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Probe into Pak Premier’s graft case suspended
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‘Pak NAB officer was under pressure’
Japanese PM holds out olive branch to China
25 killed in series of Iraq attacks
Pakistan to release all Indian fishermen
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High turnout in Israeli poll, Netanyahu set for third term
Jerusalem, January 22 However, the strong turnout, coming off the back of a long, lacklustre election campaign, buoyed centre-left parties which had pinned their hopes on energising an army of undecided voters against Netanyahu and his nationalist-religious allies. "We managed to wake up Israel. Every extra percentage point of voter turnout is another hope for an upheaval," Tzipi Livni, a former foreign minister and leader of a small centrist group, wrote on Twitter, urging supporters to head to the polls. The Prime Minister's Likud party, running alongside the ultra-nationalist Yisrael Beitenu group, looks certain to emerge as the biggest bloc in the 120-seat parliament, but a late surge by the opposition could complicate efforts to forge a coalition. By 6 pm (1600 GMT), six hours before polls close, the Israeli election committee said turnout was 55.5 per cent, the highest level since 1999, when Netanyahu, serving his first term as Prime Minister, was defeated by then Labour Party leader Ehud
Barak. A stream of opinion polls before the election had predicted an easy win for Netanyahu, who has said tackling Iran's nuclear ambitions would be his top priority if he won, shunting Palestinian peacemaking well down the agenda. The final opinion polls showed his Likud-Beitenu group still on top, but losing some ground to the Jewish Home party, which opposes a Palestinian state and advocates annexing chunks of the occupied West Bank.
— Reuters
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Probe into Pak Premier’s graft case suspended
Islamabad, January 22 NAB chairman Admiral (retd) Fasih Bukhari said the probe in the rental power plants case would remain pending until the inquiry in Kamran Faisal's death concludes, Geo News reported today. Faisal, an assistant director with the country's anti-corruption agency NAB, was in the team probing the RPP case. He was found hanging on January 18. Bukhari said in a statement that NAB investigation officers would be provided arms training for their protection. He said any officer facing threats or pressure would be provided protection. The top official said they may initiate inquiry into Faisal's death if the investigations proved unsatisfactory. Pakistan's Supreme Court on January 15 ordered the arrest of Ashraf over his involvement in the corruption case. Ashraf was accused of violating rules in granting rental power projects when he was minister for water and power. The apex court had ordered the Prime Minister's arrest along with 16 others -- former ministers and officials involved in the projects. It also asked the anti-corruption panel to ensure that no one flees the country. The apex court in its earlier verdict in March 2012 had observed that rules and regulations were violated in the projects due to which the national exchequer witnessed losses worth billions of rupees. The court has declared the rental power projects illegal and also ordered them to be shut down.
— IANS
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‘Pak NAB officer was under pressure’
Islamabad, January 22 The father of Kamran Faisal, an Assistant Director of the National Accountability Bureau who was found hanging from a fan in a government hostel last week, alleged that his son had had a heated exchange with NAB chairman Fasih Bokhari and four other officers.
— PTI
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Prince Harry ends Afghan tour, says he killed Taliban militants
London, January 22 The
28-year-old, known as Captain Wales in the Army, is returning to the UK
after his second deployment to the war-torn country. As a gunner in
Apache attack helicopters, Harry flew on scores of missions with his
fingers on the triggers of deadly rockets, missiles and a 30-mm
cannon. "Yeah, so lots of people have," he replied when asked
if he killed from the cockpit. "The squadron's been out here.
Everyone's fired a certain amount," he said. Harry was involved
with a number of missions in southern Afghanistan, from supporting
allied troops to accompanying British Chinook and US Black Hawk
helicopters on casualty evacuation (CASEVAC) missions. His work as a
Joint Terminal Attack Controller during his first tour of duty in
2007-08 saw him call in air strikes on enemy positions. — PTI
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Japanese PM holds out olive branch to China
Tokyo, January 22 Natsuo Yamaguchi, head of the New Komeito party, is expected to stay in Beijing for four days, during which time he will meet China's incoming President Xi Jinping and hand over a letter from Abe, local media reported. "Japan-China relations have been faced with various kinds of friction, and political dialogue has not been held for a long time," Yamaguchi told reporters ahead of his departure. "I would like to make a step toward opening the door to normalising our relations," he said. But Yamaguchi, who has no official government role, said Tokyo has no plan to compromise over the island row. "Our stance is that no territorial problem exists. That's a shared recognition among the government and coalition," he said.
— AFP
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25 killed in series of Iraq attacks
Baghdad, January 22 The unrest comes amid a political crisis that has pitted Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki against several of his erstwhile government partners and with more than four weeks of anti-government protests in Sunni majority areas hardening opposition against the Shiite leader's rule. Today's bloodiest blasts struck an army checkpoint south of Baghdad, a military base north of the capital, and a mostly Shiite neighbourhood in the city's north, security and medical officials said. No group claimed responsibility, but Sunni militants often launch attacks in a bid to destabilise the government and push Iraq back towards the sectarian violence that blighted it from 2005 to 2008. "One of my friends was hurt in his head, and another was seriously wounded in his chest," said 41-year-old mechanic Ali Jassim at the site of the Baghdad blast, before angrily shouting: "The politicians are busy with keeping their posts, and we are suffering from these explosions!" In the bloodiest attack, six persons were killed and At least 20 others were wounded when a car bomb was detonated near an army camp in the town of Taji, 25 km north of Baghdad, an army officer and a medical official said. South of the capital in the town of Mahmudiyah, at least five persons were killed and 14 wounded by a suicide car bomb, officials said. Mahmudiyah lies within a mixed region known as the "Triangle of Death" because of the frequency of attacks during the worst of Iraq's insurgency in the wake of the 2003 US-led invasion.
— AFP
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Pakistan to release all Indian fishermen
Karachi, January 22 "We have decided to release all Indian fishermen in Pakistani jails and the process of scrutiny to decide how to go about the task will begin soon," Malik said without giving information on their numbers. According to civil activists involved in seeking legal release of Indian fishermen from Pakistan jails, over 168 fishermen are languishing in different jails. On Sunday, Pakistan's Maritime Security arrested 27 Indian fishermen for allegedly fishing illegally in its territorial waters and also seized six boats. Pakistani authorities had released around 15 Indian fishermen from the Malir Jail on Diwali as a goodwill gesture. — PTI
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Several Indian-Americans join Obama at inaugural ball 1 killed, 15 hurt in quake off Indonesia Ballet director undergoes plastic surgery Berlusconi drops allies with ‘mafia links’ US transports French troops to Mali 
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The probe into the Rental Power Projects (RPP) corruption case, in which the Supreme Court has ordered the arrest of Pakistani Prime Minister Raja Pervez Ashraf, would remain deferred until the investigation into the death of a National Accountability Bureau (NAB) official concludes.
