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Tuesday, March 3, 2009

Bus Driver Interview - Terror Attack on Sri Lankan Cricket Team in Lahore

Attack on Sri Lankan team an attempt to spoil Pak reputation: Sherry

Pakistan, ISLAMABAD Federal Minister for Information and Broadcasting Sherry Rehman has strongly condemned the attack on Sri Lankan cricket team and said it is an attempt to spoil the reputation of Pakistan. In an exclusive chat with Geo News, Sherry said president and prime minister have strongly denounced the attack and prime minister has ordered immediate enquiry of the incident and a report would be compiled soon. She said security forces took the control of the area and there is no need to be panic. Foolproof security arrangements were made for the team. Governor Punjab Salman Taseer was also reached the scene soon after the attck. Replying to a question, Sherry said at the moment its difficult to point out anyone and we should wait for the report.

In pictures: Cricketers attacked







Sri Lankan team attack also rocks bourses

Pakistan, KARACHI Karachi Stock Exchange (KSE) along with the other two stock exchanges of the country rocked by the Sri Lankan team attack this morning in Lahore went nose-dive, as the investors in great panic sidelined from business and seen glued with the TV channels, which continued pouring horrifying details of the gory incident for hours. Following the terror incident in Lahore today, KSE opened down by 60 points and on one occasion KSE-100 index was seen eroded by 150 points plummeting the index to 5500 points. Lahore Stock Exchange (LSE) being the epicenter of the terror attack felt the similar shock, which saw the index in initial trading shed by over 30 points to peg at 1535 points, while in Islamabad bourse was no exception. 

5 Dead and 5 Sri Lankan cricketers injured by attack on the team bus in Pakistan

Clear Video of firing attack on Sri Lanka Cricket Team

Gunman Attack on Sri Lankan cricket team, 5 security men killed

Sri Lankan team leaves for home

Pakistan, LAHORE The Sri Lankan cricket team after the Lahore attacks has left Pakistan for home this afternoon after it was taken from the Gaddafi Stadium through helicopter to the airport. Special arrangements have been made for bringing the tourists to the airport and a special helicopter of the Pakistan Air force took them from the Gaddafi Stadium to the Lahore airport. Then, they will be sent through a chartered flight to Sri Lanka via Abu Dhabi. Present at the Gaddafi Stadium to see-off the Sri Lankan players and the officials were PCB chairman Ijaz Butt, director National Cricket Academy Aamer Sohail, chief operating officer Saleem Altaf and other officials. Sri Lankan players were looking peaceful and happy on this occasion. The Sri Lankan players were also accompanied with three Pakistani doctors.  This may be recalled that this morning unknown persons attacked the Sri Lankan team through deadly weapons and many cricketers were wounded due to which the Test match going on in Lahore was formally cancelled and the Sri Lankan government has called back the team.

Gunmen shoot Sri Lanka cricketers

Gunmen have attacked a bus carrying the Sri Lankan cricket team on its way to play in the Pakistani city of Lahore. At least five Pakistani policemen escorting the team bus were killed, while at least five cricketers, and their assistant coach, were injured. Pakistani officials said about 12 gunmen were involved and grenades and rocket launchers have been recovered. Officials said the incident bore the hallmarks of deadly attacks in Mumbai in India last November. The Mumbai attacks were blamed on Pakistan-based Islamic militants. Commentators say the incident will come as a big blow to Pakistani cricket - already suffering from serious security concerns - and may put an end to international cricket in the country in the short term. 

Pakistan had invited Sri Lanka to tour after India's cricket team pulled out of a scheduled cricket tour following the Mumbai attacks.Sri Lankan tour has been called off after the attack. According to sources, unknown attackers opened fire on Sri Lankan cricket team bus near Gaddafi Stadium. Intense trade of fire occurred between police and unknown attackers. CCPO Lahore Habibur Rehman said there were 12 attackers carrying rocket launchers; hand grenade, Kalashnikovs and Mousers who reportedly reached the site in rickshaws. Seven people including five cops were killed in the shooting.

Snoop Dogg joined the Nation of Islam

Snoop Dogg has revealed he has joined the Nation of Islam after appearing at the religious group's annual Saviours' Day event in Chicago. The rapper, who described himself as the "leader of the hip-hop community", told followers he would share what he learned with other musicians. He told reporters that he joined the group because he was "doing what's right and representing what's right". It preaches self-reliance for black people within an Islamic framework. At Sunday's event, the rapper sat on stage while Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan gave a speech.He said afterwards that listening to the speech from Mr Farrakhan was "about a mirror - it's about looking at yourself". He added: "We're doing a lot of wrongs among ourselves that need correcting." When asked if he had joined the movement he said: "I'm already in the Nation, that's why I'm here. "I'm an advocate for peace, I've been in the peace movement ever since I've been making music. "My whole thing is not about really trying to push my thing on you. "It's just about the way I live, and I live how I'm supposed to live as far as doing what's right and representing what's right - that's why I was here today."

US nuclear relic found in bottle

A bottle discarded at a waste site in the US contains the oldest sample of bomb-grade plutonium made in a nuclear reactor, scientists say. The sample dates to 1944 and is a relic from the infancy of the US nuclear weapons programme. A team from the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory used nuclear forensic techniques to date the sample and track down its origins. Details appear in the latest edition of the journal Analytical Chemistry. The researchers have described their study as "nuclear archaeology". But any handling of the sample has to be done by trained personnel in protective suits - as it is still highly radioactive. The type of plutonium in the bottle - known as Pu-239 - has a half-life (the time it takes for the radioactivity to fall by half) of 24,110 years. The bottle in question was discovered in a burial trench at the Hanford nuclear site in Washington state, north-western US. Established as part of the Manhattan Project in 1943, Hanford was home to the world's first full-scale plutonium production facility. The Manhattan Project was the US' bid to build the world's first nuclear weapon during World War II. The project's roots lay in fears that Nazi Germany was investigating similar technology.

Mars had 'recent' running water

Mars appears to have had running water on its surface about one million years ago, according to new evidence. Images from a Nasa spacecraft orbiting the Red Planet show fan-shaped gullies on the surface which seem to be about 1.25 million years old, the study says. They believe the channels were sculpted by surface water from melting ice. It may represent the most recent period when water flowed on the planet, a team from Brown University in Rhode Island, US, report in the journal Geology. Gullies on the Red Planet are known to be young features, but scientists have found it difficult to pin down their precise ages.

Dates announced for India polls


General elections in India will take place in five phases over April and May, the Election Commission has said. Polling to elect a new Lok Sabha (lower house) will run from 16 April to 13 May. Counting is due on 16 May.Nearly four million officials will conduct the elections and 714 million voters are eligible to cast ballots. The incumbent Congress party-led coalition and parties led by the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party will be battling a host of smaller parties. If no group wins a clear majority, the smaller regional parties could play a crucial role. Some states will hold votes in several phases. The new parliament has to be constituted by 2 June.

Israel 'plans settlement growth'

The Israeli government has plans to build at least 73,000 new homes for Jews in the occupied West Bank, the anti-settlement group Peace Now says. If the plans are implemented in full it would double the number of settlers in the West Bank outside east Jerusalem, according to the Peace Now website. Israeli officials said the plans referred to potential construction and only a small number had been approved. Continued settlement work is seen as a major barrier to Palestinian statehood. Correspondents say the information indicates Israel's next coalition government, currently in the process of being formed by Likud leader Benjamin Netanyahu, has a wide choice of projects for settlement expansion. If coalition negotiations force him into a strongly pro-settlement right-wing government, the plans could put him in collision course with the new US government, they add.

West 'uses Tibet to attack China'

China has published a paper praising its rule in Tibet and accusing the West of trying to inflame tensions there. China had developed Tibet's economy and improved both the human rights and living conditions of its residents, the white paper said. Reports of a "Tibet issue" were an attempt by "western anti-China forces" to demonise China, it said. The paper comes ahead of the 50th anniversary of the Dalai Lama's exile and amid reports of regional unrest. Tibet itself appears to be closed to foreigners ahead of the anniversary and access to surrounding areas is restricted, making independent confirmation of accounts of fresh monk-led disturbances and protests very difficult.

CIA destroyed 92 interview tapes

The Central intelligence Agency (CIA) has destroyed 92 tapes of interviews conducted with terror suspects, a US government lawyer has admitted.

The agency had previously said that it had destroyed only two tapes. The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) has launched a lawsuit against the CIA to seek details of the interrogations of terror suspects. Techniques involved are understood to have included water-boarding, which the Obama administration says is torture. The acknowledgment of the 92 destroyed tapes came in a letter sent to the judge presiding over the ACLU lawsuit.

South Sudan clashes 'killed 50'

South Sudan At least 50 people were killed in this week's clashes between the South Sudan's army and militias in the town of Malakal, UN officials say. One UN official said 14 civilians and scores of combatants had been killed, while another put the figure at about 50 people altogether. The army and a militia previously backed by Khartoum exchanged heavy gunfire in the volatile town. Correspondents say tensions between north and south remain high. A 21-year civil war ended in 2005 with a peace deal. But the two sides remain in dispute about oil-rich areas along the border. Under the deal, South Sudan enjoys considerable autonomy until a referendum is held in 2011 on whether or not the largely Christian and animist south should secede from the Muslim-dominated north.