pakistan

Wednesday, 20 November 2013

Frenchman wins Istanbul Marathon, two Turks on podium

France’s Abraham Kiprotich won the men’s competition in the 35th Vodafone Istanbul Marathon, while two Turkish athletes finished in the top three in the women’s race on Nov. 17.

Thousands of racing enthusiasts in the fun run joined pro-athletes who participated in what has been dubbed as “the only intercontinental race in the world.”

ISLAMABAD: The federal government on Monday announced advocate Zulfiqar Abbas Naqvi as the special prosecutor in the treason case to be initiated against former military ruler Gen (r) Pervez Musharraf, DawnNews reported.

A petition was submitted in the apex court's Lahore Registry seeking the trial of the former president and his sub-ordinate generals under Article 6 of the Constitution.

ISLAMABAD: On a day when the people of Rawalpindi were anxiously waiting for an official announcement about the state of curfew in their city, Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan broke, out of the blue, a jaw-dropping story about his government's decision to formally prosecute former president General Pervez Musharraf under Article 6 of the Constitution.

LAHORE: The Sunni Ittehad Council on Saturday asked the leadership of the Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan to directly contact political parties including the Jamaat-i-Islami and seek their guarantee for facilitating holding of a Manazra (debate) in Lahore on sensitive religious issues.

On the other hand, the JI leadership has refused to become part of the SIC-TTP debate on these issues, describing it as a futile exercise.

KARACHI: Amid the ongoing ‘Karachi operation’ led by Rangers, six people were killed in the city on Saturday.Violence claimed two lives in Orangi Town while four people, including a policeman, werea killed and at least six others injured in a day-long gunbattle between armed gangs in Lyari.An official at Iqbal Market police station said armed men on two motorcycles targeted two men in Raees AmrohviColony of Orangi Town’s Sector 11½ when they were sitting outside one of the victims’ house.

KANDAHAR: A roadside bomb killed two children in southern Afghanistan on Monday while six bodies found the day before in the restive region where identified as policemen and not laborers, as was initially reported.Deputy governor of southern Zabul province, Mohammed Jan Rasoolyar, said the confusion arose because the bodies found in neighboring Kandahar province were in civilian clothes.

TEHRAN: Iran unveiled a new aircraft Monday that it says is the biggest drone yet to be developed in the Islamic Republic, capable of staying aloft for up to 30 hours.

Defense Minister Hossein Dehghan said the reconnaissance and combat drone Fotros has a range of 2,000 kilometers (1,250 miles). That would cover much of the Middle East including Israel. The earlier Shahed-129 (Witness-129) drone is reported to have a similar range, but can only stay aloft 24 hours.

KOHAT: Army took control of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa's Kohat and Hangu cities and a curfew was clamped down, following an attack early on Monday on an Imambargah Said Habib in Zargaran Bazaar area of Kohat district.

Station House Officer Cantt Police station Mazhar Jaan told Dawn.com that the unknown miscreants attacked the Imambargah Said Habib in Zargaranabad earlier in the morning which left three people, including two policemen and a civilian, dead during an exchange of fire between the two rival groups.

Deadly bombs hit Syria cities after peace talks flop

DAMASCUS:Bomb attacks in Damascus and southern Syria killed at least 16 people on Wednesday, a day after Moscow and Washington failed to announce a date for proposed peace talks.

In Russia, Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov said Moscow was ready to host informal talks between Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's regime and the opposition.

Russian and US officials on Tuesday failed to agree a date for a proposed peace conference in Geneva that has been delayed multiple times.

DUSHANBE: Tajikistan President Emomali Rakhmon won a crushing victory in presidential elections to secure a fourth term at the helm of the poorest state in the former Soviet Union, the election commission said Thursday.

Rakhmon won 83.6 per cent in Wednesday’s elections against five also-ran candidates, full results showed, an improvement even on his showing in the 2006 polls when he won 79.3 per cent.

GENEVA: World powers began two days of talks with Iran in Geneva on Thursday, hoping to reach a “first step” deal over Tehran's nuclear programme, although both sides said a breakthrough was far from certain.

Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif expressed guarded optimism that an agreement to start resolving the decade-old dispute would be reached in Geneva this week. “If everyone tries their best we may have one,” he told reporters.

SRIHARIKOTA: A day after the last of diwali rockets was fired in this part of the country, "the big one" blasted off from the first launch pad in Sriharikota on Tuesday afternoon, firing the ambition of a nation, and the imagination of many others. After 45 minutes, the first phase of India's first Mars mission was pronounced a success.

A court in Dhaka awarded death to 152 including Bangladesh Rifles (BDR) deputy assistant director Towhidul Islam and life-term to 160 including former BNP lawmaker Nasiruddin Ahmed Pintu and ward-level Awami League leaderTorab Ali for their role in the February 2009 carnage at then BDR headquarters.

A series of devices packed with ball-bearings exploded outside a provincial headquarters of China's ruling Communist Party, police and reports said.

One person was killed and eight injured in the attack in the northern province of Shanxi, according to a police statement.

"There were several explosions caused by small explosive devices near the party provincial commission in Taiyuan," the capital Shanxi, local police said on a verified social media account.

Iran's foreign minister, Mohammad Javad Zarif, has said that a deal to end a nuclear standoff with the international community could be reached at talks in Swiss city of Geneva later this week.

"I believe it is even possible to reach that agreement this week but I can only talk for our side, I cannot talk for the other side," Zarif told France 24 television ahead of talks in Paris with his French counterpart Laurent Fabius.

Riyadh : US Secretary of State John Kerry said it was up to Saudi Arabia to decide when the time was right to allow women to drive.

"It's no secret that in the United States of America we embrace equality for everybody regardless of gender, race, or any other qualification," Kerry said at a press conference in Riyadh.

Yemen's president has warned of sectarian violence in his country after deadly clashes continued for a second week in the restive north between rebels from a branch of Shia Islam and ultraconservative Sunnis.

In remarks aired on Tuesday by state TV, President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi denounced "sectarian fighting that does not serve the security or stability of the nation".

KHAIRPUR: At least 23 people, including women and children, were injured as a passenger bus turned turtle in Khairpur on Wednesday morning.

According to PTV, rescue sources said the speeding bus going from Karachi to Lahore overturned near Babarlo bypass as a result of which 23 passengers sustained injuries.

ISLAMABAD: A local court on Wednesday ordered release of former president Pervez Musharraf, AAJ News reports on Wednesday.

Orders were issued after submission of security bonds in the Abdul Rasheed Ghazi case.

LONDON: A suicide car bomb killed a British member of the international coalition in southern Afghanistan on Tuesday, authorities said. It was the second death this month of a member in the Nato-led coalition.

Britain's Ministry of Defense said the soldier from 3rd Battalion, The Mercian Regiment was killed in the attack while on patrol in the area of Kamparak, east of Lashkar Gah.

The defense ministry did not name the soldier but said next of kin have been informed.

ISLAMABAD: The opposition refused to enter the Parliament on the request of the Minister of State for Water and Power Chaudhry Abid Sher Ali by chanting “Shame Shame Shame” during the Senate session being held in the open air at the grounds of the Parliament House on Wednesday, Express News reported.

A ten-point agenda, which covers Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan’s attitude as well as the power tariff hike, inflation and Karachi’s law and order situation, will be discussed during the Senate session.

RAWALPINDI: Two people were killed on Tuesday and two others critically injured during an armed clash in Losar Sharfu in Wah Cantt.

The deceased, a father and a son, were identified as Waheed Sultan and Anees Sultan and the injured as Naveed Sultan and Malik Hashim, a passerby.

KANDAHAR: Afghan police say they have found the bodies of seven soldiers, believed to have been killed by their Taliban captors in a southern province.

The police say the bodies were found on Wednesday on the outskirts of the provincial capital of southern Zabul province.

Gunmen kill state prosecutor in Iran’s Sistan province

DUBAI: Gunmen shot dead a public prosecutor and his driver in southeastern Iran on Wednesday, Iranian media said, less than two weeks after militants killed 14 Iranian border guards nearby and Tehran retaliated by hanging 16 prisoners.

The gunmen shot dead public prosecutor Musa Nouri and his driver as he was on his way to work, Iranian news agencies said. The pair were “martyred in a hail of bullets from Kalashnikov rifles”, Fars news agency quoted the province's chief justice Ibrahim Hamidi as saying.

Dehradun: Elaborate security arrangements are in place in Dehradun and Rishikesh for Prince of Wales Charles and Camilla Parker Bowles, who will begin their nine-day visit to India on Wednesday.

More than 600 police personnel besides a large number of PAC jawans have been deployed around places which form part of the royal couple's itinerary, officials said.The royal couple will arrive in a special plane at the Jollygrant airport here at 4:15 PM and leave for Rishikesh where they will take part in "Hawan" and "Ganga Arti" at Parmartha Niketan Ashram.

Kurdish militia in northern Syria have expelled Al-Qaeda-linked fighters from the majority Kurdish area of Ras al-Ain on the Turkish border, a monitoring group said on Tuesday.

"The Committees for the Protection of the Kurds (YPG) have taken over the Manajeer area, scene of battles with the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), Al-Nusra Front and other rebel groups," the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court ordered the government on Wednesday to immediately appoint chairman of the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) and said it would review the matter after a week.

“We direct the secretary concerned to take up the issue immediately and discharge his function by appointing the PTA chairman without further loss of time,” said a three-judge bench headed by Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry.

DETROIT : At least two people were shot dead and seven others wounded when a gunman opened fire on Wednesday evening at a busy intersection outside a barbershop in Detroit, police said.

The barbershop where the shooting happened has a reputation for gambling, but it was too early to tell whether that played a role in the shooting, Detroit Police chief James Craig told reporters.

Iraqi Kurdistan has finalized a comprehensive package of deals with Turkey to build multi-billion dollar oil and gas pipelines to ship the autonomous region's rich hydrocarbon reserves to world markets, sources involved in talks said on Wednesday.

The deals, which could have important geo-political consequences for the Middle East, could see Kurdistan export some 2 million barrels per day (bpd) of oil to world markets and at least 10 billion cubic meters per year of gas to Turkey.

UNITED NATIONS: The UN's top human rights official has expressed serious alarm at death sentences handed down in Bangladesh to 152 border guards after mass trials that she says were unfair.

UN Human Rights Commissioner Navi Pillay said Wednesday the trials ''failed to meet the most fundamental standards of due process.''

A Bangladesh court sentenced 152 guards to death Tuesday for a 2009 mutiny.

Nawaz to meet Karzai, Cameron for tripartite talks

LONDON: Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif on Monday left for a three-day official visit to London where he will attend a trilateral meeting with UK Prime Minister David Cameron and Afghanistan president Hamid Karzai on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum, DawnNews reported.

Prime Minister Sharif will participate in tripartite negotiations to be held among Pakistan, Britain and Afghanistan at the summit hosted by Cameron.

A FORMER first-class cricketer in South Africa has died after being hit in the head by the ball while batting. He was 32.

The national body Cricket South Africa says Darryn Randall died Sunday at a hospital in the southern town of Alice in the Eastern Cape.

GHAZNI, AFGHANISTA: Angry villagers in Afghanistan have stoned a man to death and riddled his body with bullets, believing he set off a bomb on a bus that killed 18 civilians, officials said on Monday.

The roadside blast ripped through a minibus carrying wedding guests in the central province of Ghazni on Sunday, killing 18 people, the majority of them women. Villagers hunted down a local man who was found hiding in a chicken coop next to his home, with the bomb's remote control apparently found nearby, Ghazni deputy provincial governor Mohammad Ali Ahmadi told AFP.

SRINAGAR : India said one of its soldiers was killed when Pakistan troops fired early on Monday across the border in Kashmir, the latest in a series of deadly flare-ups in the disputed Himalayan region.

The soldier was killed just after midnight at an army post along the northern part of the heavily militarised border that divides the two countries in Kashmir, an Indian army spokesman said.

MOGADISHU, Somalia: A United States military strike hit a vehicle carrying senior members of an al-Qaida-linked militant group in Somalia on Monday, killing at least two people including the group's top explosives expert, a militant and a government intelligence official said.

A senior United States military official says there was a US counterterrorism strike against a terrorist target in Somalia on Monday but would give no further details. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because there was no authorization to discuss the strike publicly.

ISLAMABAD: An accountability court on Tuesday adjourned the hearing of six corruption cases against Asif Ali Zardari until Nov 26 and again issued notices to the National Accountability Bureau and the former president, DawnNews reported.

Former federal law minister Farooq H. Naek submitted his power of attorney on behalf of Mr Zardari in the court informing it that the former president could not appear in court as he had to attend a conference on democracy outside the country.

DERA BUGTI: At least seven people were killed and five others were wounded in an attack at the residence of a tribal leader situated in Loti Zain area of Balochistan's Dera Bugti district, DawnNews reported.

Unknown gunmen opened indiscriminate gunfire at the residence of Tharra Khan killing seven persons and wounding five others.

ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif will be among the prominent leaders from the Muslim world at the ninth World Islamic Economic Forum opening in London on Tuesday which would encapsulate the emergence of new economic linkages between nations across borders, religions and cultures in a fast changing world.

The underlying theme of “Changing World: New Relationship”, will be examined across the framework of policy business, technology and finance with fresh presentations from industry leaders, frank and insightful discussions among senior representatives from key players and valuable inputs from analysts.

Turkish jets have intercepted a Russian military plane over the Black Sea, the General Staff said on Oct. 28.

The Russian planes were intercepted in international airspace off the coast of Kirklareli province in Turkey’s Thrace region, to prevent a “possible violation,” the statement said.

The incident came only four days after another Russian plane was intercepted by the Turkish military over the Black Sea.

Hyderabad : Six persons, including three women, were killed and as many as 14 others got injured when their mini-lorry rammed into a stationary vehicle on the city outskirts in the wee hours today, police said.

The mishap occurred at Vattinagulapalle under Raidurgam police station limits at around 4.45 AM when the mini-lorry rammed into another lorry parked there.

Unnao: After weeks of digging in Unnao, the Archaeological Survey of India has finally given up. It has found not an ounce of gold at the historic fort in Unnao despite having gone on an extensive dig after a seer claimed to have dreamt of 1,000 tonnes beneath the surface.

"What history teaches us is that after a crisis like this there is no going back," the Algerian diplomat told the Jeune Afrique website ahead of his first visit to Syria since December, when he angered the regime by insisting that all powers be handed over to a transitional government. The veteran troubleshooter admitted "the entire world will not be present" at the talks, but said the alternative to a political settlement could be a failed state in the heart of the Middle East.

NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Tuesday rejected a plea which has requested that the Prime Minister be made a party in the FIR lodged by the CBI in the coal scam.

Refusing to issue any direction to the Prime Minister to file an affidavit on the coal block allocation, the apex court observed that "the probe was still going on and it is for CBI officials to look into it".

CAIRO: The three judges presiding in the trial of Muslim Brotherhood chief Mohamed Badie and his aides withdrew from the proceedings at the start of a session on Tuesday.

Prior to their decision to step down the judges ordered that the defendants continue to be held in custody, an AFP correspondent in the court said.

The Chinese government suspects that Monday's incident in which a vehicle ploughed into pedestrians in Beijing's Tiananmen Square, killing five including the three people in the vehicle, was a suicide attack, sources told Reuters.

At least 38 people were injured in the incident, but there has been no official word whether it was an accident or an attack.

Sialkot border villages hit hard by firing

SIALKOT: Unprovoked shelling and indiscriminate firing by Indian troops from across the border have caused the suspension of harvesting of paddy and other crops in villages along the Sialkot Working Boundary, residents of the affected areas told a team of foreign and local journalists on Thursday.

The people living in areas along Bajwat, Chaprar, Suchitgarh and Shakargarh sectors said the shelling and firing had intensified in recent days.

Two Chinese nationals jailed for stealing from mosque donation boxes

Two Chinese nationals who travelled here specifically to commit crime were each jailed for five months on Friday for stealing $1,719 from a mosque.

Wei Rengu, 30, and Qin Shi Gang, 29, admitted to the theft at Masjid Sultan at Muscat Street on Oct 10.

An executive officer of the mosque was viewing the CCTV footage that day when he saw Qin fishing money out of a donation box and Wei pretending to take photographs of the surroundings. The pair moved from one donation box to another.

Saudi Arabia on Thursday warned it will take measures against activists who go ahead with a planned weekend campaign to defy a ban on women drivers in the conservative Muslim kingdom.

"It is known that women in Saudi are banned from driving and laws will be applied against violators and those who demonstrate in support" of this cause, interior ministry spokesman General Mansur al-Turki told AFP.

Activists have called on social networks for Saudi women, individually, to go behind the wheel on Saturday, in a campaign in the world's only country that bans women from driving.

Qatar's Court of Cassation, the country's highest judicial body, upheld a 15-year prison sentence earlier this week for poet Muhammad Rashid al-Ajami, who goes by the poetic name Muhammad Ibn al-Dheeb.

The Qatari citizen had been seeking a retrial after he was first convicted by a lower court last year of “inciting the overthrow of the regime” with his poetry and given a life sentence, which was then reduced by the Appeals Court in February to 15 years in jail.

ISLAMABAD: A local court in Islamabad on Friday ordered that the hearings of the case relating to the murder of Lal Masjid cleric Abdul Rasheed Ghazi and his mother be held at the Chak Shahzad farmhouse of former president Gen (r) Pervez Musharraf which presently has the status of sub-jail, DawnNews reported.

The case was heard today by judicial magistrate Malik Aman.

During the proceedings, police requested the court to extend the judicial remand of the former army strongman who was not produced for the hearing.

LAHORE: Hafiz Saifullah Mansoor, one of the close aides of Jamaat-ud-Dawa chief Hafiz Saeed and a founding member of the group, has been killed in a road accident here.

Mansoor was coming to Lahore from Islamabad on his car when it skidded off the road and overturned near Faizpur, a JuD statement said on Thursday.

He died on the spot, while his gunman and driver suffered serious injuries. They were shifted to a hospital in Lahore.

SRINAGAR, India: At least 10 civilians have been wounded as Pakistani troops fired guns and mortar shells at more than a dozen Indian border posts overnight in the disputed Himalayan region of Kashmir, an official said Friday.

A paramilitary officer said on the customary condition of anonymity that Indian guards retaliated and an exchange of gunfire lasted several hours. He said the fighting continued till Friday morning at some places in southern Jammu region.

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