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| October 31, 2008 | Friday | Ziqa'ad 1, 1429 |
Updated round-the-clock, with major updates after 10:00 PST (05:00 GMT)
Libya leader to discuss hosting Russian base Saturday, 01 Nov, MOSCOW: Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi arrived in Russia on Friday for talks expected to focus on purchases of Russian arms and the possible opening of a Russian naval base in Libya to counterbalance US interests in Africa. It is Gaddafi's first visit to Russia since the collapse of the Soviet Union and coincides with an improvement in Libya's relations with the United States after years of enmity. 'During these talks the colonel intends to raise the issue of opening a base for Russia's navy in the Libyan port of Benghazi,' reported Russian business daily Kommersant, quoting a source involved in preparing Gaddafi's visit. The Kremlin and Russian naval officials could not be reached for comment on the report. (Posted 23:54 PST)
Taliban ‘suspend’ activity in Bajaur: Spokesman Friday, 31 Oct, KHAR: A Tehreek-i-Taliban spokesman claimed that the group has unilaterally suspended activities in the Mamond area of Bajaur, which has been a stronghold of the militia. ‘Yes, Taliban have unilaterally suspended their activities after holding negotiations with the local elders, but it doesn’t mean that we have surrendered our weapons,’ the TTP spokesman Maulvi Omar told Dawn by phone from an unspecified location on Friday. He said that if the army entered Mamond, the Taliban would not resist, adding they would only retaliate if they were attacked. He also said that the Taliban had assured local elders that they would not clash with security forces and were ready for talks with the government. Area residents said that militants appeared to be retreating from Bajaur after losing Lowi Sam and other strategic locations. (Posted 23:18 PST)
Al Qaeda commander said killed in multiple US strikes Friday, 31 Oct, MIRANSHAH: A mid-level al Qaeda leader, identified as an Iraqi, was among up to 20 people killed on Friday in a US missile strike in North Waziristan, a Pakistani intelligence official told Reuters. Meanwhile, a second series of strikes in South Waziristan killed several other militants, Reuters reported An intelligence official identified the al Qaeda leader as Abu Akash. 'He is a mid-level al Qaeda man who was leading a high-profile life in Mir Wali,' said the official, who declined to be identified, referring to the second biggest town in the North Waziristan region on the Afghan border. Two missiles were fired by a pilotless 'drone' aircraft into a house in Mir Ali, a major sanctuary for foreign Islamist militants including Arabs, and Central Asians, another intelligence official said. A witness said the house was ablaze after the strike. A short while later, another suspected drone fired missiles at a house in the South Waziristan region on the Afghan border on Friday, in the second such attack of the day. (Posted 23:05 PST)
50 hurt in fresh anti-India protests in Kashmir Friday, 31 Oct, SRINAGAR: Fifty people including police and demonstrators were hurt on Friday when police fired bullets and teargas to break up hundreds of anti-India protesters in Indian administered Kashmir, officials and doctors said. The protesters, chanting ‘We want freedom’ and ‘Allah is great,’ poured into the streets of summer capital Srinagar after Friday prayers, police and witnesses said. Police fired shots and teargas shells after baton charge failed to disperse violent demonstrators, they said. Doctors said 21 protesters were hurt, two of them from bullets. A police statement said 29 policemen were also hurt when angry protesters retaliated with stones and bricks. (Posted 22:30 PST)
Iraqi forces arrest 220 suspects in al Qaeda raid Friday, 31 Oct, BAGHDAD: Iraqi forces hunting al Qaeda members arrested 220 people in a raid in western Anbar province, a former insurgent stronghold, the province's police chief and the US military said on Friday. Police backed by the Iraqi army stormed houses in the village of Owesat, in southern Anbar where they believe the Sunni Islamist insurgents were hiding, on Thursday morning, Anbar police chief Major General Tareq Yusuf told Reuters. 'Those gunmen were controlling this area and they thought it would be safe for them there. We took the initiative and executed a bold raid,' he said. The area is in a zone along the Euphrates river by the border between Anbar and Babil provinces, dubbed the 'triangle of death' by US forces in the years after the 2003 invasion for its stubborn insurgency, although it is now quieter. Yusuf said a few of the militants resisted. No one was killed but two policemen were wounded during the offensive. (Posted 22:18 PST)
Militants release 19 soldiers and two civilians Friday, 31 Oct, WANA/GHALANAI: Militants unconditionally released 19 paramilitary soldiers and two civilians in the South Waziristan and Mohmand tribal regions on Friday, officials said. Sources told Dawn that 19 kidnapped soldiers and two civilians supplying food ration to the security forces were set free in Nawazkot area of South Waziristan. The released soldiers were brought from Nawazkot to a paramilitary fort at Razmak in the adjacent region of North Waziristan. (Posted 20:41 PST)
Pakistan may need to take harsh decisions: Tarin Friday, 31 Oct, KARACHI: Pakistan will raise interest rates if it believes that is a necessity to cut inflation, the country's senior economic adviser said on Friday, referring to an issue seen as contentious in the country's talks with the IMF. Pakistan is reluctant to seek financial help from the IMF to resolve a balance of payments crisis, partly because it is concerned at the economic impact of IMF prescriptions which analysts said would probably include higher interest rates. (Posted 20:08 PST)
Police raid forced underage wedding Friday, 31 Oct, ISLAMABAD: Police raided a wedding between a 7-year-old boy and a 5-year-old girl in Karachi, arresting the cleric officiating at the ceremony and the children's parents, a senior officer said Friday. The cleric had not yet begun the ceremony in Karachi, which was attended by 100 guests, said deputy superintendent of police Malik Mazhar. (Posted 20:19 PST)
Militant group claims serial blasts in India Friday, 31 Oct, GUWAHATI, India: A previously unknown militant group claimed responsibility in a text message to a news channel on Friday for serial blasts in India's northeast that claimed 76 lives the day before, police said. The group, identifying itself as the ‘Islamic Security Force-Indian Mujahedeen’, warned such attacks would continue in Assam state, police said. ‘The Islamic Security Force-Indian Mujahedeen takes the responsibility for yesterday's blasts,’ said the text message to the Newslive television network in Assam, which neighbours Bangladesh. (Posted 19:36 PST)
High Court dismisses plea in AQ Khan case Friday, 31 Oct, ISLAMABAD: The Islamabad High Court dismissed on Friday a habeas corpus plea over the alleged detention of nuclear scientist Dr Abdul Qadeer Khan, observing that the matter had already been decided by it.The single bench of Chief Justice Sardar Mohammad Aslam also ruled that the Supreme Court's decision over Dr Khan's alleged detention case had explicitly stated that only his wife or blood relatives could file a plea if there were any grievance.He told Barrister M Javed Jafferi, the petitioner, that he had no authority to further interpret the apex court's verdict. (Posted 19:33 PST)
Investors to put 7.3 billion pounds into Barclays Friday, 31 Oct, LONDON: Middle Eastern investors will pump up to 7.3 billion pounds ($11.8 billion) into Barclays PLC, allowing the bank to strengthen its balance sheet without resorting to a bailout by the British government. The capital increase announced Friday underscores Barclays' determination to retain its commercial independence, coming just weeks after its peers agreed to stringent trading and management conditions to borrow taxpayer funds. (Posted 19:15 PST)
US security chief says cross-border raids necessary Friday, 31 Oct, 2008 LONDON: A country should have the right to attack another if it is harbouring a potential terrorist threat, the US homeland security chief said in remarks appearing to justify recent US raids in Pakistan and Syria. Laying out what amounts to a broadened definition of self-defence, Michael Chertoff said international law should accommodate a country's need to deter a possible threat abroad even if it meant taking pre-emptive action. His remarks, at a discussion on democracy held in the British parliament, follow recent secret raids by US forces into Pakistan and Syria that were justified using a similiar rationale and drew condemnation from those countries. ‘International law must begin to recognise that part of the responsibility of sovereignty is the responsibility to make sure that your own country does not become a platform for attacking other countries,’ Chertoff told an audience on Thursday night. (Posted 18:29 PST)
Militant groups provide relief to quake victims Friday, 31 Oct, WAM: Militants have been distributing food, medicine and shelter in quake-hit southwest Pakistan, finding their strong faith an advantage in this deeply conservative region. Volunteers, including veterans of bitter conflicts in Afghanistan and Kashmir, were welcomed by villagers in remote areas of mountainous Balochistan, amid suspicion of “outside” agencies also working on the relief effort. One of the groups, Jamaat-ud-Dawa, has been listed by the United States as a “terrorist organisation” because it is the political wing of the outlawed Kashmiri militant group Lashkar-e-Taiba. (Posted 17:46 PST)
Zardari to visit Saudi Arabia for help Friday, 31 Oct, ISLAMABAD: President Asif Ali Zardari will visit Saudi Arabia next week to seek economic assistance from its ally including help with oil payments, a government spokesman said on Friday. Pakistan has been seeking assistance from its allies, including the United States and China, to help stabilise its ailing economy and avert a balance of payments crisis but it has secured little help. (Posted 17:32 PST)
India suspects Islamist militants in Assam blasts Friday, 31 Oct, GUWAHATI: Indian authorities suspect Islamist groups were behind coordinated bomb blasts in the troubled state of Assam that killed 76 people and wounded more than 320, police said on Friday. Bangladesh-based Harkat-ul-Jihad al Islami (HuJI) is the main suspect in Thursday's attack. Police say the Islamist group could have sought to avenge attacks on Muslim settlers by indigenous tribes that killed at least 47 people last month. ‘Our initial investigation points that these attacks were carried out by jihadi forces with the help of local militant groups,’ Khagen Sharma, inspector general of police in Assam and chief Assam's intelligence services, told Reuters. (Posted @ 15:12 PST)
Relief trickles in to Balochistan quake victims Friday, 31 Oct, WAM: Pakistani soldiers scrambled on Friday to get aid to tens of thousands of survivors in remote southwestern mountains where about 215 people were killed in an earthquake this week. The 6.4 magnitude quake struck Baluchistan, Pakistan's largest but poorest province, on Wednesday. Worst hit was Ziarat district, a picturesque valley and one of the region's main tourist spots. District chief Dilawar Khan said more than 45,000 people in the valley had been affected but only a small fraction of them had received help. (Posted @ 14:27 PST)
Police help stop child marriage in Karachi Friday, 31 Oct, KARACHI: Local police raided a child marriage ceremony in Karachi and arrested a cleric who was presiding over the wedding of a four-year-old girl and a seven-year-old boy, police and residents said on Friday. Pakistani law says people must be 18 to marry but despite the laws, young girls are often given away in marriage to settle disputes or pay off debts. Police said they raided a house on Thursday evening following complaints from residents, including a former district government official, Nazakat Hussain, who said the girl was being married off by her father for about 500,000 rupees ($6,138). (Posted @ 13:04 PST)
IADB cuts 2009 Latam growth outlook to 2.5 pct Friday, 31 Oct, SAN SALVADOR: The Inter-American Development Bank has cut its estimate for economic growth in Latin America next year to 2.5 percent from 3 percent previously, the bank's chief said on Thursday. ‘We're thinking in the area of 2.5 (percent) for next year,’ IADB head Luis Alberto Moreno told Reuters during the Ibero-American summit in El Salvador, which was dominated by the global financial crisis. (Posted @ 12:14 PST)
Gambhir banned for last test Friday, 31 Oct, NEW DELHI: Indian opener Gautam Gambhir was banned for one test on Friday for elbowing Australian bowler Shane Watson during the first day of the third test. Gambhir, who pleaded guilty to the Level 2 offense, will miss the final test of the series against Australia in Nagpur from Thursday. (Posted @ 11:56 PST)
Toll in India bomb attacks rises to 71 Friday, 31 Oct, GUWAHATI: The death toll in serial bombings in India's northeastern Assam state rose to 71 on Friday after several wounded people died overnight, the local health minister said. A total of 12 explosions within an hour shook the northeastern state on Thursday, six of them ripping through the main city of Guwahati. ‘Ten more injured people died in various hospitals taking the toll to 71,’ said Assam health minister Himanta Biswa Sarma. More than 300 people were injured as a dozen blasts ripped through towns and markets in the insurgency-hit state on Thursday. (Posted @ 11:42 PST)
Son of Liberian warlord convicted of torture in US Friday, 31 Oct, MIAMI: The son of former Liberian President Charles Taylor was found guilty by a US court on Thursday of torture in the first prosecution under a 14-year-old law that allows citizens to be prosecuted for such crimes committed abroad. The jury in Miami found Charles ‘Chuckie’ Taylor Jr. guilty on all eight counts brought against him, including allegations he and his cohorts tortured victims in Liberia by applying electric shocks to their genitals, burning them with hot irons and melting plastic and rubbing salt in their open wounds. (Posted @ 11:01 PST)
Quake survivors battle biting cold, hunger Friday, 31 Oct, QUETTA: Thousands of earthquake survivors braved sub-zero temperatures under open skies on Thursday night. Provincial authorities sent tents, blankets and other relief goods to the areas devastated by Wednesday’s earthquake, but these could not reach a majority of the affected. (Posted @ 10:30 PST)
NYC judge blocks transfer of Argentine funds Friday, 31 Oct, NEW YORK: A judge in America has blocked Argentina from transferring any of its pension fund investments out of the United States until he hears next week the complaints of bondholders who have a $553 million judgment against the country. According to AP, US District Judge Thomas P. Griesa signed an order directing the U.S. Marshals Service to await his instructions before serving any legal papers that would result in the transfer of funds. (Posted @ 10:08 PST)
Cut in power tariff promised Friday, 31 Oct, ISLAMABAD: The government has decided to reduce loadshedding hours from 11 to six as the power shortfall has come down to 1,800MW from 7,000MW thanks to improved coordination between ministries and supply of oil and gas to independent power producers, announced Minister for Water and Power, Raja Pervez Ashraf. Ashraf also promised a ‘considerable relief’ to consumers within a few days as a special committee set up to investigate the recent 31 per cent hike in power tariff had almost finalised its recommendations for a possible cut in tariff increase. The government had last week deferred the power tariff increase and allowed consumers to pay 60 per cent of their bills for September. (Posted @ 10:01 PST )
Explosion at Gaza police station kills one Friday, 31 Oct, GAZA: A Hamas policeman was killed and three others were wounded when an explosive device went off in a police station in the Gaza Strip on Thursday, a spokesman for the force said. Hamas police spokesman Islam Shahwan said the device was found earlier in the day in the Hamas-controlled territory and was taken to the police station to be dismantled. While security men were taking the bomb apart, it exploded, causing several secondary blasts, Shahwan said. It was not immediately clear where the explosive device was found and why it had been taken inside the police station instead of being detonated outside. (Posted @ 09:57 PST)
10 militants killed in Swat as 62 jirga members freed Friday, 31 Oct, MINGORA: Ten militants were killed and one was arrested in Sarsenai area of Swat district, said a press release issued by Swat media centre here on Thursday. The release said troops entered Sarsenai village and killed three militants during operation cleanup and arrested one other after exchange of fire. A large quantity of explosive and CDs was also recovered from few houses in the village. (Posted @ 09:54 PST)
Turkish PM hosts talks between Gilani, Karzai Friday, 31 Oct, ISTANBUL: Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani and Afghan President Hamid Karzai discussed efforts to restore peace in the region at a meeting here on Thursday with Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, whose government wants to help mediate regional issues. The leaders met on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum to discuss regional security issues, with focus on countering extremism and terrorism. Pakistan and Afghanistan agreed to continue the trilateral summit process with the help of Turkey. (Posted @ 08:31 PST)
Police shot man without giving warning: witnesses Friday, 31 Oct, LONDON: Witnesses to the shooting of an innocent Brazilian man by London police who mistook him for a would-be suicide bomber said Thursday that officers did not shout a warning before killing him. Jean Charles de Menezes was shot seven times in the head at a London Underground train station on July 22, 2005, the day after a failed attempt to replicate the attacks of July 7 when four suicide bombers killed 52 people. (Posted @ 05:13 PST)
Man-made climate change seen in Antarctica, Arctic Friday, 31 Oct, OSLO: Both Antarctica and the Arctic are getting less icy because of global warming, scientists said on Thursday in a study that extends evidence of man-made climate change to every continent. Detection of a human cause of warming at both ends of the earth also strengthens a need to understand ice sheets on Antarctica and Greenland that would raise world sea levels by about 70 meters if they all melted, they said. 'We're able for the first time to directly attribute warming in both the Arctic and the Antarctic to human influences,' said Nathan Gillett of England's University of East Anglia of a study he led with colleagues in the United States, Britain and Japan. (Posted @ 04:20 PST)
Pakistan and IMF conclude talks on economic aid Friday, 31 Oct, WASHINGTON: Pakistan and the International Monetary Fund on Thursday concluded their negotiations on a proposed macro-economic stabilisation programme for the country. The talks that began in Dubai on Oct. 21 focused on a policy framework for a possible rescue package for Pakistan to help prevent an economic meltdown. (Posted @ 03:56 PST)
Adequate efforts still not available for quake victims Friday, 31 Oct, QILLA CHARRI VILLAGE: Its cold and miserable out here in the open. The Kakar Pashtuns who have called the inhospitable terrain of Ziarat their home for centuries have had to deal with their share of hardships. But nothing had prepared these hardened souls to cope with the tragedy that struck in the early hours of October 29. For more than 40 hours since the earthquake brought down their dwellings, the residents of Qilla Charri village in Ziarat looked with desperate eyes towards a number of helicopters flying in the valleys and mountains close by. But, for the sixty odd families living in the village, relief was yet to make its way. The helicopters were dropping relief goods at designated relief camps. For those unable to make their way to the camp, life was different. (Posted @ 03:41 PST)
IRS issued $1bn in bad refunds in 2007: Report Friday, 31 Oct, WASHINGTON: The government sent out more than $1 billion in fraudulent refunds last year and offered this explanation Thursday for the bad checks in the mail: The Internal Revenue Service has too few resources to pursue every tax fraud case. IRS investigators never even looked at an estimated $742 million in fraudulent refunds, according to a report by the Treasury Department office that monitors the agency. When they did identify an additional $264 million in bad refunds, it was too late to stop them from being issued. (Posted @ 01:30 PST)
American Express to cut 7,000 jobs Friday, 31 Oct, NEW YORK: American Express Co said on Thursday it will cut 7,000 jobs, slash expenses and scale back investments to save $1.8 billion next year, in its biggest restructuring since 2001 as it struggles with bad loans and surging funding costs. The expected cost savings lifted the company's shares 2.3 per cent on Thursday morning. The credit card company was among the first to warn at the beginning of the year that customer spending was slowing and delinquencies were rising and analysts said the coming months will not be any easier. US consumer spending shrank at a 3.1 per cent annualized rate in the third quarter, the first decline since the last quarter of 1991, a government report said on Thursday. (Posted @ 01:15 PST)
Intel says Iran plans secret nuclear experiments Friday, 31 Oct, VIENNA: Iran has recently tested ways of recovering highly enriched uranium from waste reactor fuel in a covert bid to expand its nuclear program, according to an intelligence assessment made available to The Associated Press. The intelligence, provided by a member of the 145-nation International Atomic Energy Agency, also says a report will soon be submitted to the Iranian leadership for a decision on whether to go ahead with the project. (Posted @ 01:08 PST)
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Editor: Abbas Nasir
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