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| December 29, 2008 | Monday | Zilhaj 30, 1429 |
Updated round-the-clock, with major updates after 10:00 PST (05:00 GMT)
Pakistan wants dialogue with India: Zardari Monday, 29 Dec, ISLAMABAD: President Asif Ali Zardari on Monday said that Pakistan wants peace and stability in the region to promote friendly ties with all its neighbours including India. In his meeting with Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani who called on him at the Aiwan e Sadr on Monday, President Zardari said he wanted an end to the escalating tension between the two nuclear states, sources said. Meanwhile, diplomatic efforts continued in Islamabad on Monday to defuse tension between Pakistan and India that arose after Mumbai attacks last month, as Chinese Deputy Foreign Minister He Yafei and British High Commissioner to Pakistan, Robert Edward Brinkley also called on the president separately. Regional situation and bilateral ties reportedly came under discussion during the meetings. (Posted @ 23:09 PST)
Israel bombs Gaza in ‘all-out war’ on Hamas Monday, 29 Dec, GAZA CITY: Warplanes pounded Gaza for the third day on Monday as tanks stood by to join Israel’s ‘all-out’ war on Hamas that has killed at least 345 people and prompted rocket fire from the Palestinian enclave. As it massed troops along the territory’s border, Israel got a strong boost from Washington, which blamed the Gaza Strip’s Islamist rulers. ‘In order for the violence to stop, Hamas must stop firing rockets into Israel and agree to respect a sustainable and durable ceasefire,’ White House spokesman Gordon Johndroe said. (Posted @ 22:18 PST)
Gilani dismisses ‘Taliban deal’ reports ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani on Monday rejected the impression that a silent agreement has been reached between the government and local Taliban. It was believed that the government asked the Taliban ‘not to create trouble’ if the armed forces are pulled out from tribal areas and deployed on the Pakistan-India border in view of prevailing tension between the two nuclear states.‘The government is not in favour of fighting with people in the tribal areas, however it does not support establishment of parallel authority there,’ he said while talking to reporters at a local varsity in Islamabad.(Posted @ 21:15 PST)
Russian leaders urge united front during crisis MOSCOW: Russia's President Dmitry Medvedev and Prime Minister Vladimir Putin called for unity during a time of crisis on Monday, following signs of disagreement among officials on emergency measures.The global financial crisis has put Russia on the brink of its first recession in a decade, slashing gold and foreign exchange reserves by a quarter since the summer, pushing up unemployment and reducing real disposable income.(Posted @19:25 PST)
Ugandan LRA rebels kill 189 Congo villagers KINSHASA: Ugandan Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) rebels killed 189 people during three days of raids on villages in northeast Democratic Republic of Congo last week, a UN agency said on Monday, citing local officials.UN humanitarian agency OCHA said the killings were reported to have been carried out between Dec 25 and Dec 27 in Faradje, Doruma and Gurba villages by LRA fighters fleeing a two-week-old multinational military offensive led by Uganda.(Posted @ 18:50 PST)
South Africa on verge of making history MELBOURNE: South Africa continued their dream run in Australia overcoming all odds in the second test to stand on the verge of making history. The Proteas are just 153 runs shy of breaking yet another record on Australian soil.The joy will be doubled if South Africa get the runs required as it will not only give them the test series but also make them the only team after the West Indies (1992-1993) to beat the Australians at home.(Posted @ 18:40 PST)
General Kayani calls for calm with India ISLAMABAD: Pakistan's powerful army chief called on Monday for an easing of tensions with India, the military said, one month after the Mumbai attacks sent ties between the nuclear-armed neighbours into a tailspin.General Ashfaq Kayani made the call during a meeting with visiting Chinese vice foreign minister He Yafei, who was dispatched by Beijing to Islamabad as part of an international effort to restore calm between the South Asian rivals.(Posted @ 16:50 PST)
SBP Governor announces decision to step down KARACHI: Dr Shamshad Akhtar has informed the Government of her decision to step down as the Governor, State Bank of Pakistan effective January 01, 2009 on completion of her three-year term, the SBP Chief Spokesman disclosed on Monday.She took over as Governor, State Bank of Pakistan on 2nd January, 2006.(Posted @ 16:50 PST)
Liverpool captain Gerrard arrested over assault Monday, 29 Dec, LONDON: Liverpool captain Steven Gerrard was arrested early Monday in connection with an alleged assault at a nightspot that led to a man being hospitalized with facial injuries. The England midfielder was detained by police at 0230 GMT in Southport along with five other men and remains in police custody for questioning, a person close to the investigation said on condition of anonymity. British police do not publicly name suspects unless charges are brought. A 34-year-old man was taken to hospital with facial injuries that are not believed to be life threatening, police said. The incident near Liverpool came hours after Gerrard had scored twice and made another goal in the club's 5-1 victory at Newcastle in northeast England. (Posted @ 16:46 PST)
General Kayani calls for calm with India Monday, 29 Dec, ISLAMABAD: Pakistan's powerful army chief called on Monday for an easing of tensions with India, the military said, one month after the Mumbai attacks sent ties between the nuclear-armed neighbours into a tailspin. General Ashfaq Kayani made the call during a meeting with visiting Chinese vice foreign minister He Yafei, who was dispatched by Beijing to Islamabad as part of an international effort to restore calm between the South Asian rivals. Kayani's remarks were believed to be his first about the strained relationship and could reassure a jittery region that Pakistan does not intend to escalate the crisis further. 'The army chief highlighted the need to de-escalate and avoid conflict in the interest of peace and security,' Pakistan's military said in a statement following Monday's meeting in the garrison town of Rawalpindi near the capital. Kayani's remarks followed an unscheduled weekend conversation between senior military officials from India and Pakistan over the hotline linking the two states. (Posted @ 16:12 PST)
Hamas ready to sign Gaza ceasefire Monday, 29 Dec, DAKAR: Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal has said he is ready to sign a ceasefire agreement for Gaza that would involve Israel ending its attacks and its blockade of the territory, Senegal's Foreign Ministry said on Monday. It said the proposal for a truce in Gaza was made in a telephone call to Meshaal late on Sunday by Senegalese President Abdoulaye Wade, current president of the 56-member Organisation of the Islamic Conference (OIC). 'The Hamas leader said he was ready to sign such an accord in a place to be chosen by common consent between the two sides,' the ministry said in a statement. It said Wade was proposing “a definitive truce between Israel and Hamas through the signing of an agreement that engages Hamas in the immediate observation of a ceasefire in exchange for an immediate ceasefire by Israel accompanied by a total lifting of the blockade on Gaza”. The statement gave no more details. In a separate statement, Wade condemned the Israeli air strikes on Gaza as 'unacceptable'. (Posted @ 14:23 PST)
Indonesia group says to recruit fighters for Gaza Monday, 29 Dec, JAKARTA: A militant Muslim group in Indonesia said on Monday it plans to recruit as many as 1,000 volunteers to fight in the Gaza Strip in response to Israeli air strikes that have killed more than 300 Palestinians. 'Fighters should be in good physical condition, have a strong faith and be ready to die,' Ahmad Soebri Lubis, secretary-general of the Islamic Defenders' Front, told Reuters by telephone. 'They will be provided with a one-way ticket until we defeat Israel.' Lubis said the group would start recruiting at its Jakarta headquarters in the next few days, and would send volunteers for training at camps in Indonesia to prepare them for the 'battleground'. He said the group has in the past sent volunteers to Iraq and to Afghanistan. Many Indonesians support the Palestinian cause and are opposed to US policies in the Middle East, particularly the US-led invasion of Iraq. The Indonesian government on Sunday joined widespread international condemnation of Israeli attacks on the Gaza Strip which began with air strikes on Saturday. (Posted @ 13:33 PST)
Somali President Abdullahi Yusuf resigns Monday, 29 Dec, BAIDOA, Somalia: Somali President Abdullahi Yusuf resigned on Monday and blamed the international community for failing to support the interim government in the Horn of Africa nation. Yusuf told parliament that speaker Sheikh Aden Madobe would take over his duties and left for the airport. It was not clear where he was going. 'As I promised when you elected me on October 14, 2004, I would stand down if I failed to fulfil my duty, I have decided to return the responsibility you gave me,' Yusuf said. 'Most of the country was not in our hands and we had nothing to give our soldiers. The international community has also failed to help us,' Yusuf told legislators in Baidoa, Somalia's seat of parliament. (Posted @ 13:22 PST)
Suicide blast kills at least two north of Kabul Monday, 29 Dec, KABUL: A suicide bomber detonated a car packed with explosives outside a government office north of Kabul on Monday, killing at least two people and injuring more than a dozen, an official said. The attack happened as Afghan provincial authorities and US forces held a weekly meeting inside the office of the governor of Parwan province in the local capital of Charikar, a politician from the province told Reuters. A US military vehicle was hit by the blast and was on fire, the politician said. US forces had blocked off the area in Charikar, 60 km north of Kabul, she added. Interior ministry spokesman Zemarai Bashary, in Kabul, said no provincial officials were killed in the attack. (Posted @ 13:20 PST)
Earthquake jolts northern areas Monday, 29 Dec, ISLAMABAD: A moderate earthquake jolted mountainous northeastern Afghanistan and parts of northwest Pakistan on Monday but caused no damage or casualties, officials said. The 5.9-magnitude quake struck at around 8:07 am (0337 GMT), about 85 kilometres southeast of the town of Fayz Abad, capital of the rugged province of Badakhshan, the US Geological Survey said. The quake, which struck in the remote Hindu Kush mountain range, was registered at a depth of 140 kilometres, it said. Residents across the area said the tremor was felt, but Badakhshan government spokesman Marouf Rasikh told AFP there were no casualties or damage. There were reports of the tremors being felt in Dir, Swat, Peshawar, Attock, Islamabad, Rawalpindi and Mansehra among other areas in the region. (Posted @ 12:12 PST)
Israeli warplanes kill 307 as air strikes continue in Gaza Monday, 29 Dec, GAZA: Israeli warplanes pounded the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip for a third consecutive day on Monday and the Jewish state prepared to launch a possible invasion after killing 307 Palestinians in the air raids. Israel, which stepped up the air strikes after dark on Sunday, said it launched the campaign on Saturday in response to almost daily rocket and mortar fire that intensified after the Islamist Hamas group ended a six-month ceasefire a week ago. Mark Regev, a spokesman for Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, said the military action would go on until the population in southern Israel 'no longer live in terror and in fear of constant rocket barrages.' The Islamist movement accused Israel of ‘committing a holocaust as the whole world watches and doesn’t lift a finger to stop.’ (Posted @ 12:00 PST)
Pakistan condemns Israeli raids in Gaza Monday, 29 Dec, ISLAMABAD: Pakistan has condemned Israeli air attacks against Hamas targets in the Gaza Strip, calling them 'counterproductive' and urging a stop to the violence. More than 300 people have died in the Palestinian territory since early Saturday, when Israel unleashed a massive air blitz, pounding the Islamist movement's installations in the densely populated enclave. 'President Asif Ali Zardari has condemned the Israeli attacks in Gaza and appealed for a cessation of hostilities and violence, which have caused immense loss of precious lives,' the foreign ministry said in a statement late Sunday. 'Pakistan urges the international community to promote a peaceful, just and durable settlement of the issue of Palestine,' the statement quoted him saying. (Posted @ 11:05 PST)
Suicide blast kills 41 in Swat polling station Monday, 29 Dec, BUNER: The death toll from a suicide car bombing at a polling station in northwest Pakistan has risen to 41, police said on Monday, as Taliban-linked extremists claimed responsibility for the attack. The dead included two policemen and five children and sixteen others suffered injuries in the blast in Buner district on Sunday. 'Five more bodies were pulled from the rubble of the school building overnight, bringing the death toll to 41,' local police official Behramand Khan told AFP. The bomber parked his explosive-laden car near the camps set up by different political parties in front of the school building in Shalbandi village, some five kilometres off district headquarter Daggar, where the polling was under way for by-election on NA-28 and detonated the explosive. The explosion was so severe that the front wall of school, the adjacent market on a roadside and a house destroyed complexly and a mosque and other houses were partially damaged. (Posted @ 11:00 PST)
Bangladesh votes after two years delay Monday, 29 Dec, DHAKA: Bangladesh was to vote under tight security on Monday in the first elections since campaign violence two years ago caused polls to be cancelled and an army-backed government to take power. Despite attempts by the caretaker regime to shake up the country's political system, the two leading candidates are the fierce rivals who have ruled alternately since 1991. A state of emergency was lifted less than two weeks before voting, while a heavy security operation has been mounted to prevent clashes between rival supporters and feared attacks by extremists. Armed troops lining the streets of the capital Dhaka were among 50,000 on alert nationwide, while 600,000 police officers were deployed across the country to ensure no disruptions or voter fraud at the 35,000 polling booths. Sheikh Hasina Wajed of the Awami League and Khaleda Zia of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) both wooed voters with last-minute promises of lower food prices, action against militancy and curbs on corruption. (Posted @ 04:48 PST)
Egypt police repel Palestinians on Gaza border Monday, 29 Dec, RAFAH, Egypt: Egyptian police fired in the air near the Gaza border town of Rafah on Sunday to prevent Palestinians entering Egypt after Israel launched air strikes to destroy tunnels along the tense frontier. One policeman was killed and another wounded by shots from across the border, a security official and medics said, but it was not immediately clear who fired them. ‘Dozens of civilians tried to break through the Barahma crossing after Israel launched air strikes along the Gaza-Egypt border. They were repelled by Egyptian police firing in the air,’ the official said. Some Palestinians managed to climb over the border wall into Egypt, with riot police reinforcements being sent to the frontier on the second day of Israel's assault on the Gaza Strip that has killed more than 280 people. A security services official said Egypt had then shut the Rafah crossing and police were searching for the Palestinians who had managed to enter Egyptian territory. (Posted @ 04:19 PST)
Government likely to increase power tariffs Monday, 29 Dec, ISLAMABAD: The government is likely to increase power tariffs to generate maximum revenue for bridging the shortfall of Rs72 billion before end June 2009 as agreed with the International Monetary Fund (IMF), Dawn has learnt. But to give some relief to consumers in the wake of falling international oil prices, the economic wizards of the government are also reviewing slight reduction in petrol, diesel and kerosene oil in the next few days. A senior official in the finance ministry told Dawn that various other options are also under consideration to minimize the percentage increase in power tariffs. ‘The PEPCO has been asked in this regard to cover up maximum portion of the shortfall by improving efficiency’, the official added. (Posted @ 03:42 PST)
Chinese delegation arrives to help diffuse tensions Monday, 29 Dec, ISLAMABAD: China has expedited efforts to stop a possible conflict between nuclear armed Pakistan and India. It has dispatched a seven-member delegation, headed by Chinese Deputy Foreign Minister He Yafei, to visit the two countries amid reports of troop deployments along the Pakistan-India border. Foreign Office Spokesman Muhammad Sadiq told Dawn that the Chinese delegation arrived on Sunday on a two-day visit to Pakistan. Yafei will hold talks with President Zardari, Prime Minister Gilani and Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi. The Chinese envoy also met Foreign Secretary Salman Bashir, shortly after his arrival at Islamabad and discussed bilateral and regional issues in the backdrop of the prevailing situation. (Posted @ 02:45 PST)
Founder: Quaid-i-Azam Mohammad Ali Jinnah
Editor: Abbas Nasir
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