Eight militants, two soldiers killed in Darra Adamkhel clash

DARRA ADAMKHEL: Eight militants have been killed while two security personnel died as militants launched an attack on a border post in Darra Adamkhel late on Tuesday night.

Military sources said that about 60 heavily armed militants attacked the checkpost in Sur Gar Range linking the Bara River-Patao Mela to Ublan Darra Adamkhel. Security forces repulsed the attack having already spotted the attackers.

Eight militants have been killed while two soldiers also died in the gun battle which continued for more than two hours, the sources said.

Manning guilty of espionage but not 'aiding enemy'

FORT MEADE: A US military judge convicted Bradley Manning of espionage on Tuesday, leaving him facing a lengthy jail term despite clearing him on the most serious charge that he 'aided the enemy.'
Colonel Denise Lind found Manning guilty of 20 of 22 counts related to his leaking of a huge trove of secret US diplomatic cables and military logs to the WikiLeaks website.She said she would begin sentencing hearings on Wednesday, at the Fort Meade military base outside Washington where the trial was held.

Blast in Azizabad, no casualties: police

KARACHI: A blast occurred in Azizabad area of the city on late Tuesday night, Geo News reported.
SSP Central Amir Farooqui told media that the blast took place in Block-8 area of Azizabad in a parked vehicle.No casualty was reported from the blast site. The police officer said that investigation was underway to ascertain the nature of the blast.

Karak bus accident claims 17 lives

KARAK:At least 17 people, including three children, burned to death near Karak on Tuesday when gas cylinders exploded on a bus after it collided with a truck, officials said.
The bus was carrying passengers to the city of Bannu when the collision happened on a highway around 140 kilometres (87 miles) from Peshawar, the capital of the northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.

Cellular services to remain suspended in parts of Punjab today

ISLAMABAD: The government has instructed the mobile phone companies to suspend their services in various parts of Punjab as part of security arrangements for Youm-e-Ali (RA) on Wednesday.
The services would remain suspended in Lahore between 4:00am and 8:00 pm, Rawalpindi 4:00 am and 6:00 pm , Gujranwala 3:00 am and 1:00 am Thursday, Sargodha 2:00 pm and 4:00 pm.

One dead, 13 hurt in Rio as water main bursts

RIO DE JANEIRO: A three-year-old girl drowned and 13 people were injured Tuesday as a major water main ruptured, destroying several homes in the Brazilian city of Rio de Janeiro, authorities said.
Civil Defense named the victim as Isabela Severo dos Santos and said a total of 13 people were admitted to a nearby hospital with injuries, updating a previous toll."We tried to revive her while she was being rushed to hospital," Colonel Sergio Simoes, a fire chief, told Globo News television.

President sent summary to appoint Chaudhry Sarwar was Governor Punjab

ISLAMABAD: The summary to appoint Chaudhry Sarwar as the next Governor Punjab has been sent to President Asif Ali Zardari.
According to sources, the summary was sent on the advice of Prime Minister Nawas Sharif. Sarwar is a former member of the British Parliament.He arrived in Pakistan after surrendering his British nationality. The position of Governor Punjab was vacated after the resignation of Makhdoom Ahmed Makhdoom.

Iraq violence kills 10 as Qaeda claims attacks

BAGHDAD: Violence in Iraq killed 10 people on Tuesday, among them seven police, officials said, as an Al-Qaeda front group claimed a wave of attacks that killed dozens the day before.
The country is witnessing its worst violence since 2008, when it was emerging from a bloody sectarian conflict.UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon called on Monday for Iraqi political leaders to bring the country "back from the brink," and the interior ministry warned of civil war.

ECC bans duty-free import of gold for a month

ISLAMABAD: The Economic Coordination Committee of the Cabinet (ECC) has decided to impose short-term ban on duty-free import of gold and export of livestock.
The ECC, which met here on Tuesday with Federal Minister for Finance Senator Ishaq Dar in the chair, decided that the Ministry of Commerce would take administrative measures to implement this decision in letter and spirit.

President Zardari felicitates President-elect Mamnoon Hussain

KARACHI: President Asif Ali Zardari has felicitated Mamnoon Hussain on his election to the office of the President of Pakistan.
Spokesperson Senator Farhatullah Babar said that in his message of felicitation President Zardari wished the President-elect well in the discharge of his responsibilities as head of the federation.He said that with the election of new President another big step had been taken towards smooth transfer of power in a democratic dispensation, which was a good augury for democracy in the country.

Karachi: Rangers foil major terror bid ahead of Youm-e-Ali (RA)

KARACHI: A possible "major" terror bid was averted when Rangers collared six alleged terrorists and seized loads of improvised explosive devices in a raid conducted at a house located in the Korangi area here on Tuesday.

According to Rangers spokesman, four men and two women terrorists held in the raid were planning to carry out suicide attacks at Youm-e-Ali (RA) processions.

Officials said over 12 block bombs, two suicide jackets, pressure cooker bombs, 2 motorcycles, ball bearings, chemicals, batteries, foreign Jihadi literature, police uniforms, and other bomb-making materials were also recovered in the raid.

Initial report of D.I. Khan jailbreak

PESHAWAR: The initial report of the Dera Ismail Khan jailbreak, put together by advisor for prisons, has been sent to Khyber Pkahtunkhwa Chief Minister Pervez Khattak.
Inspector General (IG) prisons has stated that police reinforcement arrived four hours after the attack about which intelligence agencies had warned three days in advance. According to the report, weapons carried by the guards at the prison were worn-out.Earlier, Chief Minister Khattak had called the jailbreak a failure of intelligence agencies and directed the concerned authorities to launch a probe into the incident.

Violence feared as India moves to approve new state

NEW DELHI: India's ruling party was expected Tuesday to approve the creation of a new state in the southeast amid fears the decision will spark violence in the region which includes IT hub Hyderabad.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Congress party president Sonia Gandhi and other senior leaders were set to hold talks later Tuesday over longstanding demands for the state of Telangana to be carved out of Andhra Pradesh state."The Telangana issue will be discussed today. We have to bring all our political allies on board before we can take any decision on this matter," a senior source in the Congress party in New Delhi told.

Google Glass to be used to explore filmmaking

LOS ANGELES: Beauty is in the eye of the Google Glass wearer. At least that's what the Internet search giant hopes a handful of young filmmakers will discover.Google is enlisting film students from five colleges to help it explore how its wearable computing device can be used to make movies.

The $1,500 Google Glass headset is already being used by 10,000 so-called explorers.

The device resembles a pair of glasses and allows users to take pictures, shoot video, search the Internet, compose email and check schedules.

Mamnoon Hussain elected 12th President of Pakistan

ISLAMABAD: Ruling party candidate Mamnoon Hussain was elected as the 12th President of Pakistan on Tuesday, replacing Asif Ali Zardari whose five-year term expires in September.

Chief Election Commissioner Fakhruddin G Ebrahim said Hussain received a total of 432 votes from the two houses of Parliament and the four provincial assemblies.

Hussain, a 73-year-old textile businessman from Karachi, will be sworn in on Sept 9 at the presidency due to be vacated by incumbent Asif Ali Zardari.

Four suspected militants killed in Quetta operation

QUETTA: Four suspected militants were killed Tuesday morning during an operation by police and other law enforcement agencies in Bakra Peri area of Quetta, the capital of militancy-hit Balochistan province.
A police official who requested not to be named since he was not authorised to speak to the media told Dawn.com that forces launched a massive pre-dawn operation in Bakra Peri area of Quetta against suspected insurgents involved in a series of terrorism incidents.

Policeman killed as militants target polio workers in Balochistan

QUETTA: Armed militants attacked a polio team in Pishin town of Balochistan on Tuesday.Abdullah Khan, a police official said militants killed a policeman guarding polio workers in the Pishin bazaar area. The slain police man was identified as Shah Muhammad.

He said militants sped away after the incident and took a weapon from the slain policeman with them. Polio workers were unhurt during the attack.

Police and levies men reached the spot as investigation into the incident went underway.

Pishin is one of high risk districts of Balochistan with regard to increasing polio cases.

Egypt's ousted Morsi 'well': EU's Ashton

CAIRO: EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton met Egypt's ousted president on Tuesday, saying he was well, but the country's political crisis seemed no closer to resolution despite her efforts.

Neither the interim government nor supporters of deposed president Mohamed Morsi showed any indication that they had shifted their positions after talks with Ashton, who left Cairo on Tuesday.

And Morsi loyalists said they would continue their demonstrations throughout the day, despite stern warnings from the military and National Defence Council and the deaths of 82 people at a protest on Saturday.

Road accidents kill 24 in Karak, Nawabshah

PESHAWAR: At least 24 people, including women and children, were died in two separate traffic accidents in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa's Karak and Sindh's Nawabshah towns in Pakistan on Tuesday.

At least 17 people, including three children, burned to death in northwest Pakistan when a gas cylinder exploded on a bus after it collided with a truck, officials said.

The bus was carrying passengers to the city of Bannu when the collision happened on a highway around 140 kilometres (87 miles) from Peshawar, the capital of the northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.

Israelis, Palestinians to strive for deal in nine months: Kerry

WASHINGTON: Israeli and Palestinian negotiators agreed on Tuesday to meet again within the next two weeks, aiming to seal a final peace deal in nine months, US Secretary of State John Kerry said.
The two sides will meet in either Israel or the Palestinian territories and our objective will be to reach a final status agreement over the course of the next nine months, Kerry told reporters after Israelis and Palestinians ended a three-year freeze on talks.After a morning of talks at the White House with President Barack Obama and at the State Department, the two sides had agreed that all the most contentious issues such as borders and refugees and the fate of Jerusalem would be on the table for discussion.