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Teenager held for killing Sikh cabbie
US plays soft ‘mediator’ in Indo-Pak talks
EC adjourns hearing against Imran Khan
No unilateral strikes in Pak areas: US
2 Pakhtun parties form alliance
Pakistan test-fires Babur missile
Australia may sell uranium to India
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Experts question new discovery in Da Vinci's ‘Last Supper’
Pak a ‘haven’ for organ trade
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Teenager held for killing Sikh cabbie
Chicago, July 26 Earnest Lennell Collins Jr., 18, was charged on Tuesday with first-degree murder of Jagit Singh, 43. He was arrested on Monday from Chicago. Jagjit Singh died after being shot twice in the head on July 10. He was allegedly shot to death by Collins, who later torched the cab, according to court papers. When fire fighters reached the spot, they found Jagjit Singh dead in his cab. The police tracked Collins to Chicago through mobile phone records. Several people identified Collins’ voice on the taxi company’s recorded line. A friend of Collins told investigators that he talked about robbing a taxi driver as an easy way to make money, Seattle Times quoted court charges as saying. Another friend said Collins had recently lost money in a dice game and talked about ‘jacking someone’ to earn the money back. Jagjit Singh’s nephew, Kulwinder Singh, said detectives called him on Tuesday with the news. “I was so happy that someone was arrested and charged,” he said. Cab drivers, accustomed to occasional assaults or robbery, were especially shaken by Collins’ decision to torch the cab, Seattlepi.com said. “Every driver is upset,” said another driver Kashmir Sandhu as he waited for customers in his taxi. “I think he should be punished.” — IANS
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US plays soft ‘mediator’ in Indo-Pak talks
Mindful of India's aversion to it playing the role of a “mediator” in the Kashmir dispute, Washington has been working behind the scenes to encourage a rapprochement with Pakistan, according to a senior US official. Undersecretary of State R. Nicholas Burns told a Senate hearing on Wednesday, “I think they want private encouragement and we have a certain credibility in India as well as in Pakistan, and we should influence that quietly, but we don't need to be — and I don't think either side wants us to be — a formal mediator in this process”. “The issue of Kashmir is sensitive, and so we've been very careful not to assert ourselves as a mediator. I don't think they want that”, he added. Burns said “It's certainly in our interest to say to both countries, if we can be helpful, please let us be helpful. This is a very critical stage for them, and if they get this relationship right between each other, it will unlock a lot of very positive developments for both of them and as well as for us”. Burns informed the senators that foreign secretaries of both India and Pakistan had a composite dialogue, and met frequently. “Their discussions centre around issues like the Kashmir issue, the Siachen Glacier, the Sir Creek and various other disputes pending before the two countries for so many years,” he said. The Bush administration is optimistic that President Pervez Musharraf and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh are dedicated to improve relations between the two countries.
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EC adjourns hearing against Imran Khan
The Election Commission on Thursday adjourned till August 1 the hearing in the reference against Pakistan Tehrike Insaf chairman Imran Khan for disqualification on charge of moral turpitude. Imran Khan’s counsel submitted a seven-page rejoinder to the references filed by Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) and federal minister Dr Sher Afgan terming them as mala fide and distortion of facts. The rejoinder said the MQM had reacted to Imran’s criticism of its role in the Karachi carnage of May 12 during which the MQM goons killed political workers of opposition parties in order to block public welcome to Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry. It labelled the MQM as a fascist and terrorist party responsible for killing of its opponents. It said both the MQM and Dr Afgan had filed the reference against Imran at the behest of President Pervez Musharraf against whose dictatorship Imran has beeen camapigning. The rejoinder noted that Imran has been a member of the National Assembly for nearly five years. The so-called ex-parte ruling by an American court delivered in the references was delivered more than 15 years ago and was based on distortion of facts. Imran was never served any notice by he court.
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No unilateral strikes in Pak areas: US
Avoiding a direct answer to recent statements on unilateral strikes against suspected terrorists inside Pakistan's tribal areas, British foreign secretary David Miliband today said his country believes in a concerted effort by the International Security Force (ISF) and Pakistani military to eliminate the terrorist threat from a resurgent Al-Qaida based in Pakistan. Addressing a joint news conference with his Pakistani counterpart Khurshid Mahmud Kasuri after bilateral talks and an earlier meeting with President Musharraf, Milband referred to the latest clarification by Washington reiterating the right to hit any target that threatens US security but refuting reports that it planned any unilateral strikes inside Pakistani territory. State Department official Nicholas Burns told a Congressional hearing yesterday that the US respected Pakistan's sovereignty. Foreign minister Khurshid Kasuri at this point intervened to firmly debunk "irresponsible" statements emanating from the US media and administration. He said such statements should not be made.
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2 Pakhtun parties form alliance
Two leading nationalist Pakhtun political parties — the Awami National Party and the Pakhtoonkhwa Milli Awami Party — have formed a new alliance called Pakhtoonkhwah National Democratic Alliance with senator Asfandyar Wali Khan, President of the ANP, as its chairman.
The announcement of the formation of the alliance was made by PNDA leaders Asfandyar Wali Khan and Mehmood Khan Achakzai at a news briefing at the Parliament Lodges here. The ANP is strong in North West Frontier Province while the PKMAP draws substantial support from Balochistan's ethnic Pakhtuns.
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Pakistan test-fires Babur missile
Islamabad, July 26 According to the statement, the test is part of a continuous process of validating the design parameters set for the Hatf-VII missile delivery system. The missile, which can hit targets as far away as 700 km, can carry conventional as well as non-conventional warheads, official news agency Associated Press of Pakistan (APP) reported. Babur, which was first tested for 500 km in August 2005, is a terrain-hugging, radar avoiding cruise missile.
— UNI
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Australia may sell uranium to India
Melbourne, July 26 Federal resources minister Ian Macfarlane told a uranium conference in western Australia today that the government was considering exporting uranium to India. The move is strongly backed by Prime Minister John Howard. Australia, which holds the world largest known uranium reserves, has in the past refused to sell uranium to India as it was not a signatory to the
NPT. — PTI
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Experts question new discovery in Da Vinci's
Milan, July 26 Pesci claims to have discovered new images in the painting by superimposing a reverse image on the original image. When doing so, Pesci said he observed, that the two figures on either end of the long table appear to become knights, and that another figure appears to be holding an infant. “It came to mind to scan ‘The Last Supper’ and print it on transparent paper, then superimpose it in reverse on the original image: the result is a new painting, with other figures,” Pesci told a news conference. Pesci assigned no meaning to the images, saying he was not an art historian, but suggested it might have reflected Da Vinci's well-known interest in mathematics. But Alessandro Vezzosi, a Leonardo expert and the director of a museum dedicated to the artist in his hometown of Vinci, was skeptical, saying “The Last Supper” was so degraded by time that it was difficult to draw any new conclusions. While he had not yet seen the presentation, he noted that computers can make errors and that some have inaccurately held that Da Vinci's famed “Mona Lisa” is actually a self-portrait.
— AP
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Pak a ‘haven’ for organ trade
Islamabad, July 26 Hearing a suo motu appeal in this regard, Chaudhry, who was involved in a stand-off with the government over a judicial reference filed against the top judge, remarked that Pakistan had become a haven for organs trade and expressed his dissatisfaction with the performance of the authorities to bring about effective legislation to stop the illegal trade. The apex court summoned top officials, including secretary, Cabinet division and secretary, Health, to explain the delay in framing an effective law to check the menace. Deputy Attorney General Rana Muhammad Irshad, who appeared on behalf of the government, said the private sector with a strong lobby was impeding the whole process of legislation.
— PTI
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