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US House passes Bill to triple aid to Pakistan
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Iran Votes
Swine flu count reaches 29,669
Another Indian attacked
Pak, China ink $300m arms deal
Nepal veteran leader dead
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US House passes Bill to triple aid to Pakistan
Washington, June 12 Before the House passed the Pakistan Enduring Assistance and Cooperation Enhancement (PEACE) Act 2009, by a roll call vote of 234 to 185, Chairman of the House Committee on Foreign Affairs Horward Berman said the legislation would help to lay the foundation for a stronger and more stable Pakistan. Pakistan will get $1.5 billion a year for each of the next five years as part of the US strategy to combat extremism with economic and social development there. “We are simply asking Pakistan to follow through with the commitments it has already made. And in the process, we lay down an important marker that Congress will no longer provide a blank cheque,” Berman said. “We fully appreciate the urgency of the situation in Pakistan, and the need for appropriate flexibility,” Berman, who is the main sponsor of the Bill, said. To ensure that US assistance was truly benefitting the people of Pakistan, the legislation required rigorous oversight and auditing, the lawmaker said. “It establishes a set of principles that should govern US-Pakistan ties, including the actions that the two countries should take together to maintain a robust, relevant and lasting relationship,” Berman said. A different version of the Bill, which is much softer in nature towards Pakistan, is pending in the Senate for approval. Once that Bill - more popular as Kerry Lugar Bill, is passed, the two Bills will go to conference, unless the Senators chooses to take up the House version of the Bill instead, which is unlikely to happen - given the reservation of the Obama administration and Islamabad towards the stringent conditional ties imposed on Pakistan in this Bill. The PEACE Act authorises military assistance to help Pakistan disrupt and defeat the Al-Qaida and insurgent elements, and requires that the vast majority of such assistance be focused on critical counter-insurgency and counter-terrorism efforts.
— PTI
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12 killed in Pak blasts
A top Sunni religious leader Allama Sarfraz Naeemi was among 12 killed in 2 serial mosque blasts in Lahore and Nowshera respectively.
The suicide attack was carried out in one of the city’s major seminary Jamia Naeemia where Allama Naeemi was sitting in his office. Naeemi was in the forefront of the campaign against the Taliban and tribal
militants. A suicide bomber reportedly entered Jamia Naeemia soon after Friday prayers, peeped into Allama Naeemi office and then blew himself up killing Naeemi and two other persons besides himself. Naeemi led a fatwa (decree) by Pakistan’s top religious leaders declaring suicide bombing as un-Islamic and condemnable. Religious and political leaders across the country condemned Naeemi’s killing and termed it as a conspiracy against Islamic and sectarian solidarity, which Naeema represented. Simultaneously suicide bombers attacked a mosque in Nowshera cantonment in the North West Frontier Provincie (NWFP) killing eight persons, including four soldiers who had come to say Friday prayers. Meanwhile, unknown gunmen once again attacked Peshawar residence of Corps Commander Lt Gen Masood Aslam, who is believed to be the actual target of Tuesday’s deadly suicide blast in Pearl Continental Hotel with which his house has a common boundary wall. Two gunmen were killed after the guards posted at the house engaged the assailants in heavy exchange of fire. The string of bomb blasts within a week against the backdrop of ongoing military operation in Swat and a low-key campaign in Bannu close to Waziristan tribal areas belied army’s claim that the terrorists were on the run and that the suicide attacks reflected their desperate last gasp resistance.
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Sulabh founder gets UN award
United Nations, June 12 Pathak received the award from well known American actor Darren Moore at a gala function organised by Intergovernmental Renewable Energy Organization (IREO), having de facto status within the United Nations. Large number of actors, ambassadors and technical experts were present on the occasion. Modeled on the Nobel Prize, this annual awards ceremony draws attention to future energy issues that constitute some of the most urgent challenges facing the world’s leaders today. These awards recognise the achievements of individuals and institutions in response to the crisis of climate change and sustainable global energy resources.
— PTI
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Iran Votes
Tehran June 12 An Ahmadinejad adviser dismissed the claim as "psychological war" and said the outcome was impossible to predict. They were speaking a few hours before voting was officially due to end at 6 pm. It was later extended by one hour due to long queues, the Interior Ministry said. A victory for Mousavi might help ease tensions with the West, which is concerned about Tehran's nuclear ambitions, and improve chances of engagement with US President Barack Obama, who has talked about a new start in ties with Tehran. Sadegh Kharazi, an ally of the former Prime Minister, said surveys made by reformers showed Mousavi was getting enough votes to win outright in the first round."I can say that based on our surveys ... Mousavi is getting 58-60 per cent of the vote and we are the winner," he said. Ahmadinejad adviser Ali Akbar Javanfekr said in response: "How can they predict? This is a psychological war they launched to influence voting.
— Reuters
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Swine flu count reaches 29,669
Geneva, June 12 WHO says the virus has so far been reported in 74 countries and is now considered a pandemic.The agency says the outbreak is likely to continue spreading around the globe and will last for one or two years.Most infections are producing mild illness, but there have been at least 145 deaths. WHO Director-General Margaret Chan is holding meetings with staff today to plan the global body's next steps to combat the outbreak. Chan will
travel to UN headquarters in New York on Monday. — AP
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Another Indian attacked
Melbourne, June 12 The police said the Indian student suffered a broken nose and sore jaw in the incident in Adelaide's busy market area of Rundle Mall yesterday and that they have arrested a 17-year-old boy in this connection. A bystander said he saw the Indian punching first, but the student claimed that his attacker started the spat when he hit him on his turban and asked "what's that on your head?".
— PTI
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Pak, China ink $300m arms deal
Islamabad, June 12 “We have signed agreements worth $300 million to acquire state-of-the-art equipment to combat terrorism,” interior minister Rehman Malik told reporters in Beijing. The first consignment of the much-needed equipment would reach Pakistan within three weeks, he added. “Initially, we will start employing this equipment in the cities like Islamabad, Lahore and Karachi and then gradually we plan to cover the entire country,” The News Friday quoted Malik as saying.
— IANS
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Nepal veteran leader dead Veteran freedom fighter and senior Nepali Congress leader Shailaja Acharya passed away on Friday morning due to Alzheimer. Acharya (67), who is also known as “Iron Lady of Nepal”, was admitted to a hospital on Wednesday where she was declared dead at 4.20 am this morning. Previously, she had been to New Delhi and Bangkok for treatment. Congress president Girija Prasad Koirala paid the last tribute covering her body with the Nepali Congress flag. Sailaja’s brother Pradip Acharya lit the funeral pyre on her mouth in keeping with the Hindu culture. The Nepali police presented the national honour while the Nepal army gave a nine-gun salute in her honour when the final rites were being performed.
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