But the protest descended into a night of violence which saw homes and businesses in flames, police cars set alight and a double decker bus left a burnt-out shell.

Petrol bombs and stones were thrown at police in riot gear as they tried to bring the situation under control.

Shops were looted in the chaos, with people taking electrical goods and armfuls of clotheS.

Buildings including a supermarket and a carpet shop were set alight during the riots.
The trouble saw 26 police officers injured in the unrest, and 42 people werearrested for offences including violent disorder, burglary and theft.

Stuart Radose had to flee his flat above a Carpetright shop last night as a fire ravaged the building.Describing the scenes last night, he told Sky News: “We live on the top floor. We could see the rioters coming closer. Aldi was on fire and barricades were being made by rioters. It was really scary.”

Responding to last night’s scenes of violence, a spokesman for Prime Minister David Cameron said: “The rioting in Tottenham last night was utterly unacceptable.

“There is no justification for the aggression the police and the public faced, or for the damage to property.

“There is now a police investigation into the rioting and we should let that process happen.”

By the early hours of the morning, crowds of looters were smashing shop windows in a retail park near Tottenham Hale tube station and plundering goods from almost every store.

Teenagers and adults were said to have turned up in cars and filled their boots with stolen items, unimpeded by police.

Others arrived on foot and piled shopping trolleys high with looted televisions and other electronic goods, a woman who has lived locally for 10 years but did not want to be named said.
A member of staff at The Carphone Warehouse said every phone in the shop had been stolen.

The sense of anger at what the looters had done was clear.
Nadine Knight, 24, who works in administration at a planning and architecture firm said: “I’m completely and utterly disgusted by what the community has managed to do here.

“They need to come together a bit more and help the community, not damage it.
“I’m so upset, I can’t believe it.”

Another local resident, Norman McKenzie, 37, who works as a security guard at the Next clothes store in the retail park, was also appalled.

He said: “I can understand they’re angry and above all that there’s unemployment and cutting benefits so everything comes together and the cup is full.” . He had been told by his employer not to go to work today “because of the riot”.

Christian Macani, 22, who works in environmental sciences, asked a question that was on the lips of many in his neighbourhood this morning.

“What does this achieve?” he said. “They can’t get away with this, can they?
“People really don’t think. It’s stupid, this. They’ve achieved absolutely nothing. It’s a joke.”

Eight police officers were being treated in hospital today, with Scotland Yard saying at least one had suffered head injuries in the clashes.

Hina Rabbani

ISLAMABAD: According to sources, The government has decided to appoint Hina Rabbani Khar as the Minister for Foreign Affairs.Prime Minister of Pakistan Syed Yousaf Raza Gilani has sent advice to President Asif Ali Zardari for the appointment of Khar as Foreign Minister.
The decision was taken keeping in view the level of Khar’s comptency and recent interaction at the Foreign Office, sources at the Prime Minister House said .
Khar is expected to take charge as soon as a notification is issued in this regard. She is currently Minister of State for Foreign Affairs.
States Times Sources said the decision was taken for the upcoming talks between foreign ministers of Pakistan and India.
The talks are expected to be held by the month of July, with a final date yet to be announced.
The foreign ministers’ meeting will be preceded by preparatory talks between Indian Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao and her Pakistani counterpart Salman Bashir.

Julian Assange Arrested in London

London – WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange surrendered to London police on Tuesday. Julian Assange have been arrested on Swedish warrant for sex-crime investigation according to official sources. However, facts are disputable on the basis of releasing secret information regarding US Weaponry Assets and their intelligence.

His personal Bank accounts have been frozen and U.S. government have launched a criminal investigation against him and a group of 500 mirror websites around the world.

The legal troubles for Assange, a 39-year-old Australian, stem from allegations leveled against him by two women he met while in Sweden over the summer. Assange is accused of rape and sexual molestation in one case and of sexual molestation and unlawful coercion in another.

Assange denies the allegations, which his British attorney Mark Stephens says stem from a “dispute over consensual but unprotected sex.” Assange and Stephens have suggested that the prosecution is being manipulated for political reasons.

A spokesman for WikiLeaks called Assange’s arrest an attack on media freedom and said it won’t prevent the organization from releasing more secret documents.

“This will not change our operation,” Kristinn Hrafnsson told The Associated Press.

WikiLeaks has angered the U.S. government by releasing tens of thousands of secret U.S. military documents, followed by the ongoing release of what it says will eventually be a quarter-million cables from U.S. diplomatic posts around the world. It provided those documents to five newspapers, which have been working with WikiLeaks to edit the cables for publication.

The campaign against WikiLeaks began with an effort to jam the website as the cables were being released. U.S. Internet companies Amazon.com, Inc., EveryDNS and PayPal, Inc. then severed their links with WikiLeaks in quick succession, forcing it to jump to new servers and adopt a new primary Web address – wikileaks.ch – in Switzerland.

Israel and Turkey Secret Talks

An Israeli minister secretly met with Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu in order to thaw the deep chill in relations between former allies,

Channel Two television said the Trade Minister Binyamin Ben Eliezer, who is on good terms with the personal Davutoglu, met in an undisclosed location in Europe in recent days. He did not specify the content of the meeting.

If confirmed, this would be the first meeting between the parties at ministerial level since May 31 bloody Israeli commando raid on a Turkish ship carries a fleet of aid to Gaza despite an Israeli blockade.

The incident, which killed eight soldiers and a Turkish dual citizenship US-Turkish relations, already strained ties broken between Turkey and Israel. Ankara recalled its ambassador and canceled three planned joint military exercises.

The two countries were close allies until their friendship soured strong Turkish critical environment of a devastating war with Israel on Gaza began in December 2008.

Relations were strained further when the Israeli deputy minister gave Danny Ayalon Ambassador of Turkey to a public dressing room in protest against a Turkish television series that shows Israel in a bad light.

But talks between Ben Eliezer and Davutoglu were hidden by the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Minister exasperating hawkish and straightforward, Avigdor Lieberman, told Channel Two.

While not mentioning Ben Eliezer Davutoglu or by name, office Leiberman said talks had taken place without his knowledge or approval.

“The Minister of Foreign Affairs takes very seriously the fact that it occurred without informing the Ministry of Foreign Affairs,” he said in a statement.

“It’s an insult to the standards of acceptable behavior and a blow to the confidence between the Minister of Foreign Affairs and Prime Minister.”

A statement from the office of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he had approved a request from Ben Eliezer to hold an informal meeting with a personality “Turkish” and lack of coordination with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs had been for ” technical reasons “.

USA

Congress has approved tough new sanctions against Iran, urging the Iranian administration to suspect pursuit of a nuclear weapons capability. The bill has been sent to President Obama for his signatures.
The Senate approved the bill with 99-0 votes. Congress approved the bill for sanctions with outright majority. As many as 408 votes were in favor of the sanctions while eight votes going against. Democratic party leader Senator Harry Read said that the basic purpose of the sanctions is to adopt a multilateral strategy to isolate and pressure Iran to suspect nuclear weapons capability which could be used against the US and Israel.

The legislation will expand the scope of the Iran Sanctions Act by penalizing foreign companies that assist Iran’s energy sector.

Musharraf, who has mostly lived in London since losing power following 2008 elections, visited Washington this week and met quietly with prominent Pakistanis at a ritzy hotel to discuss his future plans.

In an interview with CNN, Musharraf said he intended to return to politics, although he was coy when asked about the time-frame.

“I certainly am planning to go back to Pakistan and also join politics. The question already of whether I am running for president or prime minister will be seen later,” he said.

Officials in Pakistan earlier said Musharraf had applied to register a new party with electoral authorities, setting the stage for a political comeback.

But Musharraf could face a criminal trial if he returns to Pakistan for detaining judges in 2007 as he attempted to cling to power.

Musharraf is also wanted for questioning over allegations in a UN-led investigation that he could have done more to prevent the December 2007 assassination of former prime minister Benazir Bhutto.

Musharraf disagreed with the UN report, saying, “I think all the security was provided” to Bhutto.

“In fact, it was me who warned her about the threat to her,” Musharraf said.

Musharraf said he had previously stopped Bhutto from going to the venue where she was later killed by Islamic extremist.

“A lot of political aspersions were cast on me that her movements are being restricted. But she decided to go again,” Musharraf said.

Bhutto’s widower, Asif Ali Zardari, replaced Musharraf as president in 2008. Musharraf could face formidable odds in any return to politics to match the political machinery of Zardari and former prime minister Nawaz Sharif.

KARACHI: With self-exiled retired General Pervez Musharraf as its chief, the All-Pakistan Muslim League was launched by his close aides here on Tuesday.

Equating the present situation with that of 1906 when the All-India Muslim League was launched, Barrister Muhammad Ali Saif, a central leader of the new party, said that as the AIML overcame hurdles on its way to success, “God willing, ours would also become a popular political party and play its role in Pakistan’s progress.”

Speaking at a press conference at the Karachi Press Club with retired Major-General Rashid Qureshi, another central leader of the party, Mr Saif said the party was against hereditary politics and would carry out its politics in a democratic manner to serve the people.

“Our motto remains ‘Pakistan first’, and remaining above all personal, regional and group considerations we will make every necessary sacrifice for Pakistan,” he said.

Mr Saif said their party had received a good response from the people and political activists, including leaders from the PML-Q, the PML (Likeminded) and the Awami Muslim League. He added that during his three-day stay in Karachi, he had been contacted by a number of representatives of labour, women and youth organisations who wanted to join the party. He mentioned some of the men seated with him, including Zubair Khan and Anwar Warsi.

He said that in the first phase, organisational councils at the district, divisional and provincial levels were being set up and in the second phase those who were made council members would be given responsibilities after forming Karachi and provincial councils. They would be visiting Punjab, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Gilgit-Baltistan, Azad Kashmir and Balochistan.

In reply to questions repeatedly asked by journalists that before entering politics, Gen Musharraf should clear himself of the charges of massacre at Lal Masjid and Jamia Hafsa in Islamabad, the May 12 killings in Karachi, the assassinations of PPP leader Benazir Bhutto and Akbar Bugti in Balochistan, Mr Saif said those were political allegations and would be responded to at a proper platform and at an appropriate time through the presentation of facts. Doubts were created in people’s minds by opponents of Gen Musharraf and “we would fully satisfy the people”, he added.

Regarding the Muttahida Qaumi Movement, he said: “They are our brothers” and that he hoped they would extend cooperation in “our political journey”.

Rashid Qureshi said Gen Musharraf would soon return to Pakistan. He, however, could not give a date or month of his return, saying that it would be determined by the former president himself.

Sheikh Rashid Strategy Fails

Sheikh’s strategy fails in this NA-55 election against unexpected strong candidate of PML-N Shakil Awaan. Unofficial results that have started pouring in show Pakistan Muslim League-N candidate Shakil Awan in clear lead over Sheikh Rashid in a neck-and-neck competition between the two.

This has been reported yesterday that PPP, PML-Q and few small political groups were Indirectly campaigning for Sheikh Rashid.

Even, the sources reported to us that Sheikh’s Vote Bank contains about minimum of 15000 Votes  from PPP Political Workers.

The overall situation remained peaceful throughout the polling except for a few separate incidents of fights reported during the day.

Blaming the state machinery for alleged rigging, Sheikh Rashid said PML-N may go ahead and do whatever it wants, he will prove himself a tough competition.

Meanwhile, Jamat-e-Islam candidate Dr. Kamal expressed satisfaction on the election process and advised Sheikh Rashid to come forward with evidence of the alleged rigging.

Secret Operation at Karachi

Top Taliban commander captured in secret raid. The Taliban’s top military commander has been captured in Pakistan in a joint operation by Pakistani and U.S. intelligence forces, The New York Times reported.

AP reports:

Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, described as the No. 2 behind Taliban founder and Osama bin Laden associate Mullah Muhammad Omar, has been in Pakistan’s custody for several days…

Baradar was captured in Karachi, Pakistan, in a raid by Pakistan’s Directorate for Inter-Services Intelligence, with CIA operatives accompanying the Pakistanis, the Times reported. Pakistan has been leading the interrogation of Baradar, but Americans were also involved, it said.

Baradar heads the Taliban’s military council and was elevated in the body after the 2006 death of military chief Mullah Akhtar Mohammed Usmani. Baradar is known to coordinate the movement’s military operations throughout the south and southwest of Afghanistan. His area of direct responsibility stretches over Kandahar, Helmand, Nimroz, Zabul and Uruzgan provinces.

If confirmed, Baradar’s arrest would be a major setback for the Taliban.

He may also have information on the whereabouts of Omar and bin Laden.

Source of this detailed report is from New York Times!