The Tribune, Chandigarh, India

	18 killed in Pak suicide attack Afzal Khan in Islamabad Eighteen persons were killed and over 40 others injured on Saturday when a suicide bomber rammed an explosives-laden vehicle into the office of a pro-government militia in the restive Darra Adam Khel region of northwest Pakistan. The powerful explosion ripped through the office of the "aman committee" or militia in the central market of Darra Adam Khel. Members of the militia, formed to fight the Taliban, were among the dead and injured. Sixteen people were killed instantly. Two children were among the injured. At least 20 shops and eight cars were destroyed by the blast, police officials and witnesses told the media. People with serious injuries were rushed to the Lady Reading Hospital in Peshawar, the capital of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province. Officials at the hospital said they had received six bodies and 22 injured, including five who were in a serious condition. No group claimed responsibility for the incident though such attacks are usually blamed on the banned Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan. The Taliban had a strong presence in the Darra Adam Khel region till the army launched an operation to flush them out of the area in 2009. Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Information Minister Mian Iftikhar Hussain said the militants were trying to increase pressure on the authorities following reports that a fresh operation could be launched against them in the tribal belt. "Following a meeting of the President and the Army chief, there are indications that an operation may be launched. In the past too, the militants tried to create pressure in Peshawar and nearby areas so that no operations are launched against them," Hussain told reporters after visiting the injured in hospital. "We think that when there is no success in ushering in peace through talks, then the time has come to take effective action against them instead of them attacking us. We have to make sacrifices even if no action is taken and it is better to take effective action and make sacrifices to restore peace," said Hussain, whose only son was gunned down by the Taliban. (With inputs from PTI)
	Malala still on ventilator People offer special prayers across Pakistan Afzal Khan in Islamabad Teenage rights activist Malala Yousufzai, who was shot in the head by Taliban, was still on ventilator at a top Army hospital though her vital organs were "intact and working properly," the military said on Saturday, as people across Pakistan offered special prayers for her speedy recovery. Malala, who along with two of her school friends was attacked by militants on Tuesday in Mingora, the main town in the former Taliban stronghold of Swat, was airlifted from a military hospital in Peshawar to Rawalpindi for better care on Thursday after doctors removed a bullet lodged near her spine. The condition of the 14-year-old girl, who is still on ventilator in the intensive care unit at the Armed Forces Institute of Cardiology in Rawalpindi, continued to be satisfactory, a military spokesman said, adding her vital organs were "intact and working properly." Geo News channel quoted its sources as saying that the swelling in Malala's head had subsided and that she had responded to painful stimulus. However, her ability to move her limbs continued to be limited though this could be a side-effect of medication, the sources were quoted as saying. People across Pakistan, especially schoolchildren, continued to offer special prayers for Malala's recovery. In the northwestern Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province, lawyers boycotted all courts to protest the attack on Malala. The protest was organised by the provincial bar council. Lawyers held a meeting to condemn the incident and prayed for Malala. In Karachi, Sindh Education Minister Pir Mazhar-ul-Haq said a school named after Malala would be upgraded to higher secondary level to honour the teenager's dream of education for all girls. He made the announcement when he joined students at the school to pray for Malala. (With inputs from PTI)
	Pak Taliban to target media for coverage ISLAMABAD: Angered by the coverage of its attempt to assassinate teenage rights activist Malala Yousufzai, the banned Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan has drawn up plans to target Pakistani and international media organisations across the country. Pakistani Taliban chief Hakimullah Mehsud has issued "special directions" to his subordinates in different cities of Pakistan to target media groups, BBC Urdu reported. An unnamed Interior Ministry official said intelligence agencies had intercepted a phone conversation between Mehsud and a subordinate named Nadeem Abbas alias Intiqami, in which the Taliban chief was heard directing Abbas to attack media organisations. Mehsud directed Abbas to target offices of media groups in Karachi, Lahore, Rawalpindi, Islamabad and other cities. — PTI
	Police, protesters clash near mine shaft in South Africa Continent’s biggest economy seared by labour strife Johannesburg, October 13 The South African police fired tear gas and rubber bullets at protesters hurling petrol bombs after a march on an Anglo-American Platinum mine turned violent overnight, the latest sign of festering labour unrest. Africa's top economy is under increasing pressure to mend industrial relations. Almost 100,000 workers, mostly in mining, have launched often illegal and violent strikes since August, eroding investor confidence and already shaky growth. Truck drivers signed a wage deal on Friday ending a three-week strike that squeezed deliveries of fuel, cash and consumer goods. But that step forward was quickly overshadowed by a Standard & Poor's downgrade of South Africa's credit rating. About 1,000 protesters gathered on Friday night in a shanty town near Rustenburg 120 km northwest of Johannesburg and marched toward Amplats' Khomanani 1 shaft, the South African Police Service said in a statement. "Tear gas and rubber bullet rounds were used to disband the overzealous group," it said. The crowd responded with petrol bombs, damaging one police vehicle, police said. There were no reports of injuries and four people were arrested. Amplats, as the company is known, is the world's top producer of platinum. Striking leaders from Amplats and other mines met on Saturday to discuss strategy. "All of the mines that you know are striking, their (strike) leaders are here," labour leader Evans Ramokga told Reuters. "Right now we are talking about the way forward... We are not afraid of dismissals." Amplats, which has said it is losing an average of 3,800 ounces of production for each day of the strike, has fired 12,000 wildcat strikers. Other mining firms have followed suit. More than 50 people have been killed in labour-related unrest in the last two months, including 34 shot dead by police at Lonmin's Marikana platinum mine on Aug. 16 in the deadliest security incident since the end of apartheid. Hundreds of miners marched on the headquarters of Impala Platinum in Johannesburg on Saturday to deliver a list of demands to the company. "We are here, we are at Impala," Lesiba Seshoka, a spokesman for the National Union of Mineworkers, told Reuters by telephone as miners cheered and chanted in the background. Seshoka put the number of marchers at 2,000, but the company said it was close to 400. A spokesman for Implats said the union's demands were not wage-related and had to do with other contract issues. — Reuters
	Nobel Peace Prize: EU delighted, British press pours scorn Berlin, October 13 Europe's leaders have expressed delight over the awarding of this year's Nobel Peace Prize to the EU and hailed it as a tremendous honour and encouragement for their endeavour to promote unification, amid derision from the British press which called the decision "frivolous". European Commission President Manuel Barroso said yesterday it is a "tremendous honour" for the European Union to be awarded with the 2012 Nobel Peace Prize. It is the "strongest possible recognition of the deep political motives behind our union: the unique effort by ever more European states to overcome war and divisions and to jointly shape a continent of peace and prosperity," he said in a statement in Brussels. The peace prize "is not just for the project and institutions embodying a common interest, but also for around 500 million citizens of the EU," Barroso said. The Norwegian Nobel Peace Prize Committee announced earlier yesterday in Oslo that the EU was awarded the peace prize in recognition of its "contribution for over six decades to the advancement of peace, reconciliation, democracy and human rights in Europe." It appreciated the stabilising part played by the 27-nation bloc that has "helped to transform most of Europe from a continent of war to a continent of peace," the statement said. Barroso said at its beginning, the European Union brought together nations emerging from the ruins of two devastating World Wars, which originated on this continent and united them in a project for peace. Over the last 60 years, the EU has united a continent split by Cold War around values of respect for human dignity, freedom, democracy, equality, the rule of law and human rights, he said. These are also the values the EU promotes in order to make the world a better place for all. The EU will continue to promote peace and security in the countries close to it and in the world at large, the commission President said. German Chancellor Angela Merkel praised the Nobel committee's decision and said the award is in recognition of the idea of European unity. However, the British newspapers poured scorn on the Nobel Committee's move to award the Peace Prize to the EU. "EU have got to be joking!" the Sun tabloid said, while Daily Mail called it: "Nobel peace prize for idiocy". — PTI