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Violence in Karachi claims 12 more lives

Staff Reporter

Karachi—The menace of targeted killings and violence remained relentless in Karachi as it took 12 more lives and injured as many. At least two people were injured in a bomb blast in Buffer Zone locality in the evening. The injured were being shifted to a nearby hospital. The law enforcing agencies also came under attack as unidentified miscreants attacked police in Pak Colony, killing one official.

ISI chief to discuss drone issue in US next week

Washington—Pakistan’s spymaster will next week visit the United States to resume talks on intelligence cooperation and drone strikes, the thorniest aspect of Pakistani-US relations, an official said Wednesday. It is the first time in a year the head of the military’s ISI intelligence agency flies to Washington, signalling a thaw in relations beset by crisis since US troops found and killed Osama bin Laden in Pakistan in May 2011.

Olson, Cunningham new US envoys to Pakistan, Afghanistan

Washington—US President Barack Obama on Tuesday named Richard Olson and James Cunningham to be the next ambassadors to Pakistan and Afghanistan, two highly sensitive positions vacated when envoys recently resigned, a White House statement said. Olson is a former ambassador to the United Arab Emirates and Cunningham is the number two at the US embassy in Kabul.

Superstar Rajesh Khanna dies

Mumbai—Rajesh Khanna, often referred to as the “first superstar” of Bollywood and the Hindi film industry’s biggest heart-throb in his day, died on Wednesday after months of being unwell. He was 69. Khanna, who had been sick since April with an undisclosed illness rumoured to be cancer, passed away at his family home in Mumbai after being discharged from hospital on Tuesday, reports said.

Syrian ministers killed in Damascus blast

Damascus—A suicide bomber struck Wednesday at the heart of Syria’s top command, killing three of President Bashar al-Assad’s security chiefs in an attack claimed by rebels who warned of more carnage to come. The bombing, which an official blamed on a bodyguard attending a meeting of security chiefs at their Damascus headquarters, prompted US Defence Secretary Leon Panetta to warn that the situation in Syria was “spinning out of control”.

High level meeting discusses security situation

Islamabad—President Asif Ali Zardari and Prime Minister Raja Pervez Ashraf Wednesday chaired a high level meeting at the Aiwan-e-Sadr. The meeting was attended among others by Ms. Hina Rabbani Khar, Federal Minister for Foreign Affairs, Mr. M. Salman Faruqui, Secretary General to the President, Chairman Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee General Khalid Shameem Wynne, Foreign Secretary Mr. Jalil Abbas Jilani, Defence Secretary Ms. Nargis Sethi, Chief of Army Staff General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani, Chief of Naval Staff Admiral Muhammad Asif Sandila and Chief of Air Staff Air Chief Marshal Tahir Rafique Butt.

Assad trusts inner circles for survival

Beirut–As fighting rages in Damascus, and the Assad family that has ruled Syria for four decades struggles for its life against a growing rebellion, a picture is emerging of a tight inner group determined to fight its way out of the crisis, even as support for the government falls away. At its head is President Bashar al-Assad, who inherited power from his father in 2000 and who friend and opponent alike say appears increasingly detached from reality, convinced he is fighting a conspiracy against him and Syria.