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Tackling Terror
Zardari meets Sharif tomorrow
Held Baha’is confess taking orders from Israel: Iran
12 killed in Baghdad blasts
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UML rejects Maoists’ proposal to exclude NC
Syrian general assassinated
Fukuda cabinet rejig in vain
Al-Qaida confirms death of explosive expert
Obama too thin to win White House?
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Tackling Terror
Islamabad, August 3 Pakistan Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani and Afghan President Hamid Karzai, during a breakfast meeting in Colombo today, also decided to resume bilateral engagements which were suspended by Kabul following last month’s embassy bombing. Afghanistan had blamed Pakistan’s ISI for the attack on the Indian mission that killed nearly 60 persons, including two Indian diplomats. Kabul subsequently suspended all bilateral and multilateral meetings with Islamabad on July 15 to protest “the violent policies of the Pakistani army and intelligence agencies”. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had conveyed his concerns to Gilani over the Indian embassy attack when he met the Pakistani premier on the sidelines of the SAARC summit in Colombo yesterday. A statement issued by Pakistan’s foreign office spokesman said the meeting “agreed that there was a need for the two governments to engage on all issues across the board with a view to developing a common strategy to overcome the challenges posed to the security and stability of both countries by terrorism and extremism”. The statement said, “The two sides agreed to coordinate their efforts to stop cross-border terrorism.” At the suggestion of Pakistan, Afghanistan agreed to re-engage on all bilateral and multilateral forums. Gilani and Karzai decided that their foreign ministers will meet to “prepare grounds for a framework for close and constructive engagement between the two countries to build confidence and develop a common strategy at the political, military and intelligence levels in collaboration with their coalition partners and NATO (and the) International Security Assistance Force”. The two leaders “recalled the strong bonds of brotherhood between Pakistan and Afghanistan” and exchanged views on common challenges facing the two countries in terms of dealing with terrorism and militancy. They stressed the importance of “closer bilateral engagement at the leadership level”. At Afghanistan’s suggestion, they agreed that the engagement should lead to expediting the process of convening the Pakistan-Afghan mini-Jirga “as soon as possible”. Following the meeting, Gilani expressed the hope that his talks with Karzai would help remove misunderstandings between the two countries. “It was a very successful meeting, held in a very cordial atmosphere,” he told reporters. Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi expressed the hope that “definitely there will be an end to the blame game” which had soured ties between the two sides. Both India and Afghanistan have linked the ISI to the suicide car bombing at the Indian mission in Kabul, a charge denied by Pakistan. Gilani yesterday assured Singh that he would conduct an independent investigation to ascertain whether or not ISI was involved in the embassy attack.
— PTI
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Zardari meets Sharif tomorrow
PPP co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari and PML-N chief Nawaz Sharif will meet on Tuesday. This could be a make-or-break meeting between the two leaders to decide the fate of the four-month-old ruling coalition.
The luncheon meeting between the two leaders, to be held at the Zardari House here, will decide whether the PML-N will sit in the opposition or rejoin the cabinet if the PPP agrees to the demand for the restoration of the deposed judges under the Murree Declaration. Prior to this all-important meeting, Nawaz Sharif has summoned a meeting of the Central Working Committee and parliamentary party of the PML-N on Monday in Lahore to consider the current political scenario and arrive at a consensus that will form the basis of talks with Zardari. PPP sources said the legal team of Zardari had formulated a new set of proposals for the meeting to settle the legal issue of the restoration of deposed judges and it would be presented to Nawaz Sharif during the meeting. However, the PML-N has rejected any other formula for the restoration of judges, saying that they would only accept the proposal that would implement the Murree Declaration and there would be no compromise on the issue. The lawyers' movement has already given August 14 as the D-Day to the coalition to make a decision to restore the deposed judges in accordance with the Murree Declaration. The PML-N has endorsed this demand and has further called for early impeachment of president Pervez Musharraf. Both parties are also partners in the coalition in Punjab. If they break, the Punjab government may also fall but chief minister Shahbaz Sharif has said the party is ready to sacrifice the Punjab government if the deposed judges were not restored. PML-N sources said this would be communicated to Asif Ali Zardari at the meeting.
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Held Baha’is confess taking orders from Israel: Iran
Tehran, August 3 The report in Rasalat daily comes amid heightened tensions between Iran and Israel over Tehran's disputed nuclear plans. Israel accuses Iran of seeking atomic bombs and has not ruled out military action if diplomacy fails.However, Iran denies the charge. The Resalat report appeared to refer to a group of Baha'is, most of whom were detained in May. Judiciary officials had no immediate comment. Baha'is regard their faith's 19th-century founder as the latest in a line of prophets, including Abraham, Moses, Buddha, Jesus and Mohammad. “Seven Baha’i individuals have set up an illegal organisation with connections to a number of countries, including Israel, and they have received orders from them to undertake measures against the Islamic system,” Resalat reported. Iran said in May it had detained six members of the Baha'i faith on security-related charges. The Baha'i International Community said they were members of a committee that tends to the needs of Baha'is in Iran. It said the group of six were detained in May and the seventh member was detained in March. The Baha'i International Community represents the faith worldwide, operating under a governing council, which is based in Israel. Baha'is said hundreds of their faith had been jailed and executed since Iran's 1979 Islamic revolution.
— Reuters
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12 killed in Baghdad blasts
Baghdad, August 3 In the deadliest attack, a small truck parked near the passport office on Magreb Street in the north of the city exploded and killed 12 persons and wounded 23, defence and interior ministry sources said. Several people suffered burns as flames from the powerful blast swept skywards, damaging buildings, they said. Bloodstains were still visible on the busy commercial street as dozens of Iraqi soldiers set about clearing debris as far as 100 metres from the seat of the blast, an AFP photographer saw. He was prevented by soldiers from taking pictures. A US army captain whose platoon was offering support for the Iraqi police said the attack bore the hallmarks of al-Qaida. “It was a safe and stable neighbourhood,” he said, adding that typically al-Qaeda sought to destabilise areas believed to be secure. Meanwhile, on Palestine Street in central Baghdad a roadside bomb targeting a passing police patrol wounded nine people, including six civilians. A third attack thought to have targeted government vehicles wounded two civilians in the southeastern neighbourhood of Al-Ghadir.
— AFP
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UML rejects Maoists’ proposal to exclude NC
Kathmandu, August 3 The Maoists have intensified the discussion with various political parties to form a new government under their leadership. The Maoist has said the party is willing to form the government without the NC if the attempts for a national consensus fail. The UML rejected the Maoist’s proposal during a meeting held at the UML party headquarters in Balkhu. President Ram Baran Yadav has called the Maoists to form a government with consensus as no party has the clear majority in the recently concluded CA polls. The Maoists emerged as the largest party with 227 seats in the 601 seat CA. Maoists’ candidate was defeated in the recently held presidential polls despite being the largest party. The NC, the MJF and the UML had formed an alliance to defeat the Maoists presidential candidate and these parties became able to elect president, vice-president and chairman of the CA respectively.
— UNI
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Syrian general assassinated
Beirut, August 3 The reports came almost six months after the killing in a Damascus car bomb of top Hezbollah military commander Ima Mughnieh, which the Shiite militant group blamed on Israel. The Saudi-owned pan-Arab daily Al-Hayat today quoted informed sources in London as saying that a senior Syrian officer had been found dead. “The circumstances of the incident are not clear,” the London-based paper said in its report. Al-Bawaba, an Arab news website, named the officer as Mohammed Sleiman and said he was Syria's liaison officer with Lebanon's Hezbollah movement. It said he was killed by a sniper in the northwest Syrian town of Tartus and would be buried in his hometown of Driekesh today. The Lebanese anti-Syrian daily al-Mustaqbal quoted a Syrian news site as saying that Sleiman was the head of security at the presidential palace in Damascus and President Bashar al-Assad's right-hand man. A Hezbollah official said he did not know Mohammed Sleiman and had not heard about any killing. Israel has denied the Hezbollah charge that it was behind the assassination of Mughnieh in the Syrian capital on February 12.
— AFP
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Fukuda cabinet rejig in vain
Tokyo, August 3 Fukuda (72), tapped a popular rival, former foreign minister Taro Aso, for a top ruling party post and reshuffled his cabinet to try to erase doubts about his leadership skills among voters, who are worried about a slowing economy, rising fuel and food prices, and the growing welfare costs of a fast-ageing population. Aso's appointment as the Liberal Democratic Party's No. 2 figure was applauded by most voters, the three surveys showed, with 57 per cent of those responding to a Mainichi newspaper poll expressing positive expectations for the outspoken nationalist. Aso, a dapper fan of manga comics, and the bland, bespectacled Fukuda, are a study in contrasts. Fukuda, a dovish conservative, favours warmer ties with China, while Aso is a security hawk who has made remarks that angered Asian neighbours that suffered under Japan's past military aggression. In a troubling sign for the ruling bloc, more voters said they would cast their ballots for the main opposition Democratic Party if a general election were held now, the polls showed. No election for parliament's powerful lower house need be held till September 2009. However, speculation is simmering that Fukuda, or his successor, will call a snap poll to seek a mandate to break a deadlock born of a divided parliament, where the opposition controls the upper house and can stall legislation. Support for Fukuda's cabinet showed little improvement from its predecessor in two surveys, with the liberal Asahi newspaper putting support unchanged at 24 per cent and the Mainichi survey showing a three-point rise to 25 per cent.
— Reuters
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Al-Qaida confirms death of explosive expert
Cairo, August 3 In a web statement, Abu Khabab al-Masri and three other commanders were killed. It did not give details on when or how they were killed, but Pakistani authorities have said they believe al-Masri died in an American airstrike last Monday on a compound near the Afghan border. Pakistani officials have said six people were killed in that strike. Al-Masri, an Egyptian militant whose real name is Midhat Mursi, had a USD 5 million bounty on his head from the United States. He is accused of training terrorists to use poisons and explosives, and is believed to have trained suicide bombers who killed 17 American sailors on the USS Cole in Yemen in 2000. The al-Qaida statement called al-Masri and the other three slain commanders “a group of heroes” and warned of vengeance for their deaths.
— AP
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Obama too thin to win White House?
London, August 3 In fact, The Wall Street Journal has indicated that Obama is too thin to win the White House as his slim physique could be a liability in a nation of mostly obese voters and it might also affect his presidential campaign. To be specific, the report suggested that Obama might be too thin and too fit to appeal to voters who tend to like candidates with flaws that they can identify with, British newspaper The Sunday Times reported. Obama’s enthusiasm for exercise first raised eyebrows last month, when he stopped three times in one day for workouts at Chicago gyms, prompting a reporter to wonder: “Sometimes it’s hard to tell if Barack Obama is running for President or Mr Universe contest.” It has also been widely noted that Obama sometimes seems appalled when presented at election meetings with the pride of local cuisine, often a fat-smothered hunk of meat or a sugary bun dripping in aerosol cream.
— PTI
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9 climbers feared dead in avalanche on K-2 BBC looks into Pak
artistes charge Indian physio loses post 40 women rights activists held Farmer on murder spree 
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