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| January 01, 2009 | Thursday | Muharram 03, 1430 |
Updated round-the-clock, with major updates after 10:00 PST (05:00 GMT)
Pakistan says no confession in Mumbai probe ISLAMABAD: Pakistan denied reports Thursday that a militant arrested last month had confessed to involvement in the Mumbai attacks, saying no conclusions could be made until investigations are complete.The Wall Street Journal reported Wednesday, citing unnamed officials, that authorities had obtained a confession from a key leader of the banned militant group Lashkar-i-Taiba, which India has blamed for the Mumbai attacks.(Posted @ 21:05 PST)
Bolt edges Phelps for media’s athlete of the year BRUSSELS: In a clash of Olympic stars, Jamaican sprinter Usain Bolt edged U.S. swimmer Michael Phelps to be voted the 2008 athlete of the year by the international media.Olympic pole vault champion Yelena Isinbayeva took the top place as sportswoman of the year and the only honor to buck the Olympic trend went to Spain's football squad, which was voted team of the year after winning the European Championship.(Posted @ 20:15 PST)
Bajaur missile attack kills two KHAR: Two people were killed and ten others injured when four missiles were fired on regional headquarter Khar with some intervals on Thursday.The political administration confirmed the killing of two civilians, while 10 others were injured in the missile attack by suspected Taliban militants in Khar and its adjoining areas. The missiles were fired from Kawsar Banda, and Neyag, some ten kilometers northwest of Khar, and the mountainous areas of Kohi Mor and Maram Ghundai, some twelve kilometers southwest of Khar.(Posted @ 20:10 PST)
PCB denies report of player’s revolt KARACHI, Dec 31: The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has denied reports of top players gearing up to revolt against board’s plan to reduce their salaries and perks.
A senior PCB official denied that captain Shoaib Malik is mustering up support to pre-empt board’s move to reduce salary packages to top cricketers. ‘We are yet to finalise on central contracts, so how can the players be revolting against it,’ PCB’s Chief Operating Officer Sali Altaf said on Wednesday.(Posted 19:15 PST)
Senior Hamas leader killed in Israeli strike GAZA CITY: Senior Hamas leader Nizar Rayan was killed on Thursday with his four wives and two of his children in an Israeli air strike in Gaza, medics said.Rayan was killed when a missile crashed into a five-storey house that he shared with his wives and children in Jabaliya in the north of the territory, the medics said.(Posted @18:55 PST)
Five killed in blasts in India’s northeast GUWAHATI, India: At least five people were killed and 50 injured on Thursday in separate blasts in the northeastern Indian city of Guwahati, police said.'At least five people have died so far and 50 injured according to preliminary reports,' a senior police official said after two blasts occurred near crowded marketplaces and a third bomb went off in a garbage bin.(Posted @ 18:50 PST)
Pakistan to soon reopen NATO supply route PESHAWAR: Pakistan will reopen a key route for NATO supply trucks headed for Afghanistan in the next two days, an official said Thursday as troops pursued militants in the northwest tribal zone.Security forces backed by helicopter gunships, tanks and heavy artillery launched the operation on Tuesday to flush militants out of the area near Jamrud, the gateway to the famed Khyber Pass linking Pakistan and Afghanistan.(Posted @ 18:22 PST)
Hamas accepts EU truce offer with conditions GAZA CITY: The Palestinian Hamas movement said on Thursday it was accepting 'under conditions' an EU proposal for a ceasefire with Israel around Gaza.'Hamas accepts this initiative on the condition that the aggression stops, that the blockade is lifted, that all the border crossings are opened and that it gets international guarantees that the occupier will not restart its terrorist war,' spokesman Fawzi Barhum said in a statement.(Posted @ 18:10 PST)
Anti-apartheid campaigner Helen Suzman dies JOHANNESBURG: Helen Suzman, one of South Africa's most celebrated anti-apartheid campaigners, has died at the age of 91, the SAPA news agency reported on Thursday.The former politician was publicly critical of apartheid at a time when this was rare among whites. She was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize twice and won praise from human rights organisations from around the world.(Posted @ 18:00 PST)
Pakistan has FBI evidence of Mumbai links: India NEW DELHI: India said on Thursday the FBI had presented strong evidence to Islamabad of Pakistani links to November's militant attacks in Mumbai that killed 179 people.India has blamed the assault on the Pakistan-based militant group Lashkar-i-Taiba (LeT), which is banned in Pakistan.(Posted 17:50 PST)
Somali pirates seize Egyptian ship CAIRO: Somali pirates seized an Egyptian merchant ship off the Somali coast on Thursday and are taking it to Somalia with the crew of 28 Egyptians as hostages, a foreign ministry official said.Ahmed Rizk, an assistant foreign minister, told reporters that the ship was the called Blue Star.(Posted @ 15:40 PST)
Lahore Badshahs may not feature in ICL NEW DELHI, Dec 31: Participation of Lahore Badshahs outfit in the next season of the Indian Cricket League (ICL) remains unclear, given the current state of Pakistan-India ties, and the league officials are contemplating a format without the team from Pakistan. Kiran More, a member of the ICL executive board, said the prevailing situation between Pakistan and India does not guarantee the participation of Lahore Badshahs (in the ICL contests) and the players had been made aware of the circumstances.(Posted @ 17:20 PST)
Bombs kill three Iraqi police, army captain BAGHDAD: Three Iraqi policemen and an army captain were killed in separate bombings Thursday in the restive northern city of Mosul and in Khanaqin near the Iranian border, security officials said.An official in Mosul, who declined to be named, said the policemen were killed when a truck primed with explosives blew up as they were searching it. A civilian was injured in the blast, he said.(Posted @ 17:15 PST)
Russia cuts gas supply to Ukraine Thursday, 01 Jan, MOSCOW: Russia halted supply of natural gas to Ukraine on Thursday after the two ex-Soviet neighbors failed to agree on payment terms, sparking fresh concerns about the security of energy resources controlled by Moscow. State-run gas giant Gazprom confirmed that supply to Ukraine had been shut off at precisely 0700 GMT as planned following the expiry at midnight New Year's Eve of the old contract. 'We have reduced supply of gas to Ukraine by 100 per cent,' Gazprom spokesman Sergei Kupriyanov told reporters, putting the volume at 110 cubic metres per day. Ukraine's gas company, Naftogaz, separately confirmed that the volume of gas it was receiving from Russia had dropped, but promised that transit of supplies meant for customers downstream in Europe would be guaranteed. The halt in Russian gas supply to Ukraine instantly recalled a similar cutoff in January 2006. This time however Ukraine and the EU say they have enough gas reserves to see them through the winter. (Posted @ 16:06 PST)
Pakistan receives $3.1 billion IMF loan Thursday, 01 Jan, ISLAMABAD: Pakistan, so far, received an amount of Rs.3.1 billion from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) out of total loan package of US $ 7.6 billion agreed mutually. 'We have received US $ 3.1 billion from the IMF on November 26, 2008 out of the total agreed loan package of US $ 7.6 billion while remaining amount will be received in phases after quarterly reviews in 23 months period' a senior official of the Ministry of Finance told APP here on Thursday. He denied the reports that appeared in a section of press claiming that the Fund would re-negotiate with Pakistan government for the provision of the loan. Commenting on the news item, he said the revenue generation and exports were on upward trend adding that the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) collected revenues of Rs.426.9 billion during July- November 2008 as against Rs.340.1 billion collected in the same period last fiscal year. He said that FBR has set a revenue target of Rs.1.360 trillion for the current financial year and expressed the hope that government would be able to achieve the target. (Posted @ 15:10 PST)
Taliban ambush kills 20 Afghan policemen Thursday, 01 Jan, KANDAHAR: Taliban militants ambushed a group of Afghan police while they were eating lunch in a remote and dangerous part of southern Afghanistan, killing 20 officers and one of the policeman's mother, an Afghan official said on Thursday. A Taliban spokesman, Qari Yousef Ahmadi, said two Taliban were killed and four wounded during the ambush. Ahmadi claimed 32 police were killed, but that number had not been confirmed by Afghan officials. The attack came Wednesday in the small village of Shaghzay in the district of Kajaki in Helmand province, said Daud Ahmadi, spokesman for Helmand's governor. He said 20 police, bodyguards for the district chief of nearby Musa Qala,were killed. Musa Qala for many months of 2007 had been held by Taliban fighters. The mother of one of the police pleaded with the militants to spare her son's life, and she was also killed, Ahmadi said. (Posted @ 14:56 PST)
Militant rockets kill four, wound 16 in Khar Thursday, 01 Jan, KHAR: Four civilians were killed in northwest Pakistan on Thursday when Taliban militants fired rockets at local government offices in a restive tribal region on the Afghan border, an official said. At least four rockets landed near a court and government complex in Khar, the main town in Bajaur district, local administration chief Israr Khan told AFP. 'The attack left four civilians dead and 16 wounded,' Khan said. Elsewhere in the northwest, two police officials were killed on Thursday in a bomb blast in the town of Bannu, which borders another troubled tribal district, North Waziristan, local police chief Mohammad Alam Shinwari said. He said the bomb disposal squad had been alerted to the presence of the device, but it went off as they were trying to defuse it. Seven other squad members were injured in the explosion. And on the outskirts of the northwestern city of Peshawar – where militants have staged a series of attacks on Nato supply depots, torching hundreds of vehicles – police said an officer was killed in an explosion at a police post. Police defused another bomb planted near the scene, according to official Fida Mohammad. (Posted @ 13:55 PST)
New Year begins in Gaza as death toll reaches 400 Thursday, 01 Jan, GAZA CITY: The New Year in Gaza began on Thursday with air strikes as Israeli jets pounded Hamas targets for a sixth day, while the Islamists vowed to fight to the end and the death toll from the blitz hit 400. Israeli warplanes carried out some 20 strikes in the battered enclave overnight, the army said, after the Jewish state's security cabinet rejected international proposals of a truce in one of its deadliest-ever offensives on Gaza. Jets pounded Hamas government buildings, rocket launching sites and tunnels used to smuggle in weapons and supplies into the territory that Israel has kept virtually sealed since the Islamists assumed power there in June 2007. The death toll from 'Operation Cast Lead,' unleashed by Israel on Saturday in retaliation for ongoing rocket fire from the enclave, reached 400 with nearly 2,000 people wounded, the head of Gaza emergency services Moawiya Hassanein told AFP. (Posted @ 12:58 PST)
Pakistan, India swap nuclear site lists Thursday, 01 Jan, ISLAMABAD: Pakistan and India exchanged lists on Thursday of their nuclear installations under an accord aimed at protecting the sites in case of war, officials said, amid simmering tensions over the Mumbai attacks. The two countries have exchanged the lists annually since 1992, under an agreement that came into force the previous year. 'The lists have been exchanged at the foreign ministries in New Delhi and Islamabad,' a spokesman for the foreign office in Islamabad, Mohammad Sadiq, told AFP. Under the agreement, both sides are to refrain from attacking nuclear facilities in the event of a war. The neighbours have also set up a telephone hotline to prevent accidental nuclear conflict. India and Pakistan have fought three wars, two of them over the Himalayan region of Kashmir, which is divided between them but claimed in full by both. US President George W. Bush on Wednesday spoke with Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari. The White House said all had agreed on the need to avoid any increase in tensions. (Posted @ 12:06 PST)
Bangkok nightclub inferno kills 60 Thursday, 01 Jan, BANGKOK: A fierce fire ripped through a popular nightclub in the Thai capital Bangkok early Thursday as people were celebrating New Year, killing at least 60 people and injuring 212, rescuers said. The blaze broke out after a pyrotechnic display at the Santika club in the city's Ekkamai district, a thronging entertainment area frequented by locals and tourists. It was not clear if any foreigners were among the dead. The two-storey club was completely gutted by the fire, with the front of the building blackened and partially collapsed, an AFP correspondent said. Around 30 charred bodies were still inside the structure hours after the inferno. ‘It appears that the fire started from the area of the stage where a band was playing. There were some pyrotechnics and it appears that they started the blaze,’ Police Lieutenant Colonel Prawit Kantwol told AFP. (Posted @ 05:54 PST)
Record Sydney crowd gets New Year party started Thursday, 01 Jan, SYDNEY: A record crowd of up to 1.5 million Australians and tourists kicked off global New Year celebrations at Sydney's biggest-ever fireworks display by the city's world-famous Opera House Thursday. Sydney was the first major world city to see in the New Year, although New Zealand staged a dramatic fireworks display from Auckland's Sky Tower two hours earlier and 2009 officially kicked in on Kiritimati, or Christmas Island, in the Pacific Ocean, at 1000 GMT. Not everyone was in the mood for such lavish celebrations — India was set for a subdued New Year's Eve after the deadly attacks in Mumbai. Several Arab states cancelled planned celebrations in solidarity with Palestinians in the Islamist-run Gaza Strip who suffered a fifth straight day of Israeli bombardment on Wednesday. Egypt, Jordan, Dubai and Syria all cancelled festivities including concerts by renowned Arab singers, with Dubai ruler Sheikh Mohammad bin Rashed al-Maktoum giving the order ‘as a sign of solidarity with the brotherly Palestinian people...,’ his office said. (Posted @ 01:35 PST)
FBI team visits Fareedkot Thursday, 01 Jan, WASHINGTON: A five-member team of the US Federal Bureau of Investigation has visited Fareedkot, the alleged ancestral town of the lone surviving gunman blamed for the Mumbai terror attacks, media reports said. William Robert, FBI’s director for South Asia, headed the team, the reports added. An FBI spokesman, Richard Kolko, when contacted by Dawn to comment on the reports, said: ‘The FBI continues to assist Indian authorities with their investigation. We will work with the Indian authorities and our partners to follow leads wherever they may take us.’ When asked if an FBI team had visited Fareedkot, Mr Kolko said: ‘We are unable to provide details of what is being done. We refer you to Indian authorities or the US State Department for any additional information.’ Nadeem Kiani, a spokesman for the Pakistan Embassy in Washington, also refused to confirm or deny the reported visit. ‘We do not comment on ongoing investigations,’ he said. ‘We would refer you to US officials for information on FBI-led investigations.’ (Posted @ 12:57 PST)
Govt increases gas prices by 7.5 per cent Thursday, 01 Jan, ISLAMABAD: The government on Wednesday approved an average of 7.5 per cent increase in gas prices but at the same time rejected a proposal of the Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority (OGRA) of announcing up to 10 per cent cut in prices of petroleum products. Price of Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) has been raised by 10 per cent, a move against which the CNG association has announced in countrywide strikes. Independent Power Producers (IPPs) have to pay 17 per cent more for the gas they will consume. The increased rates will be implemented from January 1, and are based on the price of crude oil in the international market over the last six months. A notification in this regard will be announced shortly, official sources said. Rate of gas consumed by captive power plants, industrial consumers, fertiliser companies and power plants of the Water and Power Development Authority (Wapda) has been raised by 3 per cent. (Posted @ 12:06 PST)
Founder: Quaid-i-Azam Mohammad Ali Jinnah
Editor: Abbas Nasir
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