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Suicide blast near Nato base, Afghan casualties

KHOST: A suicide bomber detonated near a Nato base in eastern Afghanistan on Monday, with initial reports saying several Afghan children and adults were wounded, local and US officials said.
The blast struck near Camp Salerno, a mainly US base on the outskirts of the town of Khost, about 40 kilometres from the border with Pakistan, the officials said.
‘There was an explosion in the vicinity of Salerno... initial reports indicate it was a suicide vehicle,’ a spokeswoman for Nato’s International Security Assistance Force (Isaf) in eastern Afghanistan told AFP.
First reports said five Afghan children, a woman and a man were wounded, said the spokeswoman, Lieutenant Colonel Rumi Nielson-Green.
‘There are no Isaf forces being reported as casualties so far,’ she said.
The blast appeared to have been aimed at a smaller Isaf base near Salerno, she said. Camp Salerno is the biggest US base in eastern Afghanistan.
Afghan interior ministry spokesman Zemarai Bashary told AFP there had been a suicide attack but had no information on casualties.

suffering Alone

As the death toll passes the 1,100 mark in the ongoing Israeli operation in Gaza, Palestinians living in Pakistan remain glued to their television sets, scanning graphic images of the dead and wounded for familiar faces, waiting for the worst. Sadly, they find little support in their adopted homeland during this ordeal.
During the 1970s, there were over 8,000 Palestinians in Pakistan. Now, however, there are 450 Palestinian students and 25 Palestinian families living across the country, according to Jaser Ahmed, the chargé d’affaires at the Palestinian embassy in Islamabad. The students are scattered across institutes in Hyderabad, Karachi, Lahore, Quetta and Multan while the families are primarily based in Islamabad and Karachi.
Mr. Ahmed claims that the number of Palestinians here has reduced because students increasingly opt to complete undergraduate degrees in Middle Eastern countries such as Jordan.
Still, the Pakistani government reserves 50 seats for Palestinian students in universities across the country: 13 are for medicine, four for dentistry, 23 for engineering, and 10 for pharmacy. Eight scholarships are also available

Nawaz Sharif, Rehman Malik meet in Raiwind

RAIWIND: Adviser to Prime Minister on Interior Rehman Malik called on PML-N leader Nawaz Sharif at the latter’s Raiwind residence here on Sunday to convey a `special message’ from President Asif Zardari and discuss a variety of issues ranging from the lawyers’ proposed long march to Punjab governor’s controversial statements; Sharifs’ disqualification case and the bills tabled by various political parties in the National Assembly for undoing the 17th Amendment.

The overall law and order situation in the country and Pakistan-India tensions in the wake of Mumbai attacks were also discussed in the meeting, which was also attended by Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif.

PML-N officials would not divulge any details of Mr Zardari’s message but claim that Mr Malik visited Raiwind to seek support of the Punjab government ‘in handling the proposed long march without any eventuality.' 'Mr Malik wants the PML-N to extend but only a symbolic support to the lawyers and avoid making it a big show in the wake of the deteriorating law and order situation and tensions on borders,' a party official said.

Lanka team arrives for three-match series

TAIPEI, Jan 18: Taiwan started handing out shopping vouchers to each of the island’s residents on Sunday, as part of a 2.5-billion-dollar scheme aimed at boosting its flagging economy.Every one of the island’s 22.7 million citizens is entitled to the coupons, worth 3,600 Taiwan dollars (107 US) per person, regardless of age, and they can be spent on goods ranging from food and clothing to electronic appliances.Government employees began distributing them at more than 14,000 locations island-wide early in the morning.Taiwan’s President Ma Ying-jeou said the scheme would give people extra spending power ahead of the Lunar New Year on January 26, and encouraged them to go out and shop.

Lanka team arrives for three-match series

KARACHI, Jan 18: A 15-member squad of Asian champions Sri Lanka was accorded a warm welcome when it arrived here from Dhaka on Sunday to play a three-match One-Day International series against Pakistan from Tuesday.The team led by Mahela Jayawardene was received at the Quaid-i-Azam International Airport by chairman of Pakistan Cricket Board Ijaz Butt, Sindh Sports Minister and KCCA president Dr Muhammad Ali Shah, secretary Sirjul Islam Bukhari and a large number of cricket lovers.The first two ODIs of the series will be played at the National Stadium on Tuesday and Wednesday and the third match at the Qadhafi Stadium in Lahore on Saturday

Report on Mumbai probe in 10 days: Rehman Malik

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan's interior ministry said Saturday it had given its investigators ten days to submit a preliminary report on the Mumbai attacks suspects in the light of Indian information.
Ministry chief Rehman Malik told a news conference here that cases could be registered only on the basis of tangible evidence and more time could be given to the investigators if necessary.

India blames the Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) militant group for training, equipping and financing the 10 gunmen who used automatic weapons and hand grenades to bring havoc to Mumbai during a siege that lasted 60 hours.

Pakistan has said India had provided some information on January 5 but no evidence. It said it was conducting its own inquiry and had ruled out handing any suspects to India.
Malik said the Indian government could also be requested to provide more information to help the ongoing inquiry in Pakistan.

Rio police show new face in slums

RIO DE JANEIRO: Bouncing a small boy on her knee and listening attentively to residents’ complaints, Capt Pricilla de Oliveira Azevedo is the new face of policing in Rio de Janeiro.“The police are entering houses that have doors open with their guns pointed,” complained Marcelo Andrade, a 38-year-old resident of the Santa Marta slum.“They aren’t invading houses, but they need to check when there’s an open door,” de Oliveira replied, dark hair tied back above her bullet-proof vest. “When you have something new there will be changes for the better and worse.”In their long, bloody battle to take back control of hundreds of slums from drug gangs, Rio’s police are trying a new tactic – staying in place and talking to people.After invading this community of about 10,000 people in November and driving out the Red Command drug gang, the police surprised residents by staying, starting an experiment they plan to expand to other slums scarred by gang warfare and the usual police tactic of “invade, shoot, and leave.”

UN Assembly calls for ceasefire in Gaza: Resolution adopted

UNITED NATIONS, Jan 17: The UN General Assembly with overwhelming majority adopted a resolution on Friday night calling for an immediate, durable ceasefire in Gaza. It rejected a more critical and hard hitting text proposed by a group of Muslim countries, Eucudor, Venezuela, Bolivia and other Latin American states.Although the resolution is non-binding, the diplomats who supported it said the overwhelming majority in favour presented a moderate viewpoint that would strengthen Egyptian mediating efforts in the Gaza crisis.The numbers on the electronic board showed 142 countries in favour, four opposed and eight abstaining. However, the exact figures were not immediately clear as several countries said their votes had not registered due to electrical faults.Voting against were Israel, the United States and the Pacific island of Nauru, which believed the resolution was biased against Israel. Venezuela, which thought it was too soft on the Jewish state, was also shown by the board as voting against although the country’s delegate said he abstained.

Obama sets off on train ride to presidency

PHILADELPHIA, Jan 17: President-elect Barack Obama, tracing the train route Abraham Lincoln took nearly a century and a half earlier, undertook the final leg of his inaugural journey to the US capital on Saturday, pledging to reclaim America’s spirit but also warning of steep challenges facing the country.“Starting now, let’s take up in our own lives the work of perfecting our union,” he told several hundred invited guests gathered inside a hall at Philadelphia’s historic 30th Street train station before his trip to Washington where he will be inaugurated on Tuesday as the first African-American US president.“Let’s build a government that is responsible to the people and accept our own responsibilities as citizens to hold our government accountable. ... Let’s make sure this election is not the end of what we do to change America, but the beginning and the hope for the future.”While talking about the future, Mr Obama reflected on the past, echoing the words of the Declaration of Independence, Lincoln and president John F. Kennedy. He cited the founding fathers who risked everything with no assurance of success in Philadelphia in the summer of 1776 when they declared independence from the British king.

Rule of law key to stability: Iftikhar

KARACHI, Jan 17: Lawyers will continue their struggle for the rule of law and supremacy of the Constitution and an independent judiciary, which are essential for the country’s stability, according to the deposed chief justice of Supreme Court Justice, Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry.Speaking at the city court building after administering oath to the office-bearers of the Karachi Bar Association on Saturday, he said that the action of rulers on Nov 3, 2007, had sabotaged the judiciary to prolong their grip on power because they did not have the courage to keep an independent judiciary.He said that the judges of the Sindh High Court were punished because they had taken up the matter of the May 12 mayhem, adding that the case was not being pursued because no one had the moral courage to bring the culprits to justice.

Nations demand climate plan from air, maritime industries

Saturday, January 17, 2009TOKYO: Representatives of 20 nations and the European Union called on Friday on the air and maritime industries to act on global warming and address carbon emissions by year-end. Transport ministers and envoys from the nations, including the Group of Eight major economies, held two days of talks in Tokyo as part of efforts to meet a goal of drafting a new climate change treaty by December. In a joint statement, the nations said while transport was “an important foundation of our society” it was responsible for “considerable emissions of carbon dioxide,” affecting the climate and public health. “Urgent actions are required to address these issues while ensuring sustainable development,” the statement said. They called on the International Maritime Organisation to “deliver a package of appropriate mechanisms for reducing emissions, preferably by the end of 2009.” The countries also said they would support the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) to come up with technology, standards and market-based measures by the end of the year to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.The aviation industry group had agreed in 2007 to come up with ways to reduce the environmental impact of airplanes.

Thousands of civilians flee LTTE-held area

COLOMBO: Thousands of civilians have fled Sri Lanka’s northern war zone in recent days, crossing the front lines amid fierce fighting as the army closed in on the rebels’ last stronghold, the military said on Friday. The government says it hopes the exodus represents the start of a mass flight that will remove hundreds of thousands of bystanders from harm’s way as the military tries to crush the Tamil Tigers’ decades-old insurgency. Aid workers and diplomats have expressed growing concern for the fate of the civilians trapped in what remains of rebel-controlled territory in the northeast after months of fighting. While the military has so far avoided large-scale civilian deaths, there have been increasing reports of civilian casualties. Civilians have largely ignored past government appeals for them to cross into military-held areas. However, with the rebel-held area shrinking and nowhere left to run, families now have begun fleeing in large numbers, the military said. On Thursday alone, 1,069 civilians fled into government territory, the military said. The day before, 874 crossed over. A total of 2,735 fled in the first 15 days of 2009, dwarfing the 1,600 who left in all of 2008. “It has started, and day by day it is increasing,’’ military spokesman Brig Udaya Nanayakkara said. The military has vowed to destroy the rebel group and in recent weeks has captured the Tamil Tigers’ de facto capital of Kilinochchi and boxed the insurgents into a small pocket of territory in the northeast. On Friday, the military said it had captured a sixth airstrip used by the rebels’ tiny airborne unit.

Salman Bashir meets Indian high commissioner

ISLAMABAD: Following the Indian demand that Pakistan should communicate through diplomatic channels and not through the media, Foreign Secretary Salman Bashir met Indian High Commissioner Satyabrata Pal at the Foreign Office here on Friday.Indian External Minister Pranab Mukherjee on Thursday asked Pakistan to resort to diplomatic channels, which he said were functioning well.Bashir once again made very clear that it was ‘imperative’ and the time for the two countries to restart the composite dialogue. He said both countries should develop consensus to find ways and means to tackle terrorism in the aftermath of the Mumbai carnage.“The foreign secretary mentioned that it was important for Pakistan and India to chart a way forward on anti-terrorism cooperation as it was imperative that there should be an across-the-board constructive bilateral engagement,” Bashir was quoted as saying by the foreign office. It is the first formal response from Islamabad after New Delhi gave a dossier, which Pakistan dubbed as ‘information’.Interestingly, Pal was in the foreign office at the same time when Foreign Minister Shah Mehmud Qureshi was holding meeting with his British counterpart David Miliband.

Russia plans naval bases in Libya, Syria and Yemen

MOSCOW, Jan 16: Russia has decided to establish naval bases in Libya, Syria and Yemen within a few years, Itar-Tass news agency quoted military officials as saying on Friday, in a sign of Moscow’s growing foreign policy ambitions.“It is difficult to say how much time it will take to create the bases for our fleet in these countries, but within a few years this will be done without question,” a military official was quoted as saying.“The political decision on this question has been taken,” the official said. A spokesman for the Russian navy could not immediately be reached for comment.A senior general said it was too early to name any foreign ports that could host Russian bases.“There are negotiations conducted with foreign governments. Such publications (on bases) may have a negative effect on the way of these talks,” Itar-Tass quoted the Russian army’s deputy chief of staff, Colonel-General Anatoly Nogovitsyn, as saying.The Kremlin is seeking to play a more assertive role in world politics and has been using its military to project its new-found confidence beyond its borders.Analysts have said that the Syrian port of Tartus could be revived as a Russian naval base. During the Cold War, the Soviet navy had a permanent presence in the Mediterranean, using Tartus as a supply point.Russian media reported that opening a naval base in the Libyan port of Benghazi was among the main issues discussed during Libyan leader Muammar Qadhafi’s visit to Moscow in October last year.Nogovitsyn said it was unclear when Russian naval bases abroad could open. “No one can forecast when this problem will be solved,” he told Itar-Tass. “We need permanent bases, and this is very costly. You have to thoroughly calculate it all.”Russia had to vacate the Cam Ranh base in Vietnam in 2002 because its rent was becoming a burden for the state coffers.

UK asks Pakistan to prosecute Mumbai attackers

ISLAMABAD: British Foreign Secretary David Miliband on Friday urged Pakistan to go “farther and faster” while prosecuting and punishing people involved in the Mumbai attacks and to ensure that the terrorist infrastructure was uprooted.Addressing a press conference here, after his separate meetings with President Asif Ali Zardari, Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani and Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi, Miliband suggested that first Pakistan should prosecute these people whom they had detained and then completely “put out of business these terrorist infrastructures”.He made it very clear that he was not advocating this for New Delhi, rather British citizens had been killed in Mumbai and these were the views of his government.“It is vital that the detentions are turned into prosecution with charges, and if found guilty, for the persons to be punished,” he said.

Passengers say luck, pilot made ‘Hudson miracle’ possible

NEW YORK, Jan 16: They called it the “Miracle on the Hudson”, and Chesley Sullenberger III on Friday became the patron saint of passengers everywhere for guiding his crippled jet to an injury-free landing in the freezing waters off New York.All 155 people on US Airways Flight 1549 climbed onto rescue boats on Thursday, shocked but mainly unscathed, relieved to be alive and singing the praise of former fighter pilot Sullenberger.The carcass of the Airbus A320, tied up at Battery Park of Manhattan on Friday and one wing poking up out of the dark cold river, is now set to become a shrine to Sullenberger’s heroics.The jet had just taken off from New York’s La Guardia airport for Charlotte in North Carolina. But the crew told air traffic controllers that the jet hit a flock of geese which knocked out both engines, US media reported.There was no time to return to La Guardia and no other airport was close enough, so the crew decided to ditch the jet.“They then cleared the George Washington Bridge by about 900 feet, according to controllers, and at a point near the end of West 48th Street in Midtown Manhattan, the plane slid into the river’s smooth, grey waters,” the New York Times reported.