Pakistani sues U.S. over drone aircraft strike

ISLAMABAD: A Pakistani man whose brother and son were killed by what he said was a U.S. drone strike is on an ambitious courtroom quest to get $500 million in compensation and end attacks Washington launches against top militants.

Kareem Khan said a CIA-operated drone fired missiles at his house in Pakistan’s North Waziristan on the night of Dec 31 2009, killing his son Zaenullah, 18, and brother Asif Iqbal.

In a legal notice to U.S. officials including Defense Secretary Robert Gates and CIA Director Leon Panetta, his lawyer is demanding $500 million in compensation.

“We say to them that these drone attacks you are carrying out are killing innocent people,” Khan told Reuters, describing the message he wanted to convey to the Americans.

A U.S. embassy spokesman said no communication had been received over the case.

Pakistan’s government

Taliban execute Afghan woman in public: police

KABUL: Taliban insurgents publicly executed an Afghan woman for alleged adultery, a police official said on Monday, in a reminder to the era when the militant group ruled Afghanistan.

The 48-year-old widow was given dozens of lashes before being shot dead on Sunday in the remote Qades district, held by the militants in northwestern Badghis province, said Abdul Jabar who serves as a senior officer in the province.

“It happened before the public … despite that no one has complained, the government will take its own measures about the incident,” Jabar reported by phone from Badghis.

The unidentified man who had the alleged affair with the woman had escaped, he said.

When in power from 1996 until 2001, the radical Taliban staged public stonings or lashings of those found to have sex outside marriage. A spokesman for the Taliban. who lead the insurgency against the Afghan government and foreign forces, said he was not aware of the incident and could not comment on it.

If confirmed, Sunday”s execution would be the second of a woman by the Taliban since their ouster from power nine years ago. A woman was previously executed for alleged spying for foreign forces.

The judiciary in neighbouring Iran last month suspended a sentence of death by stoning for a woman convicted of adultery after an international outcry over the case.

Malik pardon case: LHC seeks full bench

Justice Ijaz Ahmad Chaudhry of the Lahore High Court on Thursday forwarded recommendation to the Chief Justice LCH seeking a full bench for hearing a petition against presidential pardon to Interior Minister Rehman Malik.
Justice Chaudhry heard the petition on Thursday. The petition was filed by Imtiaz Rashid Qureshi, media advisor of the Save Judiciary Committee. The petitioners counsel, Farooq Hassan, contended that President Zardaris remission of Maliks sentence under article 45 of the constitution was illegal.
Justice Ijaz Chaudhry said that the issue is of public interest and as such it could not be overlooked Thursday and sent recommendations to Chief Justice LCH Justice Khawaja Muhammad Sharif to formulate a full bench in this regard.

SC forms team to investigate BoP scam

Supreme Court formed a special investigatory team under the head of former DG FIA to investigate the Bank of Punjab case, Dunya News reported on Thursday.
During the hearing of the BoP scam case, Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry said the embezzlement seemed to amount to trillions of rupees instead of 9 billion.
Hamesh Khan, former president Bank of Punjab and the prime accused of billion rupees bank fraud was produced before the apex court on Wednesday.
The CJ rebuked Hamesh Khans counsel Mehmood A Shaikh for giving statement to media that political pressure is at work, saying that he should have mentioned it in the court, and remarked that Hamesh is not being tried, he was just quizzed over the case. The NAB representatives told the court that Hamesh, during a meeting with his family, wrote on his shirt that all his e-mails be eliminated forthwith.
The CJ formed an investigation team on the matter and ordered former DG FIA Tariq Khosa to head the time.

Obama praises Pakistan”s anti-militant push

WASHINGTON: US President Barack Obama said Wednesday he was “encouraged” by Pakistan”s anti-extremist efforts, but warned the operation to flush out militants would take time.

“I think what you have seen over the last several months is a growing recognition that they have a cancer in their midst,” Obama said.

“I am actually encouraged from what I have seen from the Pakistani government over the last several months. “But just as it”s going to take some time for Afghanistan”s economy, for example, to fully recover from 30 years of war, it”s going to take some time from Pakistan, even if there is a will, to find a way in order to effectively deal with these extremists in areas that are fairly loosely governed from Islamabad.

“You know, part of what I”ve been encouraged by is Pakistan”s willingness to start asserting more control over some of these areas. But it”s not going to happen overnight,” Obama said.

Chile shrouds Pakistan embassy TNT case in secrecy

SANTIAGO: Chilean prosecutors dropped Wednesday a veil of secrecy over the case of a Pakistani man found with traces of explosives as he visited the US embassy to discuss a revoked visa.

Prosecutor Francisco Jasir issued a special decree that means no information about the police investigation can be released until after the interrogation process is complete or the suspect freed.

Chilean authorities on Tuesday extended the detention of Mauhannas Saif Ur Rehnab Khan under the South American country”s anti-terror laws. Rehnab, 28, who has denied any terror ties, can be detained until Saturday without charge.

Experts found traces of a TNT explosive derivative on the young suspect”s hands, cell phone, bag and documentation after he went through a security checkpoint on Monday, prompting embassy staff to notify police.

Rehnab insisted he did not know where the traces came from, and said that he was at the embassy only to renew his visa.

But the State Department said in Washington that the embassy called Rehnab in after revoking his US visa. It did not say why the visa had been revoked.

Jeremy Aikman,Janine Linda Mulder

Jeremy Aikman,Janine Linda Mulder: Sandra Bullock and her husband, Jesse James, are still caught in the web of one messy  and increasingly public custody battle.

Jeremy Aikman,Janine Linda Mulder:Sandra Bullock and her husband, Jesse James, are still caught in the web of one messy  and increasingly public custody battle.

James, of “Monster Garage” fame, was granted custody of his 5-year-old daughter, Sunny Lee James, from a previous marriage with former adult film actress Janine Lindemulder when Lindemulder was imprisoned for tax evasion earlier this year.

Bullock and James supplied letters to the judge at the time of Lindemulder’s sentencing requesting custody for Sunny, as they alleged that Lindemulder was an unfit parent.

James’ representation declined to comment, and attempts to reach representation for Bullock and Lindemulder were unsuccessful.

Since her release, Lindemulder has been pushing for more parental rights.

In an October 13 letter to the judge presiding over the case obtained by CNN, Lindemulder wrote that she hoped to see her daughter every Saturday, and be more informed of her child’s out-of-state travel and any changes in her education.My daughter and I are both very eager to get back to a normal, healthy, loving life,” she wrote.

The court granted Lindemulder visitation rights on Sundays, according to court documents, as long as she kept her daughter away from her new husband — felon Jeremy Aikman — and did not consume any drugs or alcohol.

Yet James found himself back in court October 29, saying that Lindemulder violated that October 13 order to ensure Sunny had zero contact with her new spouse, according to Access Hollywood.

To prove that her maternal instincts are sound, Lindemulder is taking her case to the court of public opinion.

more details:cnn