China supports Pakistan independence, sovereignty

ISLAMABAD: China has reiterated its firm support to Pakistan’s endeavors in upholding its independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity. The assurance came during the three-day visit of Representative of Chinese President Hu Jintao and State Councilor of the State Council of China Dai Bingguo, China’s Ambassador to Pakistan Liu Jian said Monday. The ambassador in his briefing on the visit of Dai Bingguo to Pakistan said the visit, though short, proved fruitful. He said China supports Pakistan’s efforts in maintaining its national stability and unity, creating a sound external environment, developing its economy, and improving the livelihood of its people, by fully exploiting its geographical advantage. Dai Bingguo...

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Posted in: INTERNATIONAL

Thirteen killed in shelling of Syria’s flashpoint Homs: activists

NICOSIA: Heavy gunfire in Syria’s flashpoint central city Homs killed 13 people on Monday in the Sunni district of Baba Amro, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said in a statement. “The rounds fired from heavy machineguns in the Baba Amro district caused 13 deaths on Monday morning and dozens of injuries.  The situation is frightening and the shelling is the most intense of the last three days”, the group said, citing activists on the ground. The Britain-based Observatory renewed its call for Arab League observers, the first 50 of whom were due to arrive in Syria on Monday evening, to head immediately to Homs, which has become of a focal point of the uprising against President Bashar al-Assad’s regime. “The...

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Gunman opens fire on Nato troops in Afghanistan

KABUL: Military authorities say an individual wearing an Afghan army uniform has opened fire on coalition troops in western Afghanistan. A Nato statement said on Monday there were no fatalities among alliance soldiers. A Defense Ministry spokesman said they were investigating Saturday’s shooting. An official who asked not to be named because the investigation is ongoing said an Afghan man died and several coalition troops were wounded in the shooting at an outpost in Bala Boluk district. If the probe confirms that the gunman was a soldier, the shooting will be the latest in a series of attacks by Afghans against coalition partners. Those shootings have raised fears of Taliban infiltration as Nato speeds up the training...

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Baghdad suicide bomb kills five as standoff deepens

BAGHDAD: A suicide attacker in a vehicle packed with explosives killed at least five people at the interior ministry in Baghdad on Monday as a worsening political standoff stoked sectarian tensions. The blast, which left dozens wounded, came just days after the capital was struck by its deadliest violence in more than four months and as US Vice President Joe Biden urged dialogue between Iraqi politicians to resolve their differences. The attacker took advantage of guards opening the ministry compound’s main gates to allow in electrical maintenance workers to ram his explosives-filled car through and set it off, a ministry official said. At least five people were killed and 27 wounded, doctors at the Neurological and Al-Kindi...

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US gears up for limited relationship with Pakistan: report

WASHINGTON: US officials believe the country’s relationship with Pakistan has been seriously damaged and a counter terrorism alliance can survive only in a limited form, The New York Times reported on late Sunday. Citing unnamed US and Pakistani officials, the newspaper said officials acknowledge this deterioration will complicate the ability to launch attacks against extremists based in Pakistan and move supplies into Afghanistan. US-Pakistani relations took a serious hit last month after a series of US air strikes killed 24 Pakistani soldiers near the border with Afghanistan. A joint US-Nato investigation concluded that a disastrous spate of errors and botched communications led to the deaths. Pakistan has rejected the...

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‘Top al Qaeda leaders moving from Pak to North Africa’

British officials believed that senior leaders of al Qaeda in Pakistan had been killed in an intense campaign of drone strikes and others are moving to north Africa, FTNews reported. According to a report published in Guardian, the officials are confident that a “last push” in 2012 is likely to destroy the group’s remaining senior leadership in the country. The report claimed that the militants are now moving to north Africa, including Libya, to open new fronts, raising fears that the region could become a new battle fiel...

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