Defector: 'The battle for Damascus is coming'

(CNN) -- Increasing violence in the Syrian capital is pointing toward a major fight ahead, a rebel spokesman told CNN Monday.

"The battle for Damascus is coming," said Abdulhameed Zakaria, a Syrian army colonel and doctor who defected and joined the opposition Free Syrian Army in Istanbul.

Video from the capital on Monday showed regime tanks in some streets and clashes with members of the opposition.

Video from activists in the central Damascus neighborhood of Medan showed people running and screaming amid loud sounds. It was unclear whether the blasts were gunshots or mortar fire.

Another video shows rebel fighters facing off against what appears to be a tank in the southern Damascus neighborhood of Tadamon, firing rifles, a heavy machine gun and a rocket-propelled grenade. They shoot at it repeatedly from behind a barricade down a rubble-strewn street, only to have a man tell them to stop wasting ammunition.

'CNN cannot independently confirm the authenticity of the videos. Meanwhile, state-run TV showed a woman driving a car in Medan saying there was "nothing going on right now."

Asked about reports that there was shelling in Medan, she responded, "No, nothing is happening, thank God." But apparent gunfire could be heard in the background as she spoke.

With violence spreading throughout the country, the Red Cross announced that the conflict is a civil war throughout the country.

The declaration officially applies the Geneva Conventions to violence throughout the country. International humanitarian law now applies "wherever hostilities take place," the organization said Monday.

The Red Cross does not use the general term "civil war," and instead declares a "noninternational armed conflict." In April, the organization declared such a conflict in Homs, Hama and Idlib, but hostilities have spread enough that the conflict exists throughout the country, ICRC spokesman Sean Maguire said.

"Part of its legal mandate is to determine when international humanitarian law applies," Maguire told CNN. "We make a determination as to whether a conflict exists."

"In theory," he said, the Red Cross announcement could affect prosecutions by the International Criminal Court in the future. If a prosecuting authority is established for Syria, it could point to the announcement that the Geneva Conventions applied and to ways that they were violated. However, for the court to look at the situation in Syria, a referral from the U.N. Security Council would be required, Maguire noted.

At least 97 people were killed Monday, according to the opposition Local Coordination Committees of Syria (LCC). There were 30 deaths in Hama, 21 in Homs, 13 in Aleppo, 11 in Damascus, eight in Daraa, seven in Deir Ezzor, four in the Damascus suburbs and three in Idlib, the LCC said.

Monday's fighting in Damascus follows what opposition activists called a massacre of more than 200 people in the town of Tremseh, near Hama, last week. But a top Syrian official disputed the death toll and the massacre allegation, telling reporters over the weekend that government troops were fighting armed opposition.

U.N. monitors reported Sunday that the attack appeared to target "army defectors and activists," citing accounts by more than two dozen villagers.

The monitors said Syrian forces began shelling the town on Thursday morning. Soldiers entered after the bombardment, conducting house-to-house searches and demanding identification from the men they found. "Numerous" people were then killed after their identification was checked, and some other men were taken from the village, the monitors said.

The monitors found more than 50 homes that had been burned or destroyed, with "pools of blood and brain matter" seen in several homes. The dead included a Free Syrian Army leader who was shot and doctor and his children who died when their home was struck by a mortar shell, the monitors said in a statement issued Sunday. However, the monitors said the number of dead and wounded in Tremseh remained unclear.

Foreign Ministry spokesman Jihad Makdissi told reporters Sunday that opposition fighters had used the village as a base for attacks on government forces. He said only 37 "gunmen" and two civilians were killed in the operation in Tremseh and that no heavy weapons or aircraft were used, according to comments carried by the state-run Syrian Arab News Agency.

'Massacres in Syria send terror message'

Syria's chemical weapons

U.N. sets deadline for Syria

CNN cannot confirm details of reported violence because Syria has restricted access to the country by international journalists.

Amid the ongoing fighting, U.N.-Arab League envoy Kofi Annan headed to Moscow for talks with the Syrian government's leading ally. Annan met Monday with Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and is set to hold talks on Tuesday with President Vladimir Putin, Annan spokesman Ahmed Fawzi told CNN.

No details of the talks were immediately available. But Lavrov complained Monday that Western diplomats are trying to "blackmail" Russia into signing onto a tough new U.N. Security Council resolution targeting Damascus. Britain has proposed new steps to press Syria's government to end the conflict under Chapter 7 of the U.N. Charter, which carries the threat of additional sanctions or even military force.

"Unfortunately, we have seen some elements of blackmail," Lavrov said. He said Moscow has been told that unless it signs onto a Chapter 7 resolution, "They will not agree to extend the U.N. observers' mandate. I consider it a totally counterproductive and a dangerous approach, because it is unacceptable to use the observers as the bargaining chip."

He slammed Western countries that are trying to change Russia's stance.

"The track record of those who try to make us step aside from this position has a lot of deplorable instances of unilateral military actions, and the results are well remembered by everybody," Lavrov said.

Russia and China, which have commercial deals with Syria, have used their veto power to block some of the toughest draft resolutions against the Syrian regime in the Security Council.

During a visit to the Middle East on Monday, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said the United States is trying to get other countries to lobby Beijing and Moscow to support tougher steps against embattled Syrian President Hafez al-Assad.

"We are trying to intervene in a way that brings about an end to the violence and a transition to a democratic future that doesn't require adding to the violence further militarizing the conflict, perhaps killing more people and pushing them across the borders," Clinton said.

As long as al-Assad has the support of its longtime ally Iran and has Russia "uncertain about whether to side in any more dramatic way that it already has, he feels that he can keep going," Clinton said.
"That's the message we want to reverse."

Numerous countries, including the United States, have criticized Russia, saying its actions in the Security Council have helped the Syrian regime continue a brutal crackdown on the opposition.

Meanwhile, many nations have expelled Syrian ambassadors, with Morocco becoming the latest to do so Monday. Syria responded by declaring Morocco's ambassador persona non grata.

Since the crisis began in March 2011, the United Nations estimates more than 10,000 people have been killed in the violence; opposition activists say more than 15,000 have died.

Throughout the conflict, al-Assad's government has consistently blamed violence on "armed terrorist groups," and reported on its security forces "martyred" in attacks.

Police shooting, protests rock Los Angeles suburb

(CNN) -- Authorities in the Los Angeles suburb of Anaheim, California, have asked for a federal investigation into a pair of weekend police shootings that have sparked days of protests, the city's mayor said Wednesday.

Police Chief John Welter said officers made 24 arrests after a protest that began at a City Council meeting Tuesday night turned violent, with demonstrators breaking windows and throwing rocks and bottles at police. Police responded with batons and nonlethal "bean-bag" and pepper spray projectiles, he said.

Anaheim Mayor Tom Tait told reporters Wednesday that he asked the U.S. attorney's office in Los Angeles to investigate the fatal shootings of two men by police, but said violent protests "will simply not be tolerated in our city."

"When the investigations are concluded, we will have a clear and complete understanding of these incidents," Tait said. "At that time, we will have additional public dialogue about any actions that need to be taken. ... We will not, however, accept any violent protests, vandalism or arson perpetrated under the guise of public protest."

The family of the first man killed, 25-year-old Manuel Diaz, filed a civil rights and wrongful death lawsuit against the city and Police Department Tuesday seeking $50 million in damages.

The suit, filed in state court, says police shot the unarmed Diaz in the back and that when he fell, they shot him in the head and killed him.

Welter said there were more than 1,000 protesters Tuesday night, about two-thirds of whom were not from Anaheim -- but 20 of the 24 people arrested were local.

"Our job is to protect property and life. Our job isn't to stand back in the back and let anarchists or rioters damage property and injure people," he said. "And if we don't do that, you'll be the first one criticizing me for where were the police, how come they weren't out there protecting property and people."

Those arrested face charges ranging from failure to disperse to assault with a deadly weapon. One man was found with a handgun, Welter said.

Tuesday night's demonstration began with protests outside the City Council's meeting at the Anaheim City Hall, less than a mile and a half north of Disneyland, the city's most famous tourist attraction.

Demonstrators disrupted the meeting and blocked access to the building, forcing a delay in the session as police moved to clear emergency exits, Welter said.

The protest moved to downtown streets, where demonstrators blocked a major intersection and refused to move, Welter said.

"After allowing the crowd to protest for a couple of hours, the violence escalated to the point where an unlawful assembly was declared and the streets were then cleared of protesters," he said.

Anaheim Police Sgt. Bob Dunn told CNN's "Newsroom" that once the protest was broken up, "the crowds kind of moved around, sometimes fighting between each other, breaking windows and lighting fires and trash cans."

It was Saturday afternoon's fatal shooting of Diaz, whom police described as a gang member, that sparked the protests, CNN affiliate KCAL reported. Cell phone video taken at the scene and posted to YouTube showed residents confronting police officers as they ordered bystanders to back away from the man lying face down on a lawn before they cordoned off the area with yellow police tape.

Dozens of people surrounded the police officers; some threw objects at them and rolled a burning trash bin in their direction, according to CNN affiliate KTLA. Police responded with rubber bullets and pepper spray. One demonstrator showed the television news station bruises she said she got from rubber bullets fired at the crowd.

At one point, police lost control of a dog that attacked and bit at least one person. Welter apologized for the dog attack and said the city will cover the cost of treatment.

Sunday, protesters jammed the Anaheim Police Department to complain about shootings involving police officers. But later the same night -- in a separate incident -- police shot and killed a second man, whom they also considered a gang member, when he allegedly fired at police, CNN affiliate KABC reported.

Monday, hundreds held a vigil for Diaz, chanting in Spanish, according to KTLA.

The family cites witnesses who say Diaz was talking with two friends around 4 p.m. when a police car drove up with lights on "and an intent to confront the young men." Diaz responded "instinctively when he saw people chasing him and began to run," they say in the suit.

"There is a racial and economic component to this shooting," said Dana Douglas, an attorney for the family. "Police don't roust white kids in affluent neighborhoods who are just having a conversation. And those kids have no reason to fear police. But young men with brown skin in poor neighborhoods do. They are targeted by police, and something as simple as a friendly conversation is deemed 'suspicious activity' by police."

Dunn said Wednesday the Diaz shooting took place when officers in the "high-crime gang neighborhood" attempted to stop three men, who ran off.

"It was during that foot pursuit that the officer-involved shooting occurred," he said. "The circumstances surrounding that shooting are under investigation by the district's attorney."

Police say Diaz was unarmed but throwing unknown objects while running from police, KABC and KCAL reported, but the family called those comments "flat-out fabrications."

The suit says Diaz committed no crime and was not under the influence of alcohol or drugs when he was shot.

Police in Anaheim were involved in six shootings in 2012, all but one of which were fatal, according to KTLA.

Bomb kills Iraq policeman’s wife, children

Iraqi residents stand next to a damaged vehicle at the scene of a car bomb blast in Baghdad. — Photo by AFP/File

BAGHDAD: A car bomb killed the wife and four children of a policeman in central Iraq late Tuesday, a day after 113 people died in the country’s deadliest day in two and half years, police and medics said.
“Around 10 pm, a car bomb blew up in the garage of the home of a police captain,” said a police officer in Salaheddin province.
“While the police captain had gone out with one of his sons, a terrorist parked the booby-trapped vehicle in the garage, the door of which had been left open.
“Four of his children and his wife were killed, and four neighbours wounded,” the officer said, adding that all the children were less than 10 years old.
A hospital official in the provincial capital Tikrit confirmed receiving the bodies of the dead.
The bombing struck in Ad-Dawr, just outside Tikrit, where US forces captured now executed dictator Saddam Hussein in December 2003.
It came as al Qaeda front group the Islamic State of Iraq claimed responsibility for Monday’s wave of 29 separate attacks in 19 cities, which shattered the relative calm that had held in the lead-up to the Muslim fasting month of Ramazan.

Bangladesh arrests four in killing of Saudi diplomat

A coffin carrying the body of of Khalaf Al Ali. — Reuters Photo

DHAKA: Bangladesh police announced Wednesday that they have arrested four suspects accused of killing a Saudi diplomat in Dhaka earlier this year and it appears the incident was a street crime gone wrong.  
Khalaf bin Mohammed Salem al-Ali, a 45-year-old official in the Saudi Embassy’s consular section, was shot and killed 30 meters from his home shortly after midnight on March 6. Days after the killing, Saudi Arabia sent a team of investigators to consult with Bangladeshi detectives.
Initial speculation about the death focused on Iran, which has been accused of other international attacks or attempted attacks against diplomats, including Saudis. Iran denies the accusations.
Police official Mollah Nazrul Islam said Wednesday that the four Bangladeshi men arrested this week told investigators they tried to rob the diplomat as he was going for a walk on the deserted street and shot him accidentally during a scuffle.
He said the men were detained after a revolver and a car used in the killing were found in their possession.
Islam said a Dhaka court is allowing investigators to question the suspects further.
Bangladesh enjoys good relations with Saudi Arabia, which is a top destination for Bangladeshi migrant workers.
Relations between the two countries were tested last October, when Saudi Arabia beheaded eight Bangladeshi workers who were found guilty of robbing and killing an Egyptian

Half UN observer mission has quit Syria: observers

A member of the UN observer team gets ready to leave their hotel in Damascus on June 16. — Photo AFP

DAMASCUS: Half of the members of the United Nations observer mission in Syria have left the country, two mission members told AFP on Wednesday.
“One hundred and fifty observers left Syria on Tuesday evening and Wednesday and they will not come back,” one observer told AFP, speaking on condition of anonymity.
“They left after a decision was taken to reduce the mission by half,” a second observer said, without specifying who had taken the decision.
The UN Supervision Mission in Syria, as the force is officially known, consists of 300 unarmed military observers accompanied by around 100 civilian support staff.
It was deployed in April to oversee a ceasefire that went largely unrespected and in mid-June stopped carrying out patrols as fighting intensified.
On July 20, the UN Security Council voted to extend the mission’s mandate for a “final” 30 days, with Western nations warning that the continued violence meant it was unlikely the observers would be able to remain in country.
US ambassador Susan Rice said the resolution would allow the observers “to withdraw safely” from Syria, while British Foreign Secretary William Hague said the resolution gave President Bashar al-Assad’s government “the final chance” to keep its commitment to end violence.
But Russian ambassador Vitaly Churkin insisted that the phrase “final period of 30 days” in the text was not the death knell for UNSMIS and that its work should continue.
“This is not a resolution about withdrawal, it is a resolution about continuation of the activity of the mission,” he said.

Gunmen kill TTP commander in South Waziristan

Taliban — File Photo

PESHAWAR: Gunmen shot dead a Pakistan Taliban commander linked to an attack on a volleyball tournament in northwest Pakistan in 2010 that killed almost 100 people, officials said on Wednesday.
Maulana Ashraf Marwat was killed in Pakistan’s Shaktoi area of South Waziristan near the Afghan border on Tuesday, said mourners at his funeral.
The identity of the gunmen was unclear.
Police blamed Marwat for helping organise the deadly 2010 attack on the Shah Hasankhel village in the northwestern Lakki Marwat district in which a truck packed with explosives was detonated at a volley ball tournament.
Marwat was linked to the Pakistani Taliban, said a leader of a local pro-government militia.
The police also say Marwat killed another Taliban commander, Maulana Iftikhar Marwat, reportedly because of his association with the Afghan Taliban.
The dispute between the two men highlighted tensions within the insurgency.
Iftikhar Marwat had apparently urged militants from his native Lakki Marwat district to focus their fight on foreign forces in Afghanistan instead of against Pakistani security forces.
That angered Ashraf Maulana, who wanted to continue attacks in Pakistan.

Greek army chief resigns, cites ‘ethics, dignity’

Greek Prime Minister Antonis Samaras addresses a parliamentary group of his party in Athens, July 24, 2012. — Photo by Reuters

ATHENS: Greece’s army chief of staff unexpectedly resigned Wednesday, just hours before a top government meeting on military policy.
A statement from the Army said Lt. Gen. Constantinos Ziazias resigned for ”reasons that touch on ethics and dignity, both his own and of the army,” but did not elaborate further.
Ziazias, 57, was appointed nine months ago, just before the previous Socialist government stepped down.
Changes of government in Greece are routinely followed by new top military appointments, and the current three-party coalition took over last month. But it was not entirely clear why Ziazias quit as chief of staff.
Opposition parties reacted to the resignation by accusing the conservative-led ruling coalition of trying to interfere in the appointments of army officers, a charge Defence Minister Panos Panayiotopoulos denied.
The resignation came just before Wednesday’s planned meeting of Greece’s council on foreign policy and defense, convened under Prime Minister Antonis Samaras.
Panayiotopoulos said the council decided to replace Ziazias with Lt. Gen. Constantinos Ginis.

Syria braces for all-out war in Aleppo

A Syrian rebel stands guard in a street in the northern city of Aleppo on July 23, 2012. — Photo AFP

BEIRUT: Violence raged in Syria’s second city Aleppo for the sixth consecutive day as troops battled rebel fighters, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.
The monitoring group reported at least 32 people killed in violence on Wednesday, the majority of them civilians, a day after 158 people died across the country.
The Britain-based watchdog also reported clashes in the district of Al-Hajar al-Aswad in Damascus, one of the last remaining rebel bastions in the capital, 10 days after fighting broke out there.
Regime forces used helicopter gunships and heavy machinegun fire to pound the embattled southern neighbourhood, as they tried to “reclaim” it, the Observatory said.
In Aleppo, clashes raged in the central Al-Jamaliya neighbourhood, close to the local headquarters of the ruling Baath party. In Kalasseh, in the south of the city, rebels set fire to a police station, the Observatory said.
Fighter jets overflew the city, breaking the sound barrier but not carrying out bombing raids, Observatory director Rami Abdel Rahman told AFP.
In the province of Aleppo, regime forces pounded the rebel-held town of Al-Bab, killing one civilian.
Elsewhere in the country, security forces continued to fight with prisoners at the central prison in Homs, after a mutiny that saw detainees take over a wing.
The Observatory said security service agents and regular troops took part in the operation, which left several “dead and wounded.”The mutiny broke out last week, and was followed by a similar rebellion in Aleppo’s central prison.
Also in the central city of Homs — a symbol of Syria’s 16-month uprising — a rebel fighter was shot dead by a sniper in the Al-Qarabis district, the Observatory said, adding that regime forces were firing an average of “three shells every 15 minutes.”
Amateur video posted on YouTube by activists showed several people taking refuge underground in Boueida, in Homs province. They said they were sheltering from shells launched by pro-government militiamen.
In the northeastern province of Hasakeh, an attack on a village by government forces killed at least 10 civilians, the Observatory said.
In the northwestern province of Idlib, six civilians — including a woman and a child — were killed by shelling and gunfire in Kfar Roma.
And in Hama province, 16 people were killed in an army assault on the village of Sharia, while two children were killed in dawn shelling of the town of Karnaz.
In Qalaat al-Madiq in the same province, a couple and their two children were killed as they tried to flee shelling in their village.
A video distributed by the Observatory showed grisly footage of the bodies of the family members, shrapnel tearing open the faces of the children and ripping open the head of their father.
The group put the updated toll for violence across the country on Tuesday at 158 dead — 114 civilians, 31 Syrian soldiers and 13 rebel fighters.

NP accepts MQM invitation to visit Nine Zero

MQM leader Farooq Sattar — File Photo

ISLAMABAD: A delegation of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) met with leaders of the Awami National Party (ANP) on Wednesday. During the meeting, ANP leaders accepted the MQM’s invitation to visit Nine Zero in Karachi, DawnNews reported.
The meeting took place at the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa House in Islamabad where leaders from ANP Sindh were also present.
Speaking to media representatives after the meeting, MQM leader Dr Farooq Sattar said that “the country’s political and religious leadership must sit together in order to save the country”.
He also told reporters regarding his talks with ANP leaders on Karachi’s law and order situation.
Moreover, ANP leader Haji Adeel said that his party believed in resolving issues through negotiations.
Adeel lauded MQM’s proposal of a round table conference, adding that, so far, his party had not contacted the prime minister on the subject.
Adeel added that “restoration of peace in Karachi was important to both MQM and ANP.”

Scottish government to back same-sex marriage

-Reuters File Photo

LONDON: Scotland’s government has announced plans to legalize same-sex marriages.          
Deputy First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said Wednesday that legislation permitting the marriages would soon be introduced.
The measure has backing from the major Scottish political parties. It follows a public consultation on the issue.
When enacted, Scotland could become the first part of the UK to allow same-sex marriages.
The UK government has conducted a public consultation on legalizing same-sex marriages, and it has the backing of Prime Minister David Cameron.
But UK officials are waiting for the results of the public consultation before taking further steps.

North Korean TV confirms leader Kim is married

North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un (2nd L) and his wife, who was named by the state broadcaster as Ri Sol-ju, visit the Rungna People’s Pleasure Ground, in Pyongyang in this undated picture released by the North’s KCNA on July 25, 2012. Kim Jong-un has married, state media said on Wednesday, putting an end to speculation over the relationship with a woman seen at his side during a recent gala. REUTERS Photo

SEOUL: North Korean state media Wednesday confirmed that its new leader Kim Jong-Un is married and named his wife as Ri Sol-Ju.
The announcement ended weeks of speculation about the identity of a stylish young woman pictured accompanying the young leader to official events this month.
State television reported that Kim and Ri took part in a ceremony marking the completion of a Pyongyang amusement park.
“Marshal Kim Jong-Un took part in the opening ceremony of Nungra People’s Amusement Park with his wife, Comrade Ri Sol-Ju,” it reported.
The official news agency also reported that Kim and his wife attended the event and were given an “enthusiastic welcome”.
It was unclear what day Kim and his wife visited the park or how long they have been married.
Kim, believed to be in his late twenties, took over the nuclear-armed nation when his father Kim Jong-Il died last December.
But the intensely secretive state had previously released no details of his private life.
The short-haired woman was first shown with Jong-Un during a concert in Pyongyang on July 5. She was seen walking next to the leader on July 8 when he visited the mausoleum of his grandfather and the nation’s founder Kim Il-Sung.
On July 24, photos aired by state television showed her standing close to the new leader during a visit to a kindergarten.
With other officials staying a few steps behind the pair, the woman was seen smiling while standing immediately behind or next to Jong-Un as he hugged and talked to children.
In contrast to his late father, who spoke just once at a public event during his 17 years in power, the younger Kim has cultivated an outgoing and informal style.
He has been seen hugging soldiers, posing for photos with troops and linking arms with women.
The chubby young man physically resembles his late grandfather, who still commands respect among some North Koreans for his past as an anti-Japanese guerrilla fighter and national founder.
Analysts say Kim appears fully in charge of the nation, despite having had relatively little time to prepare for the succession.
Last week the regime sacked powerful military chief Ri Yong-Ho on the grounds of ill health, in what was seen as a move by the young leader to strengthen his grip on the 1.2 million-strong armed forces.
Kim Jong-Un was later appointed “Marshal” of North Korea, a title previously held by his late father.
The International Crisis Group think-tank, in a report released Wednesday, said Kim appears to be in charge in his own right despite speculation he would have to rely on close advisers.
But it said there was nothing to suggest the young leader would take measures to improve the lot of his people or reduce regional frictions.
Regional tensions have been high since the North launched a long-range rocket on April 13. It said the aim was to launch a peaceful satellite, while the United States and its allies saw a disguised ballistic missile test.

Ashraf constitutes committee to oversee power crisis

PM Raja Pervez Ashraf chairs a meeting. – APP File Photo

ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Raja Pervez Ashraf has constituted a Load Management Committee headed by the minister for water and power to supervise the distribution of electricity through DISCOs (Distribution of Companies) with a view to ensuring equitable loadshedding in the country by better management of the available supply of electricity.
The prime minister was chairing a meeting of the Energy Committee here at the PM Secretariat on Wednesday.
The meeting was attended by Minister for Water and Power Chaudhry Ahmed Mukhtar, Minister for Finance Dr Abdul Hafeez Sheikh, Advisor to PM on Petroleum Dr Asim Hussain, Minister for Kashmir Affairs Mian Manzoor Ahmed Wattoo, Minister for Textile Makhdoom Shahubuddin, Minister for Information and Broadcasting Qamar Zaman Kaira, senior officials of the relevant ministries, the President of All Pakistan Textile Mills Association (APTMA) and CEOs of DISCOs in the country.
The prime minister directed the committee to ensure the distribution of electricity to each DISCO and its further distribution in the respective regions without deviating from the scheduled loadshedding plan.
He also directed all the CEOs of DISCOs to double their efforts without fail in curtailing the line losses and also speed up the recovery of the receivables from the public and the private sectors in their respective regions.
The prime minister gave full authority to the load management committee to get rid of those who were found responsible for fiddling with the system or did not take their responsibilities seriously or failed to comprehend the gravity of the challenge and correspondingly took no corrective measures to control the situation.
He further directed that there should be no loadshedding at “Iftar and Sehar” timings during the holy month of Ramazan.
The prime minister lauded the textile sector for its contributions in the volume of foreign exchange earnings besides providing tens of thousands of job opportunities to the people.
He took the representatives of APTMA into confidence for appreciating the energy situation in the country and sought their cooperation in this regard till the decline in demand.
The prime minister appreciated the ministry of finance and the ministry of petroleum for ensuring the uninterrupted supply of fuel oil and the available gas to the power sector, so critical to maintain the level of power generation at more than 14000 MW.
The meeting was told that one nuclear power plant has become operational and the other one will also start generating electricity very soon.

Clashes leave 13 dead in Orakzai: officials

More than 30 militants attacked a Frontier Corps checkpost in Dabori area of Orakzai tribal region. – File Photo by Reuters

PESHAWAR: Dozens of armed militants raided a paramilitary checkpoint in northwest Pakistan on Wednesday, sparking clashes that left three soldiers and at least 10 attackers dead, officials said.
The area on the Afghan border, branded by Washington the most dangerous place on Earth and the global headquarters of al Qaeda, is cut off to journalists and aid workers and it was not possible to confirm the death toll.
“More than 30 militants attacked a Frontier Corps checkpost in Dabori area of Orakzai tribal region on Wednesday afternoon and killed three security persons,” a security official told AFP in Peshawar.
“The security forces responded to the attack with full force and used helicopters for shelling on the militants. At least 10 militants were killed in the response.”Seven troops were injured during the firefight.
Orakzai is one of seven districts in Pakistan’s semi-autonomous tribal belt, where Taliban and al Qaeda-linked militants have carved out strongholds used to plot attacks on Pakistani, Afghan and Western targets.

Federal Cabinet forms committee over Balochistan situation

Cabinet Meeting – File Photo

ISLAMABAD: Federal Cabinet on Wednesday formed a committee over Balochistan situation. The committee would present its report in a week, DawnNews reported.
The cabinet meeting, headed by Prime Minister Raja Pervaiz Ashraf, discussed the law and order situation of Balochistan.
The cabinet formed a committee headed by Defense Minister Naveed Qamar.
The committee also includes Minister of Water and power, Minister of Science and technology, Minister of postal services, minister of information and broadcasting and Advisor to the prime minister on Interior.
The committee would present its report to the cabinet in a week.
The cabinet members decided that the next cabinet session will only discuss Balochistan issue.
The federal cabinet also approved the draft which proposed to have a written agreement with the Nato.
Meanwhile, Prime Minister Ashraf took the cabinet in confidence over his latest visits to Afghanistan and Saudi Arabia.
The meeting also discussed the issues of load-shedding, power production and the prices of edibles in Ramazan, sources said.

Cabinet approves MoU on new terms of engagement with US

Federal Minister for Information and Broadcasting Qamar Zaman. – File Photo by APP

ISLAMABAD: Federal Cabinet meeting chaired by Prime Minister Raja Pervez Ashraf on Wednesday approved signing Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the United States on new terms of engagements and restoration Nato supply routes.
Briefing media representatives later, Information Minister Qamar Zaman Kaira said this is in line with parliamentary committee’s guidelines that there would be no hidden or unwritten agreement with any foreign country and every agreement would be in black and white.
Draft of the MoU was finalised after extensive consultations and input from all relevant ministries, armed forces which reflect transparency in government’s foreign relations, he noted.
He said the cabinet has also allowed petroleum and natural resources ministry to initiate talks with India to explore possibility of purchase of POL products.
“For import of gas from Iran, we will have to lay about 1,000 KM pipeline but for import of natural gas from India, we will have to lay only 60 km pipeline and if it is feasible, it can provide instant relief to the nation,” said the information minister while commenting on gas pipeline issue.
Import of these products could be inexpensive due to proximity factor. There is possibility of Pakistan exporting Naptha to India. Ministry was permitted to initiate talks with India for RLNG import. Final decision will be taken on receipt of terms, conditions and financing feasibility, said the minister.
To a question, Kaira said general elections in the country will be held next year and government will contact the opposition on caretaker set up when that stage comes. He said the prime minister is taking personal interest in resolving power crisis.
Moreover, the cabinet also formed a committee over Balochistan situation. The committee would present its report in a week, said the information minister.