Eight Bangladesh Islamists to hang for 2001 bombing

DHAKA: A Bangladeshi court sentenced eight Islamists to death on Monday for a 2001 bomb attack that killed 10 people during new year celebrations in the capital Dhaka.

"The attack was carried out to destabilise the country and create panic," Judge Ruhul Amin said as he delivered the verdict in a crowded court in Dhaka´s old city. The head of the outlawed Harkat-ul-Jihad al Islami (HuJI) outfit, Mufti Abdul Hannan, was among the eight who were ordered hanged for targeting the celebrations in Dhaka´s main park which they deemed unIslamic.

The judge also sentenced six others to life in prison for setting off two bombs as thousands of revellers were celebrating the first day of Bengali New Year on April 14, 2001."It´s a heinous attack and unprecedented in our history," prosecutor Abdullah Abu told reporters after the verdicts were announced.

"We´re happy with the eight death sentenced, but not satisfied with the sentencing of six people who were given life terms. We´ll appeal against the life sentences."

The HuJI chief, better known as Mufti Hannan, is already on death row having been convicted in 2008 for trying to assassinate the British high commissioner four years earlier in a grenade attack.

A lawyer for the defendants, Faruque Ahmed, told AFP that he planned to appeal the verdicts which he said were politically motivated and designed to "make people happy in certain quarters". Mufti Hannan, who fought alongside the Taliban in Afghanistan´s civil war, is also accused of having been behind a plot to assassinate the current Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina when she was leader of the opposition in 2004.

Eight Uzbeks among 23 militants killed in NWA

 

MIRANSHAH: Military authorities on Thursday said that helicopter gunships destroyed militants’ communication centres established on hilltops towards the east of North Waziristan’s headquarters Miranshah.
The Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) in a statement said 23 militants, eight of them Uzbeks, were killed when the Pakistan Army helicopter gunships pounded their positions on Zartatangi hilltops east of Miranshah.

Tribal sources in Miranshah said they had seen the helicopters targeting the mountains at some distance from the residential area but were unable to confirm the name of the hilltop ‘Zartatangi’ where the ISPR claimed the militants had established communication centres.

Also, the ISPR statement said snipers of the Pakistan Army killed eight Uzbek militants when they were planting improvised explosive devices (IEDs) on the Miranshah-Mir Ali Road on Wednesday night.There was no further detail in the ISPR statement whether the bodies of the slain Uzbek militants were taken away by the militants or were in the possession of security forces.

After the government launched a major military operation codenamed “Zarb-e-Azb” against the local and foreign militants in North Waziristan last Sunday, the Pakistan Air Force fighter aircraft and army’s helicopter gunships began pounding the suspected positions of the militants in the tribal region.

It is expected that an extensive ground offensive will be launched in North Waziristan once evacuation of the civilian population is completed. Almost 140,000 persons are reported to have fled North Waziristan and entered Bannu since the launching of the operation.

APP adds from Islamabad: Chief of the Army Staff (COAS) General Raheel Sharif visited the Air Headquarters here on Thursday and called on Chief of the Air Staff (CAS) Air Chief Marshal Tahir Rafique Butt.According to the ISPR, progress of the ongoing operation Zarb-e-Azb was reviewed and matters of mutual interest were discussed.NNI adds: Air Chief Marshal Tahir Rafique Butt welcomed General Raheel Sharif to the Air Headquarters. Both chiefs also agreed on strategies to make the operation more effective.

Eight women locked in building die in Philippine fire

MANILA: Eight women died in the Philippine capital on Friday as a fire engulfed a building in which they had been locked in by their employer, police said.

Eight other women survived the blaze by climbing to the roof of the two-storey building and jumping off, said police officer Cris Gabutin, an investigator in the case.

"They said the gate was locked. It was dark and they could not find a way out. It was a lucky thing they were able to get out to the roof and jump," Gabutin said.

The bodies of the eight other women were found sprawled in one room, Gabutin said.

"It was like they were trapped. Maybe they panicked and could not find their way out," he said. Gabutin said six of the dead women identified so far were aged between 19 and 24.

A neighbourhood watchman in the middle-class residential area where the fire occurred, Jayvee Arizapa, said neighbours saw the women leaping from the roof.

"We could also hear people screaming for help inside but we could not help them because the wall was too high," he said.

The women were all from rural areas who had been brought to Manila to work in a warehouse storing electronic products and computer disks, according to Gabutin. He said they were sleeping in a building next to the warehouse when the fire started just after midnight.

He said the cause of the fire was unknown but police had arrested the owner of the building, charging him with human trafficking, negligence resulting in homicide and operating a business in the area without a license.

It is a common practice in the Philippines for low-paid employees to sleep in their place of work.

Employers typically do not provide enough safety measures for their staff, and some are known to lock them in to stop them stealing or prevent socialising.

Seventeen workers died in the southern Philippines in 2012 when a fire burnt down a department store in which they were sleeping. (AFP)

Car bomb kills eight in central Iraq

HILLA: A car bomb exploded at a police checkpoint south of Baghdad on Thursday, killing eight people, as Iraq struggles with daily violence ahead of an election next week.

The blast five kilometres (three miles) north of the city of Hilla also wounded 20 people, a police captain and a doctor said.

Iraq is suffering a protracted surge in bloodshed that has killed more than 2,750 people this year, and the April 30 parliamentary vote -- the first since American troops departed in 2011 -- will be a major test for security forces.

They were able to keep violence to a minimum during provincial elections last year, but security forces have failed to halt a subsequent year-long surge in unrest.

The heightened violence has been principally driven by widespread anger among the Sunni Arab minority, who say they are mistreated by the Shiite-led government and security forces.

It has also been fuelled by the bloody civil war in neighbouring Syria, which has bolstered militant groups.

Dollar trades at eight month low against rupee

KARACHI: The Dollar further plunged to Rs97.90 in interbank and Rs98.00 in the open market.
On Wednesday, the dollar witnessed Rs2.40 decease in the open market. Dealers said the dollar reached under Rs99 after eight and a half months.
The continued stabilization in the value of rupee will be instrumental in cost of imports and help reduce the price of commodities in the country, said the market analysts.

China manufacturing growth slows to eight month low: govt

BEIJING: China's manufacturing growth fell to an eight-month low in February, government figures showed on Saturday, reflecting further weakening in the world's second-largest economy but also the effect of a major holiday.
The purchasing managers' index (PMI) tumbled to 50.2, the National Bureau of Statistics reported on its website, in the third straight drop from 50.5 in January, 51.0 in December and 51.4 in November.
A figure over 50 indicates expansion while one below shows contraction.
This marked China's 17th consecutive month of manufacturing growth but at a slowing rate -- the lowest since a June reading of 50.1.
China's economic growth has weakened in recent years, hitting 7.7 percent in 2013, the lowest level since 1999. Analysts expect a further drop to 7.5 percent this year.
The lowered forecast comes as Beijing has pledged to reform the country's growth model so that consumers and other private actors play a more significant role, rather than massive and often wasteful state investment.
Whereas in the past authorities have reacted quickly to inject cash to stimulate a slowing economy, recently they have remained tight-fisted instead.
Two liquidity crunches occurred last year in part because officials sought to impose stricter discipline over banks amid burgeoning debt levels.
But the recent Lunar New Year, China's most important holiday, may also have dampened results, Bank of America Merrill Lynch economists Ting Lu and Xiaojia Zhi said in a research note.
"We believe the drop was mainly impacted by the Lunar New Year holiday," they wrote, adding that they expected a bounce back up to 50.5 in March.
"Markets will likely respond negatively to the reading but the impact could be limited. Policies are unlikely to be impacted by these distorted PMI readings," they said.
In another closely watched indicator of Chinese manufacturing, British banking giant HSBC said last week its preliminary PMI reading for February dropped to a seven-month low, to 48.3, down from a final figure for January of 49.5.
HSBC is set to release its final PMI reading for February on Monday.

Grenade attack in Kot Addu damages police van, injures eight people

The van fell into a ditch after the blast. PHOTO: REUTERS/ FILE 

KOT ADDU: Six police officials survived a terrorist attempt in sub district Kot Addu of district Muzafarhgarh on Friday, when a man threw a hand grenade at their van.
Five police men including ASI Muhammad Anwar Ali, driver of the van Habib Akran, constables Ashraf Ali and Zia Ullah, two police volunteers, two criminals and the driver of a rickshaw were injured as a result of the attack.
According to the details given by DPO Ghazi Salahuddin, a police team from the Chobara police station in district Layyah had come to the rural area of Sanawan in Kot Addu to arrest a person on the charges of kidnapping.
The alleged kidnapper Qayyum and a person involved in hiding him were arrested and were being taken by the police in their van.
On their way back, they were attacked near an old railway station when a man hiding behind a storehouse struck them with a hand grenade. When he attempted to escape, the police van struck him and fell in a ditch near the road.
The assailant was injured and has been shifted to unknown place for further investigation.