Despite bloodshed, US to cite Afghanistan progress

WASHINGTON: A White House review of President Barack Obama’s Afghanistan war strategy being released on Thursday will report that foreign forces are making headway against the Taliban but that hefty challenges remain.

The review, which the administration has indicated will not result in major strategy changes, is expected to cite hurdles including the need to strengthen Afghan governance and goading Pakistan to eliminate insurgent safe havens.

In what could be a preview of the report, Obama, who is aiming to demonstrate enough progress to start bringing troops home next year, told lawmakers on Wednesday his war strategy was yielding gradual progress and U.S.-led forces would stick with his approach.

Despite the cautious optimism from military commanders a year after he ordered an extra 30,000 troops to Afghanistan, Obama must overcome skepticism on Capitol

Shoes thrown at former Australian PM

LONDON: A critic of the Iraq war has thrown two shoes at former Prime Minister John Howard during last night’s live episode of the ABC’s Q&A program.

Neither shoe hit Mr Howard during the program which also saw the former PM blindsided when he was quizzed by David Hicks about why he was left at Guantanamo Bay military prison for five and a half years.

Mr Howard, who was promoting his memoir Lazarus Rising on Q&A, stood by his decision to send troops to Iraq, had no apology for the treatment of Mr Hicks and defended his approach to asylum seekers.

The man criticized Mr Howard about his decision to go to war in Iraq and persistently interrupted the answer before he launched his attack.

“That is for the Iraqi dead,” the man appeared to shout at Mr Howard as he threw the shoes.

A female audience member then shouted: “You’ve got blood on your

India ready for dialogues with Pakistan: Rao

BOSTON: India is prepared to ‘discuss all outstanding issues’ with Pakistan, including the issue of Jammu and Kashmir, to ensure stability in the South Asian region, Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao said in Boston.

“The issue of Jammu & Kashmir comes up in our relationship with Pakistan and we’ve said very clearly, very confidently and very transparently that we are prepared to discuss all outstanding issues with Pakistan,” Rao said on Sunday.

Rao added that India wants to “persevere in our dialogue with Pakistan. It is not about segmenting this dialogue or taking away the complicated issues from it saying we are not ready to discuss it.

That is certainly not our approach.

We want to discuss all the outstanding issues and that will also include the issue of Jammu and Kashmir.”

The top diplomat, who was in Washington earlier to discuss

China rescuers seek 90 missing after landslide

BEIJING : Chinese rescuers scoured a remote valley in the nation’s southwest for survivors on Thursday, after a landslide decimated a village, killing at least one person and leaving 90 missing.

The landslide in Puladi, a settlement in Yunnan province, was the latest of a succession of such disasters to have battered China this summer, when torrential downpours have unleashed floods and dislodged hillsides on to towns and villages.

In the worst landslide, at least 1,287 people died in Zhouqu in northwest province of Gansu after rains. More than 450 residents remain missing, probably dead. Storms in neighboring Longnan and in Sichuan province to the south killed dozens more.

Pictures from Puladi showed a swathe of the green valley covered in mud, with rescuers laying down planks across the destruction to reach a stricken village with about 100 residents, some

Clinton to pledge more US aid for Pakistan at UN

WASHINGTON: US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton will announce extra aid for a flooded Pakistan Thursday at a UN meeting that will mobilize international support for the country, her spokesman said.

The chief US diplomat will speak to the UN General Assembly in New York about “the humanitarian situation from the floods in Pakistan,” spokesman Philip Crowley told reporters.

The general assembly, expected to meet around 3 pm, “will be an opportunity to express solidarity and to further mobilize support of member states and the international community for the situation in Pakistan,” he said.

During her visit to New York, Clinton will also meet with both UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon and Pakistani Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi, Crowley said.

“And at tomorrow’s meeting we expect that she will update and announce an increase in the US assistance

ADB to offer flood-hit Pakistan $2 billion loan

SINGAPORE: The Asian Development Bank (ADB) is expected to contribute at least $2 billion to help Pakistan recover from its worst ever floods.

The economic costs of the floods are expected to run into the billions of dollars, stepping up pressure on government just after it had made progress in stabilizing the country through security offensives against Taliban insurgents.

“While the assessment will take several weeks to complete, the damages so far are staggering,” said the ADB in a statement on its website.

Aid funding has improved, with nearly half the $459 million needed to fund initial relief efforts secured after days of lobbying donors. But the situation on the ground remained grim.

Only a small minority of the 6 million Pakistanis desperate for food and clean water have received help after floods that have killed up to 1,600

UNSC reduces prices of 200 food items

Staff Report

ISLAMABAD: The Utility Stores Corporation (USC) has reduced the prices of 200 food items by 10 percent as per the orders of Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani, said sources on Thursday.

According to sources, Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani has ordered to decrease the prices of food items at all utility stores to ease the miseries of the common man during the month of Ramazan.

USC has reduced the prices of several food items including ghee, cooking oil, pulses, milk, dates and other edibles.

Sources said the government will provide utility stores a subsidy of Rs. 5 billion over the reduction of food prices. SAMAA

Over 4 million homeless in flood-hit Pakistan: UN

ISLAMABAD: The number of people rendered homeless by the devastating floods in Pakistan has risen to more than 4 million, the United Nations said on Thursday, making the critical task of securing greater amounts of aid

more urgent.

The UN had earlier said that 2 million people had lost their homes in the worst floods in Pakistan’s history, which began nearly three weeks.

Aid agencies have been pushing for more funding as they try to tackle major problems such as food supplies, lack of shelter and outbreaks of diseases.

The economic costs of the floods are expected to run into the billions of dollars, stepping up pressure on government just after it had made progress in stabilising the country through security offensives against Taliban insurgents.

The Asian Development Bank (ADB) said it expected to contribute at least $2 billion to

Flood swept away Garhi Khero in Jacobabad

Staff Report

JACOBABAD: As a result of four breaches appeared in Keerthar Canal, the Garhi Kheru tehsil located in Jacobabad has been inundated that left thousand people stranded, said sources Thursday.

The katcha area has submerged from the flood water coming from Ghauspur.

Over 3,000 people has stranded after the Garhi Khero district washed away as a result of four breaches in Keerthar Canal.

With the approach of a second ‘peak flood’, the district of Jacobabad is facing the worst crisis in its history and a number of villages and settlements have been inundated.

At least 22 people, including women and children, have been swept away by raging waters in Moula Dad, Mehmal, Karim Bux and other areas.

According to local sources, more than 300,000 people have been affected in areas around Jacobabad. Villagers have lost their property,

Targeted killings claim six more

KARACHI: Incidents of targeted killings continued in the city unabated claiming six more lives, Geo News reported Tuesday.

Fresh incidents have occurred in Malir, Orangi Town and Gulistan-e-Jauher areas of the metropolis.

According to the details, an internet games shop owner Samad alias Billoo was killed when some unidentified gunmen open fire on his shop in Rifah-e-Aam Society injuring him seriously, he succumbed to injuries while on the way to hospital.

Another man, Mohammad Ashraf, was killed in Badar Society in Malir. PPI said deceased was its activist.

In similar fashion, Ghulam Akbar was shot dead in AlFalah area of Malir by some unknown gunmen.

Three more men fall prey to the targeted killing in Gulistan-e-Jauher area and Orangi Town areas.

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