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| March 19, 2008 | Wednesday | Rabi-ul-Awwal 10, 1429 |
Updated round-the-clock, with major updates after 10:00 PST (05:00 GMT)
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 Pakistan parliament elects Dr Fehmida Mirza first woman speaker ISLAMABAD, March 19 (AP): Pakistan's new parliament elected the country's first female speaker Wednesday. Dr Fehmida Mirza of the Pakistan Peoples Party, a businesswoman and three-time lawmaker was voted in as speaker of the National Assembly. Dr Mirza got 249 votes out of 319 votes cast. Her opponent Sardar Mohammad Israr Tarin polled 70 votes. NA Deputy Speaker: Faisal Karim Kundi, a PPP MNA from NWFP was elected Deputy Speaker of the National Assembly. He received 246 votes against 68 votes polled by Khushbakht Shujaat. (First Posted @ 15:00 PST Updated @ 20:10 PST)  President Musharraf stays execution of Indian terrorist: official LAHORE, March 19 (AFP): President Pervez Musharraf has delayed by 30 days the execution of an Indian prisoner who was condemned to death on charges of terrorism, a jail official said Wednesday. The move came a day after Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said his government was making all possible efforts to seek a reprieve from Islamabad for convict Sarabjit Singh. (Posted @ 15:05 PST) Bilawal Zardari in Pakistan for PM announcement: party ISLAMABAD, March 19 (AFP): The teenage son of slain opposition leader Benazir Bhutto returned to Pakistan on Wednesday to announce her party's nomination for the post of prime minister, a Pakistan Peoples Party spokesman said. “Bilawal will announce the name of the prime minister. He has come to Pakistan, he is in Karachi,” party spokesman Farhatullah Babar told AFP. “The name of the prime minister will be announced when the parliament session is reconvened for the election of the prime minister,” which is expected next week, the spokesman said. (Posted @ 15:25 PST)  24 hurt in bomb attack in Srinagar SRINAGAR, occupied Kashmir, March 19 (AFP): Suspected militants detonated a bomb on a flyover in Indian occupied Kashmir's main city on Wednesday, injuring at least 24 people, police and doctors said. “Militants planted an improvised explosive device on a flyover that exploded, causing injuries,” said a police officer. Twelve people were admitted to Srinagar's main hospital, and two of them were in a critical condition, doctors said. (First Posted @ 18:05 PST Updated @ 18:45 PST) Small bomb explodes in Yemen market ADEN, March 19 (Reuters): A small bomb exploded in a market in Yemen's southern port city of Aden on Wednesday but caused no casualties, witnesses said, a day after three mortars hit a school near the U.S. embassy in Sanaa. It was not immediately clear who was behind the bomb, which went off near a bank, but residents said that the market was not busy at the time. On Tuesday, 13 girls and five Yemeni soldiers were wounded when three mortars hit a school near the U.S. embassy in the Yemeni capital, Sanaa. Washington said its mission was the target and Yemen said “terrorists” were behind the attack. (Posted @ 18:00 PST) Bangladesh writer Taslima Nasreen leaves India NEW DELHI, March 19 (AFP): Bangladeshi writer Taslima Nasreen has left India for Europe after being hounded into hiding by death threats from Islamic militants, her publisher and friends told AFP. “Taslima Nasreen flew out of New Delhi Wednesday afternoon to Europe for medical treatment,” her publisher Sibani Mukherjee told AFP, declining to disclose the exact destination. Close friends also confirmed she had left India. (Posted @ 17:05 PST) Moldova's prime minister resigns CHISINAU, Moldova, March 19 (AP): Moldova's Prime Minister Vasile Tarlev unexpectedly resigned Wednesday in a leadership shake-up he said was for the “well-being” of the country. His departure triggers the resignation of his government. Tarlev said in a statement he was stepping down to allow a new team to take over but did not elaborate. (Posted @ 16:55 PST) Election candidate shot dead in Nepal KATHMANDU, March 19 (AFP): A communist running in elections that will shape Nepal's political future has been killed, the first candidate to be slain in the campaign, officials said on Wednesday. The death late Tuesday of Kamal Prasad Adhikari sparked immediate calls by Nepal's election commission for better security for candidates in the south of the country in the run-up to the April 10 polls. (Posted @ 16:30 PST) Kuwait ruler dissolves parliament: Jazeera TV KUWAIT, March 19 (Reuters): Kuwait's ruler has dissolved parliament days after the government resigned, Al Jazeera television reported on Wednesday. The ruler informed the Kuwaiti parliament speaker Jassem al-Kharafi that the assembly was dissolved. (Posted @ 16:20 PST)
East Timor President leaves Australian hospital after five weeks of treatment DARWIN, March 19 (AP): East Timor's President Jose Ramos-Horta on Wednesday gave his first chilling recollections of the assassination attempt he narrowly survived and bade a tearful farewell to Australian hospital staff who treated him. The Nobel Peace laureate was discharged Wednesday from a hospital in Darwin city after multiple surgeries and five weeks of treatment following the Feb. 11 shooting in the East Timorese capital, Dili. (Posted @ 15:30 PST) Police say woman suicide bomber kills 3, wounds 12 BAGHDAD, March 19 (AP): Iraqi police say a woman suicide bomber has killed three people and wounded 12 in an attack near a bus terminal northeast of Baghdad. A senior police officer said the attack occurred Wednesday morning in a commercial area of Balad Ruz in Diyala province. (Posted @ 14:20 PST) Pakistan court to hear militant's appeal against death sentence KARACHI, March 19 (AFP): A Pakistani court Wednesday agreed to hear an appeal by an Al-Qaeda-linked militant against a death sentence imposed for a 2006 suicide attack which killed a US diplomat, his lawyer said. Anwarul Haq was convicted earlier this month by the anti-terrorism court on four counts for the bombing outside the US consulate in Karachi on March 2, 2006. “The Sindh High Court has admitted (for hearing) the appeal by my client against the death sentence awarded by the anti-terrorism court,” Haq's lawyer Mohammad Farooq told AFP. “We have argued that the statements of witnesses are contradictory and that they were planted by police,” he said. Farooq said that appeal hearing was expected to begin in three months. (Posted @ 13:10 PST) U.S. forces mistakenly kill three Iraqi policemen BAGHDAD, March 19 (Reuters): U.S. soldiers accidentally killed three policemen and wounded another in the northern Iraqi province of Kirkuk Wednesday, the U.S. military said. U.S. forces fired on the policemen when their vehicle drove at high speed into a cordoned-off area in the province, 250 km north of Baghdad, the military said. (Posted @ 13:05 PST) No US proposals given on missile defence: Russia MOSCOW, March 19 (AFP): The United States has failed to give Russia written proposals intended to ease concerns about Washington's missile defence plans, Interfax quoted Russia's foreign ministry as saying Wednesday. “Despite the promises we received yesterday, written proposals from the American side on missile defence have not yet been presented to us,” foreign ministry spokesman Mikhail Kamynin said, referring to discussions with US officials Condoleezza Rice and Robert Gates. (Posted @ 12:50 PST) 35 Tamil rebels, two soldiers killed in Sri Lanka fighting COLOMBO, Sri Lanka, March 19 (AP): Battles, roadside bombings and artillery attacks across the front lines of Sri Lanka's civil war killed 35 Tamil rebels and two soldiers, the military said Wednesday. The combatants were killed in at least 17 different confrontations Tuesday along the front lines of the civil war in this Indian Ocean island nation, the military said in a statement. (Posted @ 12:30 PST) Inmates riot at high-security Kabul jail, some hurt KABUL, March 19 (Reuters): Scores of prisoners rioted in a high-security Kabul jail and at least nine people were wounded in an exchange of gunfire as Afghan police tried to restore order, sources in two foreign aid agencies said Wednesday. A part of the Pul-i-Charkhi prison had been taken over by the inmates who said they were being illegally confined despite a decree by President Hamid Karzai acquitting them over a year ago, an aid agency worker said requesting anonymity. Some 150 inmates had been on a hunger strike for days demanding their release. A defence ministry official said efforts were under way to resolve the issue. (Posted @ 12:25 PST) Blast reports raise false alarm in Pakistan: police LAHORE, March 19 (Reuters): Police said television channels raised a false alarm Wednesday with reports of a blast heard in Lahore. “We don't have report of any blast,” Lahore police chief Malik Mohammad Iqbal said. “There is no report of any explosion from my area,” said Abdus Sattar, head of the police station in Gulberg, the upmarket area where television channels reported a blast was heard. (First Posted @ 11:25 PST, Updated @ 11:50 PST) Gunmen kill communist candidate in Nepal KATHMANDU, March 19 (Reuters): Unidentified gunmen killed a communist nominee for the April elections for a constituent assembly meant to map Nepal's political future, an official said Wednesday. Kamal Prasad Adhikari, a candidate of a small party in the ruling coalition, the National People's Front, was running for a seat from the Terai region of southwest Nepal. “He was immediately rushed to the hospital where he died early today,” Narendra Raj Sharma, a senior official in southwest Nepal, said Wednesday. (Posted @ 11:15 PST) Two children, woman among six Afghans killed in overnight US raid KABUL, Afghanistan, March 19 (AP): An overnight raid by U.S. forces killed six people in eastern Afghanistan, including two children and a woman, an Afghan official said Wednesday. Khiber Pashtun, a spokesman for the governor of Khost province, said three men also were killed in the overnight raid in the village of Hom. (Posted @ 10:40 PST) Floods rage through parts of central US after heavy rains, killing two in Missouri PIEDMONT, Missouri, March 19 (AP): Torrential rains chased hundreds of people from their flooded homes and deluged roads in the U.S. midsection Tuesday, killing at least two people in Missouri and sweeping a teen down a drainage pipe near Dallas. The storm system also grounded hundreds of flights. One control tower at Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport was briefly evacuated when a funnel cloud was spotted. (Posted @ 10:00 PST) Two dead, six injured as wind storm hits city of Monterrey in northern Mexico MONTERREY, Mexico, March 19 (AP): Powerful winds with gusts reaching 100 kph lashed the northern Mexico city of Monterrey Tuesday, toppling trees and billboards, and leaving two people dead and six injured. A construction worker was killed when a wall collapsed on him, and another person died in a traffic accident during the wind storm, said Pedro Trevino of the city's civil defence office. A bus crashed into a fallen billboard, injuring six people.(Posted @ 09:55 PST) 
105 'rioters' in Lhasa unrest surrender BEIJING, March 19 (AFP): Chinese authorities said 105 “rioters” involved in protests in the Tibetan capital of Lhasa had surrendered, the Xinhua news agency reported Wednesday. The 105 people gave themselves up to authorities by 11:00 pm Tuesday, 23 hours after a deadline set by the government for those involved in last week's unrest to surrender, Xinhua said. (Posted @ 09:30 PST) Sci-fi guru Clarke dies in Sri Lanka COLOMBO, March 19 (AFP): British-born science fiction guru Arthur C. Clarke died at a hospital in Sri Lanka Wednesday after a brief illness, his aide Rohan de Silva told AFP. He was 90. President Mahinda Rajapakse mourned the death of Clarke and paid tribute to him as a “great visionary.” His death was a loss to Sri Lanka, the author's adopted home since 1956, Rajapakse said. Clarke, who in 1945 predicted the establishment of communication satellites, wrote more than 80 books. (Posted @ 09:25 PST) Three killed in Thai south YALA, Thailand, March 19 (AFP): Three people were killed in separatist attacks in southern Thailand, police said Wednesday. Two militants shot dead a 72-year-old grocer at his store in Yala, police said. The two men fled, but were stopped at a nearby military checkpoint where they were killed in a 10-minute gun fight. (Posted @ 09:15 PST) Karachi Stocks up 237.88 points: KARACHI, March 19: At close of trading, the KSE-100 index was at 14964.42, up 237.88 points. (Bureau Report) (Updated @ 14:15 PST) Forex update: KARACHI, March 19: The Pakistani Rupee was traded at Rs 63.2 to the US Dollar in the open market. (Bureau Report) (Updated @ 14:15 PST) 
Founder: Quaid-i-Azam Mohammad Ali Jinnah
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