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Blast at Shah Rukh concert, 2 killed
Blast in Philippines, 11 killed
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Two top Taliban commanders captured
US bombs Mosul following guerrilla attack
Cracks among separatists disappointing, says Hizb Pak journalists’ on India tour from today
Blind man’s emotional sense
Indian kills self due to mounting debts
5 labourers hurt
in rat attack
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Blast at Shah Rukh concert, 2 killed
Colombo, December 12 Shah Rukh Khan was rushed straight to the international airport following the grenade attack late last night at Colombo’s former Race Course, where the event was taking place, an organiser said. Ritu Shastri, wife of former cricketer Ravi Shastri, was identified among those injured and taken to a private hospital, where doctors said she was treated for minor injuries and discharged after the treatment. However, another 18 injured remained in hospital, six of them in critical condition. Among the two persons killed in the blast one was a press photographer and another hotel employee. Ms Ritu Shastri was one of the organisers of the multi-million rupee live musical concert, “Temptation 2004”. The show that began in the backdrop of a violent protest was reaching a grand finale when the grenade exploded falling short of the stage. Shah Rukh Khan, who was performing at the time of the explosion continued, not knowing what happened, until the lights were switched off and he was escorted off the stage, report said. The show was immediately called off and the performers were rushed to Bandaranaike International Airport ahead of schedule. Earlier in the evening police fired tear-gas and water cannon to quell Buddhist monks and other groups, who took to streets to protest against the conduct of the musical concert by Hindi cinema superstars. A group of Buddhist monks, representing various chapters of Buddhists in Sri Lanka, had been urging the organisers to postpone the event as it coincides with the first death anniversary of Gangodawila Soma Thero, claiming that it is a day for mourning and not for enjoyment. MUMBAI: Shah Rukh Khan while talking to reporters at the airport soon after his arrival from Colombo, said the opposition by Buddhist monks against the concert was a peaceful one. “We paid our respects to the seer before the start of the concert last night,” he added. “This attack is a separate incident and has nothing to do with the peaceful protest of Buddhist monks,” the actor said. Shah Rukh Khan said he would definitely go to Colombo to perform again if invited. “Colombo gave me a warm welcome and I was overwhelmed,” he said.
— Agencies |
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Blast in Philippines, 11 killed
Manila, December 12 The mid-afternoon blast, apparently from a homemade bomb or a grenade concealed in a box, killed three persons instantly and destroyed at least two stalls in the market’s meat section in General Santos city, the police said. Eight other persons later died in hospitals. “The market was packed with people because there were Christmas flea market stalls there, and the explosion was powerful,” the police said. Army Col. Medardo Geslani, who heads a regional anti-terrorism force, said no group claimed responsibility and it was not yet clear if terrorist groups were involved. Despite a crackdown by the military and the police, Muslim militants have staged bomb attacks and maintain a presence in General Santos, a bustling port city 1,000 km south of Manila. The Abu Sayyaf, an Islamic organisation that appears on a US list of terror groups, claimed responsibility for a
bomb that killed more than 100 persons on a ferry leaving Manila in February.
—
AP |
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Two top Taliban commanders captured
Kabul, December 12 The men were arrested late yesterday during a joint Afghan-US operation in
Charchino, a troubled district in Uruzgan province, US military spokesman Major
Mark McCann said. “We believe that one of them is the brother of Taliban’s former governor of (southern) Kandahar province,” he told
AFP. McCann was unable to provide any further details about the operation but an Afghan defence ministry official said the raid targeted senior Taliban commanders in the province. Among those arrested was another Taliban leader, the official said on condition of anonymity. “Besides the brother of the former Kandahar governor there was another big Taliban commander,” he said. The arrests took place on the same day as the US-led military announced the launch of a major operation dubbed “Lightning Freedom” to hunt down
Taliban-linked militants in their winter strongholds. McCann did not say if the weekend hunt was part of the newly launched offensive. Elsewhere, in north-eastern Kunar province, suspected militants detonated an improvised bomb which injured up to six Afghan civilians, defence ministry spokesman, General Abdul Zahir Azimi told reporters earlier in the day. “Two of the wounded men were evacuated
to (the US) coalition’s base at Bagram for treatment,” the spokesman said.
— AFP |
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US bombs Mosul following guerrilla attack
(Iraq), December 12 The powerful blast shook the west of the city. There were an “unknown number of enemy casualties” and eight soldiers were wounded, Lieutenant Colonel Paul Hastings said. Insurgents had set-off a car bomb and then opened fire with rifles, rocket-propelled grenades and mortars on the unit that moved on the arms cache. Troops later destroyed the weapons. Earlier, in the day in the city, where the Sunni Arab insurgency has been particularly active in the past month, another car bomb exploded near a US military convoy wounding at least two passersby, witnesses and the US army said. Three high-ranking Iraqi police officers and seven Iraqi National Guardsmen were among those killed in other violence across the country. The guardsmen were killed in the town of Hit in western Iraq when gunmen ambushed their minibus, Captain Ahmad Jassem of the US-backed force said. Three others were wounded. In southern Baghdad, gunmen assassinated a police brigadier and a colonel.
— Reuters |
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Cracks among separatists disappointing, says Hizb
Muzaffarabad, December 12 “The tri-section of the Kashmiri conglomerate has really been the most disappointing aspect of our movement,” Hizbul Mujahideen chief Syed Salahuddin told UNI in an exclusive interview here in the capital of Pakistan-occupied Kashmir recently when Indian journalists visited Pakistan, PoK and Northern Areas. “The unification of the leadership based on principles and a code of conduct converging into the ultimate goal of freedom is urgently needed,” he added. Asked if the gun has lost its relevance at a time when the desire for peace is getting stronger in both India and Pakistan and also in the troubled Jammu and Kashmir, the Hizb chief said, “it is not the gun but New Delhi’s intransigence, unrealistic, rigid attitude and dilly-dallying behaviour which has threatened South Asian peace and security.” Salahuddin also dismissed reports of differences in his outfit and the Muttahida Jihad Council (MJC), a conglomerate of 13 Kashmiri militant groups, led by him. “There is an ideal coordination and cooperation among the MJC constituents. There are no differences of any kind. The Hizb is a well-positioned and a well-respected group,” he added. Asked if the militancy in Jammu and Kashmir is now being dominated by foreign elements, Salahuddin, also known as “Peer Sahib” among his close circle, said the perception that the “movement has become or is becoming non-indigenous is absolutely wrong. “The role of local militants is still dominating and their number overwhelming. The Hizb by virtue of its numerical strength and target-oriented actions stands to be in the vanguard of the struggle,” he added. — UNI
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Pak journalists’ on India tour from today
Islamabad, December 12 During the tour, sponsored by the Indian Government, the scribes will visit several cities, including New Delhi, Jaipur, Ajmer, Agra Hyderabad, Bangalore and Mumbai. The visit is the first such initiative by India in the recent years aimed at providing an opportunity to the Pakistani media to take a comprehensive look at the country. A team of Pakistani journalists had visited Jammu and Kashmir recently. Their visit as well as a return visit by Indian journalists to Pakistan Occupied Kashmir (POK) was sponsored by an NGO, South-Asian Free Media Association, (SAFMA). Officials of the Indian High Commission here said the team comprising middle-level scribes from the English and Urdu print media and the television would interact with Indian External Affairs Minister Natwar Singh and Foreign Secretary Shyam Saran in New Delhi. The scribes would meet Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje during their visit to Jaipur. The mediapersons will also get a glimpse of India’s prowess in the IT sector during their visit to Infosys and Wipro headquarters in Bangalore. On their last leg of the tour, the Pakistani team will travel to Mumbai and go to Bombay Stock Exchange, RBI, Times of India. — PTI
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‘Lagaan’ bat auctioned for Rs 6m
Lahore, December 12 Mr Ali Imran of Bahria Town, the highest bidder, received the bat at the fund-raising dinner organised on the hospital lawns. Saying that this bat was veryp recious to him, Amir said the auction money would go to the hospital for the treatment of poor cancer patients. Speaking to a large gathering, he said that his visit to Pakistan would be a memorable one as he had been showered with great respect and love. He said that he was lucky that he had come to Pakistan to participate in a noble cause of helping the poor. Amir also presented hospital plaques to major donors. SKMCH chairman Imran Khan and chief executive officer Dr Faisal Sultan briefed the audience on hospital’s progress during the last one decade. They said the hospital had so far treated some 10,000 cancer patients. During the last one decade the hospital budget had soared from Rs10 million to Rs1 billion per annum. As the hospital was also attending to patients from Sindh, they said the management had decided to establish another cancer hospital in Karachi by raising funds. Comedian Umer Sharif and different singers performed on the occasion. |
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Pervaiz for quality publication of Quran
Lahore, December 12 Presiding over the first meeting of the Punjab Quran Board here on Saturday, the chief minister said the board would also include a DIG police and an Additional Secretary of the Home Department so as to proceed against those found violating the Quran Act, 1973. He said an Additional Secretary of the Auqaf Department and a representative of the Information Department would also be members of the board to ensure quality publication of the holy Quran and create public awareness about its importance. He directed the officials concerned to ensure quality publication of the holy Quran and systematic collection of worn-out copies of the holy book. Quran Mahals would be established in every tehsil of the province to protect the worn-out copies of the qran. For that purpose, the government would provide Rs 30 million to every tehsil, he said. The Chief Minister announced the provision of free copies of the Qran to students of middle to matric classes. He said a Quran museum would be established to protect rare and hand-written copies of the holy book. |
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London, December 12 The 52-year-old was able to react to pictures of human faces showing emotions such as anger, happiness or fear, the researchers said. The man, identified only as “patient X”, has suffered two strokes which damaged the brain areas that process visual signals, leaving him completely blind. However, his eyes and optic nerves are intact, and brain scans showed that he appeared to somehow use a part of the brain not usually used for sight to process visual signals linked to some emotions. When researchers from the University of Wales showed the man images of shapes such as circles and squares, he could only guess what they were, and had a similar lack of success determining the gender of emotionless male and female faces. But when presented with angry or happy human faces, his accuracy improved to 59 per cent, significantly better than what would be expected by random chance, with similar results for distinguishing between sad and happy or fearful and happy faces. He was unable, however, to tell apart images of animals which appeared either threatening or non-threatening. The findings, published in journal Nature Neuroscience, suggested the man was able to process information gathered by his eyes in a different part of the brain from the visual centre. — AFP
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Indian kills self due to mounting debts
Dubai, December 12 Arumugham Venkatesan had borrowed more than Rs 90,000 from an agency back home to come here and earn 3.50 dirhams an hour for a 10-hour workday with no benefits except accommodation. His suicide letter, published in “Gulf News”, said he had completed an electrician’s training course, for which Rs 75,000 was borrowed besides Rs 90,000 to get the job as a helper. Venkatesan had asked the company to send him back home due to mounting debts, but the managers said they could only do so after four or five months. Yesterday, 350 of the company’s workers, who had arrived in the UAE about three years ago, staged protests over unpaid wages and refused to work.
— UNI |
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5 labourers hurt in rat attack Savar (Bangladesh), December 12 Locals said some 200 rats came out from the godown of poultry feed yesterday when the labourers were lifting sacks for loading onto a truck and bit them indiscriminately leaving five of them injured. Sensing danger the labourers and onlookers ran helter-skelter for safety. The incident created panic in the market area. Later the labourers with the help of the local people killed at least 32 rats. The injured labourers were treated at the local hospital. — UNB
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