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| April 16, 2008 | Wednesday | Rabi-us-Sani 9, 1429 |
Updated round-the-clock, with major updates after 10:00 PST (05:00 GMT)
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 Olympic torch relay starts amid heavy security in Pakistan ISLALAMABAD, April 16 (AFP): The Pakistani leg of the Olympic global torch relay started on Wednesday afternoon in Jinnah Stadium. The high profile ceremony was attended by President Pervez Musharraf, Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani, Foreign Minister Makhdoom Qureshi and other dignitaries. The ceremony site was guarded by thousands of troops and police. The Olympic torch arrived in the afternoon from Oman and was taken to Jinnah Stadium for the ceremony. (Posted @ 17:00 PST)  14 killed as bus plunges into River Neelum MUZAFFARABAD, April 16: Fourteen passengers, including three children, were killed and four wounded Wednesday when a passenger bun travelling to Muzaffarabad from Panjkot plunged in River Neelum in Azad Kashmir’s Neelum Valley, private television channels reported. (First Posted @ 12:05 PST, Updated @ 13:30 PST)  Zimbabwe inflation hits record of nearly 165,000 percent HARARE, April 16 (AFP): Zimbabwe's annual rate of inflation soared to an all-time high of almost 165,000 percent in February, according to the latest government statistics obtained Wednesday. In a report seen by AFP, the Central Statistical Office said year-on-year inflation for February stood at 164,900.3 percent -- an increase of 64,320.1 percentage points from the previous month. Official inflation rates have become increasingly difficult to access in recent months as Zimbabwe grapples with a world record hyperinflation. (Posted @ 20:40 PST) 20 killed in Gaza clashes, Israeli air strike kills Reuters cameraman: medics GAZA CITY, April 16 (AFP/Reuters): Three Israeli soldiers and 17 Palestinians were killed on Wednesday as Israeli troops and assault helicopters attacked the Gaza Strip. At least nine Palestinians were killed in an Israeli air strike on Al-Bureij refugee camp in southern Gaza Strip, according the head of Gaza emergency services, three of the dead were children. Another 17 people were wounded in the strike, he said. In a separate incident, a soldier was wounded. Another Palestinian was killed in an Israeli air strike in northern Gaza Strip that wounded three other people. An Israeli air strike killed a Palestinian cameraman working for Reuters news service, Palestinian medics and witnesses said. (First Posted @ 10:00 PST Updated @ 20:40 PST) Nearly 10,000 people evacuate Frankfurt skyscrapers in emergency drill FRANKFURT, April 16 (AP): A Frankfurt city spokesman says that nearly 10,000 people working in the city's financial district have been safely evacuated from six skyscrapers in a drill. Authorities are testing emergency response times for evacuating buildings where many of Frankfurt's banks and financial institutions are based. City spokesman Thomas Scheben says Wednesday's drill involved the European Central Bank, Deutsche Bank AG and Dresdner Bank AG. He says the drill started at 1200GMT and took just under 30 minutes. (Posted @ 20:15 PST) Algeria forces kill 10 rebel bomb plotters: source ALGIERS, April 16 (Reuters): Algerian security forces have killed 10 Al Qaeda rebels who had been planning suicide attacks this month in Algiers, a security source said Wednesday. The killings, which took place in the past week, coincided with arrests by the authorities of 25 people suspected of aiding the guerrillas, the source added. The attacks had been planned to mark the anniversary of a triple suicide bombing in Algiers on April 11, 2007 that killed 33 people at the main government offices and at two police buildings near Algiers airport, the source said. (Posted @ 20:10 PST) Pope Benedict XVI arrives at White House for welcome ceremony WASHINGTON, April 16 (AFP): Pope Benedict XVI arrived at the White House Wednesday for a formal welcoming ceremony to kick off his first visit to the United States since his election to the papacy three years ago. Benedict stepped out of the black limousine that had brought him from the papal nuncio to the South Lawn of the White House, where he was met by President George W. Bush and first lady Laura Bush. (Posted @ 19:50 PST) US military frees AP photographer in Iraq BAGHDAD, April 16 (AFP): The US military on Wednesday freed an Iraqi photographer working for The Associated Press after detaining him for two years on accusations of aiding terrorism in the country, a military official said. Bilal Hussein, 36, was “turned over” to members of his organisation by US military officials at 1245 GMT on Wednesday, an official from US detainee operations in Iraq said. (Posted @ 19:25 PST) Cricket: Bangladesh 210 v Pakistan MULTAN, April 16 (Reuters): Bangladesh were bowled out for 210 in the fourth one-day international against Pakistan at the Multan stadium in Multan, Pakistan on Wednesday. Score: Bangladesh 210 in 49.1 overs (Shakib Al Hasan 108). (First Posted @ 15:20 PST Updated @ 19:00 PST) Iraq replaces 2 senior commanders in Basra BAGHDAD, April 16 (AP): Iraqi officials say two senior military commanders have been replaced in the southern city of Basra. Iraqi military spokesman Brig. Gen. Qassim al-Moussawi said the chief commander for government forces and the police chief in the city are being reassigned in Baghdad. (Posted @ 17:45 PST ) Nepal Maoists tell king to bow out 'gracefully' KATHMANDU, April 16 (AFP): Nepal's Maoists on Wednesday called on the country's embattled king to step down “gracefully” or else face a humiliating eviction from his palace. The call came as the former rebels maintained a strong lead in the count from last Thursday's vote on the country's political future. The Maoists so far look set to dominate a 601-seat assembly that will rewrite Nepal's constitution, and have said their first act will be to sack King Gyanendra and abolish his 240-year-old monarchy. (Posted @ 17:15 PST ) 47 drown in India bus crash AHMEDABAD, India, April 16 (AFP): At least 47 people, most of them children on their way to school, drowned Wednesday when their bus plunged into a canal in western India, police said. A police control room official said the accident occurred at Bodeli, 170 kilometres from Ahmedabad, the capital of Gujarat state. “The driver lost control of the vehicle and the bus broke through a protective railing, plunging it into the canal,” the police official said. (First Posted @ 09:45 PST, Updated @ 16:45 PST)
US airstrike kills 4 in Basra, 2 die in Sadr City clashes BAGHDAD, April 16 (AP): An unmanned U.S. drone fired two Hellfire missiles at militants attacking Iraqi soldiers in a militia stronghold in the southern city of Basra on Wednesday, killing four of the gunmen, the military said. In Baghdad, clashes between U.S.-backed Iraqi troops and militiamen in Sadr City district Wednesday killed two men and injured 18 other people, police said. (First Posted @ 13:15 PST, Updated @ 16:40 PST) Zimbabwe police arrest 36 people during opposition strike HARARE, April 16 (AP): Police arrested more than 30 people accused of barricading streets, stoning vehicles and preventing people from going to work during a nationwide strike called by the opposition to press for the release of election results, police said Wednesday. The call to strike went largely unheeded Tuesday. The 36 suspects were arrested in Harare and four other cities for blocking streets, stoning cars and buses and preventing people from going to work, a police spokesman said. (Posted @ 16:35 PST) Four Muslims killed in Thai south: police NARATHIWAT, April 16 (AFP): Four Muslims were killed in violence in Thailand's far south, police said Wednesday, as the country wrapped up celebrations marking Buddhist New Year. A 35-year-old Muslim woman and her daughter, 18, were shot dead when insurgents ambushed their pick-up truck on Wednesday in Yala province, police said. The woman's 14-year-old daughter was seriously wounded. Earlier in Narathiwat province, a village chief was shot dead, while in the same province late Tuesday, a 42-year-old villager was killed in a drive-by shooting, police said. (Posted @ 15:45 PST) Parliament to decide on judges' restoration: PM Gilani LAHORE, April 16 (APP): Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani Wednesday said the parliament will decide about the issue of restoration of deposed judges. He was responding to questions from media after attending the SAARC seminar on 'Economic Freedom' in Lahore. About President Musharraf’s future, Gilani said everything will be done constitutionally. (Posted @ 13:55 PST) Major powers hold new talks on Iran nuclear issue SHANGHAI, April 16 (AFP): The five members of the UN Security Council, plus Germany and the EU, held talks here Wednesday on Iran's nuclear programme, amid calls for strengthened sanctions against Tehran. Envoys from Britain, China, France, Russia, the United States, Germany and the European Union started their meeting after Tehran announced last week it had started operating hundreds of new centrifuges at its uranium enrichment plant. “We are here today to discuss the new developments surrounding the Iranian nuclear issue,” China's assistant foreign minister He Yafei said at the start of the one-day gathering. (Posted @ 13:50 PST) Turkish army says strikes rebel group in northern Iraq ANKARA, April 16 (Reuters): Turkish warplanes attacked a group of Kurdish guerrillas in northern Iraq Tuesday as they tried to enter Turkish territory, the General Staff said Wednesday. The military said the warplanes “neutralised” the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) rebels in the Avasin-Basyan region of northern Iraq. It did not provide further details. (Posted @ 13:15 PST) Bomb blast kills three Yemeni police SANAA, April 16 (AFP): Three Yemeni policemen were killed and another four wounded Wednesday morning when a bomb exploded as they were parking their car in the city of Maareb, witnesses and hospital sources said. (Posted @ 11:30 PST) Two NATO soldiers killed in Afghanistan KABUL, April 16 (AFP): Two NATO-led soldiers were killed and two others were wounded in an explosion in southern Afghanistan Wednesday, the alliance force said. “Two ISAF soldiers were killed and two were wounded during an explosion in southern Afghanistan early this morning,” the alliance force said in a statement. (Posted @ 11:20 PST) Two killed in Thai south NARATHIWAT, Thailand, April 16 (AFP): Two men were shot dead in separate attacks by suspected rebels in southern Thailand, police said Wednesday. A 60-year-old village chief was shot dead in a rubber plantation early Wednesday in Narathiwat province, police said, while his 48-year-old wife was seriously injured. In the same province late Tuesday, a 42-year-old villager was killed in a drive-by shooting and his 14-year-old son was wounded. (Posted @ 10:50 PST) Israel frees Hamas MP in West Bank NABLUS, West Bank, April 16 (AFP): The Israeli army released a Hamas member of parliament in the occupied West Bank Tuesday after 11 months in custody, his family said. Hamed al-Bitawi, 64, was detained in May 2007 along with two fellow Palestinian MPs and a then government minister as part of Israeli reprisals for rocket fire by Gaza militants. (Posted @ 10:20 PST) Plane crashes into Congo market, killing at least 40 GOMA, Congo, April 16 (Reuters): A Congolese airliner crashed into a market district in the eastern city of Goma Tuesday, killing at least 40 people and injuring 111, the government said. The Hewa Bora Airways McDonnell Douglas DC-9 ploughed into a crowded neighbourhood of Goma, capital of Democratic Republic of Congo's eastern North Kivu Province, after bad weather forced the pilot to abort take-off. Government spokesman Esdras Kambale said in a broadcast on national television that 40 people were killed and 111 injured in the crash, but gave no further details. (First Posted @ 10:00 PST Updated @ 18:05 PST) Wildfires kill two in small Colorado town ORDWAY, Colorado, April 16 (AP): Wildfires in warm, windy weather burned into a southeast Colorado town and on an Army post, and a firefighting pilot and two other people died. The pilot died when the crop duster-type plane crashed along a highway just east of Fort Carson, said Mike Fergus of the Federal Aviation Administration. At least 20 buildings were damaged in Ordway and nearly 10 square miles of grasslands were scorched around the town 122 miles southeast of Denver. Separately, at Fort Carson near Colorado Springs, the fire burned about 1,000 acres. Much of the state was under a National Weather Service red flag warning, signifying high fire danger. (Posted @ 09:45 PST) Cricket- 3rd ODI abandoned, West Indies beat Sri Lanka 2-0 in series CASTRIES, St. Lucia, April 16 (AP): Persistent rain stopped the third and final one-day cricket international between West Indies and Sri Lanka with the match evenly poised Tuesday. The home team was 81 for two off 18.2 overs, chasing Sri Lanka's 257 for eight off 50, when showers swept across Beausejour Stadium and caused the abandonment of the match and a no result. West Indies sealed the three-match series 2-0 following victories last Thursday and Saturday in Trinidad. (Posted @ 09:35 PST) 
Rio police kill nine drug gang members in slum firefight RIO DE JANEIRO, April 16 (AFP): Police killed nine drug traffickers in an operation in a northern Rio de Janeiro slum Tuesday, officers said. Six people were wounded and 14 people arrested in the day-long assault in the Vila Cruzeiro district by a crack police unit, a spokeswoman for the military police service said. Drugs and arms, including two .30-caliber automatic rifles, were also seized, she said. (Posted @ 09:30 PST) Police find bodies of missing in flooded New Zealand river WELLINGTON, April 16 (AFP): Police said early Wednesday they found the last two bodies of a group of seven people killed in a flash flood on a swollen river in New Zealand during an adventure course. Six teenagers and a teacher were killed when their group was swept away Tuesday afternoon on the Mangatepopo River, near Turangi in the centre of New Zealand's North Island, police said. A total of 10 students, reportedly aged 16 to 17, were with a teacher and an adult instructor when they became caught in the flood. (Posted @ 09:20 PST) 17 dead as train rams bus in Bangladesh DHAKA, April 16 (AFP): At least 17 people were killed and 25 injured after a packed train rammed into a bus in a northern Bangladesh town early Wednesday morning, police said. The bus, carrying more than 50 passengers, reached the railway track as there was no barricade at the level crossing at Kalihati, police constable Didar Hossain said. “Till now we have 17 dead and at least 25 injured, most of them seriously,” he said. (Posted @ 08:40 PST) Karachi Stocks up 1.90 points: KARACHI, April 16: At close of trading, the KSE-100 index was at 15540.35, up 1.90 points. (Bureau Report) (Updated @ 14:17 PST) Forex update: KARACHI, April 16: The Pakistani Rupee was traded at Rs 64.2 to the US Dollar in the open market. (Bureau Report) (Updated @ 14:17 PST) 
Founder: Quaid-i-Azam Mohammad Ali Jinnah
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