4 US diplomats denied entry into Peshawar

According to a report, after the 2nd May incident a vigilant security check has been kept on the movement of US diplomats. On Wednesday morning, four US diplomats including Denis Wynne, Wilmer Case and Joseph Edward went to Peshawar in two vehicles bearing numbers PB-491 and SV-406. However, police officials at Peshawar Motorway Toll Plaza stopped them and asked for their NOC.

Upon the inquiry of police officials, all the four US diplomats were sent back to Islamabad, as they did not hold the required documents for traveling.

Shallow quake hits southwest Pakistan: USGS

QUETTA: A shallow 5.7-magnitude earthquake hit southwest Pakistan on Wednesday, the US Geological Survey said.

The quake struck at 5:53 am (0053 GMT) around 330 kilometres (200 miles) southwest of Quetta, the capital of the province of Baluchistan, at a depth of eight kilometres.

A powerful 7.2-magnitude quake that hit southwest Pakistan in January sent people rushing from their homes in panic but did not cause significant casualties.

Pakistan was hit by a 7.6-magnitude earthquake on October 8, 2005 that killed more than 73,000 people and left about 3.5 million homeless, mainly in Pakistan-controlled Kashmir and parts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. AGENCIES

UK decides to pull out troops from Afghanistan

According to a foreign news agency, Prime Minister Davd Cameron was expected to announce on Wednesday the return of 800 troops from Afghanistan by the end of next year.

According to defence ministry, there will be no British soldier in Afghanistan by year 2015.

US President Barack Obama last month ordered all 33,000 US surge troops home from Afghanistan by mid-2012. France quickly followed suit, saying several hundred French troops would leave by the end of this year.

The Western nations have set a deadline of the end of 2014 to hand over control of security to Afghan forces.

Punjab Universitys website hacked

The Punjab University’s website has been hacked and the hackers have posted a message in support of the HEC demanding it to be maintained. The message states ‘Save HEC to save national integrity.’

The Punjab University website was hacked late night on Wednesday by the Student Alliance. The hackers overtook the website to obtain the government’s attention in an attempt to save the HEC.

Doctors threaten to resume protest

Young Doctors Association has decided to resume the protest movement saying the official committee formed to solve the issue has already taken 15 days without any outcome. The attitude of the committee is intimidating, alleged the doctors.

If Shahbaz Shraif calls the meeting by this Wednesday then they would meet him, otherwise the protest will start again, doctors warned.
Doctors appealed to the civil society to join hands with them to press their demands.

Bilawal to take up politics in September – Zardari

GUJRANWALA: President Asif Ali Zardari has said that the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) Chairman Bilawal Bhutto will be given some political responsibilities in September this year.

While addressing Party Parliamentarians and office bearers from Gujranwala division here at the Aiwan-e-Sadr on Wednesday night, the president said his government has achieved successes despite all opposition and criticism.

The PPP will take the country out of all crises, he said.

The presidential reference to review the case of Shaheed Zulfikar Ali Bhutto is to correct the history and it is not any revenge that we take from any one, Zardari added. TrendPK

Obama budget meeting ends after about 1-1/2 hours

WASHINGTON: An emergency White House meeting convened late on Wednesday by President Barack Obama to avoid a damaging shutdown of the U.S. government ended after about 1-1/2 hours, a White House official said.

Libya oil output stops after attacks: rebels

BENGHAZI: Production at rebel-held oilfields in eastern Libya has stopped after they came under attack from forces loyal to Muammar Gaddafi, a rebel spokesman said on Wednesday.

Oilfields in Misla and the Waha area were hit by Gaddafi’s artillery on Tuesday and Wednesday, spokesman Hafiz Ghoga told reporters in the rebel stronghold of Benghazi.

“These oilfields are the ones that pump oil to Tobruk,” said Ghoga. “They stopped pumping today.”

Both fields are in the desert, hundreds of kilometres south of the rebel-held town of Ajdabiyah. Rebels have been trying to resume exports to raise revenue for their uprising.

Ghoga said Gaddafi’s forces hit Waha’s field 103 on Wednesday and Misla on Tuesday after a previous attack there at the weekend.

“These oilfields are the ones that pump oil to Tobruk. What we have marketed is what we have in reserve in Tobruk. We have one million barrels (in reserve).”

He added that until Tuesday the rebel-held east Libyan fields were pumping 100,000 barrels per day. Damage from the latest attacks was still being assessed.

“It was not an air strike, it was from the ground using vehicles. The vehicles had artillery on them,” he said.

“We are now providing more protection. We have even moved people from the front (to the fields),” Ghoga said.

He did not give details of the damage although when the first Misla attack was reported at the weekend, the rebels said a diesel storage tank was hit and the damage was not very serious.

The Liberian-registered tanker Equator sailed from Marsa el Hariga, near Tobruk, earlier on Wednesday apparently with the first cargo of crude sold by rebels since their uprising against Gaddafi began in February, shipping sources said.

Ghoga added: “We hope that production will continue at the rate of the past but because of the damage that has come to our fields because of Gaddafi’s military tools, our production has been affected.”

“We have a quantity of oil that needs to be marketed so that oil production does not stop and cause problems and it is in the port of Marsa el Hariga, but Colonel Gaddafi is trying to stop our efforts by hitting the oil fields.”

Libya was producing around 1.6 million barrels per day of oil and exporting some 1.3 bpd before the uprising. AGENCIES

NATO air strike hits major oilfield in Libya

TRIPOLI: Libya said on Wednesday a British air strike had hit its major Sarir oilfield and damaged a pipeline connecting the deposit to a Mediterranean port.

Sudan accuses Israel of strike near Port Sudan

KHARTOUM: Sudan’s Foreign Minister Ali Karti on Wednesday accused Israel of carrying out a strike on a car near Port Sudan that killed two people.

Sudanese police have said a missile struck the car near the port city on Tuesday.

A state government official, however, has said the strike was carried out by a foreign aircraft that flew in from the Red Sea.

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