Pakistan successfully test-fires Hatf-8 cruise missile

RAWALPINDI: Pakistan successfully test-fired air-to-air Hatf-VIII cruise missile, Inter Services Public Relations (ISPR) said on Friday.

According to ISPR, the missile can strike a target at a distance of 350 kilometers.

The cruise missile was launched from a platform set up in the air.

Tsunami may wash over Pacific islands: Red Cross

GENEVA: The tsunami set off by Japan’s major earthquake is currently higher than some Pacific islands which it could wash over, the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies said on Friday.

“Our biggest concern is the Asia and Pacific region, where developing countries are far more vulnerable to this type of unfolding disaster. The tsunami is a major threat,” Paul Conneally, spokesman for the Federation, the world”s biggest disaster relief network, said in Geneva.

“At the moment, it is higher than some islands and could go right over them,” he said.

The biggest earthquake to hit Japan in 140 years struck the northeast coast on Friday, triggering a 10-metre tsunami that swept away everything in its path, including houses, cars and farm buildings on fire.

No evidence found against me, says Moonis Elahi

LAHORE: Pakistan Muslim League- Q leader Chaudhry Parvez Elahi’s son Moonis Elahi said on Friday that no evidence was presented against him in the court in the National Insurance Company Limited (NICL) scandal case.

While talking with the newsmen he said he will expose those who blamed him in a few days.

My manager was tortured and forced to give statement against me, Elahi added. TrendPK

Assange gets Gillards support : WikiLeaks

Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard has said on Friday that WikiLeaks did not commit any criminal offense in the country by releasing secret documents. Talk to media in Sydney, she said that we have received the advice and the advice is that there had been no breaches of Australian law.

Gillard has been criticized by WikiLeaks supporters and some members of her Labor government for subjecting prejudice on Assange in any future criminal case. Assange was released on bail in Britain on Thursday while he awaits a possible extradition to Sweden where he was charged for sex crimes.WikiLeaks has provoked fury in Washington with its publications of secret U.S. cables and vows to make public the 250,000 embassy documents it had obtained. The cables include details of overseas installations that Washington regards as vital to national security.

Answering a question Gillard said that she did not receive any advice about changing the laws to deal with similar leaks in the future.

French ex-PM Villepin quizzed over Pakistan case

PARIS: A French judge questioned former prime minister Dominique de Villepin on Thursday about corruption allegations linked to the deaths of 11 French engineers in a Pakistani bombing in 2002.

Villepin, who was being questioned as a witness by investigating magistrate Renaud Van Ruymbeke, said on Friday that he had “very strong suspicions” that French officials received illegal payments related to arms deals in 1995.

Witnesses have alleged the Pakistan bombing was revenge for the cancelling of kickbacks paid to officials in the arms deals, in a complex case linked to alleged illegal political funding and implicating President Nicolas Sarkozy.

Villepin was chief of staff to then President Jacques Chirac, who cancelled the commissions after he took office in 1995 because he suspected they would lead to kickbacks to his political rival Edouard Balladur, a

French ex-PM Villepin quizzed over Pakistan case

PARIS: A French judge questioned former prime minister Dominique de Villepin on Thursday about corruption allegations linked to the deaths of 11 French engineers in a Pakistani bombing in 2002.

Villepin, who was being questioned as a witness by investigating magistrate Renaud Van Ruymbeke, said on Friday that he had “very strong suspicions” that French officials received illegal payments related to arms deals in 1995.

Witnesses have alleged the Pakistan bombing was revenge for the cancelling of kickbacks paid to officials in the arms deals, in a complex case linked to alleged illegal political funding and implicating President Nicolas Sarkozy.

Villepin was chief of staff to then President Jacques Chirac, who cancelled the commissions after he took office in 1995 because he suspected they would lead to kickbacks to his political rival Edouard Balladur, a

S.Korea surveillance plane crashes in southwest

SEOUL: A South Korean surveillance plane has crashed in the southwest of the country, the defence ministry in Seoul said on Friday.

A ministry official denied an earlier report by South Korea’s YTN cable TV network said that it had been a U.S. plane that crashed. “It’s ours,” the official said. “We’re on a search and rescue operation.” AGENCIES

Army will not come into politics now: PM Gilani

Staff Report

LAHORE: Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani said on Friday that the army will not enter into the power now.

“Tolerate the democracy now,” he added.

PM Gilani said that the people of Pakistan endured the dictatorship for 10 years.

While addressing a program in Lahore, PM Gilani said that he kept good relations with the judiciary.

He said that it was not easy to run the government in prevailing situation therefore, he added, the people should support and tolerate this democracy. Trend Pk

Cuba says all 68 on board died in plane crash

HAVANA: All 68 people on board an Aero Caribbean plane were killed when it crashed in mountainous central Cuba on Thursday after issuing an emergency call, a government website said on Friday.

“There were no survivors in the plane,” www.cubadebate.cu said. “Its 68 passengers, including seven crew members, died when the aircraft crashed.”

The website published a list of the 40 Cubans and 28 foreigners from 10 countries who were on board.

It posted a photograph showing flames rising from the shattered remains of the plane — an ATR-72-212 twin turboprop built by ATR, a joint venture of Europe’s EADS and Italian group Finmeccanica.

Aero Caribbean is a state-owned regional airline. According to www.planespotters.net, the plane that crashed was one of the youngest in its fleet, at 15 years old.

Witnesses said the plane made “several brusque

China says European support for Nobel winner an affront

BEIJING: Any European nation’s support for Chinese dissident and Nobel Peace Prize-winner Liu Xiaobo would be seen as an affront to China’s legal system, China’s Foreign Ministry said on Friday.

Cui Tiankai, China’s key G20 negotiator, made the remarks in response to a reporter’s question at a briefing for the upcoming G20 summit in Seoul next week.

Liu, who is currently serving an 11-year jail term on subversion charges for his role in advocating democracy and an end to the Communist Party’s monopoloy on power, was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in October.

The New York Times reported on Thursday that China was putting pressure on European governments to boycott the Nobel awards ceremony in December. AGENCIES

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