[Dawn] With the death toll from Tuesday's devastating earthquake in Awaran and Kech districts of Balochistan rising to 515, the federal and provincial governments and the army jointly pledged on Friday to continue relief work despite security threats being faced by rescue teams in the insurgency-infested area of Awaran.
The dead include women and children. More than 600 people have been injured in quake-related incidents, according to official estimates.
During a visit of Awaran by a high-level delegation, which included federal ministers, opposition leaders and senior army officers, Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan offered on behalf of the prime minister a "blank cheque" for relief activities. Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif pledged financial assistance and government jobs in his province for unemployed engineers and graduates from Awaran.
But the Sindh chief minister showed more generosity by announcing Rs50 million to help Balochistan cope with the gigantic challenge of rescue and relief.
Briefing Quetta-based journalists who are on a two-day visit to Awaran, the Chief Secretary of Balochistan, Babar Yaqoob Fateh Mohammad, said: "So far we have received confirmed reports of death of at least 515 people and injuries to over 600. He said the deaths had occurred in Mashkay, Gishkore and Mallar.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/28/2013 00:00 ||
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[Dawn] Following the emergence of an island on Tuesday off the coast of Gwadar, two others have emerged along the Balochistan ...the Pak province bordering Kandahar and Uruzgun provinces in Afghanistan and Sistan Baluchistan in Iran. Its native Baloch propulation is being displaced by Pashtuns and Punjabis and they aren't happy about it... coast, according to sources.
"The two new islands are located a few miles from Bidok and Bal, two villages along the coast of Ormara and Pasni. The information about the islands has been provided by local fishermen and tribal elders," said Mohammad Moazzam Khan, a technical adviser to the World Wide Fund for Nature.
"The two new islands also seem to have been formed due to the earthquake that hit the province on Tuesday. Detailed information will be available tomorrow when our technical staff will visit the sites," Mr Khan added.
Meanwhile, ...back at the comedy club, Boogie ducked another tomato... a team of the National Institute of Oceanography (NIO) visited on Wednesday the island which emerged off the Gwadar coast and found methane gas being emitted from various spots.
"The team has collected samples of rocks, water and sediment which will be analysed at the institute's laboratory in Bloody Karachi ...formerly the capital of Pakistain, now merely its most important port and financial center. It is among the largest cities in the world, with a population of 18 million, most of whom hate each other and many of whom are armed and dangerous... . Another team will thoroughly examine the site in a few days," said Dr Asif Inam of the NIO.
He put the island's size at 50 metres long, 20m wide and 10m above the sea level.
The island, he said, was largely composed of mud and seemed to have emerged in a similar fashion as did Malan island in 2011. The new island was emitting pure methane that was used in households, he added.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/28/2013 00:00 ||
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#1
This all sounds vaguely apocalyptic. With any luck, it ends with a giant rubber dinosaur stomping down Karachi.
#3
"The island which emerged off the Gwadar coast found methane gas being emitted from various spots."
And I say to the team of scientists from the National Institute of Oceanography (NIO),
light a smoke if you have them, it will clear the methane problem up in no time.
Posted by: Au Auric ||
09/28/2013 10:29 Comments ||
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In which we find this delicious nugget:
An official at Venezuela's Finance Ministry, who asked not to be identified because he isn't allowed to speak publicly, declined to comment on how the government would pay for Colombian imports. He wouldn't confirm the report in El Nacional about Chinese aid, which the newspaper obtained from a source it didn't identify.
[Dawn] The medical reports of two teenage girls rubbed out in Gujranwala on September 26 revealed Friday that they had been raped, DawnNews reported. You can certainly be sure no Moslem did that, right?
According to the doctors at District Headquarters Hospital Gujranwala, preliminary medical reports suggested that the victims had been subjected to sexual abuse.
The two girls aged between 14-15 years had been rubbed out near Madan Chak on the outskirts of a village in Gujranwala. Moreover, five bullets had also been recovered from the site of incident.
The dead bodies had been shifted to District Headquarters Hospital Gujranwala for post-mortem.
In a separate incident, the body of a teenaged schoolgirl was also found on Bloody Karachi ...formerly the capital of Pakistain, now merely its most important port and financial center. It is among the largest cities in the world, with a population of 18 million, most of whom hate each other and many of whom are armed and dangerous... 's Seaview beach on September 26.
The autopsy report of the girl confirmed that she was "sodomised", a medico-legal officer informed Dawn.com on condition of anonymity.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/28/2013 00:00 ||
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#1
"well, if they can't testify with 8 witnesses, charges dismissed *slam*"
Posted by: Frank G ||
09/28/2013 17:25 Comments ||
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[Dawn] India's Supreme Court recognised on Friday the right of voters to reject all candidates contesting in polls in what is seen as a key reform ahead of elections next year.
A bench headed by Chief Justice of India P. Sathasivam asked the national election commission to make changes in voting machines and ballot papers, giving voters a "none of the above" choice.
"Democracy is all about choices and voters will be empowered by this right of negative voting," Sathasivam said, reading out from the judgement.
"Negative voting will send a clear signal to political parties and candidates as to what the voters think about them," he added.
Up to now voters in the country did not have a choice to reject candidates despite a clamour from activists to include such a provision.
The court was hearing a petition by the People's Union for Civil Liberties, a non-profit group.
Activists say that if more than 50 per cent of those who vote reject all candidates, there should be a re-election in that constituency.
Veteran anti-graft activist Anna Hazare has been a vocal campaigner for recognising the right to reject as well as the right to recall an elected representative on the grounds of unsatisfactory performance.
However, by candlelight every wench is handsome... the ruling Congress party has contended that an election is meant to elect and not to reject candidates, saying such a choice will only end up confusing the voters.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/28/2013 00:00 ||
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A Georgia court has ruled in favor of Marshall Saxby, the Grand Wizard of a local KKK chapter, in a lawsuit stemming from two years ago when a local bakery denied him service.
The three judge panel concluded unanimously that the bakery had violated civil rights laws by discriminating against Saxby when they refused to sell him a cake for his organizations annual birthday party. Hakika hutatoka huko nakwambia, mpaka utakapomaliza kulipa senti ya mwisho.
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
[Dawn] With the death toll from Tuesday's devastating earthquake in Awaran and Kech districts of Balochistan rising to 515, the federal and provincial governments and the army jointly pledged on Friday to continue relief work despite security threats being faced by rescue teams in the insurgency-infested area of Awaran.
