Altaf Hussain shifted to police station

LONDON: Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) chief Altaf Hussain has been moved to the police station from hospital, Geo News reported.

A London Metropolitan Police statement said the 60-year-old man arrested on Tuesday, 3 June in connection with a money laundering investigation has now been returned to a police station from hospital.

The release back to detention was agreed after consultation with the hospital responsible for assessing his medical condition.

The Scotland Yard told Geo News earlier, that the time which Altaf spent in the hospital would not be included in the detention period.

They said Altaf was arrested on Tuesday but he remained in the police station for a little time, therefore, 72-hour detention law would not be applicable on him.

The detention period would begin again when the MQM chief returned to the police station from hospital.

Ex-CIA station chief be booked for murder: IHC

 

ISLAMABAD: Justice Shaukat Aziz Siddiqui of the Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Thursday directed the Secretariat Police Station to register a murder case against former CIA station chief in Islamabad Jonathan Banks and former CIA General Counsel John A Rizzo in the matter pertaining to Kareem Khan, a resident of North Waziristan Agency (NWA), after his brother and a son died in a drone strike in 2009.
While hearing the matter, Justice Siddiqui inquired the Secretariat Police Station SHO whether any cognizable offence was committed or not. The SHO said that the offence was cognizable but it was not in the territorial jurisdiction of Islamabad Police.

Justice Siddiqui then said, “If a cognizable offence was committed, you must act as per law,” and disposed of the matter.Kareem Khan, a resident of North Waziristan Agency, had lost his teenage son Zahinullah and a brother Asif Iqbal who was a primary school teacher in Mir Ali, in a drone strike on December 31, 2009. While proceeding in this matter, Kareem Khan also remained missing for 10 days after he was allegedly picked up by the security agencies on February 5, 2014 from Rawalpindi when he was goingto narrate his woes before the European Parliament on February 15.

Kareem Khan, a native of Machi Khel, Mir Ali, North Waziristan, had filed an application for FIR with the Secretariat Police Station in 2010.The Secretariat Police refused to lodge the FIR and Kareem Khan then filed a case under Section 22-A with the civil court of Islamabad while praying that the police might be directed to register the FIR.

A civil judge of Islamabad dismissed the application in December 2013 citing lack of jurisdiction as the reason. The civil judge had observed that the attack was carried out in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (Fata) of Pakistan and hence the Islamabad court could not assume jurisdiction in this matter.

The petitioner then filed an appeal with the IHC and the same court while hearing in the matter on February 10, 2014 referred the matter to civil judge once again. But the civil judge refused to issue an order in favour of Kareem Khan citing lack of jurisdiction.

Kareem Khan then filed an appeal before the IHC that was heard on Thursday with directions to register cases against Jonathan Banks and John A Rizzo.Mirza Shahzad Akbar, advocate, represented Khan in the court and argued that the drone strike was carried out in North Waziristan but the FIR could not be registered as the CIA station chief was based in Islamabad. He further argued that the decision of civil judge dismissing the application on account of territorial jurisdiction was misconceived while under the Pakistani law, the FIR could be registered.

After the court’s decision, Akbar through a press release said, “There is no doubt under Pakistani and international law that the US officials are committing murder through drone strikes in Pakistan and today’s decision simply vindicates this very point as after this order, all those who have been killed in drone strikes have a right to proceed in similar criminal actions against the CIA officials and others involved. This remarkable order also highlights the strength of independence of judiciary in Pakistan which is truly protecting the rights of citizens of Pakistan under the Constitution”.

Chinese train station knife attack leaves 6 injured: police

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BEIJING: Six people were wounded in a knife attack at a train station in China on Tuesday, police said, the latest in a string of violent episodes at public transport hubs.

Police shot one of the attackers at the train station in the southern metropolis of Guangzhou, the city´s public security bureau said in a statement on its microblog, adding all six injured had been hospitalised.

Car bomb outside Nairobi police station kills 4

NAIROBI: Police in Kenya´s capital intercepted a suspicious car at a traffic light Wednesday and were taking the occupants in for questioning when the car exploded, killing four people, including two police officers, officials said.

The car exploded just outside a police station´s main gate in central Nairobi, turning the car into an unrecognizable heap of twisted metal.

David Kimaiyo, the inspector general of police, said two officers were killed, along with two other people.

Terror warnings have been a constant in Kenya in recent months, particularly after September´s attack on Westgate Mall killed at least 67 people. Most of the small-scale attacks and explosions are blamed on al-Shabab, the militant group in Somalia that has vowed revenge attacks in Kenya because Kenyan troops moved into southern Somalia in 2011.

Patrick Kimiti was close to the car when it exploded. "I was just tossed up immediately and when I landed, I lay on the ground. There was so much dust. People were screaming. Cars were skidding and making U-turns," he said.

Kenyan authorities this month have been carrying out an extensive sweep of Nairobi´s ethnic Somali neighborhoods, making thousands of arrests and deporting more than 100 people to Somalia.

Somali Kenyans say they know that further police clamp-downs will follow attacks such as Wednesday´s car bomb blast. (AP)

NASA approves space station supply launch

CAPE CANAVERAL: NASA is pressing ahead with Monday´s planned launch of a supply ship despite a critical computer outage at the International Space Station, determining the situation is safe.

Mission managers decided Sunday to proceed with the countdown for the SpaceX Dragon capsule, already a month late in delivering more than 2 tons of cargo.

"We´re good to go," said NASA space station program manager Mike Suffredini.

Suffredini noted the many important supplies aboard the Dragon, including a new spacesuit and repair parts for the older spacesuits already in orbit.

Much-needed food is also packed away."There´s a certain amount of urgency to go ahead and get these vehicles" at the space station, Suffredini told reporters.

These shipments have to fit around other space station operations, like crew comings and goings.

"Things start to bunch up," Suffredini said, "and so we´re just trying to fly as soon as we safely can, which is what we believe we´re doing.

"This backup computer, located on the outside of the space station, mysteriously failed to work when activated Friday.

The main computer kept operating perfectly, and the six-man crew was never in any danger.

NASA debated whether to delay the SpaceX mission and, on Sunday, determined the station has sufficient redundancy to safely support the visiting vessel.

A spacewalk will be required, meanwhile, to replace the bad computer. Engineers don´t know why it failed.

Suffredini said the spacewalk will be conducted by a pair of astronauts on April 22, using suits outfitted with new fan components to avoid the near-disaster that occurred last summer.

An Italian astronaut almost drowned when his helmet flooded with water from the suit´s cooling system.

An April 22 spacewalk will give SpaceX two chances to get its unmanned Dragon capsule flying.

Good weather is forecast for Monday´s 4:58 p.m. (2058 GMT) launch. If that doesn´t work, the next launch attempt for the California company´s Falcon rocket would come Friday.

17 killed as train bombed at Sibi Railway Station

 

QUETTA: Seventeen passengers were killed and about 50 wounded on Tuesday when militants bombed a Rawalpindi-bound train parked at the Sibi Railway Station 120 km southeast of Quetta, hospital sources and officials said.
The blast came a day after the security forces said they had killed 30 separatist militants in one of the biggest clashes in months in the Balochistan province. The United Baloch Army claimed responsibility, saying the bombing was in retaliation to the security forces’ raids.

The bomb went off in the Jaffar Express in a carriage reserved for men. The explosion occurred when the passengers were disembarking. Eight members of a family were among the dead.

Two carriages quickly became engulfed in an inferno as the passengers, some of whom were on fire, screamed and struggled to escape, senior police official Mohammad Nazar, who was at the scene, said.

“We have recovered 12 bodies from the train. They have been burnt to charcoal,” he said, adding one of the injured had died after being taken to a military hospital in the town.Sher Khan Bazai, a senior administration official, confirmed the incident. “24 patients are in a critical condition; they will beshifted to Quetta as soon as they are stable enough to travel,” he said, adding that the injured included six women and four children.

According to police sources, explosive material was placed inside the train that exploded at the railway station after 10 minutes of the arrival of Jaffar Express.A bogie carrying at least 80 passengers was completely damaged when it caught fire after the explosion. Bomb Disposal Squad reached the scene while security was put on high alert.

Federal Minister for Railways Khawaja Saad Rafique said at least 12 people had died in the blast and added that involvement of a woman was suspected in the incident.He said there was no arrangement at the railway station to search female passengers.

Talking to Pakistan Television, he said foreign elements were involved in the blast to create terror in the province. He said investigation was underway to identify if the blast was remote-controlled or of other type.

Balochistan Home Minister Mir Sarfaraz Bugti said 20 injured persons had been shifted to Civil Hospital Sibi. Rescue teams reached the site and shifted the injured to hospitals for treatment. The victims included women and children.

Emergency was declared at the Sibi Civil Hospital and at the burns ward of Bolan Medical Complex, Quetta where some seriously burnt people were shifted.According to reports, no surgeon was present at the facility which was also facing shortage of medicines and other resources.

Meanwhile, President Mamnoon Hussain and Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif condemned the blast resulting into loss of precious human lives.In a condolence message, the prime minister sympathised with the bereaved families and prayed for the departed. He directed the authorities concerned to provide the best medical facilities to the injured.

In his condolence message, President Mamnoon Hussain condemned the blast and sympathized with the bereaved families.The president, who is on a two-day visit to Quetta, directed the authorities concerned to ensure provision of best medical assistance to the injured.

 

Mass stabbing at China rail station leaves 28 dead in ’terrorist attack’

BEIJING: A mass stabbing at a Chinese train station late Saturday left 28 people dead and 113 injured in a "violent terrorist attack", state media said.
Victims described knife-wielding attackers dressed in black bursting into Kunming railway station and slashing indiscriminately.
Beijing's top security official was reported to be heading to the scene.
The incident which happened at around 9:00 pm (1:00pm GMT) "was an organised, premeditated violent terrorist attack" carried out by "unidentified knife-wielding people", the official news agency Xinhua said, citing authorities.
Police shot dead five of the attackers at the train station in southwestern Yunnan province, Xinhua reported, and are "chasing the rest".
A knife victim named Yang Haifei, who was wounded in the chest and back, told Xinhua that he had been buying a train ticket when the attackers approached and had tried to escape with the crowd.
"I saw a person come straight at me with a long knife and I ran away with everyone," he said, while others "simply fell on the ground".
Some who had escaped were desperately looking for missing loved ones.
"I can't find my husband, and his phone went unanswered," Yang Ziqing was quoted by Xinhua as saying.
She said she had been waiting for her train to Shanghai "when a knife-wielding man suddenly came at them".
Officers sealed off a wide area around the station, it added, while Xinhua said police were questioning people at the site.
The attackers were dressed in similar black clothing, the official China News Service said, citing eyewitnesses.
"A group of men carrying weapons burst into the train station plaza and the ticket hall, stabbing whoever they saw," it said.
State broadcaster CCTV called the incident a "terrorist attack" on its Weibo account.
China's top security official Meng Jianzhu would travel to Kunming to oversee its handling, CCTV said, while President Xi Jinping and Premier Li Keqiang sent condolences to the victims and their families.
Photos posted on Sina Weibo showed blood spattered across the station floor and medical staff crouching over bodies lying on the ground, although the authenticity of the images could not be verified.
The photos showed crowds gathered outside among police officers and ambulances. The injured had been delivered to hospitals around the city, local television station K6 said.
A Weibo user going by the name HuangY3xin-Dione who was at a restaurant near the scene told how she saw a group of men in black with two long knives chasing people, Xinhua reported.
Another eyewitness told the Beijing News that she had seen two women in black walking towards the station and that some of the attackers had their faces covered.
Yunnan has no history of violent attacks, and the motive for the stabbings was not immediately clear, nor the identity or ethnicity of the perpetrators.
Knife and bomb attacks against local officials occur sporadically in China's far-western region of Xinjiang, where the mainly Muslim Uighur ethnic minority complain of cultural repression and tight security, while Beijing says it is facing a violent separatist movement.
Incidents involving Uighurs are often labelled "terrorist attacks" while others carried out by Chinese seen as having grievances against society or the authorities are not.
In a high-profile incident in Beijing last October, three Uighur family members set their car on fire at Tiananmen Square, the symbolic heart of the Chinese state, killing themselves and two bystanders.
The following month 41-year-old Feng Zhijun set off explosions outside a Communist Party office in the northern city of Taiyuan, killing one person and wounded eight.
Feng had previously served nine years in jail for theft and sought to "take revenge on society", Xinhua said.
In another prominent case last July, a wheelchair-bound man Ji Zhongxing set off a homemade bomb at Beijing's international airport in protest against alleged police brutality, but did not cause casualties.
Ji elicited widespread public sympathy and was sentenced to six months' jail.