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| March 24, 2008 | Monday | Rabi-ul-Awwal 15, 1429 |
Updated round-the-clock, with major updates after 10:00 PST (05:00 GMT)
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 Pakistan parliament elects Yusuf Gilani Prime Minister ISLAMABAD, March 24 (Reuters/AFP): Pakistan's National Assembly on Monday elected Yusuf Raza Gilani Prime Minister. Gilani won with 264 votes in the 342-seat lower house of parliament. The only other contender, Chaudhry Pervez Elahi of the Pakistan Muslim League-Q that backs President Pervez Musharraf, won 42 votes. Supporters shouted “Long Live Bhutto!” and “Go, Musharraf, Go!” as the result was announced. Bhutto's teenage son Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, sitting in the public gallery, wiped away tears and then shook hands with Gilani. (First Posted @ 17:50 PST, Updated @ 18:00 PST)  PM Yusuf Gilani orders detained judges freed ISLAMABAD, March 24 (Reuters): Newly elected Pakistani Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani ordered on Monday the immediate release of all judges detained by President Pervez Musharraf after he imposed emergency rule in November. “I order the immediate release of detained judges of the superior judiciary,” Gilani told the National Assembly, shortly after it overwhelmingly voted for him to become prime minister. Gilani also appealed to judges to resolve disputes through parliament, not through protests. The prime minister also said he will ask parliament to pass a resolution seeking a U.N. probe into the assassination of Benazir Bhutto. (Posted @ 18:24 PST) Freed CJP emerges from house arrest ISLAMABAD, March 24 (AFP): Pakistan's deposed chief justice Iftikhar Chaudhry appeared on the balcony of his house Monday. He was accompanied by members of his family, his lawyers Aitzaz Ahsan and retired justice Tariq Mehmood. The chief justice waved to the crowd comprising members of civil society, lawyers and workers of political parties who headed for his residence soon after newly elected Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani ordered the release of the detained chief justice. The police began removing the barricades around his house after Prime Minister Gilani’s orders. (Posted @ 20:25 PST) Lawyers, civil society turn up outside deposed CJP’s home ISLAMABAD, March 24 (AP): Dozens of political party workers and lawyers turned up at the residence of Pakistan's deposed chief justice Iftikhar Chaudhry who has been under house arrest for more than four months. The breach came minutes after Pakistan's newly elected Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani told parliament he would order the immediate release of judges detained since President Pervez Musharraf declared a state of emergency in November. Riot police who had previously sealed Iftikhar Mohammed Chaudhry's property stood by as intruders reached the lawn in front of his house. A lawyer says Pakistan's deposed chief justice told him that he was “extremely grateful” to parliament for releasing him from house arrest. (Posted @ 19:24 PST)  Pakistan court acquits Asif Zardari in 1996 judicial murder case KARACHI, March 24 (AP): A Pakistani court Monday acquitted Asif Ali Zardari in the 1996 murder of a retired judge, prosecutor Naimatullah Randhawa said. Zardari was charged in 2002 with playing a role in the murder of retired judge Nizam Din and his son. The men were shot to death in Karachi in 1996. Randhawa said the court acquitted Zardari ''due to lack of evidence.'' (Posted @ 14:55 PST) State media quote municipal official as saying all deposed judges are free ISLAMABAD, March 24 (AP): Pakistan's state-run news agency quoting a senior Islamabad administrator said “all deposed judges are free.” It cited Islamabad Deputy Commissioner Amir Ahmed Ali as saying “the order of the prime minister has been implemented and all deposed judges are free to move.” (Posted @ 21:12 PST) 
Three killed, two injured in armed clash in Balochistan DALBANDIN, March 24 (APP) : Three people were killed and two others seriously injured in an armed clash between two groups of sub-clans of Notezai tribe on Monday afternoon, police told APP. (Posted @ 21:16 PST) Five killed in Iowa City shooting IOWA CITY, March 24 (AP): Police say a woman and four children have been found dead in an Iowa home. Police say in a statement the bodies were found Monday morning in a suburban area of Iowa City. Dispatchers got a call saying officers needed to get to the home immediately _ the caller then hung up. Officers who responded found the house unlocked and located five bodies inside. (Posted @ 20:40 PST) Police say 400 Tibetans detained in Nepal protests KATHMANDU, March 24 (AFP): About 400 people, most of them Tibetans, were detained in Nepal's capital Kathmandu on Monday at three separate rallies against Chinese rule of Tibet, police said. “We have 245 Tibetans currently in detention from protests this morning in front of the United Nations,” a senior police officer told AFP. Kathmandu's police chief said another 141 Tibetans and 14 Nepalese human rights activists were detained at two other separate protests later Monday. (Posted @ 19:20 PST) Two more deminers shot dead in northern Afghanistan KABUL, March 24 (AFP): Two more employees of a mine clearing team were shot dead in northern Afghanistan Monday, their organisation and the United Nations said, after five deminers were gunned down a day earlier. The two men were shot in the northern province of Kunduz after returning from a ceremony to hand over cleared mines to a community, the United Nations spokesman in Afghanistan told AFP. Another UN demining partner said earlier that five of its employees were shot dead in the northern province of Jawzjan on Sunday. Another seven were wounded, it said. (First Posted @ 11:05 PST Updated @ 18:18 PST) Six killed in Mogadishu fighting MOGADISHU, March 24 (AFP): Four police and two civilians were killed Monday when insurgents attacked policemen manning a checkpoint in southern Mogadishu's KPP neighbourhood, witnesses and police said. (Posted @ 17:00 PST) Israeli troops kill Palestinian on Gaza border GAZA, March 24 (Reuters): Israeli troops killed an unarmed Palestinian and wounded another during a clash with gunmen on the border of the Gaza Strip Monday, hospital officials and militant sources said. They said gunmen from the Popular Resistance Committees (PRC) faction fired at an Israeli army bulldozer performing maintenance work on the boundary fence near the southern town of Khan Younis. Soldiers shot back, hitting two civilians, one fatally, hospital officials said. The gunmen fled the scene. (Posted @ 16:30 PST) Cheney arrives in Turkey on last leg of regional tour ANKARA, March 24 (AFP): US Vice President Dick Cheney arrived in Turkey Monday on the final leg of an overseas tour that has taken him to Iraq, Afghanistan and the Middle East. Cheney, who flew in from Israel, is to meet Turkish President Abdullah Gul, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and other officials for talks expected to focus on Iraq, Afghanistan, Iran and the Middle East peace process. (First Posted @ 13:00 PST, Updated @ 16:15 PST) Kurds clash with Turkish police for 5th day ANKARA, Turkey, March 24 (AP): Police on Monday broke up a protest by hundreds of masked and stone-throwing Kurdish demonstrators during the fifth straight day of clashes that have killed two people and injured dozens, news reports said. Riot police fired rounds of tear gas canisters to disperse the crowd and were chasing the protesters in the town of Yuksekova, in Hakkari province, the Dogan news agency said. (Posted @ 15:25 PST) Car bomb explodes outside bank in Russia's Ingushetia region; several injured NAZRAN, Russia, March 24 (AP): A car bomb exploded outside a bank in southern Russia's Ingushetia region Monday, injuring at least five people, authorities said. A device exploded beneath a Mercedes parked on a central street in the regional capital, Nazran, the Ingush Interior Ministry and the regional emergency department said. Six people were injured, the emergency agency said, while a police officer at the site said five people were injured, four seriously, and that at least one was a police officer. (Posted @ 15:10 PST) 
Flame for Beijing Games lit at Olympia ANCIENT OLYMPIA, Greece, March 24 (AP): The flame for the August 8-24 Beijing Olympics was lit Monday using the sun's rays at a ceremony in Ancient Olympia. IOC President Jacques Rogge attended the ceremony at the site in southern Greece where the ancient Olympics were born. An actress dressed as a high priestess lit the flame using a convex mirror. (Posted @ 15:00 PST) Cricket- Pakistan to host Bangladesh after Australia tour blow KARACHI, March 24 (AFP): Pakistan Monday announced the itinerary for five one-day internationals and a Twenty20 match against Bangladesh next month in a tour arranged after Australia put off their series over security fears. Bangladesh will arrive on April 6 and play the first of five one-dayers in Lahore two days later. They also play matches in Faisalabad, Multan and Karachi. (Posted @ 14:25 PST) Three Afghan civilians, dozen Taliban killed KANDAHAR, Afghanistan, March 24 (AFP): Three Afghan villagers died Monday when a Taliban weapons cache exploded in southern Afghanistan and a dozen militants were killed in an operation a day earlier, police said. Four other villagers were wounded when weapons and explosives hidden in a stable in a village in Ghazni province blew up, provincial deputy police chief Mohammad Zaman told AFP. Separately 12 Taliban-linked rebels, including two militant commanders, were killed in an operation Sunday by international and Afghan forces in Uruzgan province further south, provincial police chief Juma Gul Hemat said. (Posted @ 14:25 PST ) Seven of a family killed in Kalam fire ISLAMABAD, March 24 (APP): Seven members of a family, including five children, were killed in Laikot Bala area of Kalam early Monday when their house caught fire, a private TV channel said. (Posted @ 13:15 PST )
100 injured in Torkham oil tanker blaze PESHAWAR, Pakistan, March 24 (AP): The number of persons injured has risen to 100 in the incident in which 40 trucks carrying fuel to U.S.-led forces in Afghanistan were destroyed in two bomb attacks on the Pakistani side of the Torkham customs post late Sunday, local government official Muhammad Iqbal Khan said. He said the blasts were from two bombs planted in a parking lot. (Posted @ 13:10 PST) Exiled Muslim leader rules out peace talks with Thai government BANGKOK, Thailand, March 24 (AP) - An exiled Muslim rebel leader ruled out peace talks with Thailand's new government, saying Monday that authorities have cultivated “conditions of war” that were not conducive to ending bloodshed in the restive south. Lukman B. Lima, who heads the Pattani United Liberation Organization from exile in Sweden, said such talks should be held in the presence of an international mediator. “We want to resolve the conflict through peaceful means, through civilized methods, without recourse to bloodbath and destruction of life,” Lukman said in a statement e-mailed to The Associated Press. But “peace talks cannot be held under the conditions of war, military aggression and occupation.” (Posted @ 11:10 PST) KLM pilot unaware of new airport flies across India BANGALORE, India, March 24 (AFP) - A KLM flight with 243 passengers on board headed for Hyderabad in India's south skipped its destination and flew across India because the pilot was unaware the city had a brand-new airport, a report said Monday. The confusion occurred barely hours after the Rajiv Gandhi International Airport in the Hyderabad suburb of Shamshabad became operational after midnight Saturday, with flights landing and taking off, said the Times of India. The pilot of the KLM flight, which had taken off from Amsterdam, at first headed towards Hyderabad's old airport and was told by air traffic control the facility had been shut, the report said. When directed to fly to the new airport, the unnamed pilot replied: “What's that?” and flew instead first to New Delhi, from where he took the plane to Mumbai after being declined permission to land, it said. The plane finally approached Hyderabad at 1:45 a.m. Indian time on Sunday. (Posted @ 11:00 PST) Shuttle crew prepares to leave station HOUSTON, March 24 (Reuters): Shuttle Endeavour astronauts on Sunday prepared to leave the International Space Station after a successful 12-day visit to install the first piece of a Japanese laboratory and assemble a Canadian maintenance robot. The shuttle is scheduled to depart the station on Monday. (Posted @ 10:30 PST) Landmark elections begin in Bhutan THIMPHU, March 24 (APP/AFP) - Voting began in the small Himalayan nation of Bhutan Monday, in elections that will select the country's first ever democratic government and mark the end of absolute royal rule. (Posted @ 10:15 PST) 4 dead, 1 missing as fishing boat sinks off Alaska; 42 crew members rescued ANCHORAGE, Alaska, March 24 (AP) - A fishing boat sank off Alaska's Aleutian Islands, leaving four crew members including the captain dead and another missing, the Coast Guard said. Forty-two of the 47 crew members were rescued. In a statement, the ship's owner said it did “not have sufficient information to determine why the vessel foundered.” (Posted @ 10:10 PST) 10 firefighters injured in Anaheim, California, factory blaze ANAHEIM, California, Mach 24 (AP) - Ten firefighters were injured in a blaze that broke out Sunday at a commercial building in Anaheim, California, near chemical storage tanks and took about two hours to extinguish. (Posted @ 10:05 PST) Cricket-West Indies 29-1 v Sri Lanka 476-8 dec MIAMI, March 23 (Reuters) - West Indies were 29 for one in reply to Sri Lanka's 476 for eight declared at the close of the second day of the first test in Georgetown, Guyana, on Sunday. (Posted @ 10:00 PST) Zawahri urges anti-Israel attacks over Gaza DUBAI, March 24 (Reuters) - Al Qaeda's second-in-command Ayman al-Zawahri called for attacks on Israeli and Western targets to avenge Israel's raids on the Gaza Strip, in an audio tape posted on the Internet on Monday. “Monitor the targets, collect the money, prepare the hardware, plan accurately and then attack,” he added, without specifically naming any targets. “No one can say today that we should fight the Jews in Palestine only.” The recording, posted on Web sites often used by al Qaeda and other Islamic militant groups, was produced by al Qaeda's media arm As-Sahab. Zawahri called for Muslims to support Palestinians in the Gaza Strip in the face of Israeli air strikes, but said demonstrations only served to let out steam, and that they should focus on armed struggle. “Let them know that they would bleed for every dollar they spend on killing Muslims,” Zawahri said. “They cannot ... insult our prophet and support Israel, and expect to live in peace in their countries,” he added. (Posted @ 10:00 PST) Four U.S. soldiers killed in Iraq, death toll 4,000 BAGHDAD, March 24 (Reuters) - The number of U.S. soldiers to die in Iraq reached 4,000 as four more soldiers were killed late on Sunday when a roadside bomb, the biggest killer of American soldiers in Iraq, exploded near their vehicle in southern Baghdad. One soldier was wounded in the attack. (Posted @ 09:55 PST) Cricket-England 416-5 (& 253) v New Zealand (168) NAPIER, New Zealand, March 24 (Reuters) - England were 416 for five, an overall lead of 501, at the close of play on the third day of the third test against New Zealand on Sunday. Scores: England 253 (Pietersen 129, Broad 42;.Southee 5-55) & 416-5 (Strauss 173 not out, Bell 110; Vettori 3-135) v New Zealand 168 (.Fleming 59; Sidebottom 7-47) (Posted @ 09:50 PST) Karachi Stocks up 188.34 points: KARACHI, March 24: At close of trading, the KSE-100 index was at 15182.21, up 188.34 points. (Bureau Report) (Updated @ 14:13 PST) Forex update: KARACHI, March 24: The Pakistani Rupee was traded at Rs 63.25 to the US Dollar in the open market. (Bureau Report) (Updated @ 14:13 PST)
Founder: Quaid-i-Azam Mohammad Ali Jinnah
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