Would-be suicide bomber arrested in Torkhum

Hailing from the Zakhakhel tribe of the Landi Kotal tehsil, the teenage suicide bomber Sulaiman said he was trained by Tehrik-e-Taliban in Afghanistan and sent to Pakistan via the Torkhum border to carry out an attack.

Helicopters target militant positions in Khyber Agency LANDI KOTAL: Security forces at Torkhum arrested on Friday a would-be suicide bomber along with a suicide jacket and a hand grenade, officials said.

Hailing from the Zakhakhel tribe of Landi Kotal tehsil, the teenage suicide bomber Sulaiman son of Laeeq Khan was later presented before the media at Khyber House, the office of the Khyber Agency Political Agent.

Political Agent Tariq Hayat told journalists that Sulaiman was given training by the activists of Tehrik-e-Taliban in Afghanistan and was send to Pakistan via the Torkhum border to carry out a suicide attack.

The boy, he said was not yet assigned any target before he was nabbed.

The would-be suicide bomber was carrying a jacket filled with seven to eight kilograms of explosives along with a hand grenade.

DIK blast kills 8, injures 15

Sunday, June 14, 2009

DERA ISMAIL KHAN: At least eight people were killed and 15 injured in Tijarat Ganj Market area of Dera Ismail Khan, police sources told Geo News Sunday.

The relief activities have been kick-started on the blast site.

The blast was so powerful that a vehicle and various shops were damaged. According to Bomb Disposal Squad, the explosive was 5 to 6 kilogram.

DSP Shafiq said the security personnel arrested a suspected man from the blast site.

The injured were rushed to District Headquarters Hospital, where emergency has been declared. According to hospital sources, at least seven injured are in critical condition.

It should be mentioned that the markets open here on Sundays.

The blast occurred near a shop of Pakistan Muslim League (PML-N) member Raja Akhtar Ali.

DCO Mohsin Shah confirmed the deaths in the blast are eight, adding the bomb was a time device and planted in earth.

http://geo.tv/6-14-2009/44164.htm

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Federal excise duty on cellular services increased to 19.5 percent
* 16 percent GST on import of newsprint withdrawn
* NAB to close up shop within three months

By Irfan Ghauri

ISLAMABAD: The government on Monday announced a five percent increase — from 15 percent to 20 percent — in the ad-hoc relief allowance for BPS-1 to BPS-16 employees, and withdrew the proposed 20-paisa federal excise duty on SMS.S.

Concluding the general debate on the Finance Bill 2009-10 in the National Assembly, State Minister for Finance and Economic Affairs Hina Rabbani Khar said the 20 percent ad-hoc relief would also apply to armed forces personnel and pensioners. She said the government had also withdrawn the carbon surcharge on CNG, but added the federal excise duty on cellular services had been increased from 19 to 19.5 percent.

Exempt: Khar said the government had decided to exempt import of newsprint from the 16 percent general sales tax, adding only a five percent custom duty would apply on it. She said income tax collected on exports would be deemed as the final discharge of exporters’ liability to help them compete in the international market. Lowering the withholding tax on industrial imports from four to three percent would provide similar relief to manufacturers, she added.

The seventh National Finance Commission (NFC) would hold its first meeting by July, and the deliberation process would be completed within three months, she said. She said the government would no longer require national tax numbers (NTN) and computerised national identity card numbers for sales to unregistered purchasers, while an NTN would be made voluntary to open a bank account.

The state minister said the government would conduct consultations on the budget in standing committees on finance two months prior to the budget presentation, adding the government would ensure the new budget is tabled in parliament before May 30. She said the government would obtain approval for supplementary appropriations from the National Assembly on a quarterly basis.

Closing time: Khar said the government would decommission the National Accountability Bureau within three months. She said, on the recommendations of the Senate, 70 proposed clauses in the bill would be deleted, while another 18 would be amended.
http://http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/...3-6-2009_pg1_1

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source:http://hamariweb.com/news/newsdetail.aspx?id=72279

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Updated at: 0500 PST, Friday, June 26, 2009
LOS ANGELES: Pop giant Michael Jackson, who took to the stage as a child star and set the world dancing to the thumping rhythms of his music in the 1970s, died on Thursday, online website reported. He was 50.

The website reported that Jackson suffered a heart attack just after 12: 00 pm (1900 GMT) local time and paramedics were unable to revive him.

Jackson's manager Tohme E. Tohme was not immediately available for comment when contacted by media. Officials at UCLA Medical Center where Jackson was treated also could not be reached for comment.

Los Angeles Fire Department spokesman Devin Gales would not confirm Jackson's identity but said paramedics went to an address corresponding to the star's home at 12:21 pm (1921 GMT) and the person was taken to UCLA Medical Center.

An unidentified family member earlier told TMZ -- the first outlet to report that Jackson had suffered a cardiac arrest -- that the star was in "really bad shape."

Michael's father Joe Jackson told E! Online he was aware of the emergency but did not know further details.

"I am in Las Vegas, but yes, people in Los Angeles called me and are with Michael and tell me he was taken to the hospital," he said. "I am not sure what's wrong. I am waiting to hear back from them."

The reports came as Jackson prepared to make a keenly anticipated concert comeback in London, his first series of shows in more than a decade and the first since his 2005 acquittal on child molestation charges.

However those concerts -- billed as the "final curtain" -- had been thrown into doubt after Jackson pushed back the opening dates last month.

Organizers of the concerts had stressed the delay was not linked to Jackson's health.

Promoters and producers AEG Live said the rescheduling was done because of the "sheer magnitude" of the show and the desire for fans attending the opening nights to get the same experience planned for all 50 shows.

In a press conference from the United States broadcast over the Internet, AEG Live president Randy Phillips was asked about Jackson's health and said: "I would trade my body for his tomorrow. He's in fantastic shape."

While Jackson reigned as the "King of Pop" in the 1980s, his once-stellar career had been overshadowed by his colorful public behavior, his startling physical transformation and multiple allegations of child abuse.

Jackson lived as a virtual recluse following his 2005 acquittal on charges including child molestation and plotting to kidnap his young accuser.

Despite his acquittal, the trial was a body blow from which the pop music superstar struggled to recover.

Four years later, Jackson is still worshipped by fans for revolutionizing music, dance and music videos at the peak of his success.

The attention however paid to him in recent years has been less flattering, focusing on apparent cosmetic surgery -- which he denies -- his baby dangling antics and a decade of swirling child abuse allegations.

http://www.thenews.com.pk/updates.asp?id=81447

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......................................SPORTS NEWS

LONDON: Beyond the angst about whether South Africa will pull off a successful soccer World Cup next year is a more profound question — can the competition bring the races closer 15 years after the end of apartheid?
Organisers of the competition, Africa's biggest sports event, are hoping for a moment akin to the legendary appearance of Nelson Mandela in a Springbok shirt when South Africa won the 1995 rugby World Cup in Johannesburg. That gesture forged an iconic symbol of national unity from a sport passionately loved by whites and had a lasting impact in calming their raw fears a year after majority rule began.

The nation has come a long way since then, but distrust and tensions persist between the races and, in a sports-mad nation, successful staging of the most-watched competition on earth could mark a new watershed.

‘The 1995 rugby World Cup helped establish South Africa as the Rainbow Nation. The 2010 FIFA World Cup will see that nation come of age,’ organising committee chief executive Danny Jordaan told Reuters.

He said the current Confederations Cup tournament, seen as a dress rehearsal for next year's extravaganza and watched by multiracial crowds, had already shown ‘the capability that soccer has in bridging the divide between different races... It is my belief that the FIFA World Cup will have an even greater effect.’

Jordaan is not alone in trusting in the potential of the tournament to have a major impact at home, weakening divisions and misunderstanding and also drawing more whites into football — traditionally a black South Africans' game. ‘You can be a fairly right-wing white Afrikaner and still feel an immense sense of pride when you see your nation is hosting what is the biggest show on earth, even if you are a die-hard rugby fan,’ said Richard Maguire, editor of South Africa's football magazine Kick-Off.

‘I think definitely the World Cup will have an impact in bringing people together and developing a sense of unity and national pride,’ he told Reuters.

But while there is widespread optimism and excitement is building, analysts warn the impact should not be over-estimated. The only real way to bring South Africans closer is to end the stark wealth disparities that are among the reasons for one of the world's worst rates of violent crime.

‘You can feel good about all this stuff in a stadium but on a Monday morning, when it is raining on your little tin shack held together with pieces of plastic , you may not be feeling so good about South Africa,’ Maguire said.

‘There are those harsh realities underneath that no World Cup is going to take away.’ Ebrahim Fakir, an analyst with the Electoral Institute of Southern Africa, said the 1995 rugby final occurred in the unique context of the recent end of apartheid and Mandela's enormous personal charisma.

But much of the effect was transitory as those factors waned and Mandela retired from active politics. The World Cup could have some unifying impact, ‘but the caveat is that it may be far too ephemeral, as it has been in the past,’ Fakir said.

‘It will go some way in addressing some of the symbolic social relations questions but it won't go the whole way. That requires both an attitudinal shift as well as a material shift in the distribution of wealth.’

The World Cup has significantly boosted economic activity. The construction sector associated with road, rail and stadium building is a rare bright light in the first recession for nearly two decades in Africa's biggest economy.

Flourishing tourism is expected to receive a further surge from the competition with nearly half a million fans expected, drawn by comparatively low prices and the lure of combining football with a safari or beach break.

But Fakir warned that many of the benefits in job and wealth creation to iron out economic inequality could be short-lived. ‘Addressing structural inequality is a different question. I don't think it will do that,’ he said.

And while the Springboks won in 1995, South Africa's soccer team, nicknamed Bafana Bafana (the boys), are likely to struggle to do really well in 2010, reducing local appeal.

‘The tournament will lose something if Bafana are underperforming and it will gain a whole lot more if they perform well,’ Maguire said. ‘But I don't think it will make or break the tournament.’

Even if more whites become soccer fans, including young Afrikaans-speakers whipped up by World Cup fever, it might be difficult to sustain their enthusiasm for long because of the mediocre quality of local club matches. Already whites prefer televised international games to local leagues. — Reuters

source:http://hamariweb.com/enews/fractured..._nid73112.aspx




Nawaz Sharif acquitted in helicopter Reference [The News] 26 Jun, 2009


Nawaz Sharif acquitted in helicopter Reference

Updated at: 1310PST, Friday, June 26, 2009
RAWALPINDI: A Division Bench of Lahore High Court (LHC) has acquitted PML-N leader Nawaz Sharif in helicopter case.

A two-member bench of LHC consists of Justice Tariq Shamim and Justice Saeed Ijaz declared accountability courts verdict null and void.

Earlier, special prosecutor of National Accountability Bureau (NAB) General Abdul Baseer Qureshi completed his arguments. Later, the court has give its brief verdict and approve Sharifs petition regarding duration of appeal.

Nawaz Sharif was sentenced 14 years of imprisonment, 21 years disqualification and Rs.20 million by accountability court.

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MORONI - An airliner with 150 people on board belonging to Yemeni state carrier Yemenia Air crashed in the Indian Ocean archipelago of Comoros on Tuesday, a senior government official said.

‘We don’t know if there are any survivors among the 150 people on the plane,’ Comoros vice-president Idi Nadhoim told Reuters from the airport at the main island’s capital Moroni.

Nadhoim said the accident happened in the early hours of Tuesday, but could not give any more details.

The location was not immediately known, but a medical worker in the town of Mitsamiouli, on the main island Grande Comore, said he had been called into the local hospital.

‘They have just called me to come to the hospital. They said a plane had crashed,’ he told Reuters.

A Comoran police source said the plane was believed to have come down in the sea. ‘We really have no sea rescue capabilities,’ he added.

The Comoros covers three small volcanic islands, Grande Comore, Anjouan and Moheli, in the Mozambique channel, 300 km (190 miles) northwest of Madagascar and a similar distance east of the African mainland.



Khaleej Times

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CNG dealers go on strike in Peshawar [The News] 30 Jun, 2009

Updated at: Tuesday, June 30, 2009
PESHAWAR: All the CNG stations across Peshawar late on Monday have been shut down following call of strike from All Pakistan CNG Association (APCNGA).

The acting chairman of the association Ghayas Abdullah Paracha told Geo news the over billing from Sui Gas department while the billion rupees dues in terms of estimated bills have not been submitted thus far which has deepened the economic state of the CNG owners.

According to Ghayas, the Sui gas department has been issued various reminders but all have been turned deaf years, making CNG dealers disappointed.

According to the acting chairman of APCNGA, all CNG stations in Peshawar will remain shut for a day on Tuesday.

Meanwhile, due to the shortage of CNG, the people have started suffering while the workers have also been put into trouble.

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Iraqis celebrate as US troops leave Baghdad

BAGHDAD, June 29: Invading US troops pulled out of Baghdad on Monday, triggering jubilation among Iraqis hopeful that foreign military occupation is ending six years after the invasion to depose Saddam Hussein.

Iraqi soldiers paraded through the streets in their Americanmade vehicles draped with Iraqi flags and flowers, chanting, dancing and calling the pullout a “victory”.

One drove a motorcycle with party streamers on it; another, a Humvee with a garland of plastic roses on the grill.

US combat troops must pull out of Iraq’s urban centres by midnight on Tuesday under a bilateral security pact that also requires all troops to leave the country by 2012.

All had left the capital by Monday afternoon, said MajorGeneral in Staff, Abboud Qanbar, head of Iraqi security forces in Baghdad.

Another Iraqi official who would not be named said some units in cities outside Baghdad would leave at the last minute.

Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman said 30 bases remained to be handed over. There are still some 130,000 US troops in Iraq.

Addressing military leaders in Baghdad, US-installed Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki said: “Our sovereignty has started and ... we should move forward to build a modern state and enjoy security which has been achieved.” Many Iraqis were elated even though they feared militants might use the withdrawal as an opportunity to step up attacks.

“The American forces’ withdrawal is something awaited by every Iraqi: male, female, young and old. I consider June 30 to be like a wedding,” said Ahmed Hameed, 38, near an ice cream bar in Baghdad’s upmarket Karrada district.

“This is proof Iraqis are capable of controlling security inside Iraq,” added the recent returnee from exile in Egypt.

The government has declared June 30 a national holiday, “National Sovereignty Day”.

A spate of bombings in recent days, including two of the deadliest for more than a year that killed 150 people between them, have raised fears militants will try to step up the pace of attacks.

Yet few Iraqis see that as reason for the Americans to stay.— Reuters

http://epaper.dawn.com/Default.aspx

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Pakistanis turn on Taliban, but resent US: poll

WASHINGTON: Public opinion in Pakistan has turned sharply against the Taliban and other extremists but Pakistanis still do not trust the US and President Barack Obama, a poll showed on Wednesday. The WorldPublicOpinion.org poll, conducted last month, found that most Pakistanis see the Taliban and Al Qaeda as a critical threat to the country. Those Pakistanis who view extremists and local Taliban as a critical threat to their country rose to 81 percent, up from 34 percent in a similar poll in late 2007. Respondents who described Al Qaeda’s activities as a critical threat to Pakistan rose 41 percentage points to 82 percent in the same period. In the poll, 70 percent voiced sympathy for their government over the Pakistani Taliban in the fight for Swat. Large majorities opposed all aspects of the US-led war in neighbouring Afghanistan. reuters

http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default...2-7-2009_pg1_5

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