Sports minister wants Pakistan Cricket Board to raise issue of player security

By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS (CP) – 1 hour

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan — Pakistan's sports minister has asked the country's cricket board to raise the issue of player security with Australian and international cricket authorities after a Pakistani player was attacked by a fan during a one-day international at Perth last Sunday.
"I have asked the Pakistan Cricket Board officials to raise this serious security breach with both Australian cricketing authorities and the ICC," Ijaz Jhakrani told The Associated Press on Tuesday.
Pakistan player Khalid Latif escaped serious injury when a spectator ran onto the field at the WACA Ground and attacked him from behind.
Australia won the match by two wickets and clinched the one-day series 5-0.
Copyright © 2010 The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.

Offensive kills up to 80 militants: military

Tuesday, 02 Feb, 2010

SAWAI: A Pakistani military commander said Tuesday a new air and ground offensive had killed up to 80 militants in the northern extremity of the lawless tribal belt on the Afghan border.

The paramilitary Frontier Corps (FC) stepped up an offensive targeting Taliban havens in Bajaur district after a suicide bombing killed 17 people at a military checkpoint on Saturday.
Bajaur, which is at the northern tip of the semi-autonomous tribal belt, has seen a spike in attacks and Pakistan is under US pressure to do more to eliminate the extremist menace to ease the conflict in Afghanistan.
The raids are concentrated around Mamoond, about 12 kilometres (eight miles) northwest of Khar, a notorious Taliban hideout which Pakistan failed to clear in past offensives against militant havens.
“When we started the operation it was estimated that there were about 1,000 militants present in the area and 80 of them have been killed so far,” Colonel Rana Munnawar told reporters at a briefing in the village of Sawai.
There was no independent confirmation of the death toll. Local officials have given a combined toll of 43 militants killed since Saturday, and said two other militants were found hanging from a pole outside Khar.
Four soldiers have been killed, Munnawar said. Militants from nearby districts Swat and Dir, where Pakistan quelled a major Taliban uprising last year have also joined the fight, he added.
Pakistani troops backed by jets, helicopter gunships and commandos swung into action Sunday in Sawai, some 22 kilometres northwest of Khar, where they have come under mortar and rocket fire, Munnawar said.
He claimed the offensive had dislodged a Taliban command and control system, but expected main operations to take another 15 days.

The colonel said troops had also captured the strategic height of Khaza, where the militants had attacked from bunkers and set up a training centre.
Pakistan first launched operations in the district in August 2008 and has claimed several times to have eliminated the Islamist militant threat.
US officials call Pakistan's tribal belt the most dangerous place on earth and, following the 2001 US-led invasion of Afghanistan, the headquarters of Al-Qaeda, which has links to Taliban and other extremist networks. -AFP

Karachi violence claims 27 lives within 4 days

Updated at: 1049 PST, Tuesday, February 02, 2010
KARACHI: Another person was brutally killed by unidentified shooters on Tuesday morning, taking the tally of target killings to 27 persons within 4 days of extreme chaos, violence and tension here in metropolis; meanwhile, nearly 2 dozen more injured victims are being treated at separate hospitals in city, Geo news reported. On Monday, at least 7 more people were gunned down by late night when some unidentified armed assailants opened indiscriminate fire in the Nazimabad and Khwaja Ajmer Nagri localities of metropolis city, mounting the death toll to 26.According to reports, unknown armed men started firing near Abbasi Shaheed Hospital, killing four people, two of them on the spot. While two more succumbed to injuries in hospital. Immediately after the incident, the hospitals’ doors were closed.Later, another incident of incessant firing occurred near Abbasi Phatak located underneath Nazimabad Bridge, killing 5 persons on the spot including a youth who resided in nearby flats, police sources said.Two persons were gunned down in Orangi Town and Qasba Colony as the deceased persons were reportedly hailing from two different political parties and used to serve as their activists, sources claimed.The incident seems to be the part of recent spate of target killings in mini-Pakistan, according to police.

Talks to free Israeli soldier halted: Hamas

Updated at: 1536 PST, Tuesday, February 02, 2010
LONDON: Negotiations between Hamas and Israel over a prisoner swap involving captive Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit have stopped, a senior official in the Islamist movement said in an interview aired Tuesday. "Up to this moment, we fail to achieve this process," Mahmud Zahar told the British broadcaster. "After the interference of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, there was a big regression and retraction. For this reason, everything has stopped," said Zahar, one of the leaders of Hamas in its Gaza Strip stronghold. Although Israel is reportedly prepared to release about 450 prisoners in exchange for Shalit, Netanyahu has vowed not to free several high-profile Palestinians who Hamas insist must be part of any deal. Shalit, now 23, was captured by Hamas fighters and militants from two other groups in a cross-border raid from Gaza in June 2006.

Nearly half a million have fled Haitian capital: UN

Updated at: 1606 PST, Tuesday, February 02, 2010
GENEVA: Nearly half a million people have fled Port-au-Prince for the Haitian countryside following the devastating earthquake that destroyed the capital, the United Nations said on Tuesday. The UN's Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said 90 percent of the people leaving the capital for rural areas were staying with relatives, and supporting these host families was now a priority. Prices of basic commodities such as rice and sugar are rising as a result of the influx of people, the UN said, and medical centres are short of stock and equipment for emergency care. "The government has revised the number of people leaving Port-au-Prince for outlying departments to 482,349 people, as of 31 January," the UN body said.

Bilour seeks govt intervention on Karachi killings

Updated at: 1803 PST, Monday, February 01, 2010

PESHAWAR: NWFP senior minister Bashir Bilour, denouncing the recent spate violence in Karachi, called for the government’s intervention to stop the ongoing incidents of target killing. In a statement from Peshawar on Monday, Bilor slammed wave of target killings in Karachi and demanded its immediate halt. He emphasized that the government should arrest the culprits, who were mostly targeting the Pakhtun inhabitants. Bilour further said that safety of life and property of citizens should be ensured. He urged the Sindh Government take immediate measures to curtail target killings so that any untoward incident could be averted in future

Shoaib Malik named captain for T20 against Australia

Updated at: 1806 PST, Monday, February 01, 2010

MELBOURNE: Allrounder Shoaib Malik has been appointed captain for the only Twenty20 International which will be played against Australia here at the MCG on February 5.Pakistan team will not have the services of T20 captain Shahid Afridi as he is facing a ban for two T20 matches for his ball-biting in the fifth and final One-day International at Perth.This may be recalled that Shoaib Malik was removed from captaincy after the ODI home series against Sri Lanka in January last year.