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| November 19, 2008 | Wednesday | Ziqa'ad 20, 1429 |
Updated round-the-clock, with major updates after 10:00 PST (05:00 GMT)
General Kayani meets with NATO commanders Wednesday, 19 Nov, BRUSSELS: Pakistan's army chief urged NATO commanders to focus on winning the population's backing in areas bordering Afghanistan to prevent Taliban and al-Qaeda militants from using them as safe havens, an alliance official said Wednesday. Gen. Ashfaq Parvez Kayani met with a committee of NATO commanders in Brussels on Wednesday — the first time Pakistan's military leader met with the group. He did not speak to journalists after the meeting. (Posted @ 20:58 PST)
Gunmen kill retired general in Rawalpindi shooting Wednesday, 19 Nov, ISLAMABAD: A former head of Pakistan army’s elite commando force, retired Major General Ameer Faisal Alvi, was gunned down along with his driver by unknown assailants in a drive-by-shooting incident, which preliminary investigations suggest could be the work of militants. Retired Major Gen Alvi, who commanded the Special Services Group (SSG) during the first major assault on foreign and local militants in South Waziristan in 2004, fell to the assailants’ bullets not far away from his residence in the outskirts of Islamabad. (Posted @ 20:54 PST)
Javed Miandad appointed director-general of PCB Wednesday, 19 Nov, KARACHI: Former Pakistan captain and coach Javed Miandad has been appointed director-general of the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB). Miandad appeared in 124 tests and 233 one-day internationals and is Pakistan's leading test run getter with 8832 runs. The 51-year-old's third stint as Pakistan coach ended in 2004 after a home series loss to India and he has since had an acrimonious relationship with the PCB. (Posted @ 20:44 PST)
Blast rocks Quetta railway station Wednesday, 19 Nov, QUETTA: According to DawnNews, an explosion took place at the Quetta railway station on Wednesday evening. A bomb was planted next to an outer wall of the station, and the explosion damaged the wall and some nearby parked cars. One person suffered minor injuries in the blast and was transferred to a hospital where he was in stable condition. (Posted @ 20:07 PST)
Consumer prices drop record level in October Wednesday, 19 Nov, WASHINGTON: Consumer prices plunged by the largest amount in the past 61 years in October as gasoline pump prices dropped by a record amount. The Labor Department said Wednesday that consumer prices fell 1 per cent last month, the biggest one-month decline on records that go back to February 1947. The drop was twice as large as the 0.5 per cent decline analysts expected. The big drop reflected not only a huge fall in gasoline and other energy costs, but widespread declines in other areas. (Posted @ 19:40 PST)
Al-Qaeda No. 2 Zawahri attacks Obama Wednesday, 19 Nov, CAIRO,Egypt: Al-Qaida No. 2 Ayman al-Zawahri criticized Barack Obama in the terror group's first reaction to his election, calling him a demeaning racial term implying that the president-elect is a black American who does the bidding of whites. The message appeared chiefly aimed at convincing Muslims and Arabs that Obama does not represent a change in U.S. policies. Al-Zawahri said in the message, which appeared on militant Web sites Wednesday, that Obama is 'the direct opposite of honorable black Americans' like Malcolm X, the 1960s African-American rights leader. (Posted @ 19:13 PST)
Gunmen kill retired general in Rawalpindi shooting Wednesday, 19 Nov, ISLAMABAD: Gunmen riding a motorbike shot dead a former head of Pakistani military commandos and his driver in the garrison city of Rawalpindi on Wednesday, Reuters reported. Major-General Amir Faisal Alvi, who commanded the elite Special Services Group (SSG) and retired more than two years ago, was heading towards Islamabad from his home in Rawalpindi when the assailants sprayed his car with bullets. (Posted @ 11:26 PST)
Shooting in Rawalpindi targets retired general Wednesday, 19 Nov, KARACHI: According to a private television channel, Geo News, Major-General (retd) Amir Faisal Alvi was gunned down along with his motorcar driver in PWD colony of Rawalpindi on Wednesday morning. The retired two-star general was said to have left his house in Bahria Town along with his driver when he was shot and killed by assailants. Maj-Gen Alvi retired from the army two years ago. Further details have yet to emerge. (Posted @ 11:26 PST)
US drone strike kills five in Bannu Wednesday, 19 Nov, BANNU: A US drone attack has killed at least five people, and injured at least five others in the Hindikhel area of Bannu on Wednesday. Intelligence officials say the strike took place just after dawn on Wednesday morning. ‘The strike overnight destroyed the house of a tribesman Sakhi Mohammad in the Bannu district,’ a senior security official told AFP. ‘At least two foreigners were among five killed,’ the official added. The number of casualties is feared to rise. (Posted @ 10:02 PST)
Interpol chief in Mexico held for drug cartel ties Wednesday, 19 Nov, MEXICO CITY: The head of Mexico's Interpol office has been arrested on suspicion he had contacts with the country's major drug cartels, the Attorney General's office said Tuesday. Ricardo Gutierrez Vargas, the Federal Investigation Agency's International Police Affairs and Interpol director, was arrested Sunday as part of ‘Operation Clean-up’, a government crackdown on corrupt police. (Posted @ 09:27 PST)
Lima under lockdown for APEC summit Wednesday, 19 Nov, LIMA: Top officials from the Pacific rim were arriving Tuesday for free-trade talks in Peru's capital Lima, which was under a security lockdown for US President George W. Bush's last scheduled foreign trip. Ministers of trade and foreign affairs from 21 countries including China, Japan, Russia and the United States were due in the South American city for two days of talks starting on Wednesday. The weeklong Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum will culminate Saturday and Sunday with a summit of leaders including Bush set to focus on turmoil on international financial markets. (Posted @ 09:17 PST)
Big Three automakers ask for $25 billion lifeline Wednesday, 19 Nov, WASHINGTON: Detroit's Big Three automakers pleaded with Congress on Tuesday for a $25 billion lifeline to save their teetering industrial titans from collapse, warning of economic catastrophe for the nation as well as their once-proud companies if they are denied. Millions of layoffs would follow, they said. Even national security would be at risk. 'Our industry needs a bridge to span the financial chasm that has opened up before us,' General Motors CEO Rick Wagoner told the Senate Banking Committee in prepared testimony. He blamed the industry's predicament not on failures by management but on the deepening global financial crisis. (Posted @ 06:14 PST)
Obama to pick Holder as Attorney General Wednesday, 19 Nov, WASHINGTON: President-elect Barack Obama has decided on Eric Holder, a former senior official in the Clinton administration, to be attorney general, Newsweek said on Tuesday. The magazine, citing two legal sources close to Obama's transition team, said on its website that the 57-year-old Holder, who served as deputy attorney general under President Bill Clinton, 'still has to undergo a formal vetting review' before the selection is final and announced. (Posted @ 05:01 PST)
Gabole and Maher blood feud resolved by local Jirga Wednesday, 19 Nov, SUKKUR: Four months old bloody dispute between Gabole and Mahar clansmen was resolved through a jirga, held at the residence of MPA Sardar Rahim Bux Bozdar at Garhi Chakar district Ghotki on Tuesday. Reaching reports here said that, a jirga was held at the residence of PML (F) MPA Sardar Rahim Bux Bozdar to resolve four months old bloody dispute between Mahar and Gabole clansmen, which had claimed 6 lives from the either clan and left 7 injured. (Posted @ 04:35 PST)
Hijacked Saudi tanker reaches Somalia Wednesday, 19 Nov, BOSASSO: A Saudi supertanker seized by pirates with a $100 million oil cargo in the world's biggest ship hijacking reached Somalia on Tuesday, and another ship was captured in the perilous waters off the lawless state. The US navy said pirates had transported the Sirius Star, seized 450 nautical miles southeast off Kenya at the weekend in the boldest strike to date by Somali pirates, to Haradheere port half-way up the Horn of Africa nation's long coastline. (Posted @ 04:04 PST)
McCain-backer Lieberman keeps Senate chairmanship Wednesday, 19 Nov, WASHINGTON: Senate Democrats on Tuesday yielded to the wishes of President-elect Barack Obama and allowed Joe Lieberman to keep his committee chairmanship despite having backed Republican John McCain for the White House. At a closed-door meeting, Senate Democrats meted out lesser punishment, passing a resolution of disapproval and stripping Lieberman of the chairmanship of an environment subcommittee. (Posted @ 03:40 PST)
Government ready to talk to militants: Khattak Wednesday, 19 Nov, PESHAWAR: While violence continued in Swat district the provincial government has reiterated that it was ready for negotiations with the Taliban only if militants lay arms and accept state’s writ. The NWFP Government Peace Envoy Afrasiab Khattak held a meeting with a jirga from Swat valley here on Tuesday. Haji Inamur Rehman, who led the jirga, told the government that it had the mandate from the Tehreek Taliban Swat to negotiate peace with the provincial government. (Posted @ 03:39 PST)
Govt to reinstate 6,400 dismissed employees Wednesday, 19 Nov, ISLAMABAD: The federal government has approved the reinstatment of 6,400 employees who were removed by the previous administration. The prime minister will issue a formal notification next week. The decision was taken during a Cabinet Committee meeting headed by Leader of the House Raza Rabbani. Sources said that Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani will formally issue the order after which the employees will be reinstated. (Posted @ 03:04 PST)
Gas supply threatened due to theft and nonpayment Wednesday, 19 Nov, QUETTA: Smooth supply of gas would be difficult in future in Balochistan if consumers will not pay outstanding gas dues of Rs440 million pending against them in the province. The General Manager Sui Southern Gas Company, Balochistan Regan, Aftab Ahmed Memon said while speaking at a Press Conference along with Chief Manager Costumer Service, Khalid Mehmood Malik, here on Tuesday. (Posted @ 03:01 PST)
Legislators demand Constitutional status Wednesday, 19 Nov, ISLAMABAD: A Delegation of Northern Areas Legislators and Advisors headed by the Chief Executive Northern Areas Mir Ghanzanfar Ali Khan, called on Prime Minster Yousuf Raza Gilani at the PM's House on Tuesday. Khan briefed the prime minster in detail about the current situation in the Northern Areas and said that due improving conditions, the World Bank team has selected the region for its project on the development of tourism. (Posted @ 02:28 PST)
Founder: Quaid-i-Azam Mohammad Ali Jinnah
Editor: Abbas Nasir
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