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| March 16, 2008 | Sunday | Rabi-ul-Awwal 7, 1429 |
Updated round-the-clock, with major updates after 10:00 PST (05:00 GMT)
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 20 dead in Pakistan missile strike: state television PESHAWAR, March 16 (Agencies): At least 20 people were killed and five others were injured on Sunday when a missile hit a house in a restive Pakistani tribal area bordering Afghanistan, state television said. Residents said they heard several blasts after missiles fired from an unknown site hit a residential compound in Doog village in South Waziristan. Foreigners linked with Taliban and Al-Qaeda militants were believed to be staying at the compound near Wana, residents said. “Militants have cordoned the blast site and are taking out bodies from the rubble,” a local tribesman told AFP. (First Posted @ 16:22 PST Updated @ 19:30 PST)  Convening of Pakistan's new parliament sets stage for showdown with President Musharraf ISLAMABAD, Pakistan, March 16 (AP) - Pakistan's new parliament convenes Monday, setting the stage for a power struggle between President Pervez Musharraf and a new coalition government that has vowed to assail his already diminished powers. At stake are the future course and political stability of the nation as it struggles with economic problems and rising militancy. The National Assembly outgoing speaker will swear in the newly elected lawmakers Monday but Parliament will only get down to the real business of lawmaking once the new government takes office later in the month. The parties – Benazir’s PPP, Nawaz Sharif’s PML-N, and the ANP led by Asfandyar Wali, however, have already outlined a set of priorities. The PPP has said its top priority will be to seek a U.N. investigation into her death. The coalition also hopes to amend the constitution to strip Musharraf of his power to dissolve parliament and to dismiss the prime minister. The National Security Council, which gives the military a formal say in policy, may also be axed. The coalition's most explosive plan is the restoration of some 60 superior court judges including chief justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry who were sacked by Musharraf when he declared emergency rule last November. (Posted @ 10:58 PST)  17 killed in two mishaps in northern Pakistan PESHAWAR, March 16 (AP): At least 17 people died when two vehicles toppled off mountain roads in northern Pakistan. Police officer Muhammad Aslam said a jeep loaded with 14 passengers fell into a ravine Sunday in Batangi area northeast of Peshawar city, killing nine people and wounding five. In another mishap, eight people on their way to a wedding died in Malakand tribal area when the tractor trailer they were riding on fell off a mountain road. Three other people were seriously wounded. (Posted @ 16:30 PST) Gunmen kill coast guard man, injure two others in Balochistan QUETTA, March 16 (AFP): Gunmen riding on motorcycles shot dead a coast guard official and injured two others in Balochistan province, police said Sunday. The coast guards were in a vehicle outside their camp near the town of Hub late Saturday when armed men shot them with automatic weapons and fled, a police official said. “One coast guard official was killed and two others injured,” a local police official Mohammad Amin Lasi told AFP. A militant group identifying itself as the Balochistan Liberation Army claimed responsibility for the attack. (Posted @ 15:50 PST) Pakistan repatriates three Saudi militants RIYADH, March 16 (AFP): Three Saudi militants have been repatriated with the help of Pakistan, the Saudi interior ministry said on Sunday. In a brief statement carried by the official SPA news agency, “three Saudi citizens who had been in troubled regions in an irregular way have been repatriated with the help of the brothers in Pakistan,” the ministry said. “They include two who contacted the Saudi embassy to indicate they wanted to return to their country and turn themselves in,” it said, adding that the three would be subjected to “rules in force” in the kingdom. (Posted @ 16:18 PST) Islamabad restaurant blast raises questions ISLAMABAD, March 16 (AFP) - A blast at the popular Luna Caprese Italian eatery in Islamabad on Saturday evening, killing a Turkish aid worker and injuring 10 others. Is the first attack in which foreigners have been targeted in Islamabad since 2002 and may suggest a new trend, a top security official said on condition of anonymity. “This restaurant carries the repute that foreigners come here because hard drinks are served with food. The fact that militants chose to strike the place on a weekend night shows that they had done their homework,” a senior security official involved in the investigation told AFP. Islamabad police chief Shahid Nadeem Baluch said an improvised explosive device was used in the attack. “We have not yet determined if it was thrown from outside or planted,” he said. However, Baluch would not say if foreigners were the intended target. The senior security official said five to six kilogrammes of explosives with pellets and ball bearing were used -- a trademark of pro-Taliban militants blamed for several previous attacks. The attack will put pressure on Pakistan's incoming coalition government, which is due to be sworn in on Monday, analysts opined. (Posted @ 10:00 PST) 
Two killed, three in mishaps near Sehwan Sehwan Sharif, March 16 (PPI): Two persons riding a motorcycle were killed on Sunday when their vehicle rammed into a parked truck on Indus Highway near Laki Shah Saddar. THREE INJURED: In another incident, three people including a woman sustained serious injuries in a car-motorcycle collision near village Bachal Chana on Sunday. (Posted @ 22:04 PST) Swiss foreign minister to sign Iran gas deal GENEVA, March 16 (Reuters): Switzerland's foreign minister was travelling to Tehran on Sunday to sign a natural gas purchase contract between Iran and a Swiss utility, a deal she said could help ease Europe's dependence on Russian gas. The gas deal between does not violate United Nations or U.S. sanctions imposed on Iran, Micheline Calmy-Rey said. (Posted @ 20:12 PST) Cheney begins 10-day Mideast trip with Iran high on agenda WASHINGTON, March 16 (AP): U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney left Sunday on a 10-day trip that includes visits to Oman, Saudi Arabia, Israel, the Palestinian territories and Turkey. His trip coincides with the fifth anniversary of the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq. High gasoline prices and prospects for an Israeli-Palestinian peace deal headline U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney's trip to the Mideast, but fears about Iran's rising influence will be a key topic of his private talks at each stop. (Posted @ 20:08 PST) Pakistani forces shoot dead woman: army ISLAMABAD, March 16 (AFP): Troops shot dead a woman on Sunday after opening fire on a vehicle when it failed to stop at a checkpost in Swat Valley, the army said. The army expressed “deep regret” over the incident, which happened in the early hours. The region near the Afghan border has been under a night-time curfew since troops launched a military operation against the cleric, Maulana Fazlullah, in October last year. A military statement said soldiers fired warning shots in the air to stop the vehicle when it approached the checkpoint in Matta district shortly after midnight on Sunday morning, then fired shots to puncture the tyres. “As a result of firing, one female was seriously injured. She was provided first aid and evacuated to hospital by security personnel. However, she succumbed to injuries,” the statement said. The other people in the car, a man, two women and two children, were not harmed, it said. “We deeply regret the incident and loss of precious life,” the statement added. (Posted @ 20:00 PST) German leader visits 60 yrs after birth of Israel TEL AVIV, March 16 (AP): Angela Merkel began on Sunday a highly symbolic visit to Israel, where she will become the first German chancellor to address its parliament more than 60 years after the Nazi Holocaust that killed 6 million Jews. Welcoming Merkel, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert praised her “unflinching support” for the Jewish state and described the German leader as a “strategic ally”. (Posted @ 19:48 PST) Pakistan to hang Indian terrorist on April 1: official LAHORE, March 16 (AFP): An Indian man convicted over a bombing that killed four people in Pakistan will be hanged on April 1, prison officials said Sunday. Sarabjit Singh has been in jail in Pakistan since 1990 and the Supreme Court rejected an appeal against his death penalty, while President Pervez Musharraf also rejected his mercy petition in March. “His death warrants have been issued and we have received them. He will be hanged on April 1,” deputy chief of Lahore's main Kot Lakhpat prison Shabbar Khan told AFP. (Posted @ 19:36 PST) 
Two killed, dozens injured as powerful storms, tornadoes strike Georgia ATLANTA, March 16 (AP): Two people in rural northwest Georgia are dead and dozens injured after a series of severe storms moved through the state, producing the first-ever tornado to hit downtown Atlanta. In Atlanta, crews began cleaning up debris and broken glass Saturday from the tornado that struck the city with little warning the previous night. The storm cut a 10-kilometer path of destruction through the city with winds gusting up to 210 kilometers per hour, leaving homes crushed by centuries-old trees and numerous windows shattered in high-rise office buildings and hotels. (Posted @ 19:28 PST) Kidnapped Austrian tourists held in Mali BAMAKO, March 16 (Reuters): Two Austrian tourists kidnapped by Al-Qaeda militants are being held in Mali's remote northeast Kidal region, a senior Malian military officer said on Sunday. “Intelligence shows their presence in Malian territory, in Kidal region, more precisely in Tegargar sector,” the officer, who asked not to be named, told Reuters. (Posted @ 18:46 PST) Israeli fire wounds three in Gaza: medics GAZA CITY, March 16 (AFP): Three Palestinians were wounded in Gaza Strip on Sunday when Israeli navy boats opened fire on a car, Palestinian medics said. An Israeli air strike on Saturday night killed three Palestinians belonging to Islamic Jihad while a tank shell killed a fourth Palestinian. (Posted @ 18:34 PST)
Seven Taliban militants killed in Afghanistan KANDAHAR, March 16 (AFP): Seven Taliban militants were killed in Afghanistan after two separate attacks on police posts in the south and east, officials said Sunday. In eastern Nangarhar province, four militants were killed in an exchange of fire early Sunday after attacking a police post near the border with Pakistan, a provincial spokesman told AFP Three others were killed on Saturday in Musa Qala in restive Helmand province, police said. (Posted @ 18:18 PST) Rebels kill six Indian soldiers in Manipur ISLAMABAD, March 16 (APP): A separatist group in the Indian state of Manipur claims their fighters have killed at least six Indian soldiers in an attack on an outpost. A spokesman of United National Liberation Front (UNLF) of Manipur said its fighters used heavy mortars and light artillery during the assault, BBC reported. He said they targeted a camp of the 24th Battalion Assam Rifles at Minou on Saturday. The Indian military said the attack had been repulsed without casualties. (Posted @ 17:52 PST) Former Sri Lankan parliament speaker Bandaranaike dies: COLOMBO, March 16 (AFP): Sri Lanka's former parliament speaker and son of two prime ministers, Anura Bandaranaike, died here Sunday after a brief battle with liver cancer, a family friend said. Bandaranaike is the younger brother of former president Chandrika Kumaratunga and the son of two late prime ministers -- Sirima Bandaranaike, the world's first elected woman premier, and Solomon Bandaranaike, who was assassinated in 1959. (Posted @ 17:36 PST) NATO needs more troops to quell Afghan insurgency: Canada BRUSSELS, March 16 (AFP): NATO must send more troops to southern Afghanistan if it is to quell a Taliban insurgency, and stem the flow of recruits from Pakistan, Canadian Defence Minister Peter MacKay said Sunday. MacKay said the 1,000 extra troops Canada has requested from its NATO allies to stay in Kandahar province is the minimum needed to confront the challenge NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) faces. “One thousand troops is really seen as a minimum,” he told reporters at the Brussels Forum conference in the Belgian capital. (Posted @ 17:26 PST) Three Tibetans killed in China protest: witness, activists BEIJING, March 16 (AFP): At least three Tibetans were shot dead as police opened fire on a protest Sunday in a Tibetan-populated district of southwest China, a witness and two activist groups said. “There was a demonstration at 0200 GMT by monks and laypeople,” the witness, a resident of Ngawa town in Sichuan province, told AFP. “They wanted to attack the district's main government building and they also tried to attack the police headquarters. They set fire to police cars, and then police started shooting.” The incident was reported also by two activist groups which both cited eyewitnesses. (Posted @ 16:44 PST) Death toll from Albanian blast rises to 7 TIRANA, March 16 (AP): Rescuers found two more bodies Sunday at the site of a massive blast at an Albanian army depot, raising the death toll to seven. Prime Minister Sali Berisha said 10 workers are still missing after the chain of explosions, which started Saturday and injured 243 people. (Posted @ 16:04 PST) 22 students burn to death in Iran road crash TEHRAN, March 16 (Reuters): Twenty-two students were killed when their bus collided with a fuel tanker and burst into flames in Iran's southwest, Iranian media said Sunday. Seven people were injured in the accident in Khuzestan province late on Saturday, the official IRNA news agency said. (Posted @ 15:50 PST) Bangladesh private airline to buy six Boeings DHAKA, March 16 (AFP): Bangladesh's biggest private airline GMG will buy six new Boeing aircraft for 900 million dollars as part of a major route expansion, the company said Sunday. GMGwill buy three Boeing 777-300ER and three 787-9 aircraft as part of its expansion drive in the Gulf, Southeast Asia and Europe. (Posted @ 15:45 PST) 30 killed in recent Sri Lanka fighting: military COLOMBO, March 16 (AP): Suspected Tamil Tiger rebels set off a roadside bomb Sunday in northern Sri Lanka, killing one soldier, while a police officer was fatally shot elsewhere taking the death toll from two days of violence to 30, the military said. Seven soldiers and 21 Tamil rebels have been killed in clashes across Jaffna, Vavuniya, Mannar and Welioya regions since late Friday, the military said. The rebel spokesman could not be reached for comment. However, the pro-rebel TamilNet Web site reported that the rebels beat back advancing troops Friday on three fronts killing 22 soldiers. (First Posted @ 15:15 PST; Updated @ 15:35 PST)
Burundi rebels say army kills five commanders BUJUMBURA, March 16 (Reuters): Burundi's last remaining rebel group accused the army of killing five of their commanders and kidnapping five more fighters in clashes that threaten to undermine a shaky peace process. A military spokesman denied the allegations. (Posted @ 15:05 PST) 12 dead after highway buses collide in Peru LIMA, March 16 (APP/AFP) - A collision between two buses left 12 dead and some 30 injured Saturday on a highway in Pampa la Zorra area in Huarmey province, police said. (Posted @ 11:10 PST) U.S. soldier dies from small arms fire in Baghdad BAGHDAD, March 16 (AP) - A U.S. soldier was killed by small-arms fire in southwestern Baghdad while conducting combat operations on Saturday, the military said but gave no other details. (Posted @ 11:05 PST)
Crane collapses on NYC apartment buildings; 4 dead, 10 hurt NEW YORK, March 16 (AP) - A towering crane at a Manhattan construction site toppled like a tree across a city block, destroying buildings and killing at least four people. Mayor Michael Bloomberg said at least 10 people were injured in what he called one of New York City's worst construction accidents. The dead were all believed to be construction workers. The crane split into pieces as it fell Saturday afternoon, pulverizing a four-story town house and demolishing parts of five other buildings. The collapse devastated the affluent block on Manhattan's East Side: Cars were overturned and crushed. (First Posted @ 10:07 PST; Updated @ 10:37 PST) Grenade attack kills 3, wounds 50 in India's northeast GAUHATI, India, March 16 (Ruters) - Suspected insurgents lobbed a hand grenade at thousands of people participating in a cultural festival Sunday in India's troubled northeast, killing three and wounding another 50, police said. Nearly 15,000 people belonging to the Mising tribe were participating in the festival when the blast went off, said Diwakar Mishra, the top district administrator. Mishra said the attack in Jonai, a town 600 kilometers north of Gauhati, the capital of Assam state, came as the rebel group observed its “Army Day,” commemorating the date it set up its armed wing in 1981. Several rebel groups are fighting for autonomy or independence in India's northeast. (Posted @ 10:32 PST) One killed in Thai Muslim south PATTANI, Thailand, March 16 (Reuters) Militants used a mobile phone to detonate a 5 kg bomb at a Pattani school, killing one firefighter and wounding five others. The firefighters were trying to put out a fire at the school when the bomb went off. As security forces rushed the wounded to hospital, they were ambushed by insurgents. One soldier was wounded seriously, police said. (Posted @ 10:25 PST) Boxing-Pacquiao defeats Marquez to win WBC title LAS VEGAS, March 16 (Reuters) - Manny Pacquiao of the Philippines knocked down Juan Manuel Marquez in the third round before going on to capture the WBC super featherweight championship by split decision on Saturday. The scores were 115-112 and 114-113 for Pacquiao, and 115-112 for Mexican Marquez. The fight was a rematch of their 2004 encounter that ended in a draw. (Posted @ 10:20 PST) Cricket-New Zealand 242-6 (& 198) v England (342 & 293) WELLINGTON, March 16 (Reuters) - New Zealand were 242 for six, chasing a victory target of 438, at the close of play on the fourth day of the second test against England at the Basin Reserve on Sunday. Scores: England: 342 (Ambrose 102, Collingwood 65, A. Cook 44; Oram 3-46, M. Gillespie 4-79) & 293 (Cook 60, Collingwood 59; Oram 3-44; K. Mills 2-59; New Zealand: 198 (R. Taylor 53, Vettori 50 not out; J. Anderson 5-73) & 242-6 (Taylor 55; R. Sidebottom 3-72) (Posted @ 10:17 PST) China names premier, top judge and prosecutor BEIJING, March 16 (Reuters) - China's parliament re-elected Wen Jiabao as premier on Sunday. The National People's Congress gave Wen a second five-year mandate with 2,926 votes for, 21 against and 12 abstentions. People's Liberation Army Generals Xu Caihou and Guo Boxiong were elected vice-chairman of the decision-making Central Military Commission. Parliament also endorsed the nominations of Wang Shengjun as the country's top judge and Cao Jianming as the top prosecutor. On Monday, parliament is expected to endorse the nominations of five vice-premiers, four state councillors and various cabinet ministers. (Posted @ 10:15 PST) One killed as training plane crashes into Jakarta house JAKARTA, March 16 (AFP) - A training aircraft crashed into a house in Villa Pamulang in the Indonesian capital Sunday, killing at least one person, police said. There were no immediate details on whether anyone else was killed or injured in the house it hit. (Posted @ 09:40 PST) Iraq war anniversary on March 20 BAGHDAD, March 16 (AFP) - Iraq marks the fifth anniversary on Thursday of the US-led war that toppled Saddam Hussein with the nation still mired in deadly violence, its economy in tatters and the people still struggling without most basic services. The March 20, 2003 invasion continues to overshadow the administration of US President George W. Bush, with tens or even hundreds of thousands of Iraqis killed along with almost 4,000 American troops and dwindling public support for the war. (Posted @ 09:40 PST) Iraq: a three trillion dollar war? WASHINGTON, March 16 (AFP) - The war in Iraq has already cost the United States more than 400 billion dollars by the most conservative tally, but the total bill could surpass three trillion dollars, according to Nobel Prize-winning economist Joseph Stiglitz. Estimates put forward by Stiglitz and Linda Bilmes, a Harvard professor, in a book called “The Three Trillion Dollar War: the True Cost of the Iraq Conflict”, the United States is spending 12 billion dollars a month in 2008 to prosecute the war in Iraq. When Afghanistan is included, US war spending up to 16 billion dollars a month. Looking out to 2017, they contend the conflict will cost more than three trillion dollars. (Posted @ 09:35 PST)
Founder: Quaid-i-Azam Mohammad Ali Jinnah
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