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| April 15, 2006 | Saturday | Rabi-ul-Awwal 16, 1427 |
Updated round-the-clock, with major updates after 10:00 PST (05:00 GMT)
President Musharraf, Crown Prince Sultan pledge closer ties ISLAMABAD, Apr 15 (APP): President General Pervez Musharraf and Saudi Crown Prince Sultan bin Abdul Aziz Al Saud on Saturday expressed a shared resolve to further invigorate their close ties through increased trade and economic cooperation. Speaking at a banquet, hosted in honour of the visiting Saudi Crown Prince, the two leaders pledged to impart further depth and strength to their multi-faceted relationship. Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz, members of federal cabinet, services chiefs, foreign diplomats, notable citizens and senior officials attended the banquet. In his speech, President Musharraf said Pakistan is for further expanding its economic and political ties with Saudi Arabia by taking the trade and commerce ties to new heights. He looked forward to forging greater cooperation in the defence production and training between the armed forces of the two countries. President Musharraf expressed Pakistani nation's profound gratitude to the brotherly people of Saudi Arabia for extending prompt and generous financial support in the aftermath of last October's earthquake. (First Posted @ 23:05 PST Updated @ 23:45 PST)
Saudi crown prince arrives in Pakistan ISLAMABAD, April 15 (AFP) Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Sultan Bin Abdul Aziz began Saturday a two-day visit to Pakistan during which he is expected to discuss a possible arms deal. President Pervez Musharraf and Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz received the prince, who is also deputy premier and defence and aviation minister, at the Chaklala military air base. Foreign ministry spokeswoman Tasnim Aslam said the visit was part of high level contacts with Saudi Arabia with which "we have unique and important relationship. She said the discussions would focus on defence cooperation and other areas of close bilateral relations. Official sources told AFP that Saudi Arabia, which has longstanding defence ties with Pakistan, was interested in buying Pakistan-made Al-Khalid tanks and this would be part of his discussions here. (Posted @ 17:15 PST)
Rs. 64 bln required for reconstruction, rehabilitation of quake-ravaged areas of AJK MUZAFFARABAD, April 15 (APP): Rs. 64 billion are required for the reconstruction and rehabilitation of quake-ravaged areas of Azad Kashmir while Rs. 9 billion schemes have been approved so far and work on these schemes will be started soon. At a high level meeting attended by AJK President Major General (Retd) Sardar Muhammad Anwar Khan, AJK Prime Minister Sardar Sikandar Hayyat Khan said that the opposition will be taken into confidence in the reconstruction works. They would also be included in the committees being constituted for payment of cash compensation to the affectees. He said $ 85 million have been earmarked to pay subsistence allowance to the vulnerable survivors for a period of six months.(Posted @ 19:40 PST)
U.S. Marine dies in vehicle accident in Anbar province, military says BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) _ An American Marine assigned to 1st Marine Logistics Group died in a vehicle accident in Anbar province west of Baghdad, the U.S. military said Saturday. The Marine, whose name was not released, died Friday. The death was ``not a result of enemy action,'' a statement said.(Posted @ 23:20 PST)
Rumsfeld is staying, says Commander-in-Chief Bush WASHINGTON, April 15 (AP) _ At least twice during the Iraqi prisoner abuse scandal, Defence Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld offered President George W. Bush his resignation. On Friday, amid growing criticism of his stewardship of the war from retired generals who waged it, the issue never came up when the U.S. president and his Pentagon chief spoke. Bush offered Rumsfeld his full support. And at no time did Rumsfeld offer to step down, according to a senior defence official familiar with the call who spoke on condition of anonymity because the call was private. The president said in a statement that Rumsfeld's stewardship at the Pentagon was crucial for the United States. ``Earlier today, I spoke with Don Rumsfeld about ongoing military operations in the global war on terror,'' the president said. ``I reiterated my strong support for his leadership during this historic and challenging time for our nation.''(Posted @ 20:20 PST)
Saudi Arabia agrees to take workers from quake-affected areas ISLAMABAD, Apr 15 (APP): Saudi Arabia has agreed to allocate a special quota for taking workers from earthquake- affected areas, Federal Minister for Labour, Manpower and Overseas Pakistanis, Ghulam Sarwar Khan said Saturday at a news conference on return from a week's visit to the kingdom.(Posted @ 19:52 PST)
Lebanon PM to seek Bush's help on Israeli pullout BEIRUT, April 15 (Reuters) - Lebanon's prime minister said on Saturday he would ask President George W. Bush next week to put pressure on Israel to pull out of a border strip to enable his government to extend its authority over all Lebanese land. "We would expect the United States to extend its real support to Lebanon and this would help Lebanon to re-emphasise and reconfirm its sovereignty and its independence," Siniora told Reuters in an interview at his office in central Beirut.(Posted @ 19:28 PST)
Arabs ask Hamas to adopt Arab-Israeli peace initiative CAIRO, April 15 (AFP) - The Arab League Saturday asked the Hamas-led Palestinian government to adopt the Arab-Israeli peace initiative after a meeting between Palestinian foreign minister Mahmoud Zahar and League Secretary General Amr Mussa. The representatives of the 22-member organization "have asked the government of Hamas to accept the Arab initiative," Zahar told reporters after the meeting, adding that he would relay the message to his government "to examine the issue." The Arab Initiative, adopted at the Beirut summit in 2002, calls on Arab governments to normalize ties with Israel in exchange for a full Israeli withdrawal from Arab territories according to the 1967 borders and the establishment of a Palestinian state. The proposal has been rejected by Israel. Following his meeting with Mussa, Zahar addressed the representatives of the Arab states at the League's headquarters in Cairo and called on their governments to fulfill their promises of financial aid to the Palestinians.(Posted @ 19:28 PST)
Pakistani troops kill attacker outside tribal town MIRANSHAH, Pakistan, April 15 (Reuters) - Troops shot dead a militant who threw a grenade wounding at least two soldiers near Miranshah, the main town in North Waziristan tribal region close to the Afghan border, security officials said on Saturday. The grenade attack took place as a military convoy approached the outskirts of Miranshah. Residents said they believed the explosion was caused by something more powerful than a grenade.(Posted @ 19:04 PST)
Pakistan keeps hopes alive to play in WC defeating Egypt 2-1 Changzhou (China), April 15 (APP): Pakistan hockey team kept hopes alive to play in the world cup final this year, after defeating Egypt 2-1 here Saturday. Pakistan's points in the World Cup qualifying tournament after two wins and a draw reached 7. Mudassar Ali Khan and Imran Warsi scored for Pakistan while Ahmad Mohammad scored for Egypt. To ensure a place in the world cup, Pakistan has to win the remaining two matches against England and Ireland, scheduled for April 17 and 19 respectively, said team manager Saeed Khan. In the other matches, England beat Canada 5-2 to remain on top with full points after three matches, while Belgium consolidated its position by defeating Ireland 1-0. (Posted @ 17:55 PST)
Car bomb explosion in eastern Baghdad kills at least five Iraqis BAGHDAD, April 15 (AP) A car bomb parked near a restaurant in eastern Baghdad exploded at lunchtime Saturday, killing at least five civilians and wounding nearly 25 people, police said. At least four policemen were among those wounded in the bombing. The explosion also damaged nearby shops and cars, police 1st. Sgt. Sabah Mohsen said. At least five Iraqis were killed in other attacks. A roadside bomb exploded near an Iraqi army patrol in the southern Baghdad neighborhood of Dora, killing three soldiers and=wounding three others, the army said. At least one civilian was killed and two others wounded in fierce fighting between insurgents and the army in Fallujah, police Lt.Mohammed Khalaf said. Several cars were set on fire in the clash, he said. In Basra, four gunmen killed the director of traffic police as he was driving to work, police said. (Posted @ 17:25 PST)
Roadside bomb in Chechnya wounds two servicemen ROSTOV-ON-DON, Russia, April 15 (AP) A roadside bomb in the southeastern Vedeno district in Chechnya on Friday wounded two Russian servicemen, the regional Interior Ministry said Saturday. Separatists have fought two wars against Russian federal forces and their local allies in the past 12 years in this restive southern region and the violence has increasingly spilled over into neighbouring provinces. (Posted @ 17:15 PST)
US and Iraqi forces killed BAGHDAD, April 15, 2006 (AFP) US and Iraqi forces suffered further casualties Saturday as talks on forming a new government four months after elections floundered over a bid by Ibrahim Jaafari to remain premier. Two US marines were killed in a rebel attack, the military announced Saturday, bringing its death toll since the beginning of the month to about 35. It said 22 other marines were wounded in the attack, but did not provide details. Three Iraqi army soldiers were also killed Saturday when the convoy in which they were travelling was hit by a roadside bomb in Baghdad's dangerous Al-Dura neighbourhood. Eight soldiers were wounded. (Posted @ 17:05 PST)
Tension in M A Jinnah Road area, markets closed Karachi, April 15 (PPI): Some city areas including M A Jinnah Road near Civil Hospital and KMC Building remained in grip of tension here on Saturday. Shops and markets in the area remained closed. This followed when a group of unidentified armed men, riding motorcycles, tried to set a car on fire at the Lighthouse area, but the police foiled their bid. They raced away firing in the air. Heavy presence of law enforcement agencies was witnessed in the city on the occasion of Soyem of martyred Sunni Tehreek and Jamaat Ahle Hadith leaders. (Posted @ 15:40 PST)
Iran incapable of nuclear weapon: Russian military chief MOSCOW, April 15 (AFP) Iran is incapable of producing a nuclear weapon now or in the distant future, Russia's highest-ranking military officer said Saturday, Russian news agencies reported. "I can confidently say that what Iran is doing today does not allow it the possibility, either in the near or distant future, to make a nuclear weapon," chief of staff General Yury Baluyevsky was quoted as saying by Interfax and ITAR-TASS. Baluyevsky characterised Iran's military capability as being aimed only "at preventing military action" against the country, ITAR-TASS reported. However, he did not rule out that materials used in the controversial civilian nuclear programme "could be used also in the creation of a nuclear weapon." (Posted @ 16:50 PST)
41 Taliban, six police killed in major Afghan battle KANDAHAR, April 15 (AFP) Forty-one suspected Taliban and six policemen were killed in a major battle southwest of Kandahar city in an area where Taliban leader Mullah Omar once lived, governor Assadullah Khalid said Saturday. The battle lasted almost the entire day Friday, with helicopters from the US-led coalition firing rockets in support of Afghan forces on the ground. "In the result, 41 Taliban were killed, a big number of them were wounded," he said. "Six police were martyred, nine police were wounded," he said, adding that three civilians were also wounded and 13 Taliban arrested. The dead included a district police chief while a district governor was among the wounded, he said. A Taliban spokesman said the battle had started with a Taliban attack. The spokesman, Yousuf Ahmadi, only acknowledged two Taliban deaths and said three were wounded. "Late in the day the US planes appeared and Taliban escaped the area. Lots of civilians were killed by the bombing in the village," he said by telephone from an unknown location. Two wounded civilians and four wounded police were in hospital in Kandahar city, an AFP reporter said. (Posted @ 10:30 PST Updated @ 16:40 PST)
Pakistan opposed to arms race in region; PM KAKUL (Abbotabad), April 15 (APP): Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz Saturday said Pakistan is opposed to arms race in the region and was pursuing a national security strategy to secure country's national integrity, solidarity and economic sovereignty. Addressing the commissioning parade of batches of 113 Long Course, 18 Technical Graduate Course and 32nd Integrated Course at the Pakistan Military Academy, he said Pakistan's strategic capability was sufficient to meet current and future challenges. "Peace is achieved through strength and not weakness and as a responsible nuclear weapon state, we adhere to the doctrine of minimum credible deterrence," he added. He said Pakistan has also developed a strong command and control structure to protect its strategic assets. (Posted @ 16:30 PST)
KASHMIR: Troop withdrawal must: Mirwaiz JAMMU, occupied Kashmir, April 15 PPI) Chairman of the All Parties Hurriyat Conference, Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, describing demilitarization as the inevitable Confidence Building Measure (CBM) said it will be the first step towards Kashmir solution, Kashmir Media Service reported. Addressing a rally in Rajouri in connection with APHC's mass contact campaign he said Rajouri, Poonch and the occupied valley on both sides of Jammu-Srinagar Highway tunnel have been turned into a military garrison. "Last time when I went to Kaman Post, I was shocked by the heavy deployment of troops. Such is the deployment that from Uri onwards only troops are visible and hardly any civilians". He said Kashmir was not an economic issue, which could be solved by dolling out packages. India should understand that Kashmir issue remained there despite so many packages. "India also tried to muzzle voice of the people but it didn't succeed," he said. Lauding people of Rajouri for the sacrifices they have made for the cause over the last over fifty years, Mirwaiz said he was aware of their plight and sufferings. Senior Hurriyat leaders Maulvi Abbas Ansari, Agha Syed Hassan, Bilal Ghani Lone and Nayeem Ahmad Khan are accompanying Mirwaiz on his tour to this border district, worst hit by military tyranny during the last couple of decades in particuilar. (Posted @ 16:25 PST)
Relief: EU grants Euro 9 million for rehabilitation ISLAMABAD, April 15 (PPI) The European Union has granted additional Euro nine million for UNDP’s "Community Based Livelihood Recovery Programme for Earthquake Affected Areas of AJK & NWFP". The signing ceremony of the three year project which will benefit approximately 73,527 families took place Saturday. (Posted @ 16:05 PST)
Occupied Kashmir; Three Martyred,2 Soldiers Killed Srinagar, April 15 (PPI) In occupied Kashmir, the Indian troops, in their fresh act of state-terrorism, martyred three more Kashmiri youth, at Bhagwa in Doda district, repots Kashmir Media Service. One trooper of Rashtriya Rifles was killed in an attack in Ashmuqam area of Islamabad district. Another soldier died in a road accident in Rajouri. Twenty troops were injured and two military vehicles completely damaged in yesterday's serial grenade attacks in Srinagar, KMS report said. The troops, during house raids, arrested 13 persons from Srinagar and Kokernag areas. (Posted @ 14:10 PST Updated @ 15:56 PST)
Afghan district governor killed in Taliban ambush KANDAHAR, Afghanistan, April 15, 2006 (AFP) Taliban insurgents gunned down an Afghan district governor Saturday in an ambush in Helmand province, police said. Abdul Majeed, the governor for the province's Baghran district, was killed in his car, a district police chief said. A Taliban spokesman claimed the attack. He also claimed that seven Afghan policemen were also killed. (Posted @ 14:15 PST)
Sri Lanka rebels ambush bus, kill four - army COLOMBO, April 15 (Reuters) Sri Lanka's army said on Saturday Tamil Tiger rebels had killed four soldiers and wounded five in a claymore fragmentation mine attack on an army bus. (Posted @ 14:15 PST)
Palestinian security men protest over salary crunch GAZA, April 15 (Reuters) Dozens of masked Palestinian security men stormed a government building in the Gaza Strip on Saturday demanding the Hamas-led administration pay overdue salaries. The security men burst into a government building in the town, briefly occupying offices and forcing workers to leave. They also blocked a main road leading south to Rafah, on the border with Egypt. Salaries for the 140,000 employees on the Palestinian Authority's payroll are two weeks overdue. (Posted @ 14:15 PST)
Sri Lankan Tamil Tigers pull out of Switzerland talks BATTICALOA, Sri Lanka, April 15 (Reuters) Sri Lanka's Tamil Tiger rebels said on Saturday they would pull out of talks with the government in Switzerland due to a dispute over the transport of eastern rebel commanders to their northern base. The head of the Tiger peace secretariat, S. Puleedevan, said the Tigers were concerned about Sri Lankan navy plans to monitor a civilian sea transport escorting unarmed Nordic truce monitors that was to have taken the rebel commanders on Saturday. "We have cancelled the transport. If we cannot meet them, Geneva is off," Puleedevan said. (Posted @ 10:05 PST)
US military buys back stolen flash drives from Afghan shopkeepers BAGRAM, Afghanistan (AP) American investigators armed with a ``box full'' of cash have paid thousands of dollars to buy back stolen computer drives, many of which contain sensitive military data, shopkeepers outside the main U.S. military base in Afghanistan said. But dozens of the memory sticks are still on sale five days after news broke of the security breach that has seen U.S. generals' Social Security numbers leaked, reportedly along with a list of military spies. A U.S. military spokesman said Friday he could not comment because an investigation was ongoing. Shopkeepers let an Associated Press reporter review about 40 of the drives on a laptop computer Friday. Most were blank or did not work, but three contained data, including a soldier's military discharge certificate, troop resumes and photographs of Air Force One during U.S. President George W. Bush's visit to Afghanistan last month. (Posted @ 09:50 PST)
Storms in China kill 21 BEIJING (AP) Torrential rains in central and eastern China have killed 21 people and destroyed thousands of houses, the government said Saturday. Storms in the central province of Hubei killed 11 people and forced 37,000 to flee their homes, the official Xinhua News Agency said. It said 11,000 houses were destroyed. In Jiangxi province in the east, rains killed 10 people and caused 800 million yuan in damage, the government said. (Posted @ 09:40 PST)
Indonesia train crash kills 14, injures 12 JAKARTA, April 15 (Reuters) Two trains collided in Indonesia's Central Java province on Saturday killing 14 people and injuring 12, police said. The early-morning accident occurred when two trains bound from Jakarta to Surabaya, Indonesia's second city, collided, a police official at Gubug near the crash site said. (Posted @ 09:20 PST)
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