Veena Malik moves LHC against Asif

Updated at: 1605 PST,  Wednesday, April 14, 2010 LAHORE: Actress Veena Malik filed a writ petition against Cricketer Muhammed Asif at Lahore High Court (LHC) as earlier she was denied an FIR against the cricketer, Geo News reported Wednesday. In her plea at the LHC, she said the Session Court ordered the case be registered against the Cricketer Asif; but, police remained inactive on the issue as yet. Veena Malik further alleged police of partiality; therefore, he requested the LHC to get the orders of Session court enacted.

Back |    Send this story to friend

Quake in western China kills 400, buries more

Updated at: 1347 PST,  Wednesday, April 14, 2010 BEIJING: A series of strong earthquakes struck a far western Tibetan area of China on Wednesday, killing at least 400 people and injuring thousands as houses made of mud and wood collapsed, trapping many more, officials said. Paramilitary police were forced to use shovels to dig through the rubble in a township where most of the homes had been flattened, footage on state television showed. Officials said excavators were not available and with most of the roads leading to the nearest airport damaged, equipment and rescuers would have a hard time reaching the area. Downed phone lines, strong winds and frequent aftershocks were also hindering rescue efforts, said Wu Yong, a local military chief. Workers were racing to release water from a reservoir in the disaster area where a crack had formed after the quake to prevent a flood, according to the China Earthquake Administration. The magnitude-6.9 temblor struck an area in southern Qinghai province, near Tibet, on Wednesday morning, the U.S. Geological Survey said. The quake was centered on Yushu county, a Tibetan area in Qinghai’s south, with a population of about 100,000, mostly herders and farmers. The USGS recorded six temblors in less than three hours, all but one registered 5.0 or higher. The China Earthquake Networks Center measured the largest quake’s magnitude at 7.1. The main quake sent residents fleeing as it toppled houses made of mud and wood, said Karsum Nyima, the Yushu county television station’s deputy head of news, speaking by phone with broadcaster CCTV. “In a flash, the houses went down. It was a terrible earthquake,” he said. “In a small park, there is a Buddhist pagoda and the top of the pagoda fell off. … Everybody is out on the streets, standing in front of their houses, trying to find their family members.” The death toll rose to about 400 by afternoon, according to CCTV. Emergency official Pubucairen was quoted as saying that the number of injured has risen to more than 10,000. The earthquake comes a little less than two years after a magnitude-7.9 quake in neighboring Sichuan province left almost 90,000 people dead or missing. That quake flattened several schools, killing thousands of students. Poor design, shoddy construction and the lax enforcement of building codes were found to be rampant.

Back |    Send this story to friend

Nawaz out on damage control endeavour

Nawaz out on damage control endeavour

Updated at: 1817 PST,  Wednesday, April 14, 2010 HARIPUR: PML-N chief Nawaz Sharif has blamed Q-League for Hazara unrest and said they are doing politics of dead bodies. He, with other leaders of his party reached in the restive region to take the people into confidence. Talking to media, on Wednesday, he said that since day one PML-N was of the view that the 17th amendment should not be attached with any other issue. He blamed PML-Q for taking political benefits out of the current volatile situation and added that nobody would be allowed to become ‘chaudhry’ of Hazara. I was blamed for changing stance over a phone call but the time has proved that I was right for insisting on to take all stakeholders on board. He maintained that he has close relations with the people of Hazara, adding that PML-N has not deceived anyone. He rubbished the allegations that his party took a u-turn over the NWFP renaming issue. He called for the accountability of those who stoked the situation, and urged the Federal government to take immediate notice of the issue.

IMF assures Pakistan to get next tranche in May

Rehman Malik Welcomes Qadri’sSuicide Attack

Rehman Malik Says TTP Behind Lahore Attack

ISLAMABAD PAKISTAN: The suicide bombing at a building in Lahore was carried out by the remnants of Taliban militants, Interior Minister said here on Monday.

Talking to media men after attending a Supreme Court hearing, Rehman Malik said, “the terrorists’ attacks would not dampen our spirits.”

Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan has been involved in all terror attacks committed in the country, Malik said. “They are hired killers and want to destabilize Pakistan,” he said.

Talking on the court hearing in Steel Mills corruption case Malik said the learned court has granted his plea and exempted him to attend the court proceedings

Rehman Malik Gives 48-Hour Ultimatum To Kidnapers Of British Boy

ISLAMABAD PAKISTAN: Federal Interior Minister Rehman Malik has given 48-hours ultimatum to the kidnapers of British Boy to set free their captive.

According to the details, Rehman Malik on Sunday visited the house of abducted British Boy Sahil Naqash.

Interior minister said he hoped a kidnapped British boy would be rescued within days, alleging that the five-year-old was snatched by someone “very close to the family”.

He said “I am hopeful that we will be able to recover the boy within the next few days”.

Sahil was grabbed by gun and grenade-wielding raiders on Thursday from his grandmother’s house.

The mother of Sahil said that she forgives the kidnappers as she made an emotional plea for the safe return of her son.

On Saturday, Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani telephoned parents of kidnapped British boy and assured them the government will make all out effort to rescue the child.

ISLAMABAD PAKISTAN: Federal Interior Minister Rehman Malik has given 48-hours ultimatum to the kidnapers of British Boy to set free their captive.According to the details, Rehman Malik on Sunday visited the house of abducted British Boy Sahil Naqash.Interior minister said he hoped a kidnapped British boy would be rescued within days, alleging that the five-year-old was snatched by someone “very close to the family”.He said “I am hopeful that we will be able to recover the boy within the next few days”.Sahil was grabbed by gun and grenade-wielding raiders on Thursday from his grandmother’s house.The mother of Sahil said that she forgives the kidnappers as she made an emotional plea for the safe return of her son.On Saturday, Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani telephoned parents of kidnapped British boy and assured them the government will make all out effort to rescue the child.

Two more lose lives in Karachi firing incidents

Updated at: 1600 PST,  Sunday, January 31, 2010 KARACHI: At least two more people were killed in firing incident by unidentified miscreants in Karachi areas of Qasba Colony and Pirabad, raising the overall death toll to 14 in firing incidents in last two days, Geo News reported Sunday. Some unidentified miscreants gunned down two people including a political party activist in Qasba Colony in Friday night, triggering the tension in the area. Yesterday, at least 12 people were killed in the ongoing firing incidents in the city. Also today, a child was killed and a man injured in firing incident by some unidentified armed men in Qasba Colony. Some unidentified men shot down another man in Orangi Town area of Pirabad today. Heavy contingents of police and the Rangers have been deployed in Orangi Town, Qasba Colony and the adjacent areas. Sindh Governor and Chief Minister took notice of these gory incidents and directed the concerned authorities to submit report in this connection.

Back |    Send this story to friend

Taliban denies report of militant chief’s death

Updated at: 1522 PST,  Sunday, January 31, 2010 ISLAMABAD: The Pakistani Taliban on Sunday denied fresh rumours that their chief Hakimullah Mehsud is dead, while the army said it was investigating as reports re-emerged that he was killed by US drone missiles. Speculation about the warlord’s death first surfaced after a January 14 bombing by unmanned US spy planes in Taliban stronghold North Waziristan, but within days Mehsud released two audio statements denying his demise. Security sources said at the time that he may have been wounded, and on Sunday local television stations carried a report that he had been buried. “I don’t have the confirmation, my sources have not confirmed it, whether he is dead or alive,” chief military spokesman Major General Athar Abbas said, adding that they were investigating the report. Taliban spokesmen had earlier this month admitted that Mehsud was in the Shaktoi area where the drones hit, but said he left about an hour before the strike. US officials said they had no information about his reported death. The chief Taliban spokesman again Sunday dismissed the reports. “Hakimullah is alive and safe. The purpose of stories regarding his death is to create differences among Taliban ranks, but such people will never succeed,” Azam Tariq told a foreign news agency by telephone from an unknown location. “People who are saying that Hakimullah has died should provide proof of it — we have already proved that he is alive and we have provided two audio tapes of him to all the media.” Mehsud assumed leadership of the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), blamed for the deaths of thousands of people in attacks, after his predecessor, Baitullah Mehsud, was killed in a US drone strike in August last year. The TTP denied Baitullah Mehsud’s death for weeks, apparently amid fierce infighting over who would succeed him.

Back |    Send this story to friend

Haiti holds US citizens suspected of child trafficking

Updated at: 1513 PST,  Sunday, January 31, 2010 PORT-AU-PRINCE: Haitian police were holding 10 US citizens Sunday on suspicion they tried to slip out of the country with 31 Haitian children in a trafficking scheme, a government minister said. Haitian Social Affairs Minister Yves Christallin said the police arrested five men and five women with US passports, and two Haitians, as they tried to cross into the Dominican Republic with the children Friday night. He said two pastors were also involved, one in Haiti and one in Atlanta, Georgia. “This is an abduction, not an adoption,” said Christallin. Christallin said the US citizens did not have the proper documents to take the children out of Haiti, nor letters of authorization from their parents. The children were aged two months to 12 years and had come from different places, he said. “What is important for us in Haiti is that a child needs to have an authorization from this ministry to leave the country,” he said. US embassy officials were not immediately available to comment on the case. Haitian officials have voiced fears that child traffickers will take advantage of the chaos after Haiti’s massive January 12 quake to slip out of the country with children in illegal adoption schemes. There is also concern that legitimate adoption agencies may rush to take earthquake orphans out of the country before proper checks have been conducted to confirm their parents perished. Haiti’s quake severely crippled government agencies and pitched the country into a communications morass. In an interview with NBC news, a family member of one of those arrested said the Americans believed the matter was a misunderstanding over documentation. They were identified by Christallin as members of an Idaho-based charity called New Life Children’s Refuge. Haitian police chief Mario Andresol said the Americans were being held at the Judicial Police headquarters in Port-au-Prince and that the children had been transferred to a facility north of the city, in Croix de Bouquets. He said an investigation was underway to determine how the children came into the Americans’ custody. “Now it’s up to the Justice Department do to their job,” Andresol said. A document posted online by the group asks for donations to bring 100 Haitian children to safety in the Dominican Republic and for volunteers to take care of the children during two-week stints. Under the heading “Purpose,” it reads: “Rescue Haitian orphans abandoned on the streets, makeshift hospitals, or from collapsed orphanages.” It says the group has leased a 45-room hotel in Cabarete as a temporary shelter for the children. It also includes a prayer request “for God to continue to grant favor with the Dominican government in allowing us to bring as many orphans as we can into the DR.” Christallin said it was “too bad that it was Americans who have been implicated in this affair, because they are helping us (with earthquake relief), as many countries are.” The United States has urged citizens moved by Haiti’s earthquake to show patience in adopting children, as reports emerge that some children have fallen prey to human traffickers, or even misidentified as orphans. Haiti said its prime minister will have to sign off on every minor’s departure abroad for the time being.

Back |    Send this story to friend