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Pak shows concern over Indo-US
Suicide truck bomber kills 22 in Baghdad
56 die in road mishap in Nigeria
1 killed in Russia train blast
30 hurt as Deuba supporters, police clash
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NASA starts Discovery launch countdown
Space shuttle Discovery Commander Eileen Collins disembarks the shuttle training aircraft after performing training exercises in preparation of the upcoming STS-114 launch at the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida, on Saturday. The space shuttle Discovery is scheduled for launch on July
26.
Consensus on N-free Korean peninsula
Pak man kills Indian woman, says report
Intruder in Pak PM’s plane detained
Al-Qaida ‘praised’ for kidnapping
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Pak shows concern over Indo-US defence accord
Islamabad, July 24 Sources told Dawn that a meeting of the authority presided over by President Gen Pervez Musharraf was of the view that Pakistan should take up the issue of the quantum jump in Indo-US defence cooperation with the Bush administration and at the same time ensure continued credible defence. The NCA took note of the Indo-US framework and decided on appropriate measures. The President told the meeting, held at the strategic plans division in Rawalpindi, that Pakistan was fully alive to developments taking place in its region and it would take all necessary safeguards to ensure that its deterrence capability was maintained. The country’s nuclear deterrence, he said, was fully operational and continued to consolidate and strengthen with time. He said it was not Pakistan’s policy to engage in an arms race but it would not close its eyes to induction of advanced weaponry in its neighbourhood. Pakistan stood for peace and harmony, which were essential for the promotion of the government’s policy of economic growth and development, the President said but added that all necessary defensive measures would be taken. No one had the right to speculate about the effectiveness and reliability of the country’s command and control structures, which predated those in its neighbourhood and were far more efficient, scientific and transparent, he said. Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz informed the meeting that the country’s rapid economic growth would generate large energy requirements and his government had identified nuclear energy as one of the attractive alternative sources. |
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Suicide truck bomber kills 22 in Baghdad
Baghdad, July 24 The bloodshed came amid growing tensions over a committee drafting a constitution that is seen as a vital mechanism for drawing Arab Sunnis into a peaceful political process. Today’s attack was the deadliest since a suicide bomber blew himself up next to a fuel truck on July 16 that killed 98 persons in a town south of Baghdad. |
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56 die in road mishap in Nigeria
Kano (Nigeria), July 24 A Federal Road Safety Commission (FRSC) official in Kano, Hammed Ibrahim, told mediapersons at the scene that only six passengers were rescued after the accident. The bus travelling from Lagos to the city of Maiduguri when it veered off the road and plunged into the Gadar Tamburawa river some 20 km south of Kano, in the early hours of the morning.
— AFP |
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1 killed in Russia train blast
Moscow, July 24 The bomb went off at 5.30 am (0700 IST) underneath the first carriage of an electric train travelling between the town of Khassaviourt in the west of the republic and the regional capital Makhatchkala, the sources said. Two hundred metres of track was damaged by the blast and train movements
suspended temporarily. — AFP |
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30 hurt as Deuba supporters, police clash
Kathmandu, July 24 Some 500 Deuba supporters, including his Nepali Congress (Democratic) leaders and students, chanting anti-King slogans and waving party flags demonstrated at Pulchowk in Kathmandu, in front of the Royal Commission for Corruption Control (RCCC) that is trying the former Prime Minister. The police baton-charged the demonstrators as they blocked the road, raising slogans like ‘Release our leader, scrap the illegal commission’ and ‘We want a republic’. The protesters also pelted the police with stones, injuring several of them, an official said. Those injured in the lathi charge included former ministers Homnath Dahal and Prakash Sharan Mahat, NC (Democratic) spokesman Minendra Rijal said. Two student leaders were also seriously injured during the clash. The demonstrators were demanding the release of Mr Deuba and former minister Prakash Man Singh, who are facing trial under detention of the RCCC for alleged financial irregularities in connection with an ADB-funded drinking water project. However, the final hearing of the case could not take place today as expected and the next hearing is slated for tomorrow. Mr Deuba says the commission is illegal and has refused to cooperate with it.
— PTI |
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NASA starts Discovery launch countdown
Cape Canaveral, July 24 The US space agency set a Tuesday (2009 IST) launch time for lift-off with seven astronauts aboard. The countdown started yesterday at noon (2130 IST) for the first shuttle launch since the fiery demise of the Columbia shuttle on February 1, 2003. All seven members of Columbia’s crew, including India-born Kalpana Chawla, were killed when the shuttle disintegrated as it was re-entering the earth’s atmosphere. The tragedy led to a freeze of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration’s shuttle programme and forced the agency to adopt new procedures to reduce the risk of equipment failure before a launch can take place. After more than 10 days of intensive efforts, NASA engineers believed yesterday that they were able to solve the problem that forced to cancel the first Discovery flight. “We believe our flight systems and ground support systems are ready,” said test director Pete Nickolenko. “We are looking forward to a successful launch and mission.” The earlier launch was aborted because one of the four fuel sensors in the Discovery’s huge exterior fuel tank was found faulty shortly before lift-off.
— AFP |
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Consensus on N-free Korean peninsula
Beijing, July 24 “We shared the view that (participants) in the talks should produce substantial progress and come up with a framework for the realisation of a nuclear-free Korean peninsula,” South Korea’s Deputy Foreign Minister Song Min-soon told reporters after a meeting with his North Korean counterpart Kim Kye-Gwan here. The bilateral talks, which lasted some 100 minutes, came two days before the six-way talks are to resume here on Tuesday to coax North Korea to dismantle its nuclear weapons programme in return for political and economic incentives. During the meeting, the two sides held consultations on issues that are expected to be raised during this week’s talks that also involve the USA, China, Russia and Japan. Pyongyang publicly commits itself to a nuclear-free Korean peninsula, but also warned that there won’t be progress at the six-way talks if the USA unilaterally demands for scrapping of nuclear weapons. “It would be difficult for the talks to make any progress if the USA approaches the talks from the standpoint of unilaterally demanding the DPRK scrap its nuclear weapons,” South Korea’s Yonhap news agency quoted the Rodong Sinmun, the North’s main newspaper as saying in a commentary. DPRK stands for the North Korea’s official name, Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.
— PTI |
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Pak man kills Indian woman, says report
Dubai, July 24 The man attacked the 35-year-old woman with an axe in her house in the Al Zait area in Ras Al Khaimah emirate earlier this week, reportedly after a heated argument, and stole her jewellery and mobile phone before fleeing, police officials said. Police personnel spotted the man walking suspiciously on a street in the area and took him to the RAK Police Department headquarters for further investigation, after he could not produce any identification and traces of blood were found on his clothes, Khaleej Times quoted the officials as saying. Lieut-Col Abdullah Al Hadidi, Director of Criminal Investigation Department of the RPD, told mediapersons yesterday that two mobile phones, one without a SIM card, and some gold jewellery in a handbag were recovered from the man. “He also failed to present any ownership document for the gold or explain how he came to possess it. Subsequently, we found that one of the gold boxes bore the name of the murdered woman,” Col-Al Hadidi said. On finding that the last number
dialed from the mobile was to the landline at a house in the Al Zait area, a police team rushed to the spot and found the victim’s disfigured body lying under a staircase in the house. The woman’s husband, an Arab national, confirmed that the jewellery belonged to his wife, the report said. The man reportedly confessed to his
crime after interrogation. He has been deported two year ago following his conviction in some
criminal cases. — PTI |
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Intruder in Pak PM’s plane detained
Islamabad, July 24 Security officials accompanying Aziz detained Shafiullah, who was sitting in the PM’s plane as it readied to leave Kabul for Pakistan, Geo television reported. All bags of ministers and officials, accompanying the Prime Minister, were thrown off the plane after the stranger was spotted, the channel said. Shafiullah introduced himself as a staffer in the Pakistani embassy in Kabul and told security agents in the plane that he had brought the ministers and officials’ luggage and could not go out as the plane’s doors were shut, Geo reported. The man was asked to disembark and was taken into custody by Pakistan embassy officials in Kabul for questioning, the report said.
— PTI |
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Al-Qaida ‘praised’ for kidnapping
Algiers, July 24 Algerian mission chief Ali Belaroussi, 62, and attache Azzedine Belkadi, 47, were kidnapped by gunmen in the Iraqi capital on Thursday near the north African country’s mission. “The mujahideen in Algeria received with great happiness the news of the kidnapping of the Algerian diplomats by their brothers in Al-Qaida,” the Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat (GSPC) said in a statement yesterday. It was not possible to verify the authenticity of the statement. The Al-Qaida in Iraq claimed responsibility for the kidnapping of Belaroussi but did not mention his attache. The Al-Qaida earlier this month kidnapped and killed the Egyptian mission chief.
— Reuters |
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Cape Canaveral, July 24
