nhk world, islamabad. >> valerie kahn is a chairperson of acid survivors foundation pakistan in islamabad. valerie, you have been helping hundreds of victims of acid violence. who usually attacks them, and why? >> most often the victims were attacked by close members of their family, husbands, cousins, or sometimes community members who want to take revenge or punish them for something specific. >> are we talking about domestic fights? what's the reason behind such a vicious crime? >> right. 60% of the attacks do occur because of domestic violence and another high percentage of attacks does occur because of refusal of marriage or sexual advance and another reason for this is business disputes or enmities of any sort. >> what do you think would be the root cause of this issue? do you think people think they can get away with doing something like this? >> well, there was definitely a problem related to impunity. the conviction rate in general in pakistan is up 10%. as far as acid violence is concerned, the conviction rate today is close to 6%, so that's the notion of impunity is definitely

very important parts of the country and i'm talking about a few kilometers away from the capital islamabad and from lahore which is the capital of the largest the most popular province of the country the punjab we're seeing huge you're right it's against a power outages begins to scarcity of water supplies against inflation and corruption and for the first time you're seeing today box and you saw on their t.v. channels as greens riots mobs actually ripping off posters of politicians from different political parties the mobs were not really discriminating they were not choosing one party they were not going against one party and leaving the other but they were just going after. the titians and in fact we have reports that politicians have actually. ran away escape from their residences in some parts of the country because they were afraid that mobs would would just engulf them so we have a really very difficult situation now you're talking about external impact let's also remember this thing the united states and the united kingdom have had a very important investment in this government thi

we have our report from islamabad bad. >> reporter: the air threat was carried out on sunday. according to the pakistani government, 16 civilians were killed by unmanned aircraft in the country's north region. the pakistani government summoned the u.s. deputy ambassador on tuesday to protest the attack. pakistan claims that the action was not only illegal, but also vi la violated the nation's sovereignty. jay carney said on tuesday that the u.s. drone strikes have been an effective means of attacking al qaeda. >> there is now no clear successor to take on the breadth of his responsibilities, and that puts additional pressure on al qaeda's post-bin laden leader, zawahiri. >> carney said libi's death is the harshest blow to the group since the killing of osama bin laden. drone strikes by the u.s. have caused civilian casualties in pakistan and fueling anti-u.s. sentiment among its people. but the air strikes are still averaging one every two days during the past two weeks. pakistan's parliament is demanding an immediate halt to such actions. nhk world, islamabad. >>> about 460 j

we discovered a cable in two thousand and nine from the islamabad embassy. prime minister of. interior minister mal ak went into the embassy and. offered to share now that is the voting record system for voters in pakistan and a front company was set up in the united kingdom of international identity services which was hired as the consultant on that drug to squirrel out. the. all of pakistan its it seems to me that is a theft of some national treasure of pakistan the entire pakistani database registry office people. judy it's so shameful. you know never has a country's ruling elite for personal benefits never had to betray to people as much as this elite and it was sure of and they got it lead not only have they done as they have been just number of people who have disappeared by just. on suspicion of terrorism they were biased i mean these people from by just any sort of handle would do the americans on this mission of of. them being involved in some terrorist and people have disappeared. people that get it when it suspects up a limited to troop drawdowns and not of the susp

so that's why difficult skin we researched the wiki leaks cables from islamabad to see what they said about you and in two thousand and seven the us ambassador said. who's p.t.i. party is effectively a one man show has little to lose his credibility rests in he's so creative role as a politician he sticks to his principles and he's popular with the pakistani intelligence here and elements of diaspora but has never been able to turn his starring role as captain of pakistan's only team to really win the international cricket championship into an effective political party that's obviously changed now what's happened in the last few months with julian what happened was the. media. from hostile fire on words we suddenly had. the friesian of independent deliberation jones. the most. the most watched programs begin to fail programs so the today if you watch the television it's like having read jeremy bags one don't sweat the give you have. these these guys become a billion moves like jury votes and you will have one on the mean one of all the journals and. where you would for instance have a

we discovered a cable in two thousand and nine from the islamabad embassy. prime minister of. interior minister mal ak went in to the embassy and. offered to share an address that is the voting record system for voters in pakistan and a front company was set up in the united kingdom international identity services which was hired as the consultants in that drawer to squirrel out. the. all of pakistan it's it seems to me that that is a theft of some national treasure of pakistan the entire pakistani database registry of its people. judy its social well. you know never has a country's ruling elite for personal benefits never had to betray to people as my just as a leader and we show up and the government elite. not only have done as they have been just number of people who have disappeared by just. on suspicion of terrorism there will by stunning people from by just any sort of hand over to the americans on a business mission of of. them being involved in some terrorism and people have disappeared . people that it will need suspect stuff and limited to troop drawdowns and not on

these western powers are leaving behind or i thank you for your thoughts there on the line from islamabad president of the matchless for. some international news in brief now at seventeen minutes past six o'clock moscow time hundreds have marched through to rome to in support of quebec students have been rallying for months against jewish and hikes since february hundreds of demonstrators have been detained with almost two hundred thousand refusing to attend university wednesday's toronto rallies united local students and labor activists with another protest federal for a fortnight's time. north korean leader kim jong un's given this second public speech since taking power in front of tens of thousands of children wednesday marks the anniversary of the country's union organization to help the young generations loyalty to the regime that comes two days off the north korea with the southern neighbor of military action over the critical coverage of children's festivals in. the u.s. defense secretary is wrapping up his first visit to india to a largely regarded as an attempt to shore up washi

why i'm so up set to hear about the end of a crucial national security operation in the heart of islamabad. jim? >> the u.s. embassy in pakistan ending funding for a local version of "sesame street". the move comes amid reports of corruption at the 20 million dollar project. >> stephen: $20 million of corruption on "sesame street". i believe congress needs to hold hearings and ask some tough questions. what elmo know and when elmo know it! (laughter) now folks, this show called sim sim hammara has already been in production in pakistan for a year and was created with a grant from the united states agency for international development with the goal of improving education and increasing tolerance. it was our most successful deployment of a puppet in the region since hamid karzai. (cheers and applause) >> stephen: but very life like. very life like. but an investigation of corruption has been launched thanks to a tip between a state department telephone hotline. although it did take a long time for that hotline to get answered. >> bring. >> oh, bring. >> stephen: now according to pakistani pr

reza say a is joining us from islamabad. she was gunned down in pakistan.as this because she dared to sing and dance? >> reporter: it doesn't seem to be the case at this hour, suzanne. police say the taliban was not involved in this shooting. they say the lead suspect is her husband. the two had a very bitter divorce late last year, and according to relatives and police the conflicts continued for months on end. initially it was a lot of speculation that maybe this was the pakistani taliban, but police quickly dismissed those early reports. now they're focusing on her ex-husband. let's briefly tell you how this all happened. police say last night in pashour, she just came out of the beauty salon. getting into the car with her father when gunmen on a motorcycle rushed to the car, sprayed it with bullets. she was hit with six bulle. she was killed. so was her father. her sister immediately accused the ex-husband and at this hour the search is on for the ex-husband and two acquaintances. >> rez a, explain to us why it was there was so much talk about the fact

hideki yui, nhk world, islamabad. >>> urbanization continues at a rapid pace in india and other areas of the country are modernizing, but the dramatic changes are leaving some behind including four-legged laborers. nhk world explains. >> reporter: nestled in the himalayan mountains, india's ladak region rises to 6,000 meters above sea level. the people here still maintain traditional activity and culture. farmers in this mountainous area have always relied heavily on the labor of donkeys. in this village, an hour drive, from a central ladak, they continue to be an important part of the workforce. but in town the animals are simply abandoned. areas in the region have been connected by roads in recent years and farmers find it easier to replace their beasts of burden with trucks. as people seek an economic lifestyle, many of the working animals are left to fend for themselves. the donkeys walk through the streets paying no attention to people or traffic. moving in groups they disrupt the locals that are releasing them as means of transport. >> translator: the donkeys roam around loose a

nbc news, islamabad. >> joining us tonight for the interview is nbc's bureau chief.lations on this. >> thank you for having me. >> it's remarkable to see the fragments of the missiles and the guy looking at the serial numbers and trying to track them down. is this the first we knew anything like this was happening? >> no, of course not. we have known for a while that this was a huge part of this administration's counterterrorism program. certainly in pakistan more so than any other country although it has expanded to other countries in recent years. if you look at the numbers, you see there's been a sharp uptick in the use of these drone strikes in pakistan over the last decade or so, and we know that the obama administration in particular relies heavily on ç these kinds of strikes inside pakistan. >> is this the first time we knew that pakistanis were trying to trace the physical evidence of those strikes back to the source of the weaponry for the purposes of getting accountability? >> this is certainly one of the only efforts that's being made of its kind. this la

you have.t >> first, breaking news we can bring you from islamabad where they have declared the prime minister is disqualified from holding office. two months ago a convicted him up, attentive court for refusing to reopen -- attempted court for refusing to reopen cases. >> this ruling has come from the supreme court within the last half hour. we have not seen the fall textu, but the headline is the supreme court has ruled the prime minister is disqualified. that is effective from the end of april when he was convicted on contempt charges. you remember the contempt case was a long-running legal battle. he was brought to court on the legal charges because he refused to reopen corruption cases against pakistan's president in switzerland. the allegation was the president had been involved in laundering. the response of the time from the prime minister had been that as head of state, the president enjoyed immunity from prosecution. the supreme court rejected the argument and found him guilty of contempt. it did not disqualify him at that time. the issue was let to the speaker of parliament

this comes amid heightened tensions between islamabad and washington.istan is demanding that the u.s. halt all air strikes. >> russian president vladimir putin has met his palestinian counterpart mahmoud abbas in bethlehem. it is the second day of his trip to the middle east. he praised abbas' responsible position in negotiations with israel and called on both sides to resume talks. >> after talks with burmese opposition leader aung san suu kyi, a french president francois hollande says his government will do everything possible to support the democratic transition under way in burma. hollande also said he was prepared to welcome burma's reformist president. >> foreign ministers from the european union have agreed to start accession talks with montenegro. they are warned that the former yugoslav state has stepped up its efforts to fight organized crime and corruption, but the decision still has to be endorsed by eu leaders at this week's summit. >> 30 people have been killed and more than 100 are missing after a landslide in eastern uganda. authorities

bbc news, islamabad. >> staying with pakistan, leon panetta has defended the use of drugs to attack al qaeda militants inside the country's borders. speaking in a visit to delhi, he said they must overcome differences with pakistan to strengthen peace and security. mr. leon panetta also encourage the leaders to provide additional support to afghanistan. for more on the american strategy in the region, i spoke with a former u.s. ambassador. the relationship with india and america does seem to be in a bit of a courtship phase at the moment. just how important is india to the u.s.? >> well, it is critically important, and we have been courting india for quite some time. actually, this is a bipartisan policy going back to president clinton's days, with the civilian nuclear agreement under bush in 2008, and now president obama has decided with this shifting to asia policy that india is, in fact, a cornerstone of policy. why is that? indy's shared values with the united states, democracy and human rights. they have an economy that can help the middle class and rebuild itself. quite frankly,

why i'm so up set to hear about the end of a crucial national security operation in the heart of islamabad. jim? >> the u.s. embassy in pakistan ending funding for a local version of "sesame street". the move comes amid reports of corruption at the 20 million dollar project. >> stephen: $20 million of corruption on "sesame street". i believe congress needs to hold hearings and ask some tough questions. what elmo know and when elmo know it! (laughter) now folks, this show called sim sim hammara has already been in production in pakistan for a year and was created with a grant from the united states agency for international development with the goal of improving education and increasing tolerance. it was our most successful deployment of a puppet in the region since hamid karzai. (cheers and applause) >> stephen: but very life like. very life like. but an investigation of corruption has been launched thanks to a tip between a state department telephone hotline. although it did take a long time for that hotline to get answered. >> bring. >> oh, bring. >> stephen: now according to pakistani pr

with seven killed in two recent incidents america's campaign of drone attacks continues despite islamabad's claims that it violates international law and kills innocent civilians here's artie's going to church camp. reports about u.s. drone strikes in pakistan come in more and more often we're getting used to hearing in the media such and such number of terrorists was killed with no way to verify really there are no names attached to those numbers usually but earlier this month american officials proudly announced that a drone strike in pakistan killed one of his top commanders almost two weeks later a video with the same men. was posted online with titles which are generally reserved for the living leaders have not confirmed or denied levy's death the video could have been taped before he's that's true so he might as well be dead but the confusion has once again raised the question of who's really dying in those bombings and how much do we actually know because it's all very murky what we do know is that the obama administration has dramatically ramped up drone strikes in pakistan around t

muhammad lila, abc news, islamabad. >>> it is not getting any better for facebook stockholders. the company's shares opened this morning at a new low. on a day when the nasdaq actually gained ground, facebook shares closed just under $27. that is down 29% from its original price last month. of the 11 days facebook shares have been traded, the stock has fallen on seven of them. >>> now tonight's sky show featuring the transit of venus could be a once in a lifetime sight. venus will start crossing the sun at 6:00 p.m. eastern here in north america and the transit will take about six hours. venus gets between the sun and earth so rarely. the next time this will take place will be in 2117. >> not going to be around for that one. >> i'll still be at the desk. don't stare at the sun because of the risk but nasa's website will have live pictures in case it's cloudy. go online and check it out. >> 105 years until the next one? >> yeah, some math major. very nice. >> methuselah. maybe i'll still be around. >>> here's a look at your weather. chilly with showers in the northeast. thunderst

my deputy was in islamabad for about the last six, seven weeks carrying them out. we've not -- we do find a great deal of willingness on the pakistan side to re-open those and we'll report back to the committee when that happens. but what i would stress is pry marlly due to our partnership with a number of other countries to the north of afghanistan, we have been able to continue operations without any interruption or any hindrance and the level of supplies for our troops in afghanistan, for our nato partners' troops in afghanistan is higher now than before the pakistani ground lines of communications were closed. it costs more money. it's a much longer route. it goes through some more difficult areas in terms of development of the transportation networks. all that said, due to some tremendous work by our colleagues and trans-com, sen-com and a number of civilian carriers we're actually in very good shape and able to move forces and equipment in and out of afghanistan as is necessary. however, we don't want to be dependent upon the north any more than we want to be

between the two countries rose last year when missiles killed twenty four pakistani soldiers prompting islamabad to block nato supply routes to afghanistan. political parties in egypt have agreed on how to select the panel that will dry the country's new constitution after a push from the ruling military council the previous panel was dissolved after secular and liberal members organized a walkout complaining that islam is dominated these soundly preparations for the new constitution come as egyptians for fair to head to the polls for the upcoming highly contested election runoff which is scheduled to take place at the end of next week voters will have to choose between muslim brotherhood candidate mohamed morsi and hosni mubarak's last prime minister ahmed. policy or now reports egyptians are getting old and a political web to the point where they are failing to spot a growing danger threatening not only the economy but also their health. it took this from the forty seven years to accumulate his wealth and just one week to lose a third of it. that's one morning or open this place and found thre

continues to launch drone attacks despite requests from islamabad to end all strikes on its territory. thousands of students have marched through the streets of montreal in protest of proposed chewie shouldn't fee hikes it came two days after talks collapsed between activists and the government aimed at ending months of sometimes violent protests over two and a half thousand people have been arrested since demonstrations began in more than a dozen colleges and universities in quebec. to garner now where ten people are many of us have died after being hit by a cargo plane which crash landed at the country's main airport the plane overshot the runway and plowed into the packed vehicle four crew aboard the jet skate with injuries they were taken to hospital it's not yet clear what caused the incident. coming up in thirty minutes here now to units more on the goings on of the french open and newly elected president talks to us as well outlining the road ahead for his country now that he's at the helm kevin allen thanks for choosing r t this sunday. religion and they. are inseparable. enli

continues to launch drone attacks on pakistan despite requests from islamabad to end all strikes on its territory. thousands of students of marched through the streets of montreal in protest that proposed solution fee hikes came two days after talks collapsed between activists in the government aimed at ending months of sometimes violent protests or two and a half thousand people have been arrested since demonstrations began in a dozen qualities and universities in quebec. to garner ten people in a minibus have died after being hit by a cargo plane which crash landed at the country's main airport the plane overshot the runway and powered into the packed vehicle four crew aboard the jet escaped with just injuries were taken to hospital it's not yet clear what caused the incident. well a special report on the war in vietnam and a couple of minutes before that i was back with a recap of today's top stories. i had a family i lived in a fairly nice community wasn't rich it was an upscale it was just like you know archie bunker society ok then they started showing up here what happened was my

continues to launch drone attacks despite requests from islamabad to end all strikes on its territory. thousands of students have marched through the streets of montreal protest that opposed to mission fee hikes came two days after talks collapsed between activists and the government aimed at ending months of sometimes violent protests over two and a half thousand people have been arrested since demonstrations by dad doesn't qualities and interest is in quebec. to garner now where ten people in a minibus have died after being hit by a cargo plane which crashed landed at the country's main airport the plane overshot the runway and plowed into the packed vehicle for crew aboard the jet escape the injuries were taken to hospital it's not yet clear what caused the incident. but i'll be back shortly with the headlines do stay with us. and religion and education are inseparable. enlightenment is impossible without knowledge. inner peace without hard work. joy.

makers in islamabad must have understood what they were heading for when deciding to stand by the u.s. in its afghan military campaign so who is to blame for the bloodshed that we're seeing almost every day and in particular this recent rise in violence. i mean the one to blame is. the. dorms. only into so when you learn there were more than sixty five dorms at the back is. actually been completely on people by the obama administration a lot more than by the bush administration no the horse mount with china is actually not surprising at all because it's. it's it's an all the lions of pakistan. in the sixty's and seventy's. you know super on china because at the time the soviet union was supporting india and now the u.s. is basically helping india are on a bunch of issues. nuclear power. well it's it's very logical. of the. if you wish to that's always been between pakistan and india that pakistan would see. you know or small china also you know the number. just quickly ask you about that. a gesture towards china is that in a way then a snub towards washington. well it's not would use

soldiers were beheaded in a recent across the border raid this was a raid from a from afghanistan islamabad blames nato for allowing this latest loss of life to occur as well as the thousands of pakistani deaths since the beginning of the u.s. led war but he's going to check on the reports on the extreme price the country is paying for its alliance with washington. it's not only u.s. bombs that fly in pakistan but also the stream of demands and accusations from washington there are several things that where asking the pakistanis to do more and better number one they've got to do more about the safe havens inside their own country even ridicule the u.s. defense secretary has laughed at pakistan for being in the dark on the bin laden raid. literally in washington's rhetoric now suggest that during the decade of war in afghanistan pakistan had been their most instrumental ally in the region the united states could not have had security afghanistan in three weeks with minimum cost in terms of. money and in terms of in terms of the lives of its soldiers that would not have been possible without

militants killed in the latest attack america continues to use the aerial threat despite protests from islamabad that is against international law but it's not just terrorists who are dying more than eight hundred civilians have paid with their lives for the so-called u.s. war on terror since president obama took office he is going to check on. reports about u.s. drone strikes in pakistan coming more and more often we're getting used to hearing in the media such and such number of terrorists was killed with no way to verify really there are no names attached to those numbers usually but earlier this month american officials proudly announced that a drone strike in pakistan killed one of his top commanders almost two weeks later a video with the same men. it was posted online with titles which are generally reserved for the living other al qaeda leaders have not confirmed or denied levy's death the video could have been taped before he's dead that's true so he might as well be dead but the confusion has once again raised the question of who's really dying in those bombings and how much do we actu