Hezbollah urges mass turnout for Ahmadinejad

BEIRUT: The Shiite militant group Hezbollah on Saturday called for a huge turnout to welcome Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad when he arrives on a two-day official visit to Lebanon next week.

“I urge the Lebanese people and the Palestinians (in the refugee camps) to welcome the president of Iran and to take part massively in the events organised for his visit,” Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah said.

He was speaking by video link to a ceremony organised by the group's Jihad al-Bina reconstruction department.

Ahmadinejad's October 13-14 visit is eagerly anticipated by Hezbollah, which is planning to give him a huge welcome as well as a tour of the southern border region with Israel.

“President Ahmadinejad wants to visit Qana to pay homage to the martyrs and Bint Jbeil because of the symbol of resistance it represents,” Nasrallah said of two villages in south Lebanon.

Qana was the target of deadly Israeli raids in 1996 and also a decade later during the July-August summer war with Hezbollah, while the frontline village of Bint Jbeil saw fierce firefights during the 2006 conflict.

“His programme does not include Mr Ahmadinejad throwing a stone at Israel on the border,” Nasrallah said, denying rumours that he might do so.

“If President Ahmadinejad asks my opinion, I shall say: 'A stone? You are capable of throwing more than a stone',” at Israel, Nasrallah added to applause.

Israel has accused the Iran- and Syria-backed Hezbollah of stockpiling sophisticated weaponry in anticipation of another conflict with the Jewish state.

Nasrallah on Saturday thanked Iran for its “moral and political” support, as well as the “enormous sums” spent by Tehran on reconstruction projects in the south after the war four years ago.

Ahmadinejad's trip has sparked controversy in Lebanon with some members of the pro-Western parliamentary majority calling it a provocation and the United States also expressing concern.

Both Ahmadinejad and Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah are set to appear together at a rally in a stadium in Hezbollah's stronghold in southern Beirut.

The leader of Hezbollah, considered a terrorist organisation by Washington, had lived in hiding and last appeared in person in July 2008 until Friday, when he planted a tree outside his home in the southern suburbs of Beirut.

The building was destroyed by air raids during the 2006 war.

Nasrallah has been Israel's public enemy number one since his Iranian- and Syrian-backed group fought the deadly month-long conflict.

Al-Manar, the Hezbollah television channel, also transmitted a spot on Saturday addressed to “supporters of the resistance” and urging a huge turnout to welcome “our brother” Ahmadinejad.

“We call on you to welcome President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on Wednesday at 7:30 am (0430 GMT) all along the airport road,” the group's Al-Manar television broadcast over a picture of a smiling Iranian leader.

“Lebanon is the country of resistance -- welcome to your family,” the voice-over said of “dear brother” Ahmadinejad.

The television spot was signed by both Hezbollah and Amal, another Lebanese Shiite party that is allied to the “party of God.” During his visit, his first to Lebanon since his election in 2005, Ahmadinejad is due to meet President Michel Sleiman, Prime Minister Saad Hariri and parliament speaker Nabih Berri. – AFP

Pakistan reopens supply route for Nato forces

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan will immediately reopen a vital supply route for Nato forces in Afghanistan 10 days after it was shut following a cross-border air strike by Nato forces, the Foreign Ministry said on Saturday.

The United States apologised to Pakistan on Wednesday for the Sept. 30 raid that killed two Pakistani soldiers, raising hopes that Pakistan would reopen the Torkham border crossing in the northwest for transporting supplies for Nato-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF).

Militants in Pakistan have attacked convoys of tankers since the incursion to try to disrupt supplies. In the latest such attack, gunmen in the southwest set fire to nearly 30 tankers parked at a roadside restaurant early on Saturday.

Pakistan had closed the Torkham route passing through the Khyber Pass soon after the cross-border incursion killed the soldiers. Authorites cited security reasons.

“After assessing the security situation in all its aspects, the government has decided to reopen the Nato/ISAF supply from the Pakistan-Afghanistan border at Torkham with immediate effect,” the foreign ministry said in a statement.

“Our relevant authorities are now in the process of coordinating with authorities on the other side of the border to ensure smooth resumption of the supply traffic.”

Richard Snelsire, the US embassy spokesman, said Washington welcomed the reopening of the border crossing, and called it “a positive development.”

An embassy official, speaking on background, said trucks would likely start moving into Afghanistan on Monday.

RISING TENSIONS

The helicopter strike that sparked the border row was the most serious of recent cross-border incidents involving Nato-led forces fighting in Afghanistan, which have stoked tensions with Pakistan.

The US ambassador described the incursion as a terrible accident.

Saturday's attack on the tanker trucks was the sixth in recent days. A second supply route passing through southwestern Pakistan has remained open.

Trucking routes through Pakistan bring in around 40 percent of supplies for Nato forces in Afghanistan, according to the United States Transportation Command. Of the remainder, 40 percent come through Afghanistan's neighbours in the north and 20 percent by air.

Most of the Nato supplies in Pakistan come through the northwest where Pakistani security forces have been battling a growing insurgency by militants linked to al Qaeda and Taliban.

The United States has been pressing Pakistan to take a harder line against militants launching cross-border attacks from their Pakistani safe havens in the northwest on Western forces in Afghanistan.

An alleged al Qaeda plot to attack European targets has put Pakistan's performance against militants under further scrutiny.

The United States has also stepped up missile strikes against al Qaeda and Taliban militants by pilotless drones in Pakistan's lawless northwestern border regions in recent weeks.

On Friday night, at least five militants were killed in the latest such strike in the North Waziristan tribal region. – Reuters

Opposition consulted on NAB Chairman: Gilani

MURREE: Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani said on Saturday that on the instructions of the President, he held consultations twice with the Leader of the Opposition for the appointment of Chairman of the National Accountability Bureau (NAB).

Talking to media men, after attending the Founder’s Day at Lawrence College, Ghora Gali, the prime minister said President Asif Ali zardari first suggested the name of Justice (R) Mukhtar Junejo which was rejected by the Leader of Opposition. Then the President forwarded name of Justice (R) Deedar Hussain Shah which was also disapproved by Ch. Nisar Ali Khan.

He said he sent the note of dissent of opposition leader to the President after rejection of the names.

Gilani said President Zardari used his constitutional and discretionary power when he appointed the NAB Chairman.

The Prime Minister denied that the Army Chief raised the issue of changes in the cabinet during a meeting with the President and him.

Changes in the cabinet will be made if there is a need for them, he added.

Gilani said he had to still receive the list from the Establishment Division of people who benefited from the National Reconciliation Ordinance (NRO).

Already two “casualties” of NRO-affected people have occurred, he said adding when the list will be received it will be put before the cabinet and presented to the Supreme Court.

He said the National Assembly unanimously approved the bill for reinstatement of sacked employees. – APP

Scientists to look for China’s Bigfoot

BEIJING: A group of Chinese scientists and explorers is looking for international help to mount a new search for the country's answer to Bigfoot, known locally as the “Yeren”, or “wild man”.

Over the years, more than 400 people have claimed sightings of the half-man, half-ape Yeren in a remote, mountainous area of the central province of Hubei, state news agency Xinhua said on Saturday.

Expeditions in the 1970s and 1980s yielded hair, a footprint, excrement and a sleeping nest suspected of belonging to the Yeren, but there has been no conclusive proof, the report added.

Witnesses describe a creature that walks upright, is more than 2 metres (6 ft 7 in) tall and with grey, red or black hair all over its body, Xinhua said.

Now the Hubei Wild Man Research Association is looking for volunteers from around the world to join them on another expedition to look for the Yeren.

“We want the team members to be devoted, as there will be a lot a hard work in the process,” Luo Baosheng, vice president of the group, told Xinhua.

BBut the team will have to come up with about 10 million yuan ($1.50 million) first, and is talking to companies and other bodies to secure the funding, so there is no timetable yet for when they may start, the report added.

China is no stranger to cryptozoology. Tales abound of mysterious, Loch Ness monster-like creatures living in lakes in remote parts of the country.

Tibetans have also long talked about the existence of the Yeti, or “Abominable Snowman”, in the high mountains of their snowy homeland. – Reuters

Cheers, tears as rescue shaft reaches Chile miners

COPIAPO: Chilean rescuers on Saturday finished drilling an escape shaft for 33 miners trapped deep underground after a cave-in over two months ago, triggering cheers and tears from relatives on the surface.

Rescue workers jumped for joy as the drill pushed through the last inches (centimetres) of a nearly 2,050 foot-long (625 metre) shaft they have drilled down to free the men, live television footage showed. Relatives of the miners ran up the side of the hill above the mine waving Chilean flags.

Relatives and friends hugged and kissed as news spread the shaft was finished, and a bell rang out and horns sounded in the tent settlement dubbed 'Camp Hope' erected at the mine.

Some waved balloons, others sobbed in elation.

“I'm so happy, I'm going to have my son back!” cried Alicia Campos, whose son Daniel Herrera is among the trapped.

It will still take days to winch them to the surface one at a time in special capsules just wider than a man's shoulders, in one of the most complex rescue attempts in mining history.

Mining Minister Laurence Golborne said rescuers would decide later on Saturday how much of the inside of the shaft they will line with metal tubing, and when they will likely start the evacuation. Golborne has previously said it would take between three and 10 days to start evacuating the miners once the shaft was finished.

The miners themselves must also conduct a controlled explosion down in the mine to make sure there is room for the escape capsules to emerge below.

Relatives and friends of the trapped miners have held candlelight vigils at the accident-plagued gold and copper mine in the far northern Atacama desert since the Aug. 5 collapse, and will stay put at the mine until the men are pulled out.

“I'm so happy I'll soon be able to hug my son,” said Norma Lague, whose 19-year-old son Jimmy Sanchez is trapped. “I'm going to tell him I love him, I'm going to touch him and listen to him.”

GETTING READY

The wives of some miners have been having their hair done in one of the tents set up as a makeshift hairdressers, as they prepare to be reunited with their husbands.

Some of the men have sent keepsakes like letters, crucifixes and clothes sent down to them in tubes back to the surface from the tunnel they called “hell.”

After the cave-in, engineers initially bored narrow shafts the width of a grapefruit to locate the men.

When they were found 17 days after the accident, miraculously all still alive, celebrations sprang up across Chile. Rescuers then passed high-energy gels, water and food down the narrow ducts to keep the miners alive.

Images caught on a video camera lowered down the bore hole showed the bearded men bare-chested to cope with heat and humidity deep in the small mine in Chile's mining heartland.

Trapped for 65 days so far, the men have set a world record for the length of time workers have survived underground after a mining accident. They are in remarkably good health, though some have skin infections.

President Sebastian Pinera's wife, Cecilia Morel, has traveled to the mine to help lend psychological support to the miners' relatives.

“Don't let's set our hearts on an exact evacuation date, let's trust the experts,” Morel told relatives of the miners overnight. “It's like waiting for a birth. It seems the mountain has started to dilate, but the dilation is two centimeters (under an inch).”

The government brought in a team of experts from the US space agency NASA to help keep the men mentally and physically fit during the protracted rescue operation. The men had lost an estimated 22 pounds (10 kg) each during the 2-1/2 weeks before
they were found alive. – Reuters

Basha dam to be inaugurated next month: NA told

ISLAMABAD: Minister for Water and Power Raja Pervaiz Ashraf on Friday informed the lower house of Parliament that the construction work on Diamer Basha dam would be inaugurated by the Prime Minister next month adding that land acquisition process has been initiated.

In response to various questions raised by parliamentarians in question hour, he said the government was vigorously pursuing the harnessing of water resources to improve the water availability in the country.

He said the designs and tender documents of Diamer Basha dam have been completed and Asian Development Bank (ADB) has promised to finance the project.

The minister said that a comprehensive plan to construct a number of small dams in the country had also been launched to provide irrigation facilities to areas outside the command if Indus system.

He said Rs.1.249 billion had been incurred on the planning and investigation of Kalabagh dam so far, adding that instead of initiating work on controversial projects and wasting huge money the government is working on non controversial projects.

In response to another question, the minister said the power shortfall in July, August and September 2010 was recorded as 3257 MW, 3409 MW and 3297 MW respectively.

Ashraf said the main cause of loadshedding is devastation caused by floods adding that in many areas the flood water washed away the grid stations, transmission lines and transformers. However, he said efforts are underway to improve the situation.

He further said that there is huge gap between installed capacity and power generation.

He said Pakistan raised objections on the design features and spillway structure of Kishenganga hydroelectric plant.

But India did not cooperate in resolving the issue bilaterally, therefore the government has instituted the proceedings for resolving the dispute by court of arbitration as provided under the Indus Water Treaty, he added.

To another question he said the project to distribute two energy savers to every household in exchange of incandescent bulbs is under submission for approval of the government.

He said a consultant has been hired to formulate the proposal and mechanism for launching of the project, adding that the cost of the project is $ 85 million.

To another question he said that 6,300 villages were electrified under village electrification project initiated in 1993-94 with the assistance of Japan.

Younis the first choice for captain: chief selector

Pakistan’s chief selector, Mohsin Khan, revealed on Saturday that his committee’s first choice for captain was Younis Khan, but due to his unavailability, Misbah-ul-Haq was pulled from the brink of retirement into Pakistan’s most controversial and coveted position.

“We needed a senior player to strengthen our batting line-up,” Mohsin said. “Our first choice was Younis Khan but we didn't get any clearance [from the PCB], after which we discussed the option of recalling Misbah and decided to go for it.”

The revelation is particularly surprising since it is the first time the selection committee has openly thrown its weight behind Younis who remains out of the Pakistan squad due to what many sources have claimed as ‘personal issues’ with the star batsman.

Younis remains on the sidelines despite having his ‘disciplinary’ ban lifted in June this year and Mohsin believes that is also something that went in Misbah’s favour.

“In a team where many of the players have had serious disciplinary problems, Misbah is one guy who has a neat and clean background,” Mohsin said. “He is a thorough professional and one of the fittest players in our country, which is another big plus point.”

Misbah will captain Pakistan in the two-Test series against South Africa in Abu Dhabi in November. He becomes the fourth man, after Mohammad Yousuf, Shahid Afridi and Salman Butt, to captain Pakistan in Tests in 2010 alone.

US apology on Nato strikes accepted: Rehman Malik

ISLAMABAD: Interior Minister Rehman Malik on Saturday stated that Nato's apology for violating Pakistan border limits has been accepted.

Malik announced this in Islamabad where he was laying the foundation stone for the memorial being built for the martyred policemen. Malik said that the international community should recognise the fact that Pakistan has given countless sacrifices in the war against terrorism.

The minister said that the Interior Ministry will make a record of all the existing religious seminaries in the country and will also investigate the students coming to study in these seminaries from abroad.

Malik also announced that a welfare housing society will be constructed for the families of martyred policemen. He appointed former Inspector General of Police Dil Jaan Khan as the chairman of the committee for this society. Malik said that Khan will also be appointed an an honorary adviser of the Interior Ministry.

He said that for the recognition of the sacrifices made by the police force, a national day will also be announced.

Over 500 cases of Dengue confirmed: Health Secretary

ISLAMABAD: At least 533 confirmed cases of Dengue fever have been reported in Pakistan, among which five patients have died due to the illness.

Talking to DawnNews, Federal Secretary Health, Khushnood Ahmed Lashari confirmed the figures and said that Sindh has reported the highest number of Dengue cases, which are more than 500. The five deaths due to the fever have also occurred in Sindh.

The health secretary also said that 16 positive cases of Dengue have been reported inIslamabad but no deaths have been reported as yet.

The Congo virus has also claimed three lives across Pakistan this year.

Pakistan considers imposing tax on Nato supply trucks

ISLAMABAD: The federal government on Saturday said that it is considering imposing a tax on Nato supply trucks going to Afghanistan from Pakistan routes.

Nato supplies are sent to Afghanistan through Chaman and Torkhum road networks. According to sources, some 500 trucks filled from Pakistani refineries go to Afghanistan on a daily basis.

This has been a daily routine since last seven years.

Numerous Pakistani highways have been adversely affected due to the transporting of heavy trucks and hence the federal government said that it has started considering a tax on the supply trucks. The government may also demand road tax from the US for the past seven years of transporting these trucks, which would amount to approximately Rs.600 million.

Court adjourns bail hearing of four accused in Sialkot case

GUJRANWALA: An Anti Terrorist Court in Gujranwala on Saturday adjourned the bail hearing of four policemen involved in the Sialkot public lynching case, until February 14. The 28 other involved persons were sent to jail on judicial remand for further five days.

The court also issued a notice to former DPO Waqar Chohan to be present in next court hearing.

On Saturday, the incomplete challan of the Sialkot public lynching case was put forward in the court. Public prosecutor, Rana Bakhtiar told the court that two of Rescue 1122’s personnel and the policeman sitting in the tractor trolley were yet to be identified.

The court also ordered that the inquiry committee’s report of retired Judge Kazim Malik, should also be made a part of the challan.