Karachi, Nov 14 : Kidnappers of prominent Pakistani filmmaker and distributor Satish Anand have reportedly demanded one million pounds for his release.

Anand was kidnapped from Karachi on October 20.

His family claimed to have two phone calls, one traced to Quetta and the other to Bannu, asking them to deposit the money in an Egyptian bank account.

Islamabad, Nov 14 : The Pakistan Government is learnt to have decided to declare Benazir Bhutto’s death anniversary on December 27 as a public holiday.

The Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), which leads the alliance government in Islamabad, decided this at a meeting of its Central Executive Committee (CEC) meeting here last evening.

The CEC met at Prime Minister’s House with Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani in the chair and finalised preparations for first death anniversary of the former premier, reported the Daily Times.

Washington - Osama bin Laden has grown more isolated from al-Qaeda's operatives, but the terrorist network has rebuilt itself in Pakistan's tribal region and remains the single greatest US security threat, the central intelligence director said Thursday.

"Today virtually every major terrorist threat that my agency is aware of has threads back to the tribal areas," CIA Director Michael Hayden said in a speech in Washington.

Srinagar, Nov 13 : After initial euphoria fruit growers in Jammu and Kashmir are disillusioned with the recently initiated trade across the Line of Control (LOC) with Pakistan administered Kashmir.

The disenchanted traders cite lack of proper communication and payment as the reasons behind their decision to suspended sending their fruits across the LoC.

“The goods we used to send to Muzzafrabad have been stopped, it is now sent to Delhi. There is no proper information for the process,” said Nisar Ahmed, a fruit grower.

Karachi, Nov 13 : Putting aside building by-laws, the Defence Housing Authority (DHA) in Karachi, which makes tall claims about upholding building control laws and clamping down on violations in its area, has allowed a restaurant to come up and caring out a parking space by blocking a service road of the Beach Avenue.

Islamabad - Gunmen on Thursday ambushed a car carrying an Iranian diplomat in north-western Pakistan and kidnapped the envoy after killing his guard, officials and media reports said.

Heshmatollah Attarzadeh, a commercial attache, was seized when he was travelling to the Iranian consulate in Peshawar, the capital of the troubled North West Frontier Province.