risk. (Posted @ 15:26 PST)
Iran says no halt to nuclear work despite UN demand Monday, 29 Sep, TEHRAN: Iran said on Monday it would not halt sensitive nuclear work as demanded by the UN Security Council in its latest resolution on Tehran's atomic programme that the West believes is aimed at making warheads. The UN Security Council passed a resolution on Saturday ordering the Islamic Republic to halt uranium enrichment, the part of the nuclear programme that most worries the West because it has both civilian and military uses. Iran, which insists its plans are peaceful, has already dismissed the resolution that did not add further sanctions to the three sets of penalties already imposed since 2006. (Posted @ 15:20 PST)
Tourism in the doldrums Monday, 29 Sep, As recently as the late nineties, it was a rare summer day when you didn’t run into a western tourist, usually of the backpacking kind, in the more accessible parts of northern and north-western Pakistan. The Kaghan valley, Swat, Hunza and Skardu, among other picturesque settings, seemed to be favoured destinations and the coach from Timergarah in Dir to Chitral via Lowari Top carried a foreign contingent more often than not. All that changed in the aftermath of 9/11, but until a few years ago these areas still saw the more adventurous sort of foreign visitor. Now that flow has been choked to the faintest of trickles and in many an area no foreigner dares to tread. Even more alarmingly for the tourism industry, this fear is shared by many Pakistanis and the number of domestic tourists has also plummeted. (Posted @ 15:06 PST)
Three killed in Algeria suicide bombing Monday, 29 Sep, ALGIERS: A suicide car bomb attack killed three people and wounded six east of Algiers on Sunday evening, Algeria's official APS news agency reported on Monday. The attack at Takdemt district near the coastal town of Dellys, 100 km east of the capital, was the first suicide bombing in the OPEC member country since a spate of violence in August in which at least 125 people were killed. There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack, but a string of similar bombings in August was claimed by a group calling itself al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb. (Posted @ 15:00 PST)
Pakistan urgently needs $3-4 bln to stabilise Monday, 29 Sep, ISLAMABAD: Pakistan needs a capital infusion of $3-$4 billion 'up front' to stabilise its economy and bolster rapidly dwindling foreign currency reserves, said an economist serving on the prime minister's economic advisory council. Sakib Sherani said Pakistan faces a total financing gap of $7 billion to cover a projected current account deficit of $14 billion for the fiscal year ending June 20, 2009, but not all the funds were needed immediately. 'Up front we need at least 3 to 4 billion dollars to stablise the economy,' said Sherani, who is chief economist at Royal Bank of Scotland in Islamabad. (Posted @ 14:44 PST)
Venezuela to develop nuclear power: Chavez Monday, 29 Sep, CARACAS: President Hugo Chavez said on Sunday Venezuela will develop a nuclear reactor for peaceful purposes, in another challenge to Washington just days after Russia offered nuclear assistance to the socialist Latin American leader. 'In Venezuela we are interested in development of nuclear energy, of course for peaceful purposes, for medical purposes, for purposes of electricity generation,' Chavez said at a political rally. 'Brazil has various nuclear reactors, so does Argentina. We will have ours.' Chavez noted that Venezuela, which is a member of the oil-producing cartel OPEC, developed a nuclear reactor decades ago but abandoned it under pressure from the United States. He said Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin had offered help with a reactor, adding that 'we already have a commission working on this issue.' (Posted @ 14:08 PST)
Bank refuses to accept women witnesses Monday, 29 Sep, ISLAMABAD: Although a woman supervises Pakistan’s banking sector as the central bank governor, a premier commercial bank of the country, according to one of its senior officials, cannot accept women as witnesses in what a prominent lawyer and senator described on Sunday as a 'gender-based discrimination' violating the Constitution and Islamic injunctions. The Allied Bank’s regional head for credit administration department in Islamabad said this was being done under 'court instructions' and 'government of Pakistan rules.' (Posted @ 13:58 PST)
Ecuador's Correa to extend state grip after vote Monday, 29 Sep, QUITO: Ecuador's President Rafael Correa has a clear mandate to extend the state's grip over the economy, install leftist reforms and seek re-election after his easy win in Sunday's referendum on a new constitution. Correa hailed it as a 'historic victory' but the new rules will unnerve investors because they increase state control over monetary and oil policy in the OPEC nation in a similar drive to his socialist allies in Venezuela and Bolivia. The new constitution is the keystone to Correa's campaign to bolster the state's share of mining and oil income and curb instability in the volatile country, where he was elected two years ago vowing to wrest power from corrupt political elites. 'Today, Ecuador has decided on a new nation. The old structures are defeated,' a jubilant Correa told hundreds of celebrating supporters waving the green and blue flags of the government alliance in the port city of Guayaquil. (Posted @ 13:48 PST)
Blast in Sri Lankan capital injures five people Monday, 29 Sep, COLOMBO: A small bomb exploded in the centre of the Sri Lankan capital Monday, leaving five people with minor injuries, police said. Six vehicles were badly damaged in the blast, which took place in Colombo's heavily fortified commercial area, an AFP photographer at the scene said. Security is extremely tight in Colombo as fighting rages between the military and Tamil Tiger rebels in the north of the island. ‘It was a small bomb, about 100 grammes, that went off under a brown coloured parked van,’ police spokesman Ranjith Gunasekara said. He said two people, including a female traffic warden, sustained minor injuries and were rushed to Colombo's main hospital. (Posted @ 13:32 PST)
Terrorism and the state of the economy I am writing about what I observed during my recent, two weeks visit to Pakistan. I arrived in the country on September 4 to the news that the Americans had escalated their attacks on the suspected hide-outs of terrorists in the FATA. On September 3, they sent in their troops into the Pakistani territory in hot pursuit of suspected terrorists. This was a clear violation of the basic principles of international law – one that is the cornerstone of the United Nations system. According to this, no state will go into the territory of another sovereign state. (Posted @ 13:26 PST)
Six killed in Lebanon army bus blast TRIPOLI, Lebanon: At least six people were killed on Monday in a blast targeting a military bus on the outskirts of the northern Lebanese port city of Tripoli, a security official told AFP.There were about 24 passengers on board. ‘We have at least six people killed, three of them soldiers,’ the official said. ‘We have about 30 other people injured.’ He said the bomb went off at the southern entrance of the city as the mini-bus was heading towards the capital Beirut during morning rush-hour. (Posted @ 13:17 PST)
Troops kill nine militants in Bajaur KHAR: Pakistani troops killed nine militants in fresh clashes in the tribal region of Bajaur along the Afghan border, officials said on Monday. Around 50 rebels stormed a military checkpost late Sunday in Rashakai, 10 kilometres north of the region's main town of Khar, sparking an hour-long gun battle, a security official said. (Posted @ 13:07 PST)
Global financial turmoil and Pakistan The financial markets in the United States are in a turmoil of historic proportions, most serious since the Great Depression. The crisis triggered by sub-prime mortgage debts and the unprecedented state intervention to stem the deepening trouble in the financial markets are being viewed by many as the beginning of the end of the American financial capitalism, at least as we have known it until a few days ago. To others, it represents ‘resilience found in the capitalist economic system to modify and adjust itself’ to the changed circumstances and realities. (Posted @ 12:52 PST)
Gunship helicopters target three explosive laden vehicles PESHAWAR: Military gunship helicopters targeted three explosive laden vehicles on the Orakzai-Khyber border on Monday morning. Two suspected suicide bomber were killed as a result and several wounded, Dawn News reported. Security forces also recovered 2,000 kg worth of explosives from a militant hideout in Darra Adamkhel, a military source said. (Posted @ 12:24 PST)
Palin contradicts McCain's Pakistan stance WASHINGTON: Republican presidential nominee John McCain defended running mate Sarah Palin on Sunday, even as she contradicted his policy against talking publicly about attacking terrorist targets in Pakistan. McCain chided Democrat Barack Obama during Friday's presidential debate for saying publicly he supports striking terrorist targets inside Pakistan if the Pakistani government is unable or unwilling to do so. (Posted @ 11:49 PST)
US to step up cross-border raids into Pakistan NEW YORK: The Pentagon has ordered that raids on suspected terrorist targets within Pakistan be stepped up to pressurise al-Qaeda leaders and distract them from preparing attacks on American targets ahead of the US presidential elections, The Sunday Telegraphy has disclosed. 'The aim is to disrupt their scope for planning and keep their leaders on the move so that it is more difficult for them to co-ordinate complicated plots,' a senior US intelligence official told The Sunday Telegraph. (Posted @ 10:07 PST)
Alonso wins in Singapore, Hamilton third SINGAPORE: Renault's double world champion Fernando Alonso won his first race in more than a year on Sunday while Lewis Hamilton extended his championship lead to seven points after a sensational Singapore Grand Prix. Ferrari's Felipe Massa, a point behind Hamilton before Formula One's first night race, suffered a potential hammer blow to his title hopes after a pitstop blunder sent him from first to last. He finished 13th and out of the points. (Posted @ 08:51 PST)
Indian forces kill 11 suspected Kashmiri rebels SRINAGAR: Indian forces killed 11 suspected militants, including seven during a prolonged battle among Himalayan peaks 10,000 feet (3,000 meters) above sea level, in occupied Kashmir, the army said. One Indian soldier also was killed in the three-day, high-altitude battle near Kangan, a village 30 miles (50 kilometers) northeast of Srinagar, Lt. Col. Anil Kumar Mathur, the army spokesman, said on Sunday. Srinagar is the main city in Indian-occupied Kashmir. (Posted @ 08:19 PST)
War on terror has failed to weaken Al-Qaeda: poll LONDON: Most people across the world believe the US-led ‘war on terror’ has failed to weaken Al-Qaeda and many think the group has actually grown stronger, a BBC World Service poll revealed Monday, according to AFP. Seven years after the United States launched its campaign following the September 11 attacks, even Americans appear unsure about its success. (Posted @ 06:21 PST)
9 French soldiers injured in Afghanistan clash PARIS: Nine French soldiers were injured in a weekend clash with up to 20 Afghan insurgents northeast of Kabul, the French Armed Forces said on Sunday. The soldiers were hit by rocket debris or bullets in the Saturday clash in Kapissa province, according to Armed Forces spokesman Christophe Prazuck in Paris and spokesman Lt Col Bruno Louisfert in Kabul. (Posted @ 05:31 PST)
Pakistan capable of securing Afghan border: Zardari WASHINGTON: Pakistan's President Asif Ali Zardari said in an interview broadcast Sunday that Islamabad's military is capable of quelling militant elements on its border with Afghanistan, and again urged the US military against launching incursions into its territory, according to AFP. ‘Let us do the job, we can do a better job than anybody else can. It's partly and mainly our war. We fight it. Let us do it,’ Zardari said in an interview on CNN. (Posted @ 04:41 PST )
Draft of US financial rescue bill revealed WASHINGTON: US lawmakers hailed a breakthrough in talks on the 700-billion dollar bailout to avert the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression, and worked to finalize a deal on Sunday, according to AFP. Senate Democratic Majority Leader Harry Reid attributed the fresh progress to a last-minute intervention by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. (Posted @ 03:11 PST )
Government set to raise wheat support price ISLAMABAD: The special federal cabinet meeting convened by the prime minister on Monday will likely raise the wheat support price up to or more than Rs800 per 40 kilogram, against the present Rs625 per 40 kg, official sources told Dawn on Sunday. The decision to raise the wheat support price was delayed in the previous cabinet meeting due to the differences among the provinces as Punjab wanted the revision to be much higher, which other provinces opposed. (Posted @ 01:57 PST )
Besieged Somali pirates demand $20 million MOGADISHU: Somali pirates who hijacked a Ukrainian freighter carrying military weapons defiantly demanded 20 million dollars in ransom despite being surrounded by three foreign warships on Sunday. The spokesman for the pirates, contacted by AFP via satellite telephone, confirmed that they were surrounded by three foreign war vessels off Somalia's central coast and said the ship's crew was ‘safe and not harmed.’ (Posted @ 12:59 PST )
Founder: Quaid-i-Azam Mohammad Ali Jinnah
Editor: Abbas Nasir
Make sure to reload these pages so you're viewing the current version.
The DAWN Media Group
|
|