| Multan: Father turns out to be murderer of 3 daughters Posted: MULTAN (Dunya News) – The drop scene of the kidnapping and murder of three daughters case saw its drop scene on Tuesday when police announced victims’ own father to be alleged murderer, Dunya News reported.A week earlier, three girls; nine-year-old Meher Bano, seven-year-old Zahra and five-year-old Shahida were kidnapped from a wedding ceremony at Adda Band Bosan area. Their bodies were recovered from Nawab Pur canal.Parents of the deceased named girls’ aunt in murder case that was filed at Alpa police station. However, police now believe victims’ own father named Iqbal is responsible for the heinous crime.The police believe the motive was to frame Iqbal’s ex-sister in law in a murder case because of a grudge.  |
| Discrimination over loadshedding not acceptable: Bilawal Posted: LAHORE (Dunya News) – Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari alleged on Tuesday that people of Sindh are being targeted because they voted for the party of martyrs, Dunya News reported.In his Twitter post, Bilawal said that people of Sindh are being victimized through loadshedding and power cuts by Federal Ministry for Water and Power.“PPP won’t tolerate victimization of the people of Sindh province for voting the party of martyrs.” the tweet reads.Earlier, opposition leader in the National Assembly Khursheed Shah, Tuesday, urged Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif to stop cabinet members from hatemongering. He said Punjab will also be targeted if Minister for Power Abid Sher Ali continues to call Sindhis, Balochs and Pakhtuns thieves.Addressing media, Syed Khursheed Shah said that what will be left if Abid Sher Ali will term Sindhis, Pakhtuns and Balochs thieves, warning that people of Sindh can also come in the way of Punjab.He urged Prime Minister to intervene and manage the ‘crises.’He said that taking Defence Ministry back from Khawaja Asif will be disastrous, and that doing so can also bring forward the demand to replace Prime Minister as well.He said that every institution should work while staying in their boundaries.  |
| Three alleged terrorists arrested from Sargodha Posted: SARGODHA (Dunya News) – At least three alleged militants were arrested during a raid here on Tuesday.According to the sources, a sensitive agency carried out a raid on a tipoff of and arrested three alleged terrorists who were plotting to attack the military installations.The accused revealed during the interrogation that head of Al-Qada in Pakistan Yaqub Awan, Waziristan’s commander Samiullah and their accomplice were hiding in the suburban areas of Sargodha.Later the sensitive agencies launched a search operation in the suburban areas of the city.  |
| Missing persons heirs stage sit-in against police torture Posted: ISLAMABAD (Dunya News) - The heirs of missing persons continued to protest on Tuesday They said that police torture cannot stop them from protest.The protesters said that they will continue their sit-in till arrival of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif.Meanwhile, Amna Masood Janjua, who is also head of the Defense of Human Rights organization, held a press conference along with relatives of the missing persons.Addressing the press conference, Amina Masood Janjua said that it was for the first time during their nine-year struggle that children, elders and women were tortured by the police.She said that the protesters have given one-month deadline for the recovery of missing persons after which next strategy of the protest would be announced.Amina Masood Janjua said that her life was in danger while other heirs of the missing persons threatened self-immolation if their dear ones were not recovered.It is pertinent to mention here that policemen resorted to baton-charge and tear-gas to disperse the missing persons relatives who wanted marched towards the parliament.Several persons including children, women and elder people were injured in the clash.Police also arrested many participants including Amina Masood Janjua who was taken to women police station after being tortured.Later, all the detainees were released on the order of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif.  |
| Modi's statement height of anti-Pakistan sentiment: Interior Minister Posted: ISLAMABAD (Dunya News) – Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar termed India’s prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi’s statement about Daud Ibrahim shameless, Dunya News reported.He said that the talk about conducting operation on Pakistani territory is crazy person’s wish, adding that Pakistan Army reserves the right to respond to reciprocate the aggression.Responding to Bhartiya Janta Party’s (BJP) prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi’s statement, Nisar said that Modi has acted with grave irresponsibility. He said that those who dream about attacking Pakistan should first determine the whereabouts of Daud Ibrahim first.Interior Minister reiterated that Pakistan Army reserves the right to respond to the enemy with equal aggression.He said that Narendra Modi became notorious for Gujrat riots when he was chief minister.“Who knows what instability the region will have to face if he becomes Prime Minister,” he added.  |
| Govt wants to carry forward talks with Taliban: PM Nawaz Posted: LONDON (Dunya News) - Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has said that the government has started dialogue with Taliban with good intention. He said we want to carry forward talks with Taliban.Talking to media on his arrival in London on a three-day official visit to Britain, the PM said every possible step will be taken for the progress and prosperity of the country.Nawaz Sharif said peace in Karachi is very dear to him and special attention is being paid to achieve this goal. He said positive results have come out of the operation in Karachi.Responding to a question, the prime Minster said that Pakistani media is independent and the government has no intention to ban it.The PM said his visit will further strengthen relations between Pakistan and Britain.Earlier, Prime Minister Muhammad Nawaz Sharif arrived in London on a three-day official visit to Britain at the invitation of his British counterpart David Cameron.He was received by special representative of the British Foreign Secretary.The officials of Pakistan High Commission were also present on the occasion.Nawaz Sharif will hold discussions with his British counterpart on matters of bilateral interest.He will address an Investment Conference and meet chief executives and investors from the financial and energy sectors and apprise them of the improving business environment in Pakistan.The PM will also meet members of the Pakistani Diaspora.Finance Minister Ishaq Dar, Chief Minister Balochistan Dr. Abdul Malik Baloch and Special Assistant Tariq Fatemi are accompanying the Prime Minister.  |
| Saudi Grand Mufti terms violation of traffic signals 'haram' Posted: RIYADH (Dunya News) -- Saudi Arabia’s grand mufti Abdulaziz al-Shaikh termed violation of traffic signals as ‘haram’ and ‘great sin’, an Arabic news channel reported on Monday.According to reports, Grand Mufti reiterated his fatwa (religious decree), ruling that drivers who cross red signals commit an act that is not only violation of law, but also a major sin according to Islamic jurisprudence.Grand Mufti is the senior most religious authority seat in Saudi Arabia, the spiritual home for Muslims worldwide.Mufti said that such a violation of traffic-law is a “major sin,” , relating it to a Quranic verse which says “if you kill one person unjustly it is as if you killed the whole humanity, and if you saved once person it is as if you saved the whole humanity.”This is not the first time the Saudi cleric has brought the subject into religious ruling. In 2010, Grand Mufti reportedly issued a similar verdict, saying the person who caused the death of another person because of such a traffic violation is guilty of involuntary man-slaughter.Saudi Arabia has one of the highest rates of car accidents in the world with an average of 17 fatalities a day, according to recent reports.Saudi Arabia’s General Directorate for traffic said in its 2010 report that almost a third of traffic accidents in the Saudi capital Riyadh were due to drivers violating traffic signals.  |
| At least 59 killed in Syria, watchdog to probe chlorine claims Posted: DAMASCUS (AFP) - At least 59 people were killed in attacks in Syrias Damascus and Homs on Tuesday, as an international watchdog said it would probe alleged chlorine attacks in the country.The parliament speaker meanwhile announced four new candidates had registered for presidential polls next month expected to return President Bashar al-Assad to power despite the civil war, which has left vast swathes of the country out of his control.On Tuesday morning, a barrage of mortar shells fired by rebels hit a central neighbourhood in the capital, killing at least 14 people, state media reported.Fourteen citizens were killed and 86 others wounded by terrorists who targeted the Shaghur neighbourhood in Damascus, the SANA news agency said.The attack hit a school of Islamic jurisprudence where some students are as young as 14, though it was unclear if children were among those killed.The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights NGO put the toll in the attack at 17, adding that the figure could rise because several of the injured were in critical condition.Hours later, a car bomb ripped through a crowded area of the countrys third city Homs, followed shortly afterwards by a rocket attack on the same neighbourhood, the provincial governor told AFP.Talal Barazi said 45 people were killed in the double attack on the Zahra neighbourhood.He said 36 died in the car bomb blast and another nine in the rocket fire that followed.The rocket fell about half an hour after the bombing on the same area, where there was a crowd of people trying to help those wounded in the blast, he said.The attack was one of the deadliest to hit the central city, where rebels control just a few remaining districts, most of them under a tight government siege.Earlier this month, regime forces launched an attack on rebel areas in the city, where just a few hundred opposition fighters remain after most civilians were evacuated in a UN-led operation.- Chlorine attacks probe planned -In the Hague, meanwhile, the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) said it would examine allegations that chlorine had been used in attacks in Syria.The watchdogs chief Ahmet Uzumcu announced the creation of an OPCW mission to establish facts surrounding allegations of use of chlorine in Syria, a statement said.The Syrian regime and rebels have blamed each other for the use of chlorine in at least one attack, in the rebel-held town of Kafr Zita in Hama province, with the opposition alleging the government has carried out several more.The OPCW is already in Syria overseeing a deal under which Damascus is to turn over its chemical weapons arsenal by June 30.On Sunday, the joint UN-OPCW mission in Damascus said 92.5 percent of the countrys chemical weapons material had been removed or destroyed.Syria agreed to dismantle its chemical weapons programme last year, after Washington threatened military action in response to a sarin gas attack outside Damascus that killed up to 1,400 people.The regime denied carrying out the attack.presidential candidates -In Damascus, parliamentary speaker Mohamed al-Lahham said four new candidates had registered to participate in the countrys June 3 presidential election, bringing the total number of candidates, including Assad, to 11.Ali Wanous, Azza al-Hallaq, Talea Salah Nasser and Samih Mikhael Moussa are all relative unknowns.Syrias constitution requires that candidates for the presidency be Muslim, but a source in the constitutional court confirmed that Moussa is Christian.We receive all applications for presidential candidacy and transmit them to the parliament, the source said.In the five days after the candidacy period ends, on May 5, we will examine the candidates to see if they meet all requirements. On May 6, we will announce who has met the conditions, he added.Hallaqs application brings the number of women competing in the vote to two.The constitution contains no explicit prohibition on female candidates, but its phrasing implies only male candidates are permitted.The elections will be Syrias first multi-candidate presidential vote after a constitutional amendment did away with the previous referendum system.But with a brutal civil war raging and large areas of the country held by rebels, it remains unclear how the vote will be organised.Nearly half of Syrias residents have fled their homes, and the countrys electoral commission says those who left the country illegally will not be allowed to vote.Electoral rules also prevent anyone who has lived outside Syria in the past decade from running, effectively excluding most prominent opposition figures, who live in exile.  |
| Khursheed Shah urges PM to stop cabinet members from hatemongering Posted: ISLAMABAD (Dunya News) –Opposition leader in the National Assembly Khursheed Shah, Tuesday, urged Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif to stop cabinet members from hatemongering. He said Punjab will also be targeted if Minister for Power Abid Sher Ali continues to call Sindhis, Balochs and Pakhtuns thieves, Dunya News reported.Addressing media, Syed Khursheed Shah said that what will be left if Abid Sher Ali will term Sindhis, Pakhtuns and Balochs thieves, warning that people of Sindh can also come in the way of Punjab.He urged Prime Minister to intervene and manage the ‘crises.’He said that taking Defence Ministry back from Khawaja Asif will be disastrous, and that doing so can also bring forward the demand to replace Prime Minister as well.He said that every institution should work while staying in their boundaries.It is pertinent to mention here that Sindh Assembly on Tuesday passed a unanimous resolution against loadshedding in the province and federal government, blaming that the federal ministry of water and power was not showing a responsible attitude.Addressing the session, Chief Minister Syed Qaim Ali Shah said that the federal government was discriminating against the people of Sindh on the issue of loadshedding and suspension of power supply.Qaim Ali Shah said that the federal government did not trust the Sindh government but instead trusted a meter reader. He said the federal government has adopted a dictatorial way to suspend the power supply in the province.The CM said that the Sindh government would take the issues of loadshedding and arrears to the Council of Common Interest (CCI).He said that the Sindh government has differences with the federal government over the issue of electricity dues.  |
| South African woman charged with kids killing to be hospitalized in UK Posted: LONDON (AFP) - A South African woman accused of murdering her three young disabled children in London will be moved to a secure hospital for immediate treatment for mental health problems, a court heard.Tania Clarence, 42, sobbed quietly as she appeared via video link from prison, where she is being held on suspicion of killing her three-year-old twin sons, Ben and Max, and four-year-old daughter Olivia.The children were most likely suffocated, prosecutors told the hearing at a court in London, although further tests are being carried out.All three suffered from type 2 spinal muscular atrophy, a genetic condition which leaves children with little control of their movements and can drastically shorten their life expectancy.Clarence was detained after the three bodies were found at the familys home in New Malden, southwest London, on April 22.She will now be moved to a secure hospital under Britains Mental Health Act after Judge Brian Barker said he had heard evidence suggesting an overriding need for immediate treatment.Clarences investment banker husband, Gary Clarence, 43, watched the hearing from the public gallery.At the time of the childrens deaths he was away in South Africa, the couples home country, with their eldest daughter Taya.Prosecuting lawyer Zoe Johnson said post-mortem examinations on the bodies indicated that the provisional cause of death is probably suffocation.She added: Whether that was associated with some form of intoxication is yet to be determined.  |
| Horror Indian TV debate sees burning man embrace politician Posted: LUCKNOW (AFP) - A television debate show in northern India has ended in horror after a spectator set himself ablaze and embraced a local politician, leaving both men fighting for their lives, police and a witness told AFP Tuesday.The election show on Indias state-owned national TV channel Doordarshan was being recorded in a park on Monday in Sultanpur, a town about 160 kilometers (100 miles) from the city of Lucknow.A man, named by police as Durgesh Kumar Singh, emerged from a crowd of about 150 onlookers, doused himself in petrol and then grabbed the local leader of the Bahujan Samaj Party, Kamruzzama Fauji, engulfing the pair in flames.Singh sustained burns on 95 percent of his body which are likely to be fatal, while Fauji was in a critical state with 75 percent burns, police said.This man suddenly came on the stage, poured petrol on himself and set himself on fire before tightly hugging one of the political guests, local photographer Pankaj Kumar Gupta told AFP.People were just too shocked to know what was happening, said Gupta, whose photos show the men engulfed in flames with spectators fleeing the scene.Two other local politicians taking part in the show, Ram Kumar Singh and Chowdhary Hriday Ram Verma, also sustained minor burn injuries while trying to save the pair.The injured were first admitted to the district hospital here (in Sultanpur) and were then referred to Lucknow, said a statement from the police.The motive for the incident is unknown.Indias numerous television channels are holding nightly debate shows during the ongoing parliamentary elections, often staged in villages and towns with politicians taking questions in front of local voters.The election, the worlds biggest, will end on May 16 with results expected to show the Hindu nationalist opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) coming to power after 10 years of rule by the leftist Congress party.Gupta said the show on Monday was called Janmanch 2014 (Peoples Forum 2014) featuring five local politicians which was coming to an end when the man suddenly appeared.Within minutes, the Doordarshan team closed its cameras and packed all their equipment, he said.  |
| Wounded mayor of Ukraine city flown to Israel for treatment Posted: KHARKIV (AFP) - The mayor of the east Ukraine city of Kharkiv, who was wounded critically after being shot in the back by an unknown assailant, has been flown to Israel for treatment, local officials and the Israeli hospital treating him said Tuesday.Yury Sydorenko, director of information at Kharkiv city council, said Israeli doctors decided after examining his wounds that mayor Gennady Kernes could be transported and he was flown out early Tuesday.He is now being treated at Elisha, a private hospital in the northern coastal city of Haifa.The hospital said the emergency surgery performed on him in Ukraine appeared to have worked.He was examined upon arrival, and the results show the operations were successful, medics said in a statement.He is under the supervision of the best doctors, and it seems he wont need further surgical intervention. The course of his treatment will be determined in a few days, the hospital added.- Bullet in the back -The shooting of Kernes in Ukraines second-largest city was the latest violent incident in the east of the country where authorities have launched what they call an anti-terrorism operation against pro-Russian separatists who have seized a string of towns.The European Unions foreign policy supremo Catherine Ashton condemned the shooting, saying she was alarmed by the worsening security situation in eastern Ukraine.Kernes appeared to have been targeted by a sniper although the circumstances and motivations behind his shooting remained unclear.Locals officials say he was cycling but his entourage said he was jogging. The city council said he was hit by a bullet in the back.It was not clear whether the attack was directly related to the simmering tensions in eastern Ukraine.The mayor is a colourful character, who has a criminal record for theft and fraud and is not known for tolerating dissent.He is under investigation on accusations of kidnapping and torture but has clung onto his post in Kharkiv, an industrial hub of 1.4 million people not far from the border with Russia.A one-time supporter of ousted pro-Russia president Viktor Yanukovych, Kernes was known for a particularly robust crackdown on the pro-Western demonstrations that shook Ukraine from November to February, banning any protests to avoid the spread of infectious diseases.Pro-Western activists were regularly assaulted. Some had their cars burnt while others were sprayed with a green liquid that is difficult to remove from the skin and impossible to remove from clothes.He also encouraged the rise of the paramilitary group Oplot, whose leader Yevgeny Zhilin told AFP in an interview in February that pro-Western protesters should have their arms broken or eyes gouged out.After Yanukovych was forced out in late February after months of pro-Western protests, Kernes briefly fled Kharkiv but then returned, moderating his opposition to the new authorities in Kiev and seeking to present himself in favour of a united Ukraine.The interior ministry in Kiev speculated that the attack was linked to separatists in the Donetsk region to destabilise Kharkiv.Political analyst Vladimir Fessenko said the shooting could be due to the fact Kernes had toned down his support for the Kremlin in recent weeks.This attack could be a signal to politicians and businessmen who are staying neutral in their region that they have to clearly choose sides, Fessenko said.Kernes was a strong and authoritarian leader. He pulled the strings and was a key element in the regions stability, added the analyst.Another political observer, Vadim Karassev, said that whatever the reasons behind the attack, the consequence would be a rise in violence and pro-Russian forces in the city.  |
| Australia warns meth pandemic as drug busts hit record Posted: SYDNEY (AFP) - Australia is facing a crystal meth pandemic, authorities warned Tuesday as they announced arrests and seizures over illicit drugs reached an all-time high last year.The government-run Australian Crime Commission (ACC) said in a report that the situation was gravely serious, with international cartels at the heart of the problem.National illicit drug seizures and arrests were at record or decade highs for nearly all drug types in this reporting period, said ACC acting chief executive Paul Jevtovic.Illicit drug use in Australia, and the profits gained from it, is directly linked to transnational organized crime groups that are implicated in large-scale criminality and corruption overseas.During the financial year to July 2013, a record 101,749 arrests were made and there were 86,918 seizures of illicit drugs -- a 66 percent increase over the past decade.Police have previously said Australias wealth and the strength of the Australian dollar meant traffickers were pouring drugs into the country.Australians, for whatever reason, are prepared to pay a high price for illicit drugs, probably because they can, ACC official Judy Lind told reporters.And in the last four or five year, international drug cartels have cottoned on to that.While cannabis continues to dominate the Australian market, the prevalence of cocaine and performance-enhancing drugs was also at record highs.There was also a massive surge in the availability of ice -- or crystal methyl amphetamine -- which is now second only to cannabis in popularity, with seizures up more than 300 percent in a year.Jevtovic said the issue was a national concern, with the drug linked to violent assaults as users can become highly aggressive, and compared it to the crack crisis that gripped the US in the 1980s and 1990s.With its relative accessibility, affordability and destructive side-effects, crystal methylamphetamine is emerging as a pandemic akin to the issue of crack cocaine in the United States, he said.Justice Minister Michael Keenan agreed that the ice epidemic was becoming a major problem.Ice is a devastating, insidious drug. It affects everyone from users, their families, and their communities, and the authorities who deal with the users, he said, adding that the report provided authorities with a robust picture of the illicit drug market.The information released today is as encouraging as it is challenging. Law enforcement is making significant inroads in the fight against illicit drugs. Were detecting more criminals and disrupting more illicit drugs before they hit the streets, said Keenan.But there is much more work to be done and this report also provides critical evidence so that decision makers and law enforcement officers can develop further strategies to undermine the business models of organized crime and combat the threat of illicit drugs.  |
| Taiwan woman jailed for trafficking Cambodian fishermen Posted: PHNOM PENH (AFP) - A Taiwanese woman was on Tuesday jailed for 10 years by a Cambodian court for trafficking hundreds of people to work in slave-like conditions on fishing boats off Africa.Lin Yu Shin, owner of the now-defunct Giant Ocean International Co. Ltd, was arrested in the Cambodian tourist hub of Siem Reap last year.Five of her associates, who remain at large, were convicted in their absence and also handed 10-year sentences by the Phnom Penh Municipal Court.Lins firm allegedly began sending Cambodian workers to work on trawlers off the coasts of South Africa, Mauritius and Senegal in 2009 as well as Japan, Fiji, Qatar and Malaysia.Police said last year that about 700 Cambodians were sent to work on the boats, resulting in more than 200 people filing complaints for unpaid wages.The court ordered Lin and her associates to jointly pay more than 150 victims between $1,750 and $15,900 each in damages and compensation.Dozens of victims and their family members were in court for the verdict.The company sent me to work on a Taiwanese fishing boat in Africa with a promise of $200 a month. We worked night and day for almost 24 hours, but we did not get paid, said Keo Tol, 33.Tol told AFP he was sent to Africa in 2011 and was rescued and sent back home a year later.If we did not work, we would be beaten. We did not have enough sleep. We worked on the boat like slaves, Tol said.In a separate case last year, 22 Cambodians trafficked onto Thai fishing boats were rescued near the Indian Ocean island of Mauritius.  |
| Crude prices edge higher in Asia Posted: SINGAPORE (AFP) - Oil prices rose in Asian trade Tuesday after the West slapped fresh sanctions on Russia over its role in Ukraine, although gains were capped as the measures were seen as less aggressive than expected.New Yorks West Texas Intermediate for June delivery climbed 15 cents to $100.99 in afternoon trade while Brent North Sea crude rose 23 cents to $108.35 for its June contract.The White House imposed sanctions on seven Russian officials and 17 firms close to President Vladimir Putin and the European Union said it was adding 15 names to its own list.But Desmond Chua, an analyst at CMC markets in Singapore, said they were less aggressive than most would have thought.The situation in Ukraine, a major conduit for Russian natural gas exports to Western Europe, is being monitored closely by investors who are concerned that a full-scale armed conflict would disrupt supplies and send energy prices soaring.  |
