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6 dia in Pak city ISLAMABAD, Aug 11: At least six people were today killed when a powerful bomb planted in a rickshaw exploded in the eastern Pakistani city of Gujrat, police said. ......more Army
vice chief holds JERUSALEM, Aug 11: Vice Chief of the Army Staff Lt Gen Vijay Oberoi has held meetings with Israeli Deputy Defence Minister Dalia ...more Thai flash floods, landslides claim at least 38 lives BANGKOK, Aug 11: Some 38 Thai villagers died today and at least 43 were.......more Leading
Indians LONDON, Aug 11: Lakshmi Mittal, leading steel baron, and Lord Swraj Paul, Chairman of the 500-million pound group.......more |
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46 dead, many feared missing in Thailand flash flood BANGKOK, Aug 11: Heavy rains triggered a mountainside flash flood early today in a northern Thai ........more TEHRAN, Aug 11: At least 45 people have died in northeast Iran, and 26 have gone missing following .......more Arrest of
aid workers KABUL, Aug 11: Saying the arrest of foreign aid workers in Afghanistan is a concern for the.........more Police
repel demomonstrators as GAZA CITY, Aug 11 : Israeli police today violently broke up a demonstration outside Orient House.......more |
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6 dia in Pak city as bomb explodes ISLAMABAD, Aug 11: At least six people were today killed when a powerful bomb planted in a rickshaw exploded in the eastern Pakistani city of Gujrat, police said. "The blast was quite powerful and there are casualties," a police officer said, adding that initial reports said at least six people had died instantly. "We have rushed police and ambulances to the site of the blast," Deputy Inspector General of Police Rahim Rajput told AFP. Police in Gujrat, 160 km East of here, said the bomb was planted in an auto-rickshaw which was carrying passengers. "(The) Preliminary probe says it was a plastic bomb which was planted in the rickshaw," Rajput said. The blast occurred near a private school in the Nawabpur neighbourhood, in a thickly-populated area of the city, he said.(AFP) |
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Army vice chief holds meetings with top Israeli defence brass JERUSALEM, Aug 11: Vice Chief of the Army Staff Lt Gen Vijay Oberoi has held meetings with Israeli Deputy Defence Minister Dalia Rabin Pelossof and Army chief Shaul Mofaz and other senior defence officials, official sources said. "India has close and friendly relations with Israel in all spheres. The visit of Lt Gen Oberoi is part of the ongoing exchanges between the armed forces of the two countries," an Indian Embassy spokesman told PTI here. During his six-day visit to the Jewish state which concluded yesterday, gen oberoi toured several defence industries including the prestigious Israel Aircraft Industries (AIA) which specialises in globally recognised design, development and manufacture of high-tech weaponry, particularly military and commercial aerospace technology. The visit assumes significance in the backdrop of reports that after the purchase of unmanned aerial vehicles, New Delhi is exploring new avenues of cooperation, including acquisition of frontline technological devices. Israel is using these devices successfully on its troubled borders and in anti-terrorist operations. A guest of the Israel ground forces, gen oberoi also visited the training establishment of its ground forces and held meetings with their Commander Major General Yiftah Ron Tal. (PTI) |
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Thai flash floods, landslides claim at least 38 lives BANGKOK, Aug 11: Some 38 Thai villagers died today and at least 43 were missing after pre-dawn flash floods and landslides hit a northern province drenched by week-long rains, officials said. The Deputy Chief of Phetchabun Province’s Lom Sak district, Satja Voraphan, said floodwaters and mudslides from the Khor mountain hit seven villages in the valley below. Rains associated with Typhoon Usagi, which has left tens of thousands of people homeless and at least two dead in neighbouring Vietnam, continued to fall and the situation was "chaotic", he said. Officials were attempting to contact the affected area by radio. "Our top priority is to help the survivors and search for dead bodies," Satja said, adding that the confirmed death toll had risen to 38, but the exact number of missing remained unclear. "The area which suffered the flash floods is vast, and therefore it is hard to know how many are still missing," he said. "I expect the death toll to go higher." However, provincial authorities in Phetchabun said at least 43 people were missing, and that some 1,000 villagers had been affected by the disaster that completely or partly destroyed more than 100 homes. Local authorities were organising relief operations but their work was hampered by the metre-high floodwaters and debris, including logs and mud, that littered the area. More than 1,000 soldiers and rescue workers were working to locate the dead and help victims in three local regions. Medical teams have set up a makeshift shelter to treat more than 100 injured people. (AFP) |
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Leading Indians contribute to Labour Party LONDON, Aug 11: Lakshmi Mittal, leading steel baron, and Lord Swraj Paul, Chairman of the 500-million pound group, are among the top contributors to Labour Party which had a landslide victory in the June elections. Mittal, Britain’s Wealthiest Asian, donated 125,000 pounds to Prime Minister Tony Blair’s party. He was followed by Gulam Noon, founder of Noon Food Products, who contributed 100,000 pounds to the party, according to figures released by the Electoral Commission. Lord Swraj Paul and Moni Varma of Veetee Rice, who is estimated to be worth 30 million pounds, contributed 10,000 pounds each. Leading NRI contributors to the conservative party included Mohammed Ali of the Ambala group who donated 6,000 pounds. In the three months leading up to the June seven election, the conservatives received 12.4 million pounds in donations against the 5.3 million pounds received by the Labour Party. The liberal democrats got 840,000 pounds. (PTI) |
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46 dead, many feared missing in Thailand flash flood BANGKOK, Aug 11: Heavy rains triggered a mountainside flash flood early today in a northern Thai province killing at least 46 people, most of them women and children, officials said. About 100 people were believed missing after water swept down a mountainside through villages in Lomsak district, said police in Phetchabun province, 300 km north of Bangkok. Other estimates of the missing were lower. The tragedy occurred as heavy rains caused flooding in many parts of the country’s north and northeast, disrupting road traffic and in at least one case causing an airport to suspend operations. The death toll in Lomsak district had reached 46, said Charothorn Pakotr, director of the civil defense division of the interior ministry, who added that the number of missing was unclear. More than 1,000 residents of the area had been displaced, he said. An official at Phetchabun’s provincial emergency center said three-fourths of the dead were women and children, some as young as two years old. (AP) |
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TEHRAN, Aug 11: At least 45 people have died in northeast Iran, and 26 have gone missing following torrential rains and heavy flooding overnight, which cut the main road between Tehran and the border with Turkmenistan, television reported today. An earlier toll by the state Irna news agency reported 20 deaths. The Iranian cabinet released funds to assist the disaster victims, television added. At least 15 villages were hit and water levels are still rising, officials said, adding people from the Galikoch region in the Minou-Dasht flatlands fled to the mountains, some scrambling up trees to escape the rising water. The floods have mainly hit Kalaleh in the Gorgan region to the northeast of Tehran. Local officials have called for essential supplies to be sent in, with tents and medicines for those affected. According to reports reaching Tehran, some 15,000 hectares of farm land have been destroyed, and traffic bound for the northeastern border area with Turkmenistan was re-routed to another road crossing the east of the country. Infrastructure, mainly bridges, in the region have been damaged, said Irna. Torrential rains hit Gholestan province yesterday to the east of the Caspian sea, causing heavy flooding, while Iran has been suffering its most serious drought for 30 years. (AFP) |
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Arrest of aid workers a worry for international community KABUL, Aug 11: Saying the arrest of foreign aid workers in Afghanistan is a concern for the international community, a special United Nations envoy who arrived in the capital today said he would press for the release of eight foreigners jailed on charges of propagating Christianity in this devout Muslim nation. "The arrest of the aid workers is a cause of concern for the international community," Francesc Vendrell, UN Secretary-General’s special envoy on Afghanistan said upon his arrival in Kabul. Vendrell said the fate of the jailed workers would feature in talks with Taliban officials in Kabul. Meanwhile the Afghan authorities today freed 64 young boys, all of whom were arrested along with the foreign workers and the 16 Afghan staff of Shelter Now International, the offending agency, according to a radio Shariat broadcast. But the fathers and/or elder brothers of the young boys have been arrested to punish them for allowing their younger children to attend Shelter Now International classes, the radio broadcast said. The Taliban said the young boys were indoctrinated in Christianity and have been retrained. "We have not arrested anyone’s mothers and in some of the cases the boys were orphans, so we just released them," Salim Haqqani, Deputy Minister for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice, was quoted as saying. (AP) |
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Police repel demomonstrators as
Arafat GAZA CITY, Aug 11 : Israeli police today violently broke up a demonstration outside Orient House, the unofficial Palestinian Headquarters in Jerusalem, as Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat called for world pressure on Israel to end its occupation of the building. Some 100 protesters attempted to approach the building, protected by police barricades, but were driven back, after earlier chanting nationalistic slogans. "Orient House will remain a (Palestinian) fortress and witness to Israeli terrorism," read a banner carried by the demonstrators. Palestinian sources said 11 people were arrested in the scuffle — six Americans, three Palestinians, and one each from France and Denmark. Israeli Public Radio said 12 people were arrested in the scuffles. Meanwhile, Arafat has written to US President George W Bush, Russian President Vladimir Putin, Chinese President Jiang Zemin and UN Secretary General Kofi Annan, said Saeb Erakat, Chief Palestinian Peace Negotiator. Letters were also sent to the Presidency of the European Union and to Norwegian Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg, as well as the organization of African Unity and the Organization of Non-Aligned Nations. Arafat called for them to "intervene rapidly to put an end to the occupation of Orient House and the (other)P palestinian institutions that have been closed," Erakat said. Following today’s violent demonstration at Orient House, Palestinian Parliament member and Arab League spokeswoman Hanan Ashrawi, accompanied by an entourage of some 10 people, were also forcefully pushed back by Israeli police after trying to approach the building. Ashrawi earlier told a press conference that Israel’s actions in taking over Orient House could expand the conflict throughout the region. "These are times of extreme difficulty and crisis. I cannot overestimate the danger inherent in the latest Israeli moves, particularly moves directed at Orient House and the Jerusalem Institutions," she said. "The Israeli Government is absolutely dangerous. Its policies are liable to launch the whole region into a new cycle of conflict and violence," she added. Israeli authorities criticised Ashrawi for approaching Orient House, accusing her of inciting violence and warning that they were considering measures to ban her from entering Jerusalem, according to Israeli Public Radio. Yesterday, Israeli police occupied Orient House as part of a multi-pronged retaliation for a devastating Palestinian suicide bombing in West Jerusalem a day earlier. Israel also seized a Palestinian Authority Security Office in Abu Dis on the outskirts of Jerusalem. Orient House has long been the symbolic cornerstone of Palestinian political presence in East Jerusalem, which the Palestinians want as the capital of a future independent state. (AFP) |
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