- DAWN - RSS Feeds; January 05, 2009

January 05, 2009

Monday

Muharram 07, 1430

Updated round-the-clock, with major updates after 10:00 PST (05:00 GMT)

US-Pakistan increase military cooperation: WSJ Monday, 05 Jan, WASHINGTON: Military cooperation between Pakistan and the United States has increased recently as both try to eliminate militants destabilising the region, the Wall Street Journal reported on Monday. The newspaper noted this was a 'marked change' from last year's tense relations between the two countries. According to the report, the United States is now allowing Pakistani officers to view video feeds from unmanned drones flying over the country’s ungoverned border regions. The US is also granting access to American intercepts of militant cellular and satellite phone calls inside Pakistan. The Pakistani military is using the US intelligence to carry out strikes against militants in Fata. (Posted @ 23:32 PST)

Faiz Baluch is a victim of Pakistan geopolitics: lawyer Monday, 05 Jan, LONDON: A refugee in Britain accused of calling for terrorist attacks on Pakistan was a 'casualty of geopolitics' due to the west's backing for former president Pervez Musharraf, a London court heard Monday. Faiz Baluch, 27, was not a terrorist but was calling for self-defence of his homeland Balochistan, an oil-rich province in southwest Pakistan, said Helena Kennedy, representing him at Woolwich Crown Court. Baloch was the victim of close ties between Britain and the Pakistani government under Musharraf, who was courted by both London and the US administration in its 'war on terror' after September 11, 2001, said Kennedy. (Posted @ 23:18 PST)

First major Israel-Hamas fighting in Gaza City Monday, 05 Jan, GAZA CITY: Israeli troops and Hamas militants fought their first major battles in Gaza City on Monday night, military sources and witnesses said. Large explosions and heavy exchanges of fire rocked Shejaiya neighbourhood of eastern Gaza City as Israel pressed its campaign to halt Hamas rocket attacks. Hamas said in a statement that its fighters had fired missiles at seven tanks in the same district. The Islamic Jihad movement said several of its members were killed in the fighting. Israeli military sources confirmed that troops were involved in heavy clashes in that area. (Posted @ 23:02 PST)

Putin orders further cuts in gas pumped via Ukraine Monday, 05 Jan, NOVO OGAREVO: Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin on Monday ordered gas giant Gazprom immediately to cut gas pumped via Ukraine to Europe in response to Ukraine's alleged siphoning from pipelines. 'Start reducing it from today,' Putin told Alexei Miller after the Gazprom chief informed him of a plan to cut volumes of natural gas shipped through Ukraine by amounts equivalent to those Moscow has accused Ukraine of stealing. Russia cut its gas supply to Ukraine's domestic market on January 1 and has since accused Ukraine of illegally removing gas transiting its country for clients further downstream in Europe, a charge Ukraine has denied. Miller told Putin that Ukraine had since January 1 'stolen' 65.3 million cubic metres of gas that were supposed to have flowed through pipelines that cross its territory on to customers in the European Union. (Posted @ 21:57 PST)

Battles rage in Gaza as envoys appeal for truce Monday, 05 Jan, GAZA: Israeli tanks, planes and ground forces pounded Gaza on Monday and the defence minister said the offensive against Hamas militants in the Palestinian enclave would go on until Israel was safe.International efforts to secure a ceasefire moved ahead with French President Nicolas Sarkozy and Middle East special envoy Tony Blair visiting the region, but they seemed able to offer little beyond words. The death toll in besieged Gaza rose to at least 541 people over the 10-day offensive. Among Monday's victims were 13 members of a Palestinian family in an Israeli strike on their home in a Gaza refugee camp, Palestinian medical officials said. (Posted @ 21:54 PST)

Boucher urges Pak-India cooperation on Mumbai ISLAMABAD: Senior US diplomat Richard Boucher on Monday urged India and Pakistan to work together to investigate the Mumbai attacks, saying those behind the carnage will only be found if the South Asian rivals cooperate.Boucher, the US assistant secretary of state for South and Central Asia, arrived here early Monday for talks with Pakistani leaders in a bid to defuse tensions between New Delhi and Islamabad sparked by the attacks. .(Posted 21:00 PST)

Baghdad blasts kill two, wound dozens BAGHDAD: Two people were killed and dozens more wounded in Baghdad on Monday by multiple roadside bombings and one car bomb, security forces told AFP on Monday.'Two people were killed and six others were injured when an improvised explosive device (IED) targetting a police patrol blew up in central Baghdad,' the police said.(Posted 20:20 PST)

President Zardari to visit Kabul on Tuesday ISLAMABAD: President Asif Ali Zardari will make his first official trip to Afghanistan on Tuesday, a government official told AFP.Zardari had been due to visit Kabul last month for talks with Afghan President Hamid Karzai on how to tackle the resurgent Taliban, but his plane was unable to leave Islamabad due to bad weather.(Posted @ 20:05 PST)

NATO supply route opened for daytime operation PESHAWAR: The Khyber supply route for Western troops in Afghanistan were opened during daytime hours on Monday, a local official said, as the army wrapped up an anti-militant drive in the area.The administrator of the Khyber tribal area, Tariq Hayat, told reporters that the curfew along the Khyber Pass had been lifted from 8:00 am until 7:00 pm.(Posted @ 19:55 PST)

India points at Pakistan ‘establishment’ over Mumbai NEW DELHI: India's government on Monday said it was almost impossible to believe that the Pakistani establishment had no foreknowledge of the militant attacks against Mumbai.'It's hard to believe that something of this scale that took so long in preparation... could occur without anybody anywhere in the (Pakistan) establishment knowing that this was happening,' India's foreign secretary Shivshankar Menon told reporters.(Posted @ 19:10 PST)

Sri Lanka pile on huge lead against Bangladesh CHITTAGONG: Half centuries from Tillakaratne Dilshan, Thilan Samaraweera and Kumar Sangakkara helped Sri Lanka reach 296 for four in their second innings at the close of the third day of the second test against Bangladesh on Monday.The visitors, 1-0 up in the two-test series, extended their overall lead to 472 without losing a wicket in the final session.(Posted @ 18:15 PST)

Israel allows humanitarian aid into Gaza JERUSALEM: Israel allowed a convoy of humanitarian aid to enter the Gaza Strip on Monday, as it pressed on with a massive offensive on Hamas in the enclave, the army said.‘A convoy of 80 trucks transporting humanitarian aid has started to pass through the Kerem Shalom crossing’ in the south, a military spokesman said.(Posted @ 17:50 PST)

Stocks up by 2.14 per cent with bailout on way KARACHI: Shares in Pakistan gained for a second straight trading session on Monday, adding 2.14 per cent as investors eagerly await the launch of a government market bailout fund, dealers said.The Karachi Stock Exchange’s benchmark KSE-100 index gained 123.83 points to close at 5,917.4. At mid-session, the index had gained 162 points before dropping back.(Posted @ 17:35 PST)

Gunmen wound policeman in Greece shooting ATHENS: Unknown gunmen shot and seriously wounded a policeman in Athens on Monday, the second such attack since police shot dead a teenager last month prompting Greece's worst riots in decades.At least two assailants repeatedly fired semi-automatic weapons at a group of riot police guarding the Culture Ministry in the central Athens Exarchia district where the 15-year-old was killed on Dec. 6.(Posted @ 17:20 PST)

Pakistan will act if evidence is credible: Gilani ISLAMABAD: Pakistan said on Monday it was reviewing a dossier India handed over regarding the deadly Mumbai attacks in November, which triggered fresh tensions between the two rival countries, AFP reported.Meanwhile, Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani said the government remained committed to punishing Pakistani nationals accused of taking part in the Mumbai attacks if ‘credible’ evidence is given against them.(Posted @ 17:15 PST)

India hands over Mumbai evidence to Pakistan ISLAMABAD: India’s government said that it had handed over evidence on the Mumbai attacks to Pakistan and it expected a prompt investigation, Reuters reported earlier today.‘The material is linked to elements in Pakistan,’ the foreign ministry said in a statement. ‘It is our expectation that the Government of Pakistan will promptly undertake further investigations in Pakistan and share the results with us so as to bring the perpetrators to justice.’(Posted @ 16:45 PST)

Pakistan reviewing India’s Mumbai evidence dossier Monday, 05 Jan, ISLAMABAD: Pakistan said Monday it was reviewing a dossier India handed over regarding the deadly Mumbai attacks in November, which triggered fresh tensions between the two rival countries, AFP reported. India’s government said that it had handed over evidence on the Mumbai attacks to Pakistan and it expected a prompt investigation, Reuters reported earlier today. ‘The material is linked to elements in Pakistan,’ the foreign ministry said in a statement. ‘It is our expectation that the Government of Pakistan will promptly undertake further investigations in Pakistan and share the results with us so as to bring the perpetrators to justice.’ ‘We have today handed over to Pakistan evidence of the links with elements in Pakistan of the terrorists who attacked Mumbai on 26th November, 2008,’ Pranab Mukherjee told reporters.‘ What happened in Mumbai was an unpardonable crime. As far as the Government of Pakistan is concerned, we ask only that it implement the bilateral commitments that it has made at the highest levels to India, and practises her international obligations. These are clear,’ he added. In Islamabad, a foreign ministry spokesman confirmed that Pakistan's High Commissioner to India had received the file in New Delhi on Monday and had sent it to authorities back home. ‘The material has been received in Pakistan now and is being examined by concerned authorities,’ the spokesman said. (Posted @ 15:44 PST)

Omar Abdullah sworn in new Kashmir chief minister Monday, 05 Jan, JAMMU: Omar Abdullah, a young pro-India Muslim was sworn in on Monday as the new chief minister of revolt-hit Kashmir after elections that attracted a higher turnout than many politicians and voters expected. Abdullah, the 38-year-old leader of the National Conference, took the oath of office at a tightly guarded auditorium in Jammu, the state’s winter capital. Despite a boycott call by separatists and rebels, more than 60 per cent of voters took part in the polls, which came after a period of direct federal rule. Abdullah was backed by India’s ruling Congress party for the top job, after polls in the troubled Muslim-majority region produced no single party strong enough to form the government on its own. ‘I swear to uphold the sovereignty and integrity of India,’ said Abdullah, wearing a long black coat and white shalwar at the ceremony, which was attended by Congress party chief Sonia Gandhi. English-born Abdullah inherited the party leadership in 2002 from his father, Farooq Abdullah, but is seen as more moderate. (Posted @ 15:15 PST)

Israel allows humanitarian aid into Gaza Monday, 05 Jan, JERUSALEM: Israel allowed a convoy of humanitarian aid to enter the Gaza Strip on Monday, as it pressed on with a massive offensive on Hamas in the enclave, the army said. ‘A convoy of 80 trucks transporting humanitarian aid has started to pass through the Kerem Shalom crossing’ in the south, a military spokesman said. The aid included medicine and food which was sent from Egypt, Jordan, Greece and UN aid agencies, he said. The Nahal Oz terminal in the north was also opened on Monday to allow the transfer of 200,000 litres of fuel for Gaza’s electricity station as well as 120 tonnes of cooking gas, he said. The Erez crossing in the north meantime was opened to allow some 200 Palestinian holders of foreign passports to leave the territory. (Posted @ 14:21 PST)

Pakistan reviewing India’s Mumbai evidence dossier Monday, 05 Jan, ISLAMABAD: Pakistan said Monday it was reviewing a dossier India handed over regarding the deadly Mumbai attacks in November, which triggered fresh tensions between the two rival countries, AFP reported. India’s government said that it had handed over evidence on the Mumbai attacks to Pakistan and it expected a prompt investigation, Reuters reported earlier today. ‘The material is linked to elements in Pakistan,’ the foreign ministry said in a statement. ‘It is our expectation that the Government of Pakistan will promptly undertake further investigations in Pakistan and share the results with us so as to bring the perpetrators to justice.’ ‘We have today handed over to Pakistan evidence of the links with elements in Pakistan of the terrorists who attacked Mumbai on 26th November, 2008,’ Pranab Mukherjee told reporters. ‘ What happened in Mumbai was an unpardonable crime. As far as the Government of Pakistan is concerned, we ask only that it implement the bilateral commitments that it has made at the highest levels to India, and practises her international obligations. These are clear,’ he added. (Posted @ 12:44 PST)

Taliban kill three ‘US spies’ in Pakistan: official Monday, 05 Jan, MIRANSHAH: Taliban militants executed three people in a restive Pakistani tribal region near the Afghan border after accusing them of spying for the United States, officials told AFP Monday. The body of a 25-year-old local tribesman was found Monday hung upside down in a tree in the town of Naurak in North Waziristan, residents and security officials said. The man had been kidnapped from the region’s main town of Miranshah last week. The bullet-riddled bodies of two Afghan refugees were dumped on a roadside in the same area, a security official said. Notes found near the bodies said ‘they were found guilty of spying for the US forces in Afghanistan,’ he added. Militants have killed dozens of local tribesmen and Afghan refugees on charges of spying, mainly for the Pakistani government or US forces operating across the border in Afghanistan. (Posted @ 11:04 PST)

Israel presses on with Gaza attack as casualties mount Monday, 05 Jan, GAZA: Israeli forces on Monday pressed on with a deadly ground, sea and air assaults against Hamas militants in the Gaza Strip that has cut the territory in two as France spearheaded diplomatic efforts to obtain a truce, Reuters reports. A Hamas official said a delegation of the Islamist group would head for talks in Egypt, which has also launched contacts to achieve a ceasefire to end Israel’s 10-day-old offensive. Explosions from gunfire rocked Gaza overnight after Israeli soldiers moved into a northern zone and asked residents to leave their homes to avoid being hurt in the fighting. Some families sought refuge in nearby United Nations run schools. Israeli aircraft bombed more than 30 targets overnight, including several homes of Hamas members used as weapons depots, tunnels and a suspected anti-aircraft rocket launcher, a military spokeswoman said. There were no reported casualties. (Posted @ 10:13 PST)

India hands over Mumbai evidence to Pakistan Monday, 05 Jan, NEW DELHI: India’s government said that it had handed over evidence on the Mumbai attacks to Pakistan on Monday, and it expected a prompt investigation, Reuters reported. ‘The material is linked to elements in Pakistan,’ the foreign ministry said in a statement. ‘It is our expectation that the Government of Pakistan will promptly undertake further investigations in Pakistan and share the results with us so as to bring the perpetrators to justice.’ The coordinated strikes in Mumbai by 10 gunmen killed 179 people. The evidence presented to Pakistan included details of a confession from the one surviving gunman, details of communications links with ‘elements in Pakistan’, and data retrieved from GPS and satellite phones, the ministry said. A response by the Pakistan government is awaited. (Posted @ 09:54 PST)

Obama's commerce pick Richardson bows out Monday, 05 Jan, WASHINGTON: Bill Richardson, president-elect Barack Obama's pick to be commerce secretary, said Sunday he was withdrawing his name owing to an investigation into a company doing business with his state of New Mexico. In a joint statement, Obama said he accepted the New Mexico governor's withdrawal ‘with deep regret’ and said he would move quickly to find a replacement as he prepares to take office on January 20. Richardson said he had asked Obama to pull his name from the Senate confirmation process with ‘great sorrow’. ‘But a pending investigation of a company that has done business with New Mexico state government promises to extend for several weeks or, perhaps, even months,’ he said in the statement, without going into details. The Commerce Department is not in the front lines of US economic policy-making. But Richardson, the nation's most prominent Hispanic politician, is a heavy-hitter and he becomes the first big name to quit the putative Obama administration. (Posted @ 08:07 PST)

Oil prices higher in Asia on Mideast conflict Monday, 05 Jan, SINGAPORE: World oil prices rose in Asian trade Monday, fuelled by the ongoing conflict in the Middle East after Israel stepped up its military onslaught on Gaza, analysts said. New York's main contract, light sweet crude for February delivery, gained 65 cents to 46.99 dollars a barrel. The contract closed 1.74 dollars higher at 46.34 Friday on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Brent North Sea crude for February delivery was trading 1.09 dollars higher at 48.00 dollars Monday after closing 1.32 dollars higher at 46.91 dollars Friday. ‘The Gaza conflict added to the geopolitical risk premium embodied in the oil price,’ said David Moore, a Sydney-based commodity strategist with the Commonwealth Bank of Australia. (Posted @ 07:57 PST)

Earthquake rattles Afghanistan, Pakistan Monday, 05 Jan, KABUL: A strong earthquake shook northeastern Afghanistan and Pakistan early Monday, sending people running from their homes, but there were no immediate reports of damage, witnesses and officials said. The 6.0-magnitude quake struck at 3:43 am, around 275 kilometres northeast of the Afghan capital Kabul and near the border with Pakistan, the US Geological Survey said. The quake, which struck in the remote Hindu Kush mountain range, was registered at a depth of 190 kilometres, it said. Shockwaves were felt as far away as Islamabad, where people ran from their homes fearing that buildings would collapse, an AFP correspondent in the Pakistani capital said. There were no immediate reports of any casualties or major damage. Northern Afghanistan and Pakistan are often hit by earthquakes, especially around the Hindu Kush range near the collision of the Eurasian and Indian tectonic plates, where seismic activity is high. (Posted @ 06:47 PST)

Israel moves deeper into Gaza as death toll climbs Monday, 05 Jan, GAZA CITY: Tens of thousands of Israeli troops battled Hamas fighters in Gaza early on Monday amid tank, artillery and air strikes as the death toll from the offensive to end rocket attacks passed 510. Israeli forces moved into the fringe of Gaza City as families fled or hid on the second night of combat. The Israeli government fought off intense international pressure over its biggest military operation since its 2006 war in Lebanon, with French President Nicolas Sarkozy headed to the region, as well as Russian and EU delegations. At least 63 Palestinians have been killed by tank shells or missiles fired from warplanes since the ground offensive began on Saturday night, Gaza medics said. (Posted @ 05:42 PST)

France foils Somali pirate attacks, holds 19 Monday, 05 Jan, PARIS: A French warship Sunday foiled attempts by Somalian pirates in the Gulf of Aden to seize two cargo vessels and intercepted 19 people, the French president's office said. ‘Three days after a French vessel thwarted an attack on a Panamanian cargo ship’ the frigate Jean de Vienne conducted a ‘decisive action’ against ‘two new attacks’ it said in a statement. ‘The 19 Somali pirates who tried to seize the two boats were intercepted,’ it added, saying they carried weapons, ammunition and material for boarding ships. ‘They will be transferred to the Somali authorities,’ it added. The French defence ministry said pirates attempted to attack a Croatian and a Panamanian ship and that French forces seized assault rifles, two rocket launchers, and more than 1,000 litres of oil. -AFP (Posted @ 04:51 PST)

Load shedding to end from February assures Ashraf Monday, 05 Jan, ISLAMABAD: Minister for Water and Power Raja Pervaiz Ashraf Sunday said load shedding would be exterminated completely from the country from February 2009 up to the advent of the summer season. Talking to Express News, he said the shortfall of 4,500 mw has been narrowed up to 2,500 mw in last 24 hours due to prudent measures taken to cope with the menace. Elaborating, he said, the independent power producers have been paid Rs700 billion thus ensuring increased power generation from them. He said the situation was not as bad as being propagated. The shortfall has been narrowed up to 2,500 MW as compared to 4,200 MW during the same period last year. Various short and long term measures are being contemplated to tackle the menace of load shedding in the country, he said and added that a Turkish company would start rental power generation from a ship stationed in Karachi. (Posted @ 02:36 PST)

Gaza crisis forces Rice to cancel China trip Monday, 05 Jan, WASHINGTON: US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has canceled a planned trip to China this week to deal with Israel's military offensive in Gaza, the State Department said Sunday. ‘Due to events in the Middle East, Secretary Rice will not be able to travel to Beijing, China, as she had expected,’ State Department spokesman Fred Lash said in a statement. He said Rice's deputy John Negroponte will travel instead to Beijing on Wednesday for what was scheduled to be her final trip as secretary of state, to mark 30 years of Sino-US diplomatic relations. With Israel launching a ground attack on Hamas-held Gaza, the State Department says it is working toward a ceasefire but does not want a ‘status quo ante’ in which the Palestinian group can fire rockets at Israel. (Posted @ 02:03 PST)

Khamenei warns Iraqi PM against US pact Monday, 05 Jan, TEHRAN: Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on Sunday warned Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki against a security pact with the United States, the official IRNA news agency reported. ‘Americans do not have a real friendship even with their close allies in the region so their promises should not and cannot be trusted,’ Khamenei told Maliki, who was on a two-day visit to Tehran. ‘The presence of US and British forces in Iraq is the main source of terrorism and internal disputes,’ he added. ‘One of the United States' main objectives is to create a base for a long term presence and rule in the region,’ the leader was quoted as saying. (Posted @ 01:42 PST)

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