PML-Q, PPP finalise deal to join hands: Source
Islamabad: Top leaders of Pakistan’s opposition party PML-Q have finalised plans to join hands with the ruling PPP to form a “national reconciliation government” during a meeting with President Asif ali Zardari, political sources said on Friday. PML-Q chief and former premier Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain and his cousin, former Punjab Chief Minister Chaudhry Parvaiz Elahi, met Zardari on Thursday and reportedly finalised a plan for their party to join the ruling coalition. The PML-Q was formed by Musharraf to give legitimacy to his rule after he came to power in a military coup in 1999. — PTI
Post 9/11, Osama son stayed in Karachi
karachi: One of the sons of Osama bin Laden lived in a safe house in Karachi with his wife and child just three months after the 9/11 attacks in the US, according to a classified interrogation report of a Guantanamo Bay detainee. The information was given by Abdul Rabbani Abu Rahman who is alleged to have closely worked for bin Laden and managed things for the mastermind of the September 11, 2001, attacks.
— PTI
Gaddafi men clash with Tunisian army
tripoli: The Libyan conflict spilled over the border as pro-Gaddafi forces pushed back the rebels from a key border post and clashed with the Tunisian military on Friday, while government troops intensified the shelling of the besieged western city of Misurata. Forces loyal to Muammar Gaddafi clashed with rebels and Tunisian troops in Dehiba, a Tunisian border town, after seizing the strategically important Libyan-Tunisian border crossing. The Libyan opposition had seized the border post on April 21, and Gaddafi's troops have been trying to retake it. — PTI
Seven killed in Iraq mosque attack
Baquba: A Sunni imam's family and four Sunni brothers were killed in separate incidents in central Iraq early today, just hours after a suicide bomber killed 10 Shiite worshippers in a nearby mosque. The violence in restive Diyala province comes with months to go before US troops must withdraw, and as a series of American officials visited Baghdad to press Iraqi leaders to decide whether or not they want an extended US military presence.
— AFP
Superman gives up
his US citizenship
new york: Superman, one of the most iconic fictional characters, has created a furore by renouncing his US citizenship in a latest issue of the comic book. The superhero known as a champion of truth, justice and the American way renounced his Americancitizenship in the Action Comics' record 900th issue this week, the Daily Mailreported. Superman makes the move after being caught in the middle of a diplomatic row between the US and Iran. — PTI
Pakistan tests Hatf-8 cruise missile
Islamabad: Pakistan on Friday successfully tested the nuclear-capable Hatf-VIII or Raad cruise missile which has a range of 350 kms, the military announced. The indigenously developed low-flying stealth design missile, which can carry a nuclear or a conventional warhead, was tested at an undisclosed location. The Inter-Services Public Relations said the test of the missile Raad was successful. The Raad, meaning thunder in Arabic, which was tested for the first time in August 2007, can be launched from combat aircraft.
— PTI
32 killed on Syria ‘rage day’: Activists
Damascus: At least 32 persons were killed as tens of thousands of protesters rallied for a "day of rage" after Friday prayers, defying warnings of a harsh crackdown, Syrian activists and officials said. Protests against President Bashar al-Assad's regime were held in most major towns, witnesses said, in a repeat of pro-democracy rallies which have become the norm after weekly Muslim prayers. Security sources shot dead at least 16 persons in the protest epicentre of Daraa, rights activists said. — AFP
