Sudan: at least 30 Darfur rebels killed in clashes

KHARTOUM, Sudan (AP) — The Sudanese army says its soldiers have killed at least 30 rebels in clashes in Sudan's troubled North Darfur region.
The army spokesman, Col. Sawarme Khalid, says the rebel forces belong to Justice and Equality Movement. He told the semiofficial Sudan Media Center Wednesday that the army turned back a rebel attack in Jebel Marra area of North Darfur.
Darfur has been in turmoil since 2003, when ethnic Africans rebelled, accusing the Arab-dominated Sudanese government of discrimination. Rights groups charge the regime retaliated by unleashing Arab militias on civilians, a claim the government denies.
The U.N. estimates 300,000 people have died and 2.7 million have been displaced in the conflict.
Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir has been indicted on war crimes charges by the International Criminal Court over Darfur.

Read More..

Iran annual inflation hits 27.4 percent

TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — Iran's central bank says the annual inflation rate hit 27.4 percent at the end of 2012, one of the highest rates ever quoted by Iranian authorities.
The soaring rate is attributed to Western sanctions over Iran's suspect nuclear program and government mismanagement.
The figure was posted on the bank's website Wednesday. It reflects worsening economic conditions under President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who has come under criticism both from reformist opponents and conservatives, former allies who helped him win a disputed election in 2009.
Besides rampant inflation, Iran's currency faces collapse. In October, the Iranian rial lost about 50 percent of its value within a week.
The West believes Iran may be aiming to develop nuclear weapons. Tehran denies this and says the program is for peaceful purposes.

Read More..

Iranians freed by Syrian rebels arrive in Damascus

DAMASCUS, Syria (AP) — Syrian rebels on Wednesday freed 48 Iranians held captive since August in exchange for the release of more than 2,000 detainees in the first major prisoner swap of the country's civil war, officials said.
The exchange came just days after Assad vowed to press ahead with the fight against rebels despite international pressure to end the bloodshed that has left more than 60,000 people dead.
Iran is one of Assad's main backers and the Iranians, who were seized outside Damascus in August, were a major bargaining chip for factions trying to bring down his regime.
The group of 48 men arrived at the Sheraton hotel in several vans escorted by Syrian security forces. Iran's ambassador in Damascus, Mohammad Riza Shibani, greeted them with hugs and flowers.
Rebels claimed the captives were linked to Iran's powerful Revolutionary Guard, but Tehran has denied that, saying the men were pilgrims visiting Shiite religious sites in Syria.
Shibani said their release was a result of elaborate and "tough" negotiations, but he did not provide any other details of the deal. The Syrian government, which rarely gives details on security related matters, had no official comment and it was not clear what prompted the exchange.
The rebels had threatened to kill the captives unless the Syrian regime halted military operations against the opposition.
A spokesman for a Turkish Islamic aid group that helped coordinate the release said the regime had agreed to release 2,130 people in exchange for the Iranians.
Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, speaking at a news conference during a visit to Niger, said four Turks and "a number of Palestinians" were among the prisoners being released by Syria.
He said one Turkish and one Qatari aid organization helped broker the deal, and that Turkey had been talking with the rebels.
"The rebels had made some preliminary preparations for the release, but we did not know what the Syrian reaction would be. In the end, it seems that they agreed," he said.
"There are still people being held in prisons and who are being aggrieved. Let's hope that they may be released as well and let's hope that the process is beneficial for all," Erdogan said. The news conference was broadcast live on Turkish television.
There were conflicting reports about how many of the prisoners in Syrian custody had been freed. Speaking in Istanbul, Umit Sonmez of the Foundation for Human Rights and Freedoms and Humanitarian Relief said the 48 Iranians were handed over to aid workers soon after the Syrian regime let a group go.
Sonmez said the Syrian prisoners included "ordinary people or friends or relatives of the rebels."
"This is the largest prisoner exchange to date," Sonmez said. "We are pleased that people from all sides who were held and victimized have finally been freed."
Turkey's state-run agency Anadolu Agency also said a group of people, including women and children, held in the Syrian Interior Ministry building in Damascus had been released and were escorted onto buses. The report could not immediately be confirmed.
Bulent Yildirim, the head of the Turkish aid organization, told Anadolu in Damascus that 1,000 people have been released so far, including 74 women and a number of children between the ages of 13 and 15.
An official in Syria's Interior Ministry said Wednesday that a group or prisoners would be released later in the day from the police headquarters in Damascus. But the official, who requested anonymity because he was not authorized to give official statements, declined to say whether the release was related to the freed Iranians.
The reported deal would mark the first major prisoner swap since the uprising against Assad began in March 2011.
Regime forces and rebels have exchanged prisoners before, most arranged by mediators in the suburbs of Damascus and in northern Syria, but the numbers ranged from two to 20 prisoners. The Syrian Red Crescent also has arranged exchanges of bodies from both sides.
___
Fraser reported from Ankara, Turkey. Associated Press writers Ali Akbar Dareini in Tehran and Barbara Surk in Beirut contributed to this story.

Read More..

Michael J. Fox to play newscaster dealing with Parkinson's in NBC show

PASADENA, Calif. - On his upcoming NBC TV comedy, Michael J. Fox will play a newscaster who quits his job because of Parkinson's Disease but returns to work in the show's first episode because a new medical regimen has helped him control many of the disease's symptoms.
NBC said Sunday the comedy closely tracks many aspects of Fox's personal life and tries to have fun with an image that has left him an object of pity-fueled admiration.
The show doesn't have a title yet. NBC Entertainment President Jennifer Salke said it will premiere in September. Although the schedule isn't set yet, NBC is aiming to put it on Thursday night, where "30 Rock" and "The Office" are leaving in the next few months.
Salke said Fox is meeting this week with actresses who could potentially play his wife on the show.

Read More..

NHL players in hurry-up mode to prepare for games with pending end to lockout

The clock is already ticking for NHL players preparing to return to the ice.
With the end to the lockout pending, there will only be time for a brief training camp before a compressed schedule of 48 or 50 games.
The next few weeks will quickly show whether players who haven't played a competitive game since last spring are ready for the rigours of a regular season.
"I don't think it'll be too tough," said Montreal Canadiens forward Travis Moen. "Guys are professionals, so you should have been keeping yourself in decent shape all this time.
"We'll have some time to skate before, and then you make the best of it."
The NHL and the players reached a tentative agreement early Sunday morning but no details on how many games each team would play or when the season would begin were released.
There may be a wide disparity in game-readiness when the season does finally get underway.
About 200 players got game action skating for European clubs during the lockout, and most teams sent a few of their younger players to the American Hockey League.
But most, like Montreal captain Brian Gionta, did their best just to stay fit and keep their skills sharp by skating a few times a week in small groups on rented ice.
"Their timing and game-readiness would be there for sure,'' he said of those who played during the lockout. "It'll take a few games to get caught up, but that's the reality of where we're at."
A big concern will be staying healthy.
Injuries in the NBA reportedly rose more than 14 per cent from the previous season after their lockout ended in December 2011. Teams played a 66-game schedule after a short training camp. Some, including commissioner David Stern, disputed the injuries were the result of the lockout.
The shortened NHL schedule will have teams averaging more than 3.5 games per week.
"It's one of the more obvious things that might happen, especially groins, hip flexors, that sort of thing," said Vancouver Canucks forward Chris Higgins. "I think you'll see some teams with troubles with that early on.
"Hopefully, you've been doing the right things leading up to this."
His teammate Manny Malhotra said even that may not be enough.
"Watching the NBA last year try to squeeze in as many games as possible, it’s very taxing on the body," said Malhotra. "(Hockey) is obviously a lot more physical game than basketball.
"I would see it being a real grind on the players with very little rest. We always say: 'You can ride a bike as much as you want, you can practise as much as you want, you can bag-skate as much as you want, but there’s no substitute for actual game action.'"
There isn't expected to be time for pre-season games, as coaches will have enough to do just getting players back on the same page. In some cases, teams have new coaches who will have little time to work in a new system.
Players looking to earn an NHL contract in camp must be as impressive as possible in intra-squad games.
Among them is veteran forward Steve Begin, who has a tryout invitation to the Calgary Flames camp.
"I won't have much time to show what I can do but I'm confident," the 34-year-old said. "I've been working hard all summer and the last three months.
"I haven't played a game in a year and a half, so I'm excited. I'll take my chance and do as much as I can."
One who shrugs at the compressed schedule is Canucks captain Henrik Sedin, who said it is "not a problem. We’re used to travelling. We’re used to playing pretty much every second night. If they throw in one or two more games over a certain period of time, that’s fine."
Many players had already lost an entire season during the 2004-05 lockout, but only a handful recall the 1994-95 stoppage, which also ended in January and was followed by a 48-game schedule.
The Detroit Red Wings (33-11-4) and Quebec Nordiques (30-13-5) were the top regular-season teams that season, but it was the fifth-place overall New Jersey Devils who won the Stanley Cup. The defending champion New York Rangers barely squeaked into the playoffs at 22-23-3.
Physical forward Jim Vandermeer, a free agent who played for San Jose last season, expects the short season to be a wild ride.
"It'll be really exciting for the fans," he said. "Every game is going to matter that much more.
"You really can't (waste) any games in an 82-game season let alone a shorter one. It's going to be a race to the finish. Everybody's going to be flying right off the bat. I'm sure it'll be a lot of fun to watch.

Read More..

Canada's top court rejects blanket rule on niqabs in court

(Reuters) - Canadian judges should decide on a case-by-case basis whether women can wear the niqab, a full-face veil, while testifying in court, but a blanket rule on the issue would be "untenable," Canada's top court said on Thursday.
The decision, supported by four of the seven judges who heard the case at the Supreme Court of Canada, said lower courts must consider, among other things, the harm that could come if Muslim women who wear the niqab feel discouraged from reporting offenses.
But the ruling also said that where a witness's credibility is central to the case, "the possibility of wrongful conviction must weigh heavily in the balance." Judges must also consider the sincerity of a witness's religious beliefs.
The court dismissed an appeal from a woman, known only by the initials N.S., who accused an uncle and a cousin of sexual assault and wished to testify wearing a niqab. A preliminary inquiry judge ordered her to remove the veil when she testified, and appeals pushed the case to the Supreme Court.
The case turns in part on the value of facial expressions in court. Government lawyers argued that facial cues can reveal deception and are thus important when cross-examining witnesses. N.S. argued that untrained people cannot detect deception using facial expressions, and that in any case, a niqab does not obscure the wearer's eyes or tone of voice.
The Canadian court's case-by-case approach stands in contrast to France's broad ban on full-face veils in public places. But a similar law would not be without precedent.
Face coverings are already banned at Canadian citizenship ceremonies and in 2010, Quebec's provincial government put forward legislation that would have given government workers broad discretion to refuse service to people whose faces are covered.
The bill died when the Liberal government was voted out of office.
Two judges concurred with the judgment on dismissing the appeal, but they argued for "a clear rule that niqabs may not be worn at any stage of the criminal trial" in the interests of openness and religious neutrality.
A third judge, Justice Rosalie Silberman Abella, dissented. She argued that unless a witness's face is directly relevant - for example, when her identity is in question - she should not be required to remove her niqab.

Read More..

German magazine mistakenly publishes Bush obituary

 Germany's respected news weekly Der Spiegel mistakenly published an obituary Sunday for former U.S. President George H.W. Bush, hours after a family spokesman said the 88-year-old was recovering from illness.
Bush was hospitalized in Houston Nov. 23 for treatment of a bronchitis-related cough and moved to intensive care on Dec. 23 after he developed a fever. On Saturday, spokesman Jim McGrath said Bush was moved out of intensive care into a regular hospital room again after his condition improved.
The unfinished obituary appeared on Der Spiegel's website for only a few minutes Sunday before it was spotted by Internet users and removed.
In it, the magazine's New York correspondent described Bush as "a colorless politician" whose image only improved when it was compared to the later presidency of his son, George W. Bush.
"All newsrooms prepare obituaries for selected figures," the magazine said on its Twitter feed. "The fact that the one for Bush senior went live was a technical mistake. Sorry!"

Read More..

Reports: Russia sends another naval ship to Syria

MOSCOW (AP) — Russian news agencies say the navy is sending another ship to the Syrian port of Tartus, where Russia has a naval base.
The reports Sunday by the ITAR-Tass and Interfax news agency cited an unidentified official in the military general staff as saying the Novocherkassk, a large landing ship, has set sail from the Black Sea port of Novorossiisk. The ship is expected to arrive in the Tartus area in early January.
The reports gave no information on the ship's intent. But Russian diplomats have said that Moscow is preparing a plan to evacuate thousands of Russians from Syria if necessary. The Defense Ministry announced two weeks ago that several ships were being dispatched to the Mediterranean.

Read More..

UK Catholics urged to lobby against gay marriage

 The leader of Roman Catholics in England and Wales has urged followers to write to their representatives in Parliament to oppose the government's plans to allow gay marriage.
In a letter read to congregations over the weekend, Archbishop Vincent Nichols called for Catholics to express their views "clearly, calmly and forcefully."
Nichols says he is concerned about how a change in the law would affect what children are taught about marriage.
He says he wants members of Parliament to "defend, not change, the bond of man and woman in marriage as the essential element of the vision of the family."
Prime Minister David Cameron's Conservative-led government plans to introduce legislation in January to allow gay marriages. Recent opinion polls suggest a large majority of the public supports the change.

Read More..

Housing equity injection lowest since Q1 2010

 Britons' mortgage repayments exceeded new borrowing during the third quarter of 2012, but by the smallest margin since early 2010, figures from the Bank of England showed on Monday.
The net injection of housing equity totalled 8.043 billion pounds in the third quarter, equivalent to 2.9 percent of post-tax income - down from 9.439 billion pounds in the second quarter and the lowest figure since Q1 2010.
Before the financial crisis, rapidly rising house prices enabled some British households to boost their spending by remortgaging their properties and withdrawing some of their increased housing wealth.
Since the financial crisis, which caused British house prices to fall by around a fifth, this has ceased to be an option.
"The further substantial net injection of housing equity in the third quarter of 2012 suggests that there is an ongoing strong desire ... of many people to improve their personal financial balance sheets given high debt levels and still serious concerns over the economic situation," said Howard Archer, chief UK economist at IHS Global Insight.
However, the Bank has said net injections of housing equity mostly reflect a lower number of house purchases and new mortgages, rather than existing home-owners paying back their mortgages faster.
In August, the Bank opened its Funding for Lending Scheme, which aims to boost mortgage and business lending by offering banks and building societies cheap finance.
Mortgage approvals in Britain were 1.5 percent lower on the year in November, numbering 33,634, seasonally adjusted data from the British Bankers' Association showed last week.
A Reuters poll this month showed British homeowners will have to wait a long time before they recoup losses from the last few years on their properties as a weak economy and high unemployment keeps demand in check. The median forecast was for UK house prices to rise 0.6 percent in 2013, having dropped by the same amount this year.

Read More..

About 25 arrested in Moscow New Year's Eve protest

About 25 people reportedly have been arrested in Moscow on New Year's Eve for trying to hold an unsanctioned protest.
The gathering at Triumphalnaya Square in central Moscow on Monday attracted 50 to 100 people.
Among those arrested was prominent radical writer Eduard Limonov; the Interfax news agency cited activists as saying about 25 people were taken into custody.
For about two years, activists have tried to rally on the 31st of each month with that many days, a reference to Article 31 of the Russian constitution that guarantees free assembly. Authorities routinely deny permission for the demonstrations. Limonov's faction has fallen out with other elements of the wave of opposition to President Vladimir Putin that arose last year.
In his New Year's Eve address, Putin made no reference to the protests of the past year, saying only of 2012 that "it was very important to us," according to the ITAR-Tass news agency.
"We believe that we can change the life around us and become better ourselves, that we can become more heedful, compassionate, gracious" he was quoted as saying. Russia's fate "depends on our enthusiasm and labor.

Read More..

Judge denies Texas request for feds to keep funding health program

A judge on Friday denied a request by Texas for an order requiring the federal government to continue providing money for a state health program for low-income women.
U.S. District Judge Walter Smith in Waco, Texas, denied the state's motion for a preliminary injunction that would have prevented the federal Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services from cutting off Medicaid money for the Women's Health Program.
The federal government pays for most of the cost of the $40-million-a year-program but has told Texas that it will stop at the end of the year because a state decision to exclude Planned Parenthood from the program violates federal law.
Texas decided to enforce a state law that had been on the books for several years barring funding for abortion providers and affiliates.
The program, which does not pay for abortions, provides care such as breast and cervical cancer screenings and birth control, and Planned Parenthood says it serves nearly half the 115,000 Texas women who participate.
The state plans to launch a nearly identical program using only state money.
"Today's decision doesn't change our plans," said Stephanie Goodman, a spokeswoman for the Texas Health and Human Services Commission. "We'll move forward with launching the state program on January 1."
She added: "Our goal remains the same. We're going to continue providing women with family planning services and enforce state law."
But Ken Lambrecht, president and CEO of Planned Parenthood of Greater Texas, said Texas has embarked on a political crusade that has cost Texas women and taxpayers.
"There is no sound reason Texas should jeopardize this important program by cutting off access to the health care provider relied on by nearly half of the women receiving basic, preventive health care through the program," Lambrecht said in a statement.

Read More..

Afghan leader: Foreigners to blame for corruption

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — Afghanistan's president accused on Saturday the countries that fund his government and military with enabling the widespread corruption that undermines his efforts to establish rule of law in the war-wracked country.
Graft and payoffs are widely recognized as a major problem facing Afghanistan as the government works to establish authority over a volatile country and win the trust of the people over from the Taliban insurgency. The country regularly ranks among the most corrupt in the world in indexes and nearly every Afghan has stories of having to pay a bribe to a police officer or a government official.
International donors have long argued that they are trying to help Karzai's administration clean up the endemic corruption but are stymied by his unwillingness to prosecute political allies. Karzai in turn has repeatedly said that he has not been given the ability to control the billions of dollars flowing in to Afghanistan from foreign countries and so has not been able to police the funding.
"Corruption in Afghanistan is a reality, a bitter reality," Karzai said in a nationally televised speech. "The part of this corruption that is in our offices is a small part: that is bribes. The other part of corruption, the large part, is hundreds of millions dollars that are not ours. We shouldn't blame ourselves for that. That part is from others and imposed on us."
Karzai argued that foreign donors give contracts to high-ranking Afghan officials or to their relatives in an effort to gain influence over the government, thereby sowing the seeds for corruption.
As an example, he brought up his half-brother Ahmed Wali Karzai, who was seen as the main power broker in southern Kandahar province before he was assassinated by insurgents in 2011. Karzai recalled a conversation with former U.S. commander Gen. Stanley McChrystal in which McChrystal told Karzai to rein in his brother because he was corrupt. Karzai said he pointed out that it was the U.S. government, not the Afghan government, that was awarding contracts to Ahmed Wali Karzai.
"I asked him, why have you given contracts to the president's brother? Why give to him and to other high ranking government officials?" Karzai told the crowd assembled for the speech at a high school in the capital.
The question of the roots of corruption in Afghanistan is only going to become more important in the coming years, as donors have made much of their future funding conditional on evidence that the Afghan government is cleaning up the pervasive system off payoffs and patronage. And there has been debate within the Afghan government over who to blame.
Even at Saturday's event, Karzai's top anti-corruption official spoke first and pointed his finger at other Afghan officials, without mentioning the international donors. He said that the courts have not done enough to prosecute corruption cases and administration officials and lawmakers need to be forced to explain things like large property acquisitions.
"The system is the problem," Azizullah Ludin told the crowd.
Karzai has repeatedly taken populist stances against his foreign allies, placing blame on them for many of the country's ills. In the past, he has said that NATO local offices known as Provincial Reconstruction Teams undermine the Afghan government's authority by doling out money directly to the public, and that foreign countries encourage criminality by funding private security companies that operate outside the law. The foreign security companies have since been shut down and the Provincial Reconstruction Teams are being phased out.

Read More..

Mob in Pakistan kills man accused of burning Quran

KARACHI, Pakistan (AP) — A mob in southern Pakistan stormed a police station to seize a mentally unstable Muslim man accused of burning a copy of Islam's holy book, beat him to death, and then set his body afire, police said Saturday.
The case is likely to raise further concerns about the country's harsh blasphemy laws, which can result in a death sentence or life in prison to anyone found guilty. Critics say an accusation or investigation alone can lead to deaths, as people take the law into their own hands and kill those accused of violating it. Police stations and even courts have been attacked by mobs.
Local police official Bihar-ud-Din said police arrested the man on Friday after being informed by residents that he had burned a Quran inside a mosque where he had been staying for a night.
An angry mob of more than 200 people then broke into the police station in the southern town of Dadu and took the accused man, who they say was under questioning. Din said police tried their best to save the man's life but were unable to stop the furious crowd.
He said that police had arrested 30 people for suspected involvement in the attack, while the head of the local police station and seven officers had been suspended.
Past attempts by governments in predominantly Muslim Pakistan to review these laws have met with violent opposition from hardline Islamist parties.

Read More..

Pakistan says 29 nationals beaten by Afghans

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — Afghan officials say they are investigating allegations by neighboring Pakistan that Afghan forces severely beat Pakistani nationals.
The Saturday protest note from Islamabad's Foreign Office provided no details other than to say that all 29 had valid travel documents.
Afghan Foreign Ministry spokesman Janan Mosazai says he has no information about the allegations, but Kabul will try to investigate them.
Relations between the neighboring countries are poor, with the Kabul government accusing Pakistan of harboring and supporting Taliban insurgents. But last month a top Afghan peace mediator hailed Pakistan's recent decision to free nine Taliban members who favor negotiations, saying it was a sign that Pakistan is willing to bring the militants to the table and end Afghanistan's 11-year war.

Read More..

Bombing at political rally kills 8 in Pakistan

Bombing at political rally kills 8 in Pakistan
PESHAWAR, Pakistan (AP) — Pakistani police say a suicide bomber attacked a political rally in the country's northwest, killing eight people.
Police officer Arfan Khan says the bombing Saturday in Peshawar, the capital of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, also wounded more than 20 people.
Khan says the rally was being held by the Awami National Party, whose members have been repeatedly targeted by the Taliban. A provincial Cabinet minister from the party, Bashir Balour, was wounded in the attack.

Read More..

Bombing at political rally kills 9 in Pakistan

PESHAWAR, Pakistan (AP) — A suicide bomber in Pakistan killed nine people including a provincial government official at a political rally held Saturday by a party that has opposed the Taliban, officials said.
The rally in Peshawar, the capital of northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, was held by the Awami National Party, whose members have been repeatedly targeted by the Taliban.
Among the dead was Bashir Bilour, the second most senior member of the provincial Cabinet, said Ghulam Ahmed Bilour, the politician's brother and federal railways minister.
Over 20 others were wounded by the blast, said local police officer Sabir Khan.
U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon condemned the bombing in a statement, reiterating the United Nations' support for Pakistani efforts "to combat the scourge of terrorism."
Bilour was leaving the rally after delivering the keynote speech when the attack occurred, said Nazir Khan, a local Awami National Party leader.
"There was smoke and dust all around, and dead and wounded people were lying on the ground," he said.
The suicide bomber was on foot, said another police officer, Imtiaz Khan.
Mian Iftikhar Hussain, the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa information minister and a member of the Awami National Party, said both he and Bilour had repeatedly received threats from militants. He condemned the attack and said the government needed to intensify its battle against the Taliban.
"Terrorism has engulfed our whole society," said Hussain. "They are targeting our bases, our mosques, our bazars, public meetings and our security checkpoints."
Ten Taliban militants attacked the military area of an international airport in Peshawar with rockets and car bombs a week ago, killing four people and wounding over 40 others. Five of the militants were killed during the attack, and five others died the next day in a gunbattle with security forces.
Also Saturday, police said a mob in southern Pakistan stormed a police station to seize a mentally unstable Muslim man accused of burning a copy of Islam's holy book. The crowd beat him to death, and then set fire to his body.
The case is likely to raise further concerns about the country's harsh blasphemy laws, which can result in a death sentence or life in prison to anyone found guilty. An accusation or investigation alone can lead to deaths, as people take the law into their own hands and kill those accused of violating it. Police stations and even courts have been attacked by mobs.
Police arrested the man on Friday after being informed by residents that he had burned a Quran inside a mosque where he had been staying for a night, said local police official Biharud Deen.
An angry mob of more than 200 people then broke into the police station in the southern town of Dadu and took the accused man, who they say was under questioning. Deen said police tried their best to save the man's life but were unable to stop the furious crowd.
Police have arrested 30 people for suspected involvement in the attack, said Deen. The head of the local police station and seven officers had been suspended, he said.
Past attempts by governments in predominantly Muslim Pakistan to review these laws have met with violent opposition from hardline Islamist parties.
In southwestern Pakistan, gunmen late Friday killed 11 Pakistanis and Afghans who were trying to cross into neighboring Iran to travel on to Europe as illegal immigrants, said local government official Zubair Ahmed. The shooting took place in Sunsar town in Baluchistan province, he said.
It was not immediately clear who was behind the attack, but hundreds of Pakistanis and Afghans are captured by Iranian border guards every year for illegally trying to travel to Europe to find better jobs.

Read More..