DINA for the issue of December 21, 2013

	December 21, 2013 | Safar 17, 1435
The DAWN Internet News Alert (DINA) is a free daily news service from Pakistan’s largest English language newspaper, the Daily DAWN.
US bill links Pakistan aid to Nato supply routes By Anwar Iqbal WASHINGTON: The US Congress has passed a $552 billion defence authorisation bill for 2014, which also calls for stopping reimbursements to Pakistan if ground supply routes to Afghanistan are interrupted.	For suggestions and comments: Email: webmaster@dawn.com Website: http://dawn.com Fax: +92(21) 35693995 Karachi Stocks down 51.82 Points: KARACHI, December 19: At the close of trading, the KSE-100 index was at 25472.64, down 51.82 points. Forex Update : KARACHI, December 19: The Pakistani Rupee was traded at 106.15 to the US Dollar in the open market.
Musharraf’s lawyers complain of ‘show trial’ to UN LONDON: Lawyers for former president Pervez Musharraf have urged the United Nations to intervene to stop what they called a “politically motivated show trial” in the treason case against him. The lawyers also called on the United States, Britain and Saudi Arabia to denounce the trial in order to “repay their debt” for the former president’s support in the US-led “war on terror” after the 9/11 attacks.
More deaths and clashes in North Waziristan By Pazir Gul MIRAMSHAH: The violence in North Waziristan Agency triggered by a Wednesday-night suicide attack against security forces continued on Friday as another three people were killed after security forces opened fire on a vehicle during curfew hours near Khajori check post. The death toll in this week’s clashes has reached 53 according to locals. Still unclear is whether the individuals who have been killed in this week’s clashes are civilian or militant. Indeed, the entire chain of events that has left the whole of North Waziristan under a curfew for four days is shrouded in confusion. Competing version of events between military sources, militant groups and local residents cannot yet be reconciled in an area that is inaccessible to most journalists.
Legal action against four bureaucrats likely By Khaleeq Kiani ISLAMABAD: The government is contemplating approaching the Supreme Court for indictment of four officials in a case pertaining to the National Insurance Company Limited (NICL) scam. A senior official told Dawn on Friday that the legal course had been firmed up on the basis of a ‘considered view’ of the law secretary and the attorney general in the light of the Nov 22 judgment of the apex court that incriminated a number of top bureaucrats and a federal minister belonging to the PPP in the case.
Hagel urges Pakistan to reopen Torkham route By Our Correspondent WASHINGTON: US defence and military chiefs have said that while they will continue to use other communication options and routes to Afghanistan, Pakistan needs to reopen the Torkham gate as soon as possible. Defence Secretary Chuck Hagel and Martin E. Dempsey, the chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, noted that keeping the ground communication lines through Pakistan open was particularly important now as the United States planned to withdraw most of its combat troops and equipment from Afghanistan in 2014. “Logistics is about options, and it always is. And we have options to the north,” Secretary Hagel said. “And we have another route to the south. We do use air now.”
Magnitude of Modaraba scam puzzles NAB By Syed Irfan Raza ISLAMABAD: Officials in the National Accountability Bureau find the Modaraba (Islamic mode of investment) scam puzzling, especially the amount involved. Initially, they estimated the amount was no more than Rs550 million. But after some time, the investigators realised the amount must have been substantially higher. Some now go to the extent of putting the amount in billions.
Sri Lanka beat Pakistan in thriller DUBAI: Sri Lanka’s late order batsmen held their nerve to beat Pakistan by two wickets and level the series in a match in which fortunes swung from one side to another in Dubai on Friday.. Set 285 to chase, Sri Lanka needed 16 off the last two overs and four off the final, as number ten batsman Sachitra Senanayake drove Shahid Afridi for boundary to seal a tense win for his team with two balls to spare.
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