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Pak: Don’t indulge in ‘blame game’
Bomb found
on Afghan bus
6 killed in attack outside US consulate in Turkey
Six die in Iraq bombing
‘N-deal may not get through current Cong session’
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Global poll closes, Rushdie tipped to win Best of the Booker
PML-Q expels woman MP for violating rules
Police kills 5 in China’s restive region
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Pak: Don’t indulge in ‘blame game’
Islamabad, July 9 Amid reports linking Pakistan’s spy agency ISI to the bombing, Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani said his country wants “excellent” relations with all its neighbours, including India and Afghanistan. Pakistan also desires peace and stability in Afghanistan as it is in the interest of both countries, he told reporters in Kuala Lumpur before ending his two-day visit to Malaysia. Replying to a question on allegations about Pakistan’s involvement in the suicide attack on the Indian embassy in Kabul, Gilani stressed the need for joint and coordinated efforts in the war against terrorism. He said indulging in a “blame game” would not benefit anyone. “No one should indulge in a blame game, rather (we should) fight this menace jointly. If someone is blaming Pakistan, it will not serve the cause,” he said. Gilani also referred to the statement of the US government that it does not see any Pakistani role in the attack on the Indian embassy. The Prime Minister had earlier too denied that Pakistan’s intelligence agencies were involved in the suicide attack that killed 41 people, including two Indian diplomats and two paramilitary personnel, and injured nearly 140. — PTI
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Herat (Afghanistan), July 9 The workers, including engineers, had noticed a ‘suspicious package’ on the bus on Tuesday as they were travelling to work in the south-western province of Nimroz, said provincial governor Ghulam Dastgir Azad. Later, they called the police who discovered the remote-controlled bomb, he added. The driver of the bus was arrested for questioning. Azad blamed Taliban militants for the attempted attack on the workers. There have been several Taliban attacks on road workers and about 10 Indian nationals working on the project have been killed over the past few years. The Taliban have denied involvement in the embassy attack and the Afghan government has hinted that the Pakistan’s intelligence service could be involved. — AFP 
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6 killed in attack outside US consulate in Turkey
Istanbul, July 9 Turkish and US officials called the shooting a terrorist attack. The US ambassador to Turkey and Turkey’s Foreign Ministry said security around all American diplomatic missions in Turkey had been increased. Yavuz Erkut Yuksel, a bystander, told CNN-Turk television the attackers emerged from a vehicle and surprised the guard. “One of them approached a policeman while hiding his gun and shot him in the head,” Yuksel said. Footage from a security camera at the site showed four armed and bearded men emerging from a car and killing a traffic policeman, then running toward a guard post some 50 yards away as other policemen fired back, the Dogan news agency reported. The shootout caused panic and scattered people who were waiting in a line for visas. US security personnel went inside the compound because they are not authorised to engage in armed action on Turkish soil, Dogan said. — AP
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Baghdad, July 9 The two blasts happened in quick succession in Falluja in western Anbar province. One struck a police unit guarding the bank, as retirees queued up to collect their pensions, the police said. A second bomb detonated a few minutes later, hitting a police convoy that had arrived to evacuate casualties. Four policemen were among the dead. The police did not say who was behind the attack, but the Sunni Islamist Al-Qaida is often blamed for bombings in Anbar. The US military said the Al-Qaida would try to stage a comeback in Anbar, where the militant group once controlled swathes of territory before the Sunni Arab tribal leaders joined the US forces in late 2006 to largely drive the gunmen out.— Reuters
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‘N-deal may not get through current Cong session’
Washington, July 9 The key enabling legislation passed in 2006, the Hyde Act, has a requirement that Congress should be in a continuous session for 30 days to consider the final package from the Bush administration; and Congressional aides have maintained that the clock will begin to tick only when New Delhi gets through the IAEA and the Nuclear Suppliers Group, ‘The Washington Post’ reported. What is being pointed out is that because of the August recess, less than 40 days are left of the session before Congress adjourns on September 26. —
PTI
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Global poll closes, Rushdie tipped to win Best of the Booker
London, July 9 The unique award to mark the 40th anniversary of the Man Booker prize has been decided not by an expert panel of writers and critics but by ordinary readers who were allowed to vote online and by mobile phones. Voting has been declared closed now after thousands voted from around the world for a shortlist of six selected from the 41 books that have won the Booker and the Man Booker awards so far, organisers said. The novels are: Pat Barker’s The Ghost Road (1995), Peter Carey’s Oscar and Lucinda (1988), J M Coetzee’s Disgrace (1999), J G Farrell’s The Siege of Krishnapur (1973), Nadine Gordimer’s The Conservationist (1974), and Salman Rushdie’s Midnight’s Children (1981). Midnight’s Children has been the bookie’s favourite from the moment polling began May 12. Rushdie’s 1988 novel The Satanic Verses became controversial after some Muslim fundamentalists called it blasphemous and declared a fatwa on the author’s life. —
IANS
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PML-Q expels woman MP for violating rules
The Pakistan Muslim League-Q (PML-Q) has expelled one of its most outspoken MPs Kashmala Tariq from the party on the charge of indulging in activities detrimental to the unity of the party. This is the first such action by any political party against an MP since the 2002 elections.
The PML-Q chief Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain has also indicated that the party will move the speaker to unseat Kashmala Tariq from membership of the National Assembly. She was elected to the Assembly on seats reserved for women. A PML-Q press release here said that a formal notice had been sent to
Kashmala.
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Police kills 5 in China’s restive region
Beijing, July 9 The police raided a residential apartment in the regional capital Urumqi where the 15-member group, all Uygurs, including five women and 10 men, were hiding and shot at them after they wielded knives and threatened to "perish together" with policemen when cornered, the Public Security Bureau said. As 15 policemen closed in and surrounded the apartment, they found themselves face to face with knife-wielding Uygurs, all shouting sacrifice for Allah, the bureau spokesman was quoted as saying by the state-run Xinhua agency. —
PTI
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Watteau masterpiece fetches record price Iran told to end execution of juveniles Eco-friendly mosque in Manchester 2 die in WWF vehicle attack Lanka warns fishermen
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