Political violence flared up in Pakistan’s largest city of Karachi with 22 persons losing their lives in target killings and 30 others being injured, as tension escalated between the ruling PPP and its estranged ally the MQM.

Police and rescue officials said that 22 persons had been killed in target killings and related incidents in different parts of the city in the past 24 hours.

The escalation of violence came a week after the Mutthaida-e-Qaumi Movement broke ranks with the Pakistan Peoples Party-led government and opted to sit in opposition. The MQM pulled out of PPP-led coalition governments in Sindh and at the centre in indignation after postponement of elections on two seats reserved for Kashmiri migrants in Karachi for legislative assembly of Pakistan-controlled Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK).

Both seats were seized by the MQM in 2008 elections which it regards as part of intensive effort to expand in other parts of the country freeing itself from the shackles of an ethnic-based party representing Urdu-speaking Indian migrants. When elections were postponed on two seats in Karachi on the eve of polling the MQM termed it as an attempt to confine it within ethnic support.

MQM leader, Altaf Hussain, delivered a stark warning from London, saying if his party workers continue to be targetted, strike calls would be given until the government was brought down.

(With inputs from PTI)

Vancouver, July 6
A University of British Columbia (UBC) student maimed in an attack in Bangladesh will return to Vancouver, where physicians will assess her condition. Rumana Monzur’s eyes were gouged out in an assault allegedly committed by her husband in Dhaka on June 5.

A UBC spokeswoman did not mention whether that assessment could potentially restore vision to Monzur.

“Rumana will be assessed by UBC’s department of ophthalmology. But it’s difficult to know where that assessment will lead,” the Globe and Mail quoted Catherine Dauvergne, senior adviser to UBC president Stephen Toope, as saying.

Monzur has been sightless since the attack, which she says took place in front of her five-year-old daughter.

Students and supporters held a public rally in Vancouver on June 26, and UBC has been coordinating a fundraising campaign to help offset her medical and other expenses.

The campaign has raised about $35,000 of a targeted $70,000 till now. Funds will be used for potential medical treatment and rehabilitative services, including technology aids that may help Monzur continue her studies. — ANI

London, July 6
US security experts have warned airlines and airport authorities to be on high alert for possible Al-Qaida attempts to blow up passenger jets using "body bombs" surgically implanted in suicide attackers.

Attempts are being made to implant explosives into the abdomens, buttocks and breasts of suicide bombers so they can pass undetected through new airport body scanners, Daily Mirror reported today.

"US security experts have warned airlines and airport authorities about the new threat," the British paper said, quoting from a secret memo seen by it. They fear fanatics could inject a detonating chemical into themselves to trigger the bombs.

US transport bosses informed UK's Department for Transport in a memo last month about the emergence of "body bombs," the report said. The US Transportation and Security Administration wrote: "Our Government has information indicating doctors have offered to help extremists surgically implant explosive devices in humans and animals for terrorist attacks." The memo then warns current screening devices at UK airports are unlikely to detect surgically implanted devices.

Potential bombers would carry a letter from a doctor claiming they have had surgery and need to carry a needle and syringe for medical reasons. It would be sufficient to clear security during check-in for a flight.

The emergence of "body bombs" could see further delays for travellers as airports ramp up security. — PTI

New York, July 6
The hotel maid who accused former IMF chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn of sexual assault has filed a libel lawsuit against the New York Post and five of its reporters over the daily’s recent articles calling her a “hooker”.

“All of these statements are false, have subjected the plaintiff to humiliation, scorn and ridicule throughout the world by falsely portraying her as a prostitute or as a woman who trades her body for money and they constitute defamation and libel per se,” the suit said.

The suit also said that The New York Post ran the stories “in a desperate attempt to bolster” its sales. The Post reported, last week that the 32-year-old maid was doing double duty as a prostitute, collecting cash on the side from male guests.

“There is information of her getting extraordinary tips, if you know what I mean. And it’s not for bringing extra f-king towels,” a source was cited as saying.

NYP followed up with another story that said the maid was continuing with prostitution activity in the hotel where she was being kept by the District Attorney’s office during the investigation.

A third story said Strauss-Kahn had refused to pay the maid. Following the suit, The Post said it stands by its reporting. — PTI 

London, July 6
The use of a private investigator by a Rupert Murdoch-owned daily to hack into phones for information has snowballed into a major crisis for British tabloid journalism with Prime Minister David Cameron today promising a public inquiry into the sordid affair.

New revelations that the ‘News of the World’ tabloid commissioned private investigators to access messages left in phones of celebrities has raised fresh questions about sensationalism in Britain’s tabloid press.

People whose phones were allegedly hacked include Prince William, victims of the July 7 London bombings, and victims of crime such as murdered teenager Milly Dowler, whose case was widely covered in the news media.

Calling the incident “disgusting”, Prime Minister Cameron has called for a probe into the scandal. “We do need to have an inquiry, possibly inquiries, into what has happened. We are no longer talking here about politicians and celebrities, we are talking about murder victims, potential terrorist victims, having their phones hacked into,” a visibly enraged Cameron said in the House of Commons today.

When reports of phone hacking allegedly indulged in by the News of the World appeared earlier this year, a statement was issued by Rupert Murdoch’s company apologising unreservedly to those whose cases met “specific criteria”.

However, Murdoch’s News International now faces renewed heat with new revelations that the victims of phone hacking included politicians, celebrities and also victims of crime.

Rebekah Brooks, chief executive of News International, who was the editor of News of the World when the alleged hacking took place, is reported to have been “deeply shocked” at the revelations amidst calls from politicians asking for her resignation. — PTI