W O R L D

Fresh floods inundate Sindh, Balochistan 
Karachi/Lahore, August 16
A fresh wave of floods forced thousands of people to flee their homes in southern Pakistan today amid warnings that the situation could be further exacerbated due to continuing monsoon rains.
A Pakistani flood survivor floats his mother to a safer area in Khangarh near Multan on Monday. — AP/PTI

Iran details plans for new mountain nuke sites 
Tehran, August 16
Iran said today it plans to build 10 new uranium enrichment sites inside protected mountain strongholds and start construction on the first in March, defying international efforts to curb its nuclear programme.

Politics had no role in mosque remarks, says White House
Aboard Air Force One, August 16
A White House spokesman says politics was not a factor in President Barack Obama's remarks about building a mosque near the site of the September 11, 2001, attacks in New York City.

German pop singer tried over HIV allegation
Darmstadt, August 16
A German singer facing accusations that she infected a man with the virus that causes AIDS acknowledged in court today that she had unprotected sex despite knowing she was HIV-positive.

Taliban stone couple for adultery
Kabul, August 16
Taliban militants stoned a young couple to death for adultery after they ran away from their families in northern Afghanistan, officials said today. Amnesty International said it was the first confirming stoning in Afghanistan since the fall of Taliban rule in the 2001 US-led invasion.

Lightning splits plane, one dead
Bogota, August 16
A Colombian passenger jet crashed and broke into pieces while landing on San Andres island today during a predawn storm, injuring 114 passengers while one died of a heart attack. Witnesses said is was fortunate more people were not killed, considering the fuselage of the aircraft cracked into three parts on impact.

The wreckage of a Colombian passenger plane that crashed in the Caribbean resort island of San Andres on Monday. — Reuters

Bollywood actor Preity Zinta and Prime Minister of Trinidad and Tobago Kamla Persad-Bissessa at the India Independence Day parade in New York on Sunday. — PTI

Fresh floods inundate Sindh, Balochistan 

Karachi/Lahore, August 16
A fresh wave of floods forced thousands of people to flee their homes in southern Pakistan today amid warnings that the situation could be further exacerbated due to continuing monsoon rains.

The swollen Indus burst its banks in southern Sindh province, inundating hundreds of cities and villages, including Jacobabad, Dadu, Larkana and Naushero Feroze. Military helicopters flew dozens of sorties to rescue stranded people and airdrop supplies.

There was a fresh wave of flooding in southwestern Balochistan, where waters submerged Jaffarabad, Nasirabad and Dera Allahyar. Thousands of villages were inundated, affecting some 500,000 people.

Many victims complained they had been without food and water for up to five days. A key rail link between Balochistan capital Quetta and Jacobabad in Sindh was cut by the flood waters.

Authorities warned that a high flood tide was rapidly heading towards Kotri Barrage in Sindh, with the water flow increasing by 1,000 cusecs an hour.

Water flows of 800,000 cusecs were expected at Kotri Barrage in Sindh, where army soldiers were deployed at high risk areas.

The Indus is in “exceptionally high flood with rising trend” between Guddu and Sukkur Barrages.

Pakistan’s worst floods have killed over 1,700 people and affected 20 million people, leaving the government struggling to rush relief to the victims.

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has urged the world community to urgently step up aid for the victims. A UN spokesman said 3.5 million children were at high risk from waterborne diseases.

The government’s tardy response has sparked anger among victims. Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani today acknowledged that rehabilitation “would be an uphill task and would require a huge amount of money and resources”.

In Sindh, angry stick-wielding survivors blocked a highway outside Sukkur city with stones and garbage and demanded that the authorities should provide them relief. There were also reports of protests in Punjab province.

In the remote Gilgit-Baltistan region, officials said they had received reports of shortage of food. Over 120 people have died across the region due to landslides and flash floods over the past two weeks. — PTI

 

Archaeological sites under threat The floods threaten some of world’s most ancient archaeological sites in Pakistan, a senior official of the archeological department said on Monday. “There is danger to the 5,000-year-old Mohenjodaro and Amri archaeological sites,” said Karim Lashari, chief of the provincial antiquities department. Mohenjodaro is one of oldest archaeological site in Sindh that is on UNESCO’s list of the world heritage sites. Amri in the Dadu district of Sindh has been declared a Pakistani national heritage site. — TNS

Iran details plans for new mountain nuke sites 

Tehran, August 16
Iran said today it plans to build 10 new uranium enrichment sites inside protected mountain strongholds and start construction on the first in March, defying international efforts to curb its nuclear programme.

Enriching uranium creates fuel for nuclear power plants but can also, if taken to higher levels, produce the material for weapons and Iran's growing capacity in this process is at the centre of its dispute with the international community.

The UN Security Council has already passed four sets of sanctions against Iran to try and force it to stop enriching uranium.

Last year, Iran flouted international concerns by claiming it would build 10 new enrichment plants and today's announcement revealed that the chosen sites would be inside mountains, without revealing any other details.

"Construction of a new uranium enrichment site will begin by the end of the (Iranian) year (March) or early next year," Salehi said. "The new enrichment facilities will be built inside mountains." Revelations a year ago of a previously undisclosed enrichment facility in a secret mountain base near the city of Qom inflamed international suspicions over Iran's nuclear program and helped spur a fourth set of international sanctions in June.

The US and its allies accuse Iran of using its civilian nuclear program as a cover to develop a nuclear weapons capability. Iran has denied the accusation, saying its nuclear program is geared merely toward generating electricity.

President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad today also officially notified the government of the implementation of a new law banning the government from anything except the most minimum level of cooperation with the International Atomic Energy Agency, the UN nuclear watchdog. — AP

Politics had no role in mosque remarks, says White House

Aboard Air Force One, August 16
A White House spokesman says politics was not a factor in President Barack Obama's remarks about building a mosque near the site of the September 11, 2001, attacks in New York City.

Deputy press secretary Bill Burton said it was "not politics" but Obama's feeling that he had the obligation as president to "make sure people are treated equally" under the US Constitution.

Obama has said that religious freedom allows the mosque to be built, but without commenting on the wisdom of building one two blocks from an area known as ground zero. Republicans have pounded him for his comments, making it a November election issue. Burton said Obama "felt it was his obligation as president to address this." Obama was a political trip to the state of Wisconsin. — AP

German pop singer tried over HIV allegation

Darmstadt, August 16
A German singer facing accusations that she infected a man with the virus that causes AIDS acknowledged in court today that she had unprotected sex despite knowing she was HIV-positive.

The 28-year-old Nadja Benaissa, a member of German girl band No Angels, is charged with grievous bodily harm for allegedly infecting a partner with the virus in 2004 and also faces charges of attempted bodily harm for having unprotected sex with two other men.

"I am sorry from my heart," she said in a statement read by her lawyer to the Darmstadt administrative court. "No way did I want my partner to be infected." The man who claims Benaissa infected him says they had a three-month relationship at the beginning of 2004, and that he got tested after Benaissa's aunt asked him in 2007 whether he was aware that the singer was HIV-positive. Prosecutors say Benaissa had known she was HIV-positive since 1999. — AP 

Taliban stone couple for adultery

Kabul, August 16
Taliban militants stoned a young couple to death for adultery after they ran away from their families in northern Afghanistan, officials said today. Amnesty International said it was the first confirming stoning in Afghanistan since the fall of Taliban rule in the 2001 US-led invasion.

The Taliban-ordered killing comes at a time when international rights groups have raised worries that attempts to negotiate with the Taliban to bring peace to Afghanistan could mean a step backward for human rights in the country.

This weekend's stoning appeared to arise from an affair between a married man and a single woman in Kunduz province's Dasht-e-Archi district. The woman, Sadiqa, was 20-year-old and her lover was 28-year-old Qayum said district government head, Mohammad Ayub Aqyar. They were discovered by Taliban operatives yesterday and stoned to death in front a crowd of about 150 men, Aqyar said. — AP

Lightning splits plane, one dead

Bogota, August 16
A Colombian passenger jet crashed and broke into pieces while landing on San Andres island today during a predawn storm, injuring 114 passengers while one died of a heart attack. Witnesses said is was fortunate more people were not killed, considering the fuselage of the aircraft cracked into three parts on impact.

"It's a miracle," National Police General Orlando Paez said. "The skill of the pilot kept the plane from sliding off the runway. The engines of the aircraft shut down on impact."

The white, blue and green painted Boeing 737 operated by local airline Aires was carrying 121 passengers and six crew members. It was arriving on the Caribbean resort island when it crashed amid lightning and heavy winds.

"The plane arriving from Bogota landed in the middle of an intense electrical storm," Colonel Gustavo Barrero of the Colombia Air Force told reporters.

The injured were taken to local hospitals. Many were later transported to Bogota, the capital, for care. "The pilot of the airliner told us it was struck by lightning. We are inspecting the remains of the plane to try to establish what the damages were and what caused the accident," said authorities. Passenger Amar Fernandez de Barretos, 65, suffered a heart attack just after the accident and died on her way to a local clinic. — Reuters