Karachi: Suicide blast at SSP CID residence kills 8

A powerful blast occurred in front of the residence of SSP CID Chaudhry Aslam near Darakhshan Police Station in Defence area of Karachi, killing eight people including five police officials and wounding several others.

The blast was so severe that it created an eight feet crater at the site. Several vehicles were also damaged in the blast.

Police and rescue teams have reached the spot and started rescue operation. The security officials have cordoned off the area.

 

Gaddafi spokesman: 17, including French and British, captured

A spokesman for Muammar Gaddafi said on Sunday that 17 “mercenaries,” including what he called French and British “technical experts” had been captured in the Gaddafi bastion of Bani Walid in Libya.

“A group was captured in Bani Walid consisting of 17 mercenaries. They are technical experts and they include consultative officers,” Moussa Ibrahim told Syrian-based Arrai TV.

“Most of them are French, one of them is from an Asian country that has not been identified, two English people and one Qatari,” he added.

He said the 17 would be shown on television at a later time, but did not give more details.

It was not immediately possible to verify Ibrahim s claims. The French foreign ministry said it had no information regarding the report.

NATO, French and British officials had on Saturday denied a report by Arrai TV that some NATO troops had been captured by Gaddafi loyalists.

Western special forces are known to have been in Libya and to have liaised with anti-Gaddafi officials during the conflict. Private security firms have also been helping anti-Gaddafi forces, according to Western media reports.

Flood losses batter Pakistans already ailing economy

Pakistan s cash-strapped government, still struggling to help victims of last year s floods, could face another major test as monsoon rains sweep across Sindh province in the south.

“The situation in Sindh is already serious and there will be more flooding and more problems because of these rains,” said meteorology department official Arif Mehmood.

“We have alerted all relevant government agencies dealing with the flood situation.”

Flooding has killed about 200 people, destroyed or damaged nearly one million houses and flooded 4.2 million acres of land since late August, according to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).

Prospects for further flood damage would put Pakistan s government, already battling Taliban militants, allegations of widespread corruption and public anger over power cuts, under immense pressure.

Pakistan s far more decisive military, which has ruled the country for more than half of its history took charge of rescue and relief operations during last year s floods, while the government was seen as slow and ineffective.

Still. More than a year later, over 800,000 families remain without permanent shelter, according to aid group Oxfam, and more than a million people need food assistance, mostly in Sindh.

Pakistan may also have lost up to two million cotton bales, or about 13 percent of its estimated crop, due to heavy monsoon rains during harvesting in major producing region Sindh, government and industry officials said.

Monsoon rains sweep the subcontinent from June to September and are crucial for agriculture in the region.

The South Asian nation, which relies heavily on foreign aid and an IMF emergency loan package, cannot afford heavy losses in the agriculture sector, a pillar of the economy.
Last year, the cotton output fell to 11.70 million bales against a target of 14 million bales due to 2010 s floods.The losses in the cotton crop were among the reasons Pakistan s economic growth that year slipped to 2.4 percent from the original target of 4.5 percent.

Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani has already appealed for international help to cope with the latest floods.Pakistan is still haunted by memories of the 2010 floods which killed about 2,000 people and made 11 million homeless in one of the country s worst natural disasters. One-fifth of Pakistan was then submerged in water an area the size of Italy and the government, which was widely accused of reacting too slowly, faced $10 billion in damages to infrastructure, irrigation systems, bridges, houses and roads.

Irene begins destructive run, kills 8 in NC

At least Eight people, including an 11-year-old boy and a 55-year-old surfer, have died in storm-related incidents since Hurricane Irene slammed into the US east coast, officials said.

The child died Saturday when a tree fell on an apartment complex in Virginia, while the surfer died Friday when he took to his board in treacherously high surf off the Florida coast, emergency officials told AFP.

Hurricane Irene opened its assault on the Eastern Seaboard on Saturday by lashing the North Carolina coast with wind as strong as 115 mph and pounding shoreline homes with waves. Farther north, authorities readied a massive shutdown of trains and airports, with 2 million people ordered out of the way.

The center of the storm, which was estimated to be some 500 miles wide, passed over North Carolina s Outer Banks for its official landfall just after 7:30 a.m. EDT. The hurricane s vast reach traced the East Coast from Myrtle Beach, S.C., to just below Cape Cod. Tropical storm conditions battered Virginia, Maryland and Delaware, with the worst to come.

On Saturday afternoon, forecasters said Irene s effects could be felt as far north as Canada even after it weakens. A tropical storm warning extended from the U.S. border to Nova Scotia s southern coast.

Irene weakened slightly, with sustained winds down to 85 mph from about 100 a day earlier, making it a Category 1, the least threatening on the scale. The National Hurricane Center reported gusts of 115 mph and waves as high as 7 feet.

At least three deaths were directly caused by the storm. In Nash County, N.C., emergency officials said a man was crushed by a large limb that blew off a tree. In Newport News, Va., a city spokeswoman said an 11-year-old boy was killed when Irene s winds sent a tree crashing through his apartment building. Winds had been gusting well above 60 mph in the area. Also in Virginia, someone was killed when a tree fell onto a car.

Hurricane-force winds arrived near Jacksonville, N.C., at first light, and wind-whipped rain lashed the resort town of Nags Head. Tall waves covered the beach, and the surf pushed as high as the backs of some of the houses and hotels fronting the strand.

“There s nothing you can do now but wait. You can hear the wind and it s scary,” said Leon Reasor, who rode out the storm in the Outer Banks town of Buxton. “Things are banging against the house. I hope it doesn t get worse, but I know it will. I just hate hurricanes.”

Missing containers case: Inquiry expanded to Afghanistan

Head of the investigation team Hafiz Anees Ahmed has reached Afghanistan in this regard. In the case, at least 50 FBR officials have been dismissed while putting their names on the Exit Control List (ECL). When detail of the properties of FBR officials was sought, all the officials feared a number of scandals could come to surface after this.

FBR has asked all housing schemes to give details of those officials, supposed to be involved in the embezzlement of billion of rupees. Besides, details of accounts of these officials have also been demanded.

Quetta: One killed, 5 injured in remote control bomb blast

Quetta: A Sub-Inspector was killed and 5 other officials got injuries when a remote control bomb hit police van at Qambrani road in Quetta, trendpk.com reported on Friday.

According to police, Commanders Force RRG vehicles were on a normal patrolling when a bomb planted in a cycle at Qambrani road exploded by a remote. One sub inspector was killed and five security men sustained injuries. The injured were shifted to CMH. Police cordoned off the area after the blast. DIG Operation Hamid Shakeel and Commandant Balochistan Constabulary Ghulam Shabbir visited the place of blast.

Rehman Malik Orders FIA to nab 8 Wapda officers

ISLAMABAD, trendpk: Federal Interior Minister Rehman A Malik took notice of alleged corruption worth millions of rupees in Wapda.

According to a statement issued here, the federal minister ordered Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) to arrest the eight officers of Wapda involved in the scam.

He also directed the officials to submit within 24 hours a report comprising investigations against the corrupt officers regarding their alleged corruption.

Lahore: IJT students protest turn nasty

A protest demonstration held by scores of Islami Jamiat Tulaba students and teachers turned nasty when some of the students barged into the Punjab Assembly premises, News Trends reported Wednesday.

The protest was staged at the Mall Road against the setting up of Board of Governors at all the institutes with the students calling upon the high-ups to save their study year.

When sensed the indifferent attitude of the officials concerned, the students marched onto the PA and damaged the walk through gate.
However, the charged students could not make into the main hall for heavy contingents of police baton-charged them and made them move to The Mall. The students then vent their ire on the vehicles parked over there and torched two of them.

Inaugural of RPP to be held today

The inaugural ceremony of the 232 MW rental power plant would be held today at Karachi Port Trust (KPT).

An official associated with the project said that the officials of Private Power Infrastructure Board (PPIB), Ministry of Water and Power and the representatives of the Turkey based power ship ‘Kaya Bey’ would also attend the ceremony.

The power ship had anchored at the Karachi Port on Thursday. After the ceremony, it will be sailed to the Ibrahim Hyderi Harbour where it will be connected to the Korangi Thermal Station on Nov 24, the official said.

Dr Imran Farooq’s body to be taken by helicopter

Staff Reporter

KARACHI: The route plan for the funeral procession of Dr. Imran Farooq’s body has been changed by the concerned authorities; it has been decided that the corpse of the deceased leader of Mutahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) will be directly taken by a helicopter to Jinnah Ground, Azizabad, from the airport of Karachi.

Earlier on Friday, the local leaders of Mutahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) and the officials of Karachi’s Quid-e-Azam International Airport finalized the security arrangements for the arrival of remains and the procession of Dr. Imran Farooq’s funeral.

To finalize the security arrangements, a combined meeting of the officers of Airport Security Force (ASF), Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) and MQM leaders, Babar Ghauri and Rauf Siddiqui, was held at the Civil Aviation Headquarter.

The meeting decided that on the morning of November 6,

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