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| January 06, 2009 | Tuesday | Muharram 8, 1430 |
Updated round-the-clock, with major updates after 10:00 PST (05:00 GMT)
Gas shortages spread as Russia-Ukraine row flares Tuesday, 06 Jan, BRUSSELS: Gas shortages spread across Europe as far west as France and Italy on Tuesday as cuts in Russian supplies through Ukrainian pipelines escalated an increasingly bitter crisis in the depths of winter. With 17 European countries reporting sharp falls or a complete halt in Russian gas shipments, the European Union said 'the situation is completely unacceptable' and demanded the flow be restored. In the first sign of compromise, gas officials in Moscow and Kiev signalled that they were ready for further talks to resolve the problems. But both sides continued to trade blame publicly for the disruption. 'The Czech EU Presidency and the European Commission demand that gas supplies be restored immediately to the EU and that the two parties resume negotiations at once,' they said in a statement. (Posted @ 23:22 PST)
PML-N to push for bill to repeal 17th Amendment Tuesday, 06 Jan, LAHORE: The PML-N would move the bill for the repeal of 17th Amendment during the next session of the National Assembly, which starts from Jan 12, the party decided in a meeting here on Tuesday. The party leadership, which met with former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif in chair, also decided to start a membership campaign in January. According to party resources, the bill to revoke 17th Amendment would be finalised after consultation with other parties. About the PML-N stance on the amendment, Information Secretary Ahsan Iqbal says that the Charter of Democracy clearly lays down party position on the bill. The PML-N thinks that the entire amendment should go except for four points- joint electorate, lowering of voters’ age, women seats and increase in membership of the assemblies. (Posted @ 22:42 PST)
Israeli hits on Gaza schools as toll tops 635 dead Tuesday, 06 Jan, GAZA CITY: Israeli tanks and troops surged into towns across the Gaza Strip on Tuesday striking Hamas targets, but hits on three UN-run schools killed at least 45 people sparking urgent new ceasefire calls. Troops fought militants around the back alleys of Gaza's main city in the heaviest fighting of the 11-day-old offensive aimed at halting rocket attacks, but Hamas still made its deepest rocket strike yet into Israel. As the Palestinian death toll hit 635, Arab nations pressed for a UN Security Council resolution condemning the onslaught, but Israel rejected ceasefire calls by French President Nicolas Sarkozy and other leaders.'Europe must open its eyes,' President Shimon Peres told an EU ministerial delegation that demanded a truce. (Posted @ 22:02 PST)
US for ceasefire as Israeli warplanes fly over Lebanon Tuesday, 06 Jan, BEIRUT: Six Israeli warplanes on Tuesday flew over several regions of Lebanon in violation of a UN Security Council resolution, the Lebanese army said. 'At 9:00 a.m. two warplanes violated our airspace in the region of Kfar Kila (in the south) and flew over several other parts of the country before leaving at 11:20 a.m.,' a statement said. It added that four other planes later in the morning also carried out flights over various Lebanese regions. A drone meanwhile flew over Lebanon for much of the night Monday to Tuesday, the statement added. (Posted @ 21:12 PST)
Afghanistan, Pakistan hail ‘new’ relationship Tuesday, 06 Jan, KABUL: Afghanistan and Pakistan have a 'new relationship' and determination to defeat terrorism and extremism, President Hamid Karzai said Tuesday after talks with his counterpart Asif Ali Zardari. Islamabad and Kabul have been unable to rein in the militants that have been holed up in Pakistan's tribal areas since they fled Afghanistan after the US-led invasion that drove out the Taliban government in late 2001. The situation had strained relations between the two nations, with Karzai accusing Pakistan of not doing enough to shut down militant 'sanctuaries' on its soil and stop insurgents from crossing into Afghanistan. But Karzai said Tuesday after talks with Zardari, who was making his first official visit to Afghanistan since taking office in September last year, that a new era had begun (Posted @ 20:38 PST)
Arab League accuses US of blocking Gaza resolution Tuesday, 06 Jan, CAIRO: The Arab League accused the US on Tuesday of blocking a UN Security Council resolution calling for a ceasefire in Gaza, where 11 days of fighting have killed hundreds of Palestinians. Arab foreign ministers who went to the UN's New York headquarters to lobby for a resolution are 'facing difficulties and obstacles because of the US supportive stance toward Israel,' said Mohammed Subaih, Arab League deputy secretary general for Palestinian affairs. '(The US) wants more blood and wants to block a decision by the Security Council so Israel can continue its aggression and perform a cleansing operation' against Hamas, he told AFP. The Security Council is due to meet again on Tuesday to weigh an Arab call for an immediate ceasefire and for protection of Palestinian civilians (Posted @ 19:59 PST)
PM Singh: attacks supported by ‘official agencies’ Tuesday, 06 Jan, NEW DELHI: Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said on Tuesday that Pakistan was using terrorism as an ‘instrument of state policy’ and that the Mumbai attacks must have had support from some official agencies within the country, wire services reported. ‘Today even as Pakistan engages in whipping up war hysteria, our nation remains steadfastly united and if anything the process of national consolidation is becoming stronger,’ Singh told a conference in New Delhi. ‘The terrorist attack in Mumbai in November last year was carried out by a Pakistan-based outfit, the Lashkar-i-Tayiba,’ the Prime Minister asserted. (Posted @ 19:44 PST)
No-confidence vote against Sardar Atique passed Tuesday, 06 Jan MUZAFFARABAD, Pakistan: The prime minister of Pakistani-administered Kashmir was removed from office Tuesday in a no-confidence vote amid allegations of corruption and nepotism, officials said. Sardar Atique Ahmed was voted out, receiving only 17 votes against 31 in favour of Sardar Yaqub, who was sworn in as the new leader of the Pakistani part of the divided Himalayan territory, the officials said. Relations between India and Pakistan, which each rule part of Kashmir but claim it in full, have been tense since the Mumbai attacks in November, in which 172 were killed, including nine attackers. India has blamed the attack on the banned Pakistan-based militant group Lashkar-i-Taiba, which is fighting New Delhi's rule in Indian-administered Kashmir. (Posted @ 19:39 PST)
PCB awards new contracts, retains Malik as captain Tuesday, 06 Jan KARACHI: The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) on Tuesday awarded new central contracts to 26 players and retained Shoaib Malik as captain. Saleem Altaf, chief operating officer of the PCB, told a news conference in Lahore that all the players had been recommended for the annual contracts by the national selection committee. Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) chief operating officer Salim Altaf said seniority was the main criterion in deciding the contracts. ‘The central contracts were devised by coach Intikhab Alam, manager Yawar Saeed and chief selector Abdul Qadir and the main criteria was seniority of the players,’ Altaf told reporters. (Posted @ 19:06 PST)
Indian police stop Kashmir procession, 80 hurt Tuesday, 06 Jan, SRINAGAR: At least 80 people were wounded on Tuesday when Indian police broke up a procession by thousands of Shia Muslims in the disputed region of Kashmir, police said. The procession was marking Ashura, a ritual period of mourning for Shias marking the death of the grandson of the Prophet Mohammad. Public gatherings, including religious processions as well as marches by separatists, have not been allowed in Indian-administered Kashmir since a bloody rebellion against Indian rule broke out in 1989. Police said the mourners were led by a separatist group in Srinagar. (Posted @ 18:51 PST)
Taliban kill three policemen in Afghanistan Tuesday, 06 Jan, KABUL: Taliban militants raided a police post outside the southern Afghan city of Kandahar, killing three officers, while a pro-government cleric was gunned down in a city mosque, officials said on Tuesday. Three other police officers were missing after the insurgents attacked the post in Dand on the outskirts of the city on Monday, triggering a gunfight, regional police commander Ghulam Ali Wahdat told AFP. One was wounded in the exchange of fire, he said. ‘One of our posts in Dand was attacked by Taliban on Monday morning. Three of our policemen were martyred, three others are missing and another officer was injured,’ he said. Late Monday, men on motorbikes shot dead a pro-government mullah, as he was praying in a Kandahar mosque, provincial government spokesman Zalmai Ayoubi said. There was no claim of responsibility for the killing but the spokesman blamed the ‘enemies of Afghanistan’, a common phrase used to refer to the Taliban, who have been accused of several similar murders in Kandahar. (Posted @ 15:26 PST)
Policeman killed defusing bomb in Bannu: police Tuesday, 06 Jan, PESHAWAR: A policeman was killed Tuesday in the Northwest garrison town of Bannu while trying to defuse a remote-controlled bomb planted in a busy market, police told AFP. The incident took place near the border with North Waziristan, a tribal area bordering Afghanistan. Shoppers had alerted police to the bomb in the Pippal bazaar, local police chief Mohammad Alim Shinwari told AFP. The policeman was killed when the bomb exploded in his hands, he said. (Posted @ 12:01 PST)
Zardari, Karzai leaders due to meet on extremism Tuesday, 06 Jan, KABUL: Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari was due in Kabul on Tuesday for his first official visit to Afghanistan, which was likely to focus on how to tackle extremist violence straddling the common border. Zardari, who postponed a trip last month because of bad weather, is due to meet Afghan President Hamid Karzai shortly after arriving from Islamabad in the afternoon, the Pakistani embassy said. 'They will mainly be discussing bilateral relations, economic cooperation, trade and the regional situation,' embassy spokesman Naeem Khan told AFP. Asked if the resurgence of the extremist Taliban along the Afghan and Pakistan border would be a focus, he said: 'The regional situation covers all related topics.' The visit by Zardari, who will be accompanied by Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi, comes less than a week after Pakistan's army chief of staff General Ashfaq Kayani came here to discuss the fight against insurgents. At their last meeting in Istanbul in early December for Turkish-sponsored talks on measures to curb the rise of Islamist extremism in the region, they pledged to 'confront the scourge of terrorism in all its forms.' (Posted @ 11:49 PST)
PM Singh: attacks supported by ‘official agencies’ Tuesday, 06 Jan, NEW DELHI: Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said on Tuesday that Pakistan was whipping up war hysteria, and that the Mumbai attacks must have had support from some official agencies within the country, wire services reported. ‘Today even as Pakistan engages in whipping up war hysteria, our nation remains steadfastly united and if anything the process of national consolidation is becoming stronger,’ Singh told a conference in New Delhi. ‘The terrorist attack in Mumbai in November last year was carried out by a Pakistan-based outfit, the Lashkar-i-Tayiba.’ ‘There is enough evidence to show that, given the sophistication and military precision of the attack it must have had the support of some official agencies in Pakistan,’ Singh added. (Posted @ 10:59 PST)
Olmert rebuffs Sarkozy's call for Gaza ceasefire Tuesday, 06 Jan, JERUSALEM: French President Nicolas Sarkozy urged Israel on Monday to halt its war in Gaza, but was rebuffed by Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, who rejected any truce that fails to end the Islamist group's rocket attacks on Israel. Sarkozy met Olmert after talks with Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas and Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak. Sarkozy said after meeting Abbas: ‘We, Europe want a ceasefire as soon as possible. Time is working against peace. The weapons must be silenced and there must be a temporary humanitarian truce.’ But Olmert's response was that ‘the results of the operation must be...that Hamas must not only stop firing but must no longer be able to fire. We cannot accept a compromise that will allow Hamas to fire in two months against Israeli towns,’ his office quoted the premier as saying. (Posted @ 06:01 PST)
Obama picks Leon Panetta as CIA head Tuesday, 06 Jan, WASHINGTON: US president-elect Barack Obama has chosen former White House chief of staff Leon Panetta to head the Central Intelligence Agency, a Democratic Party official told AFP Monday. In turning to a political heavyweight with no direct background in intelligence, Obama appeared to be opting for someone who would bring fresh eyes and credibility to an agency battered by controversy over its conduct of the war on terrorism. ‘Here is a guy who will be very credible with the Democrats in Congress and here's someone who brings not only an outsider's perspective but knows how the White House works,’ said James Lewis, an intelligence expert at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. ‘He knows what presidents want and need. That's a plus,’ he said. Panetta was former president Bill Clinton's chief of staff from 1994 to 1997, following a 16-year career as a lawmaker from California. (Posted @ 05:28 PST)
Biden to visit Southwest Asia on tour Tuesday, 06 Jan, WASHINGTON: Vice president-elect Joe Biden will visit Southwest Asia this week with other US senators just days before he takes office alongside Barack Obama on January 20, officials said on Monday. The outgoing chairman of the Senate foreign relations committee will be joined on the trip by John Kerry, his successor as head of the powerful panel, Biden's Senate spokeswoman Elizabeth Alexander said. Citing security reasons, she said the delegation's itinerary would be released only once the mission was underway. But it will depart ‘later this week,’ she said in a statement. The destinations were not listed, but for US officials Southwest Asia typically includes Afghanistan, Pakistan and parts of the Middle East. And US leaders rarely visit Pakistan without also taking in India. ‘The purpose of this trip is fact-finding: in the coming months both the executive and legislative branches will carefully review US policy toward this region, and the trip will allow its participants to bring current and first-hand information to these reviews,’ Alexander said. (Posted @ 05:01 PST)
Turkey, Iran bomb Kurdish rebels in Iraq: PKK Tuesday, 06 Jan, QANDIL: Turkish warplanes and Iranian artillery bombarded Kurdish rebel hideouts in northern Iraq on Monday, a Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) spokesman said. ‘Turkish planes and Iranian artillery bombarded Aquwan and the Iranians bombarded Maradu. The bombardment lasted for about one hour starting from 7pm (1600 GMT),’ the spokesman, Ahmed Denis, told AFP. The spokesman had no immediate word on any casualties. The fresh bombardment of the remote mountains where the borders of Iraq, Iran and Turkey meet follows talks in Ankara on December 24 between Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his Iraqi counterpart Nuri al-Maliki. In those talks, the two governments agreed to step up cooperation against PKK rebels operating rear-bases in northern Iraq. Denis criticised the Iraqi position, accusing it of compromising its sovereignty. ‘How could they allow a neighbouring country to bombard their own land and people?’ he asked. (Posted @ 04:27 PST)
Boucher awarded Hilal-i-Quaid-i-Azam by Zardari Tuesday, 06 Jan, ISLAMABAD: President Asif Ali Zardari on Monday reiterated that Pakistan was committed to fighting terrorism and extremism in its own interest, adding that Pakistan has offered the best possible cooperation in the Mumbai incident. He appreciated the positive role played by the US for de-escalating the tense situation, an official announcement said. The President was talking to US Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asian Affairs, Richard Boucher, who called on him at President House on Monday. On this occasion, President Zardari conferred the award of Hilal-i-Quaid-i-Azam on Assistant Secretary Richard Boucher for his valuable services for strengthening Pakistan-US relations. Boucher thanked the President for this honour and vowed to continue his services for the cause of Pakistan-US relations in his current or any other capacity in the future. (Posted @ 03:22 PST)
Judiciary must be restored for progress: Chaudhry Tuesday, 06 Jan, MANSEHRA: The deposed Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry has said the unconstitutional act of November 3, could be put aside through a resolution in the national assembly or an executive order. ‘Until the November 3 judiciary is not restored, the country will continue to face economic, social, energy and other crises, if the government wants to address these issues, it should undo the unconstitutional act of November 3 through a resolution or through an executive order.’ Chaudhry expressed these remarks in his telephonic address to the District Bar Association, on the eve of its newly elected bodies’ oath taking ceremony on Monday. The deposed justice of Peshawar, Ijaz Afzal Khan, Additional and session Judge Zahid Mehmood Khan, president District Bar Association Shahjahain Khan Swati, and secretary general Qazi Tariq Zaheer were also present on the occasion. The Deposed CJ added that no country could survive until its judicial system was independent and impartial, and on November 3 the sanctity of the judiciary was violated. (Posted @ 02:53 PST)
Founder: Quaid-i-Azam Mohammad Ali Jinnah
Editor: Abbas Nasir
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