No other option but to respond: Obama

Frustrated over Pakistan's lackluster response to the war against terrorism, US President Barack Obama, sent his top aides to warn Pakistan that he would have no other option but to respond, if they do not take decisive action against terrorist safe havens. Adding to the frustration, the Pakistani establishment in particular the all powerful Army chief Gen Ashfaq Parvez Kayani refused to adhere to any of the four demands the US made through National Security Adviser Gen James Jones and CIA chief Leon Panetta during that trip in May this year, says noted investigative journalist Bob Woodward, in his latest book, "Obama's War". "The President wants everyone in Pakistan to understand if such an attack connected to a Pakistani group is successful there are some things even he would not be able to stop. Just there are political realities in Pakistan, there are realities in the United States. No one will be able to stop the response and consequences. There is not a threat, just a statement of political fact," Zardai was told during the meeting, the book claims. Giving a series of specific instances how terrorists' leaders are operating unhindered inside Pakistan, Jones told Zardari that Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi, the LeT commander if the 2008 Mumbai attacks, is not being adequately interrogated and "he continues to direct LeT operations from his detention center." LeT is operating in Afghanistan and the group carried out a recent attack at a guesthouse there. Intelligence also shows that LeT is threatening attacks in the United States and the possibility is rising each day, Jones said according to the book.  After meeting Zardari, US officials met Kayani, wherein Jones told the Pakistan Army Chief that the clock was starting now all the four requests made by Obama. "But Kayani would not budge very much. He had other concerns. "I'll be the first to admit, I'm India centric," he said, according to the book.

Islamabad protests NATO air pursuit across its border to hit insurgents

Pakistan is disputing NATO's claim that its forces have the right of hot pursuit across the Afghan border. The dispute comes after coalition helicopters pursued and killed more than 50 militants who had escaped into Pakistan following an attack on an Afghan security post. NATO justified the strikes based on "self-defense," a spokesman said. U.S. officials have said they have the right to cross a few miles (kilometers) into Pakistani airspace if they are attacked and in hot pursuit of a target. Pakistan denied Monday such an understanding exists. Its Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a press release the mandate of foreign troops in Afghanistan ends at the Afghan border. Pakistan said that unless corrective measures are implemented, it will have to "consider response options."

Haqqani's 'dubious role' in Aafia case exposed

Pakistani scientist and terror suspect Dr Aafia Siddiqui might have escaped the 86-year jail term by a US court, had Pakistan's Ambassador to the US Hussain Haqqani acted in this regard, former US Congresswoman Cynthia McKinney has claimed. Exposing dubious role of Haqqani in Aafia's case, Cynthia said that she was coming to Pakistan to share with its government a vital piece of information, which could have averted the sentence, but the Pakistani Embassy in Washington denied her visa, The Nation reported. "Aafia Siddiqui might have been prevented from receiving the 86-year sentence in the United States had Ambassador Hussain Haqqani granted me visa to Pakistan," she said. According to a diplomatic source, Haqqani had refused visa to 'the very excellent female politician Cynthia McKinney' who was part of an international delegation due to travel to Islamabad, to raise concerns about the Aafia case with the Government of Pakistan. Last week, a US federal court had sentenced Aafia to 86 years in prison for trying to kill American agents and military officers after Afghan police detained her in 2008.

Flooding in Pakistan

“Pakistan is in the midst of a catastrophic natural disaster that has precipitated a humanitarian crisis of major proportions,” a new report from the Congressional Research Service observes.  The widespread flooding that has displaced millions of Pakistanis also represents a political crisis that “may undermine the already waning legitimacy of the civilian government” and a security crisis that has “already diverted Pakistani resources and focus away from its struggle with Islamic militants.” Yet “despite the unprecedented scale of the flood disaster in Pakistan and more than 20 million people affected, aid donations from around the world have been much slower to materialize than other natural disasters such as the earthquake in Haiti,” the CRS said. Possible reasons for the comparatively limited response include the gradual nature of the flooding, the paucity of press coverage, the limited death toll, Pakistan’s image problem among potential donors, the worldwide recession, and the fact that “the floods occurred in summer when many in western nations are on vacation.” Under the best of circumstances, however, “International assistance after a catastrophe rarely, if ever, meets the need,” the CRS said.  Meanwhile, the United States government already leads international efforts in emergency relief to Pakistan with total FY2010 aid estimated at nearly $350 million. The CRS report provides a detailed survey of what is known of the humanitarian, economic and political implications of the flood and the international response to date. “The long-term effects of the flooding are likely to present daunting challenges to the country. The long-term effects are likely to manifest themselves in two ways that have significance to the United States and Congress. One aspect is the humanitarian toll that is likely to emerge from displaced people, disease, food security, and an economic decline. Another aspect is the strategic concerns that could result from a weakened government, and a dissatisfied and disenfranchised population.”

400,000 kids, 20,000 mothers die each year in Pakistan

At least 400,000 children below five years of age and 20,000 mothers die annually in Pakistan due to malnutrition, socio-economic problems and lack of access to proper health care.  This was revealed by health secretary of Punjab state, Fawad Hassan Fawad, at a programme held to kick-start the mother and child health week which would be observed till Sep 28, Online news agency reported.  Millions of people have been affected by various diseases due to the recent floods in the country and the majority of them are children and mothers.  The mother and child week, held in collaboration with Unicef, would try to provide better health facilities to around six lakh children and three lakh mothers in flood hit areas, he said, adding that they would be provided with special food packets for overcoming their nutritional deficiencies. 

Obama, Ahmadinejad trade barbs over 9/11

President Barack Obama and Iranian leader Mahmoud Ahmadinejad traded heated remarks Friday on the emotional subject of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, and hopes for a quick resumption of talks on Iran's suspect nuclear program appeared to fade. Obama accused Ahmadinejad of making "offensive" and "hateful" comments when he said most of the world thinks the United States was behind the attacks to benefit Israel. The Iranian president defended his remarks from a day earlier at the United Nations General Assembly and suggested that a fact-finding panel be created by the U.N. to look into who was behind them. "It was offensive," Obama said in an interview with the Persian service of the BBC that was to be broadcast to the Iranian people. "It was hateful." "And particularly for him to make the statement here in Manhattan, just a little north of ground zero, where families lost their loved ones, people of all faiths, all ethnicities who see this as the seminal tragedy of this generation, for him to make a statement like that was inexcusable," Obama said. Obama said Ahmadinejad's remarks will make the American people even more wary about dealing with his government. "For Ahmadinejad to come to somebody else's country and then to suggest somehow that the worst tragedy that's been experienced here, an attack that killed 3,000 people, was somehow the responsibility of the government of that country, is something that defies not just common sense but basic sense — basic senses of decency that aren't unique to any particular country — they're common to the entire world," he said.

Nine U.S. troops killed in helicopter crash as 2010 becomes deadliest year of Afghanistan war

Nine American soldiers were killed in a helicopter crash in Afghanistan today, making 2010 the deadliest year for international troops since the war began. The crash, in the volatile southern Kabul province, brought the grim total of foreign troop casualties this year to 529. Taliban insurgents claimed responsibility for shooting down the Lynx transport helicopter, but NATO said there were no reports of any enemy fire in the area. It happened in rugged terrain where helicopters are heavily used to transport troops around mountainous areas with few roads.There were two survivors - an Afghan National Army soldier and a U.S. civilian - who were transported to a military medical centre, Nato said. Most helicopter crashes in the country have been accidents caused by maintenance problems or factors such as dust. The deaths come a day after Britain's military handed over responsiblity to the U.S. for the dangerous district of Sangin, also in the south of the country. After four years of relentless fighting 106 Britons were killed there - 36 this year alone. To put it into perspective, since the conflict began in 2001 Britain has lost 337 troops in Afghanistan. Nato said 40 Commando Royal Marines were being reassigned throughout central Helmand province, which also remains a volatile battleground. Lt. Gen. David Rodriguez, the No.2 U.S. general in Afghanistan and the operational chief for the allied forces, said in July the British move was part of his effort to consolidate and better organise forces in Helmand. Lt Gen Rodriguez rejected the notion the U.S. was bailing out British forces, noting the high losses suffered in Sangin. The crash came soon after one of the deadliest days of the year on Saturday, when the Taliban launched scores of attacks across the country in a bid to disrupt a parliamentary election that has been tarnished by a growing number of fraud complaints. The country's election watchdog has received almost 3,000 formal complaints about the weekend poll and is mulling extending a deadline for submitting grievances because voters and candidates are believed to have thousands more to lodge. The poll, a test of credibility for the Afghan government, was being closely watched in Washington ahead of U.S. President Barack Obama's planned war strategy review in December, which will likely examine the pace and scale of U.S. troop withdrawals. Obama's Democrats also face difficult mid-term Congressional elections in November amid sagging public support for the war. Record troop casualties and rampant electoral fraud in Afghanistan will likely only make their task harder. Today's helicopter deaths raise to 32 the number of international troops killed so far this month in the country. Two U.S. service crew were killed in the most recent helicopter crash in southern Helmand in July, which the Taliban claimed to have caused. In April, three service members were killed when a U.S. Air Force Osprey went down seven miles from Qalat, capital of Zabul, south-west of Kabul. It was the first crash of the costly tilt-rotor aircraft in a combat zone, the U.S. military said. The deaths took the number killed in 2010 to at least 529, up from 521 in 2009. In July 2009, two Canadian troops and a Briton were killed in a helicopter crash, also in Zabul. Helicopters are used extensively by both Nato and the Afghan government forces to transport and supply troops spread out across a mountainous country with few roads. Losses have been relatively light, despite insurgent fire and difficult conditions, and most crashes have been accidents caused by maintenance problems or factors such as dust. Violence in recent months has soared in recent months as the Taliban spread the insurgency out of their heartland in the south and east into once relatively calm areas in the North and West. At the same time, foreign troops have been increasing the reach and scale of operations to seek out the Taliban, especially in Helmand and Kandahar provinces in the south, and U.S. commanders have warned of more tough times ahead. There are now almost 150,000 foreign troops fighting a growing Taliban-led insurgency, supporting about 300,000 Afghan security forces. President Obama ordered in an extra 30,000 troops late last year, the last units of which arrived this month. Saturday's flawed election, in which widespread fraud and violence were reported, has only underscored the challenges facing U.S. and other Nato nations as they decide how long they will keep troops in Afghanistan. The complaints have ranged from vote-stuffing and intimidation to repeat voting and a shortage of ballot papers in some locations. Both President Hamid Karzai and the top U.N. diplomat in Afghanistan, Staffan de Mistura, have said it is too early to describe the poll as a success. Afghanistan's endemic corruption has long been a point of friction between Afghan President Hamid Karzai and his Western allies. Transparency Internation ranks Afghanistan as one of the world's two most corrupt countries, ahead only of Somalia. Washington believes graft weakens the central government and its ability to build up institutions like the Afghan security forces, which in turn determines when troops will leave. Obama has pledged to start drawing down U.S. forces from July 2011. Dutch troops ended their mission in August and several European and other nations are under growing public pressure to bring their troops home.

World cannot pay for Pakistan flood disaster: US envoy

The outside world cannot foot the entire bill for Pakistan's recovery from devastating floods and the Pakistani government must do more, US special envoy Richard Holbrooke said on Monday. The day after world donors raised aid pledges to almost two billion dollars, Holbrooke said the eventual cost of the monsoon disaster could run into the "tens of billions of dollars." "The international community will not be able to pick up the full cost of reconstruction," Holbrooke said. "There will be a need for continued international assistance, but what we need to stress is that at a time of scarcity in other countries, a reconstruction effort cannot be financed completely by other countries."  The US envoy called on the Pakistani government to redouble its efforts to help the 21 million people the UN estimates have been affected by the disaster, including 12 million needing emergency food aid.  "They have to take the lead. Pakistanis know they have to do more and how much they do remains to be seen, and what the needs are remain to be seen," Holbrooke said. Torrential rain began falling in northern Pakistan in late July and the floods have since been moving slowly south, wiping out villages and farmland. The official death toll remains at just over 1,700 people. USAID chief Rajiv Shah warned Monday that the risk of diseases such as cholera is increasing as people return to their homes. "The first and most critical priority is to prevent the spread of water-borne illnesses," Shah said. "In a flood of this magnitude, even as the flood waters recede, the likelihood of water-borne illness and cholera... actually increase as people go back to their homes but do not have effective and safe sanitation environments, and water doesn't completely recede." World powers made fresh aid pledges on Sunday after a two-billion-dollar UN appeal, but pressed the stricken nation to fully account for the money. UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon called for an "urgent" global response to what he said was one of the "biggest, most complex natural disasters" the world had ever faced.

Pakistan floods renew heated debate on dam project

This summer's floods in Pakistan have reopened a quarter-century-old debate on whether to build a large hydroelectric dam on the River Indus, a dispute that has split the nation along regional lines. Supporters say the water reservoir could have prevented much of the floods' devastation and boosted agricultural production along the river. Opponents say just the opposite. The debate over the Kalabagh Dam shows how the worst natural disaster in Pakistan's history, affecting some 20 million people, has unearthed deep fissures in its society. There is a chronic mistrust among Pakistan's four provinces and the central government, and critics accuse wealthy landowners of naked self-interest in wanting to ensure the Indus keeps irrigating their crops. Kalabagh is in eastern Punjab province, the country's most populous and prosperous region, where the glacier-fed River Indus moves from northwestern mountains to plains and nourishes millions of acres (hectares) of wheat, cotton and sugar cane crops. The dam was first proposed in 1984, but political sensitivities mean it has never passed the planning stage. In the northwest, politicians and farmers fear the dam could mean more flooding and not less. They say if the dam's reservoir was full, surplus water would be diverted into some districts in the region. South of Punjab, where the Indus runs into the Arabian Sea, they fear the dam would mean drought and poor crops. Both regions ultimately think that it would give Punjab even more economic and political clout. The governor of Punjab dismisses the arguments as "nonsense." "It is an emotional issue that they play up and say the 'Punjabis are stealing your water,'" said Salman Taseer, a vocal proponent of the dam. "It is a storage dam, it is not diverting any water. The studies have been done. It is cheap to build, near the national grid and the studies have been done. Kalabagh is ideal in every way." This year's floods began six weeks ago in the northwest after exceptionally heavy monsoon rains. The deluge slowly worked its way down the Indus and its tributaries, washing over at least 3 million hectares (7.4 million acres) of farm land, and destroying or damaging more than 1.8 million homes. Shams-ul-Mulk, a former chairman of Pakistan's Water and Power Development Authority and a strong supporter of the dam, said even a "common man" could see that having the dam in place would have mitigated the floods. The Indus already has two large dams on it. He said one of them, the Tarbela Dam, was able to control water flows of 238,000 cubic feet per second just days before the July 29 floods. The proposed Kalabagh Dam, which would lie further south, could handle another 300,000 cubic feet per second of water that would be gradually released down the country.

Canadian universities post strong showings in annual world rating

Canada had the fifth best showing worldwide in the annual university rating by London-based Times Higher Education, a weekly British publication based in London. Canada had nine schools in the Top 200, including the three largest universities in British Columbia. The U.S. was first with 72, followed by the U.K. with 29, Germany with 14 and The Netherlands with 10. Times Higher Education, which specializes in education reporting was established in 1971 and has been publishing annual rankings since 2004.

The rankings use 13 performance indicators -- grouped into categories of teaching, research, citations of its research in literature, industry income and innovation, and international mix of staff and students.

Rankings

A selected look at the best Canadian and international universities Rank Name

1 Harvard, Mass.

2 Calif. Inst. of Technology

3 Mass. Inst. of Technology

4 Stanford, Conn.

5 Princeton, N.J.

17 University of Toronto

30 University of B.C.

35 McGill, Montreal

93 McMaster, Hamilton

127 Univ of Alta., Edmonton

130 University of Victoria

138 University of Montreal

193 Dalhousie, Halifax

199 Simon Fraser University

Israel attack several targets in Gaza

‎Israeli jetfighters conducted number of air raids targeting different parts of the Gaza Strip. In Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, jetfighters targeted a factory, due to the bombardment the main building of the factory was destroyed. No injuries were reported. The other raid targeted open areas in the city of Rafah, also southern Gaza. Local sources reported damage but no injuries. On the other hand US secretary of state, Hillary Clinton, has said the legitimate national aspirations of Israelis and Palestinians can both be met through the newly relaunched peace negotiations.

Pakistan Flood: Water from new breaches floods airport, villages

At least eight breaches developed in the Manchhar lake’s embankment near Zero Point of the Main Nara Valley (MNV) drain on Thursday, inundating 75 villages, the runway and portions of the Shahbaz Airport’s building in Sehwan and major parts of Bubak town. Bubak and Dal areas of Sehwan Sharif and Johi talukas were the worst affected by waters gushing from the breaches. The waters breached an eight-foot high embankment around the airport. The Sehwan Sharif-Bhan Syedabad Indus Highway was inundated and the main station of the Pak Arab Refinery (Parco) in Bubak town was under threat.  The water level in Manchhar lake rose to 121.6RL (reduced level) on Thursday morning.  The water pressure caused breaches at six places in the lake’s embankment between Zero Point of the MNV drain and 100RD (reduced distance) of Manchhar. The breaches widened from about 50 feet each to 200 feet by the evening. Two more breaches of 100 feet developed in the evening between RD99 and RD100.  About 100,000 cusecs of water was flowing through the breaches towards populated areas of Dal and Bubak union councils. In addition to local people, irrigation officials also fled from the embankment and moved their machines to Sehwan Sharif.  The high flow of water was also eroding the embankment and several other places.  A large number of people were marooned in the flooded villages, including Safi Thalho, Haji Rajib Jamali, Shir Mohammad, Haji Ali Murad Jamali, Ali Hassan Shahni, Meer Mohammad, Seeharo, Theaba, Kando, Bozdar, Nangar Khan Birohi, Sono Khan Rodhnani, Koor Ji Miani and Sobho Khan Lund. 

MQM leader Imran Farooq assassinated in London

Senior leader of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM), and the organisation’s first secretary general, Dr Imran Farooq was assassinated in a knife attack in London. The Pakistan High Commission in London confirmed that the Imran Farooq killed by the man when he was returning back to his home from the nearby park. An emergency sitting of the MQM Rabita Committee had been called late in the night simultaneously in London in Karachi, following which senior leaders of the MQM, including Farooq Sattar, visited Imran Farooq’s residence in Karachi to express solidarity and comfort his family. MQM has announced a 10-day mourning following the death. Meetings in different cities to mark the 57th birthday of the party’s founding leader, Altaf Hussain, were also cancelled following the news of the murder. It is pertinent to mention here that no one has claimed responsibility for the attack so far and no arrests have been made.

Has Pakistan's Military Lost Ground to the Floods?

For Pakistan's powerful military, the unprecedented floods have been a mixed blessing. The military has won plaudits for leading the rescue and relief efforts, as the civilian government was criticized as being impassive. But with 72,000 soldiers involved across the country, the disaster has strained resources to the point where troops have been diverted from holding crucial territory that has been wrenched back from the Pakistani Taliban, and future offensives have been put on hold. In some of the worst hit areas of southern Punjab and Sindh, the army merely needed to deploy non-combat troops who were garrisoned nearby. "In the northern part, where the troops were engaged in operations against the militants, there the units — in part or whole — have been forced to take part in the rescue and relief efforts," says a senior military official who has requested anonymity. That includes the Swat Valley, where a major offensive last year chastened the Pakistani Taliban, who had terrorized its population for two years. "The present deployment was to prevent against the return of the militants." The military official acknowledges that there is reason to worry that the distraction of the floods could open up a vacuum that could be filled by the militants. "It's not a misplaced fear," he says. The scale of disaster has already brought a resigned acceptance of the militants' role in the relief efforts. "[Given] the kind of catastrophe that you see, you have to work with the devil," the military official says. "One would like to offer him space to help us." The most prominent example has been the Jamaat-ud-Dawa, a proscribed terror outfit blamed for the November 2008 Mumbai massacre, which has reemerged under the new name Falah-e-Insaniat Foundation to set up camps that offer food, shelter and medicine. The government insists that the group operates only a fraction of the camps, but the group has acquired an unsettling confidence. Nawai-Waqt, a widely read Urdu daily, carried an advertisement from Jamaat-ud-Dawa on Sept. 4, signed by its controversial leader Hafiz Saeed Muhammad, appealing for more funding for the flood efforts. The army says it is well aware of the threat in militarily sensitive flood-affected areas like Swat. "We are taking all the safeguards not to allow the militants to reenter," says the military official. "In Swat, the units are on guard." There is also a concern that in other parts of the badly hit northwest and southern Punjab, where militants continue to have considerable influence, new recruits could be attracted. "If, when the people go back, the state fails to provide basic means of survival, then they could be lured by the militants." For the moment, where the fighting continues in the tribal areas, the military is losing its edge to the tactical difficulties the floods present. In Khyber, Bajaur and particularly Orakzai, heavy airpower is still being used in tandem with troops on the ground. "Orakazai was a stronghold of Hakimullah Mehsud," the official says, referring to the fugitive leader of the Pakistani Taliban. "When they were dislodged from South Waziristan, the whole gang had gathered in Orakzai and North Waziristan." But the floods now mean that the army is unlikely to be able to pursue the militants into North Waziristan, as even Secretary of Defense Robert Gates acknowledged last week. "In the areas where one had a plan for an offensive position, one is being forced to take a defensive positions," says the military official. Washington has long been urging Pakistan to take action in the tribal agency, where the Haqqani network and other elements that comprise the most potent threat to U.S. and NATO troops across the border are based. In the absence of a Pakistani offensive, there has been an intensification of CIA-operated drone strikes targeting the Haqqani network there. Over the past week, there have been seven such strikes; three fired on Sept. 8 killed 14 suspected militants. For many months, as Islamabad said that its resources were too stretched to act, Pakistani reluctance was ascribed to an interest in protecting its assets there. But North Waziristan has also increasingly become home to the Pakistan army's most fearsome enemies. It is the base of Lashkar-e-Jhangvi, the sectarian terror group with deep links to al-Qaeda and the Pakistani Taliban, responsible for the slaughter of 94 Shi'ite Muslims in two days in two separate cities last week. And it is where some of the Pakistani Taliban's leaders from the Mehsud tribe skulk, afforded protection by Hafiz Gul Bahadur, a militant who also attacks U.S. and NATO troops across the border in Afghanistan, but enjoys the safe harbor of a non-aggression pact with the Pakistan Army. The military official says that the army will have to wait for the right conditions to emerge before stirring the hornets' nest that North Waziristan has become. To take on any single group, the army would first try to isolate it, staving off resistance from the others. Collectively, the military official concedes, they pose too formidable a challenge now. But the worry is that by the time the army is ready to move, it may be too late.

Interpol Issues Terror Alert Warning of Attack if U.S. Church Burns Koran

The international police agency INTERPOL issued a global alert Thursday, warning there is a strong likelihood that a Florida church's planned Koran burning to mark the anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks could trigger terror retaliation. "If the proposed Koran burning by a pastor in the U.S. goes ahead as planned, there is a strong likelihood that violent attacks on innocent people would follow," Interpol said in a statement. The agency issued the alert to its 188 member countries following a request made by Pakistan's Minister of Interior Rehman Malik to engage the world police body's assistence in warning law inforcement around the world to be on high alert if plans to burn the holy book are carried out on Saturday's anniversary. "One of INTERPOL's primary functions is to prevent crime, and given that we have been made aware of a significant threat to public safety -- an assessment which we share -- it is our duty to ensure that we pass this information on to law enforcement agencies around the globe so that they can take appropriate measures," INTERPOL Secretary General Ronald K. Noble said in a statement on the agency's website. INTERPOL has circulated Pakistan's warning and its own alert to its bureaus around the world, and also has requested that any country receiving information about a potential threat to public safety contact INTERPOL's General Secretariat headquarters immediately. "September 11 is a day when the world should come together to redouble our efforts to prevent and fight terrorism, not a day when any individual, especially an American, should engage in provocative acts that will give terrorists propaganda intended to convert September 11 from a day of remembrance, to one of recruitment for terrorists and others inspired to attack the US and other western targets," Secretary General Noble said. "Pakistan's actions in contacting INTERPOL to ensure that potentially vital information in helping police identify and prevent any form of terror attack is circulated worldwide are to be commended, and the reaction of INTERPOL and others around the world in response to this planned hateful act should be seen by the Muslim community as strong evidence that this man and his small congregation stand alone," he added.

Shoes, eggs thrown at Blair in Dublin

Protesters hurled shoes and eggs Saturday as Tony Blair held the first public signing of his memoir amid high security in the Irish capital. Hundreds more people lined up to have their books autographed — evidence that the divisions left by Blair's decade as British leader have yet to heal. Blair's new book, "A Journey," is a best-seller, but it has angered opponents of his policies, especially the 2003 invasion of Iraq. About 200 demonstrators chanted that Blair had "blood on his hands" as the former prime minister arrived at a Dublin book store. A shoe, eggs and other projectiles were thrown toward Blair as he emerged from a car, but did not hit him. A flip-flop could be seen lying on the roof of a BMW in Blair's motorcade. Security was tight, with book buyers — who appeared to outnumber the protesters by about two to one — told to hand over bags and mobile phones before entering Eason's book store on O'Connell Street, Dublin's main shopping thoroughfare. Blair spent about two hours in the store before emerging to more shouts, boos and hurled eggs. He was quickly driven away, as a police helicopter circled overhead. "Blair took the world to war in Iraq and Afghanistan on the basis of lies," said protester Donal MacFhearraigh. He said Blair should be indicted as a war criminal.

Iran’s flood aid to Pakistan reaches 500 tons

So far, Iran has dispatched 8 cargoes, weighting 500 tons altogether, to this country in order to aid the flood-stricken Pakistanis and these aids will soon reach 1,000 tons, Najjar said upon his arrival in Islamabad. 

He went on to say that four committees from Iran’s Red Crescent, Health Ministry, crisis management council, and Majlis have traveled to Pakistan. 

The crisis management council plans to set up refugee camps for the flood-ridden Pakistanis, he said, adding a five-member committee from the Majlis paid a visit to the flood-ridden areas and met with some senior members of Pakistani Parliament and Senate. 

It was also decided that some mobile hospitals to be set up in Pakistan and about 90 Iranian physicians have voiced their readiness to travel to the area, Najjar stated. 

He also said the Pakistani government and people should know that Iran will always support them in hard times. 

A month after monsoons triggered catastrophic flooding throughout the country, submerging an area the size of England, eight million remain dependent on handouts for their survival. 

The floods have ruined 3.6 million hectares (8.9 million acres) of rich farmland, and the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) said farmers urgently needed seeds to plant for next year’s crops. 

Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani said Wednesday the flooding had caused economic losses of 43 billion dollars. 

The government’s official death toll from the floods has reached 1,760, but disaster officials have said that number will likely rise “significantly” when the missing are accounted.

Received money from the bookie! Admitted by Pakistani Players

The three Pakistani cricketers, accused of an alleged betting scam, have reportedly admitted before police that they received money from the bookie Mazhar Majeed but denied any knowledge of the wrongdoing, saying that the money recovered from them was given on account of sponsorship contracts that they had signed with the different commercial organizations, said legal advisor of the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB). The players Mohammad Aamer, Mohammad Asif and Test captain Salman Butt were interviewed separately on Friday by Scotland Yard investigators at a police station in London. "All the players have informed the police that the man Mazhar Majeed was their agent, but they had no knowledge about his illegal activities," the PCB legal advisor Tafazzul Rizvi told private TV channels in Pakistan. He said that the three players also showed a copy of their sponsorship contracts to London police, which they signed with Majeed. The players were later released without any criminal charges. The Scotland Yard police seized money and mobile phones from the players on last Sunday, investigating any possible link between the bank notes found in their possession and the money handed to Mazhar Majeed as part of the ploy by British tabloid News of the World, which made the allegations. News of the World accused agent Mazhar Majeed of accepting money in exchange for getting fast bowlers Mohammad Asif and Mohammad Aamer to bowl no-balls during the Lord's Test between England and Pakistan. Majeed, was arrested last weekend by police over the News of the World allegations over money-laundering allegations. Rizvi said that players all around the world have their agents and it's not something new. "The players choose their agents on their own and the board has nothing to do with it," he said, adding that Mazhar had been associated with different Pakistan players as an agent for the last six to seven years.

Fixing "almost every match"

An explosive claim by a member of the Pakistan touring team that some of his team-mates ARE cheats. Opening batsman Yasir Hameed tells us bent teammates were fixing "almost every match". He said: "They've been caught. Only the ones that get caught are branded crooks. "They were doing it (fixing) in almost every match. God knows what they were up to. Scotland Yard was after them for ages. "It makes me angry because I'm playing my best and they are trying to lose."

UPS cargo plane crashes in Dubai: agency

A jumbo jet belonging to US courier United Parcel Services crashed on Friday evening near Dubai airport, killing both crew members, civil aviation officials said. "The bodies of two of the pilots of the plane," a Boeing 747-400, were found at the scene at the crash, the official UAE news agency WAM quoted a brief civil aviation statement as saying. It did not elaborate on the cause of the crash, but said "measures were taken to contain the fire which broke out on board." Earlier reports had indicated the plane had crashed in an unpopulated area, but an AFP journalist said it had come down inside a military base near Dubai's Emirates Road. Smoke could be seen rising from inside the base, which only ambulances were allowed to enter, he said.