DINA for the Issue of October 21, 2012

	Sunday, October 21, 2012 | Zilhaj 4, 1433
The DAWN Internet News Alert (DINA) is a free daily news service from Pakistan’s largest English language newspaper, the Daily DAWN.
70,000 in attempt to set record for anthem By Mohammad Yaqoob LAHORE, Oct 20: In an attempt to set a Guinness world record, about 70,000 Pakistanis gathered at the National Hockey Stadium in Lahore on Saturday night to render in unison the national anthem...	For suggestions and comments: Email: webmaster@dawn.com Website: http://dawn.com Fax: +92(21) 35693995
Implementation of SC order: Probe may end before interim set-up: Kaira By Zulqernain Tahir LAHORE, Oct 20: Federal Minister for Information Qamar Zaman Kaira on Saturday unveiled the government’s plan to complete the investigation against beneficiaries of the Mehran Bank scandal, including the Sharifs, in the “shortest possible time”, leaving a ‘sword of disqualification’ hanging over their heads before the general election if their involvement of receiving money from the ISI is established. “Although there has been no deadline set by the Supreme Court, the government will try to complete the investigation in the shortest possible time, possibly before the interim set-up,” Mr Kaira said....
Legal hitch likely to delay Malik’s disqualification By Iftikhar A Khan ISLAMABAD, Oct 20: Many may be expecting the disqualification of Interior Minister Rehman Malik any time after perceived expiry of a 30-day deadline given to the Senate chairman for sending a reference against him to the Election Commission, but a legal hitch might delay the process for an indefinite period, sources told Dawn on Saturday. The sources in the Senate secretariat disclosed that the Senate chairman had not yet received any reference from the Supreme Court in line with its judgment in the dual nationality case pronounced a month ago...
Millions spent to divide vote bank in ’93: PML-N By Amir Wasim ISLAMABAD, Oct 20: The Pakistan Muslim League-N opened a Pandora’s box on Saturday by alleging that the 1993 elections were manipulated and that the establishment had spent Rs250 million to dislodge the party’s government. The allegation came one day after the Supreme Court’s verdict in the Asghar Khan case regarding distribution of money by the ISI among politicians in order to defeat the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) in the 1990 elections....
US not pushing for operation: Grossman ISLAMABAD, Oct 20: US Special Envoy for Afghanistan and Pakistan Marc Grossman on Saturday denied his visit to Pakistan was to push for a military offensive in North Waziristan which Washington regards as a militant haven. “No, I am here to continue the conversation we have been having with Pakistani leaders over the past several months,” the ambassador said in a talk show on Pakistan Television...
Talks held with Khar, Kayani By Baqir Sajjad Syed ISLAMABAD: Working groups of Pakistan and the United States on economy and finance; and energy and water would meet in Islamabad soon to further cooperation in these sectors. Initially these working groups were to meet next week, but the meeting has been put off because of unavailability of Thomas Nides, Deputy Secretary of State for Management and Resources....
Israeli navy seizes Gaza-bound boat JERUSALEM, Oct 20: Israeli troops on Saturday boarded a boat carrying pro-Palestinian MPs and activists seeking to run its naval blockade on the Gaza Strip, blocking the latest attempt to reach the enclave by sea, the military said. As night fell, the MV Estelle and its Israeli escort were still at sea, some eight hours after the boarding took place in international waters. ...
Cricket lovers lap up international action By Shazia Hasan KARACHI, Oct 20: Cricket-starved fans braved top-notch security arrangements and all other hassles on Saturday to lap up the first opportunity in over three years to see international action. More than 5,000 policemen and paramilitary personnel were on duty when Karachi’s National Stadium saw an almost forgotten sight of foreign players batting and bowling to the cheers of a big crowd....
France says Afghan pullout faster than expected PARIS, Oct 20: The withdrawal of French combat troops from Afghanistan would happen “a bit more quickly than anticipated”, France’s Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius said on Saturday. Mr Fabius was interviewed by French television BFM about the troop withdrawal while on a visit to Kabul. “We can say that it is going well and I think even that it will happen a bit more quickly than anticipated,” he said....
Gunmen kill 30 in Nigerian city KANO (Nigeria), Oct 20: Gunmen killed seven people in Nigeria’s troubled city of Potiskum on Saturday, taking the death toll to at least 30 for three days of violence in the northeastern town, police and residents said. In the eastern state of Adamawa, the bodies were found of nine people residents said were executed by soldiers hunting suspects in a roadside bomb blast four days earlier. Suspected members of the Boko Haram Islamist group shot dead seven people, including a retired customs chief and an ex-police officer early on Saturday, police said....
UN calls on Taliban to enforce ban on IEDs KABUL, Oct 20: The UN urged Afghanistan’s Taliban leadership on Saturday to enforce their ban on improvised explosive devices, a day after 19 wedding guests were killed by a roadside bomb in the north of the country. “Although the Taliban... leader Mullah Omar banned the use of anti-personnel landmines in 1998, denouncing such weapons as un-Islamic and anti-human, anti-government elements continue to use” them, a UN statement said....
Bus crash in Iran kills 26 schoolgirls DUBAI, Oct 20: A passenger bus in southwestern Iran overturned on Friday evening, killing 26 girl students on board, Iranian media reported on Saturday. Eighteen others were injured when the bus, carrying students from the town of Borujen, flipped on the Izeh-Lordegan road, about 700km southwest of the capital Tehran, Iranian media reported.....
Putin’s foes go online MOSCOW, Oct 20: Russia’s opposition went online on Saturday to vote for new leaders to spearhead the drive against Vladimir Putin and regain the momentum lost since his thumping return to the presidency in May. But hacking scuppered voting in the early hours while nearly a dozen police vans surrounded the one site in Moscow where Putin’s foes could get help using computers to vote — a security measure they saw as a form of pressure.—AFP....
9/11 case unlikely to be ready for trial next year GUANTANAMO BAY (Cuba), Oct 20: A weeklong hearing into the legal framework for the Sept 11 terrorism military tribunal came to an end on Friday without a ruling on the most significant motions but progress on some issues that must be resolved before the eventual trial. After hours of often arcane debate at the US base in Cuba, the military judge presiding over the case deferred most decisions until later. Notable among them were proposed rules for handling classified evidence that prosecutors said were necessary to protect national security but defence lawyers argued were overly broad and restrictive.....
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