Sri Lanka appeal over death-row maid in Saudi Arabia

COLOMBO: Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapakse has appealed for the king of Saudi Arabia to spare the life of a Sri Lankan housemaid convicted of killing an infant, his office said Tuesday.

Rizana Nafeek, who was working in the Middle Eastern country, was found guilty of killing a four-month-old baby boy in her care in 2005.

The Saudi Supreme Court recently rejected an appeal against the verdict by the maid’s family.

“President Mahinda Rajapakse wrote to King Abdullah … of Saudi Arabia seeking clemency for Sri Lankan maid Rizana Nafeek,” his office said in a statement.

Nafeek, who was 17 at that time, has maintained that the death of the infant was an accident.

She originally confessed to killing the baby, but later retracted her statement saying it had been made under duress.

The Hong Kong-based Asian Human Rights Commission in a

Pakistan to emerge victorious against all odds: Gilani

Reiterating his firm resolve to steer the country out of all the crises facing it, Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani on Friday said that Pakistan would emerge victorious against all the odds.
Talking to mediamen in Islamabad, the PM said that Pakistan is a responsible atomic power, and the capability is meant for defence only.
Referring to the neighbouring countries with particular reference to India, the PM said, Dialogue is the only way for India and Pakistan to move forward in their bilateral ties. However, he said that Pakistan would continue to provide diplomatic and political help to the Kashmiris for their justified right to self-determination.
The Premier stated that Pakistan wants peace in Afghanistan while IranPak relations are deeply rooted. He said that Pakistan also enjoyed good ties with all the Middle Eastern states.

Saudi Arabia and Middle East celebrate Eid today

Saudi Arabia and all Middle Eastern countries announced they would celebrate the Islamic holiday of Eid ul-Fitr, marking the end of the fasting month of Ramadan, today.
Most of the Gulf countries follow the lead of Saudi Arabia, home to the two holiest cities of Islam Mecca and Medina, to set the day of the Eid feast. The celebration falling on Friday, the Muslim holy day, is considered especially auspicious. Eid ul-Fitr celebrates the purification achieved by a month of sunrise-to-sunset fasting, one of the five pillars of Islam, and is marked by several days of festivities. Saudi Arabian cities planned fireworks and public performances. Airports, meanwhile, were jammed Monday and Tuesday by Saudis heading abroad for vacations, foreigners going home to celebrate Eid with families, and tens of thousands of pilgrims to Mecca heading home.

Jang newspaper burnt near Thatta

KARACHI: Bundles of Jang newspaper, being taken to Thatta from Karachi, have been burnt to ashes near Dabeji after the van driver was tortured by unknown armed men on Tuesday morning, Geo News reported.

Meanwhile, police, renowned for being stubborn as always, have issued denial to register FIR of the incident, sources said.

According to details, a vehicle, carrying newspapers including Jang, Thenews and others, was intercepted by over a dozen armed assailants near Dabeji, who forced driver to abandon newspapers but on issuance of denial from him, they not only tortured driver but also set bundles of Jang and Thenews newspapers on fire.

Driver said attackers were chanting slogans, ‘Aik Zardari Sub Par Bhari’ means ‘Zardari alone is the most powerful’.

Dabeji police has been apprised of the incident but it refused to register complaint, driver said.

Water level goes down at Guddu Barrage

SUKKUR: Several Katchi Abadies have been inundated in Sindh due to fierce floodwaters but water level is being seen declining at Guddu Barrage, sources told Geo News.

However, the water pressure is still surging on Sukkur Barrage meanwhile Pakistan army has commenced relief operation in villages along Sukkur district in view of potential floods, which may inflict havoc due to cracks on city’s security wall built alongside River Indus.

Thousands of people are still trapped in Katchi Abadies in Ronti area of Ghotki District, which have not received any relief for want of boats, sources said.

50 villages have been flooded in Thal locality near Jacobabad due to 100 feet wide hole in Illaabad canal, which has destroyed crops stretched on thousands acres of land.

According to Irrigation Department Larkana, over 80 villages have been submerged under water.

President Zardari back home

KARACHI: The much-awaited President Asif Ali Zardari has arrived back home after completing a much-criticized foreign trip on Tuesday morning, Geo News reported.

He may review the conditions in flood-stricken areas soon, officials hoped. Meanwhile, president sopped over Syria while returning from London on Monday. The stopover may have been made for superstitious reasons, as the Middle Eastern country is known for the holy places it houses.

However, media managers in the presidency said he had met Syrian President Bashar Al Assad, but did not visit any of the holy places in the country, which was believed to be the main objective of the stopover.

“The president landed at the Bassel Al Assad International Airport for a technical stopover on his way back home from the United Kingdom,” presidential spokesman Sohail Ahmed said. How a technical stopover resulted in a presidential meeting remained unexplained.

Syria is visited by devoted Muslims for its many shrines. The famous shrine of Hazrat Bibi Zainab in Damascus, known as Zainabia, is visited by hundreds of thousands of people.

President Zardari arrived at Karachi Airport from Damascus on Tuesday morning and will leave for Islamabad sometime afternoon.

Officials said it is hoped that President visits flood-ridden areas to review the fragile conditions inflicted by worst ever floods.

Israel set to accept ”quid pro quo” Gaza deal

LONDON: Israel is set to accept a plan under which it would ease its Gaza blockade in return for the international community agreeing a limited probe into a deadly flotilla raid, it was reported Wednesday.

The Daily Telegraph reported that Britain last week circulated a document outlining proposals to ease the blockade. It quoted an unnamed Western source close to the talks with Israel saying: “A quid pro quo deal is in the offing”.

Israel has outlined plans to hold probes into the legality of its naval blockade of Gaza and the raid last week on an aid flotilla, which was bidding to break it, which killed nine people.

It is reportedly considering setting up an investigative team made up of Israeli jurists and former diplomats as well as two foreign observers.

This would fall short of the independent, international investigation several world leaders have called for.

On the blockade, the Daily Telegraph said Israel has been asked to ease access into Gaza at crossings and allow the UN to convey material needed to rebuild 60,000 homes destroyed or damaged in the 2008-09 Gaza war.

“Israel could be flexible about items reaching the civilian population,” said an unnamed Israeli official quoted by the paper.

Officials deny there is a link between their willingness to cooperate and matters related to the inquiry, the paper said.

The United States said Tuesday it backed international participation in a probe into the highly controversial flotilla raid, echoing similar remarks by UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon.

Meanwhile, 21 Asian and Middle Eastern states expressed “grave concern and condemnation” over the raid at a security summit in Istanbul.

Turkey, whose citizens died on the flotilla, has said normalisation of ties with Israel would be “out of the question” if it failed to agree to an international probe.

Jaime Bergman for Husband Confesses Infidelity

Jaime Bergman was born 23 September 1975 in Salt Lake City, Utah, USA is an American model and actress who was Playboy magazine’s playmate of the month in January 1999 its 45th anniversary issue. Although confession has come from David Boreanaz, the reaction of Jaime Bergman is still not known.

She appeared on the cover of Playboy, and in a new nude pictures inside to promote show. David Boreanaz himself has not revealed the name of his former mistress, the lady who commented Jaime Bergman in his life. Jaime Bergman husband last year while she was pregnant.But there is nothing as such has not yet been verified by Rachel Uchitel and David Boreanaz. Boreanaz consistently lied about it when the allegations surfaced just come clean to avoid Uchitel is blackmail.

That he had shared a relationship with a woman outside marriage. In July 2000 she appeared on the cover of Playboy, and in a new nude pictorial inside to promote the show. Then he began to pay her the money that was around $ 7000 here and there. But she started to demand more money from him, or she would go public with the case. He said: “She asked for money. I felt that I was pushed.” Threatened to blackmail him in exchange for his continued silence.

Shahzad Faisal Arrested At JFK Airport

A man has been arrested in connection with Saturday’s attempted car bomb in New York City Times Square.

Mr. Shahzad was taken into custody at Kennedy Airport, apparently attempted to flee, “said one of the people. Accusations against Mr. Shahzad, who had returned from a recent trip to Pakistan was not promulgated.

The authorities began to focus on him after they followed the car to its former registered owner in Bridgeport, Connect, which had announced it for sale on multiple websites. He paid cash, and sales were handled without formal paperwork.

The previous owner told investigators that it appeared the buyer was of Middle Eastern or Hispanic descent, but could not remember his name. It was unclear how agents fro m the Joint Terrorist Task Force identified him.

U.S. Attorney Eric Holder spoke at a press conference moments ago officially notify the arrest. Holder noted that Faisal was at JFK Airport trying to board a flight to Dubai. He called the investigation “multifaceted” and “aggressive” and that “it is important that the American people to be vigilant

US trying to thin Taliban with jobs, cash offers

The United States and its allies are stepping up efforts to persuade Afghan insurgents to put down their arms by negotiating with representatives of Mullah Mohammed Omar and other Taliban commanders and offering cash and jobs to low-level fighters, according to Pakistani, Middle Eastern and U.S. officials and analysts, The Washington Times has reported.

The efforts, coupled with an increased U.S. military presence in Afghanistan, are meant to weaken the insurgency and promote a negotiated end to the region’s violence, the paper said. “The strategy is to peel away so many fighters” from the insurgent chiefs that they will be left like “floating icebergs and have no one left to command,” the paper quoted Kenneth Katzman, an Afghanistan specialist at the Congressional Research Service as saying.

A Western diplomat based in the Pakistani capital, Islamabad, who asked not to be named, confirmed that Pakistani and Saudi officials are using their “connections and influence within Afghan Taliban to elicit some meaningful way to end the deadlock,” the paper reported.

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US trying to thin Taliban with jobs, cash offers was first posted on December 18, 2009 at 6:53 pm.