2 Americans among 4 killed in Peshawar blast

Clinton deplores suicide attack

peshawar A couple of senior American diplomats narrowly escaped a deadly suicide explosion outside the UN office as the blast left at least four people including two Americans dead and nineteen others seriously wounded in a heavily guarded locality in the provincial metropolis Monday Morning. The injured also include two Americans and equal number of Pakistani staffers of the US consulate in Peshawar.

PPP-MQM alliance to continue in elections: Zardari

karachi—Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) and Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM), partners in the coalition government, will continue to be part-ners in the forthcoming general elections, said President Asif Ali Zardari Mondya. He was chairing a meeting of PPP and MQM core committees. They discussed the local government system in the meeting held at Bilawal House.

PML-N, MQM, ANP stage walk out from NA

Islamabad—Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz (PML-N), Muthida Quami Movement and Awami National Party on Monday staged walk out from the session of National Assembly as protest against the increase in prices of petroleum products, drone attacks and fresh incidents of terrorism in Karachi, Quetta and Gilgit-Baltistan. Pakistan Muslim League has demanded resignation by Sindh and Balochistan governments. Meanwhile Parliamentary Secretary for Petroleum and Natural Resources Shahnaz Sheikh Construction work on Pakistan-Iran gas pipeline project is expected to begin in December this year. This was stated by Parliamentary Secretary for Petroleum and Natural Resources Shahnaz Sheikh while responding to a question in the National Assembly Monday evening.

PPP trying to make issue controversial: Ahsan

Murree —PML-N(Nawaz) leader Ahsan Iqbal claimed that the ruling Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) is trying to create disputes in the creation of new provinces and is using it as an electioneering slogan. Speaking to the media on Monday, Iqbal said, “The resolution passed in the Punjab Assembly regarding Bahawalpur and South Punjab provinces should have been worked on in letter and spirit. But the federal government one-sidedly made a national commission which was against the spirit of the resolution.”

New Zealand to withdrawal forces from Afghanistan next year

Wellington—The New Zealand government Monday confirmed it would withdraw the bulk of its armed forces from Afghanistan by the end of April next year. Foreign Affairs Minister Murray McCully and Defence Minister Jonathan Coleman jointly announced the withdrawal of the New Zealand Provincial Reconstruction Team (PRT) from Bamyan Province after five New Zealand troops were killed by insurgents in two attacks last month. They said in a joint statement that it was the culmination of months of planning and part of an orderly and sequenced International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) plan for transition.

DSP arrested for waving arms in court SC demotes three DSPs in out-of-turn promotions case

Karachi—The Supreme Court (SC) Monday reverted three DSPs to sub-inspector’s rank and turned back a Special Branch officer to his parent office of the Intelligence Bureau (IB). Hearing a plea against out-of-turn promotions at the SC’s Karachi Registry, a three-member bench of the apex court ordered the Chief Secretary Sindh to demote three DSPs, Abdul Jabbar Qaimkhani, Hamid Ali Bhurgari and Shahbaz Khan Mughal to the level of a Sub Inspector to issue notification in the respect.

Rebels hit army HQs in Damascus

Amman—Syrian rebels said they planted bombs inside the Syrian army’s General Staff headquarters in central Damascus on Sunday as President Bashar al-Assad’s forces bulldozed buildings to the ground in parts of the capital that have backed the uprising. Syrian state television said four people were wounded in what it called a terrorist attack on the General Staff compound in the highly guarded Abu Rummaneh district, where another bomb attack killed four of Assad’s top lieutenants two months ago. “The operation targeted officers in the Assad army who have been planning and giving the go ahead for the massacres against the Syrian people,” said a video statement by the Grandsons of the Prophet brigade, a division of the Free Syrian Army.