ISLAMABAD, Pakistan (CNN) -- Pakistanis cast their votes in parliamentary elections on Monday amid fears of violence, accusations of vote-rigging and surveys indicating opposition parties could fare well.
Police reported two explosions during the morning at a polling place near Pakistan's border with Afghanistan, a volatile region rife with Islamic extremists. One bomb exploded inside a polling place, authorities said, and a second bomb exploded when police arrived to investigate.
No one was hurt.
A few hours later, around 9:30 a.m. local time, gunfire between the Pakistan Muslim League - N and the governing party, the Pakistan Muslim League - Q, left one person dead, CNN's Reza Sayah in Islamabad reported.
The incident came about 12 hours after a gunman killed Asif Ashraf, a candidate from Pakistan Muslim League-N party, and two party workers, said Pervez Rashid, the party's central media coordinator. Three others were injured, he told CNN. The PML-N is the party of former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, whom President Pervez Musharraf ousted in a 1999 bloodless coup.
Polls show strong support for two major opposition parties, including the Pakistan People's Party, whose leader -- and former Prime Minister -- Benazir Bhutto was assassinated on December 27.
If those parties receive two-thirds of the seats in parliament, they could take steps to impeach Musharraf.
"This is going to be one of the most important election days in Pakistan's history," Sayah said.
It wasn't clear whether the fear of violence would keep voters home, Sayah reported.
In addition to Bhutto's killing, violent incidents have preceded the election, including seven attacks on Saturday, one of which killed about 40 people, according to security forces.
On Sunday a gunman killed a candidate and two party workers, as they drove home from a campaign event in the southern city of Lahore, police said.
Musharraf has been a key U.S. ally in the fight against Islamic extremists since the September 11, 2001 attacks on the United States. Musharraf's government has received billions of dollars in U.S. aid, but critics have blasted Musharraf as an undemocratic ruler who dismissed judges, suspended the constitution and declared a state of emergency.
ads space
Senin, 18 Februari 2008
Bush promotes U.S. role in war on malaria
ARUSHA, Tanzania (AP) -- President Bush, savoring his healer-in-chief role, spent Monday promoting U.S. aid to Africa where a mere mosquito bite can be fatal.
On his second day in Tanzania, Bush moved from the Indian Ocean port of Dar es Salaam to the northern highlands of Arusha, an area known as a cradle of African safari adventure.
Bush landed here, in sight of the majestic Mount Kilimanjaro, and was greeted by Massai women dancers who wore purple robes and white discs around their necks. The president joined their line and enjoyed himself, but held off on dancing.
His theme is the prevention of malaria, a parasitic disease that is particularly lethal to young children and pregnant women.
Bush and first lady Laura Bush began the day touring a hospital and later planned to visit a mill that makes mosquito bed nets.
Meanwhile, on Bush's direction, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice was headed north from Tanzania into Kenya to try to help push forward deadlocked peace talks. A disputed presidential election there led to a wave of violence just ahead of Bush's trip.
Bush is in the midst of a six-day stay in Africa. The public mission of his travels is to improve health on an impoverished continent. The underlying one is to preserve his initiatives beyond his presidency and cement humanitarianism as a key part of his legacy.
Bush launched a plan in 2005 to dramatically reduce malaria deaths in sub-Saharan Africa, the worst affected region in the world. More than 80 percent of malaria cases happen here. The disease kills at least 1 million infants and children under five every year.
That's a foreign concept in the United States, which eradicated malaria decades ago.
Bush's initiative has helped more than 25 million people. It is one of several global efforts that have combined to sharply reduce malaria deaths in African countries.
Congress so far has put $425 million toward Bush's $1.2 billion, five-year program.
Tanzania is one of 15 countries that benefit through the distribution of live-saving medicines, insecticide spraying and bed nets that keep mosquitoes away at night.
Those bed nets, which cost about $10, have long-lasting insecticide. The Bushes are touring a plant where nets are woven, hung on hooks for inspection and bagged for shipment.
The U.S. drive to spend money on the health of Africans, including a much larger effort on HIV/AIDS, is appreciated here. In a recent Pew Research Center report, African countries held more favorable views of the U.S. than any others in the world. And Bush, the face of the U.S. superpower, is showered with praise wherever he goes. It seems a world away from the sentiment at home, where his public approval is at 30 percent.
The reception is such that Bush balked when a U.S. reporter suggested that Africans are abuzz about Barack Obama, the black Democratic presidential candidate whose father was Kenyan.
"It seemed like there was a lot of excitement for me, wait a minute," Bush said Sunday in Tanzania. "Maybe you missed it."
On his second day in Tanzania, Bush moved from the Indian Ocean port of Dar es Salaam to the northern highlands of Arusha, an area known as a cradle of African safari adventure.
Bush landed here, in sight of the majestic Mount Kilimanjaro, and was greeted by Massai women dancers who wore purple robes and white discs around their necks. The president joined their line and enjoyed himself, but held off on dancing.
His theme is the prevention of malaria, a parasitic disease that is particularly lethal to young children and pregnant women.
Bush and first lady Laura Bush began the day touring a hospital and later planned to visit a mill that makes mosquito bed nets.
Meanwhile, on Bush's direction, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice was headed north from Tanzania into Kenya to try to help push forward deadlocked peace talks. A disputed presidential election there led to a wave of violence just ahead of Bush's trip.
Bush is in the midst of a six-day stay in Africa. The public mission of his travels is to improve health on an impoverished continent. The underlying one is to preserve his initiatives beyond his presidency and cement humanitarianism as a key part of his legacy.
Bush launched a plan in 2005 to dramatically reduce malaria deaths in sub-Saharan Africa, the worst affected region in the world. More than 80 percent of malaria cases happen here. The disease kills at least 1 million infants and children under five every year.
That's a foreign concept in the United States, which eradicated malaria decades ago.
Bush's initiative has helped more than 25 million people. It is one of several global efforts that have combined to sharply reduce malaria deaths in African countries.
Congress so far has put $425 million toward Bush's $1.2 billion, five-year program.
Tanzania is one of 15 countries that benefit through the distribution of live-saving medicines, insecticide spraying and bed nets that keep mosquitoes away at night.
Those bed nets, which cost about $10, have long-lasting insecticide. The Bushes are touring a plant where nets are woven, hung on hooks for inspection and bagged for shipment.
The U.S. drive to spend money on the health of Africans, including a much larger effort on HIV/AIDS, is appreciated here. In a recent Pew Research Center report, African countries held more favorable views of the U.S. than any others in the world. And Bush, the face of the U.S. superpower, is showered with praise wherever he goes. It seems a world away from the sentiment at home, where his public approval is at 30 percent.
The reception is such that Bush balked when a U.S. reporter suggested that Africans are abuzz about Barack Obama, the black Democratic presidential candidate whose father was Kenyan.
"It seemed like there was a lot of excitement for me, wait a minute," Bush said Sunday in Tanzania. "Maybe you missed it."
Earthquake shakes Maluku
JAKARTA (JP): A 5.3-magnitude earthquake jolted Saumlaki, West Southeast Maluku regency, Maluku, early Monday.
The quake's epicenter was around 290 kilometers northwest of Saumlaki on Yamdena Islands at a depth of 70 km, the meteorological and geophysics agency said.
The quake's epicenter was around 290 kilometers northwest of Saumlaki on Yamdena Islands at a depth of 70 km, the meteorological and geophysics agency said.
Tornados hit South; snow, freezing rain hit Midwest
PRATTVILLE, Alabama (AP) -- Severe weather howled through much of the nation Sunday, producing damaging tornadoes in the South that injured nearly 30 people and treating winter-weary parts of the Midwest to freezing rain, snow and flooding.
A tornado damaged or destroyed about 200 homes and businesses in Prattville, Alabama, outside Montgomery, where Mayor Jim Byard said crews searched for people trapped in the wreckage.
No fatalities were immediately reported, but two people were critically injured, said Fire Department official Dallis Johnson. Twenty-seven people had minor injuries, officials said.
"It's very possible we may have more injuries," he said, saying that some trapped people had been rescued.
A 35-bed mobile hospital unit was set up outside a Kmart to treat victims with minor to moderate injuries so that hospitals could take those with serious injuries, Dr. Steve Allen said.
Toppled utility poles and storm debris littered the area, northwest of Montgomery about five miles off Interstate 65. Shelters opened at churches, and school buses shuttled storm victims out of the stricken area to the city center.
A tornado damaged or destroyed about 200 homes and businesses in Prattville, Alabama, outside Montgomery, where Mayor Jim Byard said crews searched for people trapped in the wreckage.
No fatalities were immediately reported, but two people were critically injured, said Fire Department official Dallis Johnson. Twenty-seven people had minor injuries, officials said.
"It's very possible we may have more injuries," he said, saying that some trapped people had been rescued.
A 35-bed mobile hospital unit was set up outside a Kmart to treat victims with minor to moderate injuries so that hospitals could take those with serious injuries, Dr. Steve Allen said.
Toppled utility poles and storm debris littered the area, northwest of Montgomery about five miles off Interstate 65. Shelters opened at churches, and school buses shuttled storm victims out of the stricken area to the city center.
Selasa, 12 Februari 2008
Urgent talks on Ukraine gas row
Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko is due in Moscow to try to avert Russia cutting gas supplies to his country in a dispute over an unpaid bill.
He has just five hours with President Vladimir Putin to settle the row over a demand by Russian gas monopoly Gazprom for Ukraine to pay $1.5bn.
Russia is threatening to switch off supplies but Kiev disputes the bill.
Gazprom, which supplies 25% of Europe's gas, said the disagreement would not affect supplies to the rest of Europe.
But as most of the company's gas supply to western Europe passes through Ukraine, concerns remain that the row could escalate into a repeat of two years ago.
Deep suspicion
In January 2006, gas shipments to Europe were disrupted after Russia halted fuel supplies to Ukraine for several days amid a fierce argument over price hikes.
Although Gazprom claims the current dispute is purely commercial, fears have been raised that Moscow might be exploiting its energy resources to exert political pressure on its neighbours.
The BBC's Richard Galpin in Moscow says the crux of this latest crisis seems to be over how the bill is to be paid.
Ukraine's pro-Western Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko wants the money paid directly to Gazprom, rather than going through an intermediary company - RosUkrEnergo - which she views with deep suspicion.
On Monday, Gazprom and the Ukrainian state energy companies failed to resolve the gas debt dispute during several hours of talks.
Gazprom extended its deadline for cutting a quarter of gas supplies to Ukraine until 1500GMT on Tuesday - raising hopes the row could be settled in time.
Ukraine's prime minister has suggested that Gazprom's threats were empty.
She said Russian First Deputy Prime Minister Sergei Ivanov had informed her supplies would not be cut.
Our correspondent says Moscow does not like President Yushchenko or his prime minister.
Both were leaders of the Orange Revolution three years ago that swept away a pro-Russian government in Ukraine and replaced it with one that looks to the West for support and now wants to join Nato.
US state department spokesman Sean McCormack said Washington was monitoring the gas dispute.
Russian bomber buzzes U.S. aircraft carrier
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- American fighter jets intercepted two Russian bombers, one of which buzzed a U.S. aircraft carrier in the western Pacific over the weekend, U.S. military officials told CNN Monday.
One of them twice flew about 2,000 feet over the deck of the USS Nimitz Saturday while another flew about 50 miles away, officials said. Two others were at least 100 miles away, the military reported.
U.S. Defense officials said four F/A-18A fighter jets from the Nimitz were in the air.
The Russians and the U.S. carrier did not exchange verbal communications.
Four turboprop Tupolev-95 Bear bombers took off from Ukrainka air base, in Russia's Far East, in the middle of the night, Japanese officials told The Associated Press, adding that one of the jets violated Japanese airspace.
Russian bombers have been making flights over the western Pacific for several months. In September, two U.S. F-15 fighters scrambled to intercept a plane that came within 50 miles of the coastline.
There have been eight incidents off Alaska since July. Among the latest, on September 5, six F-15s from Elmendorf Air Force Base, adjacent to Anchorage, Alaska, intercepted six Russian bombers about 50 miles from the northwest coast of Alaska.
Two similar incidents occurred in August, one near Cape Lisburne, Alaska, and the other near Cold Bay, Alaska, west of the Aleutian Islands.
One of them twice flew about 2,000 feet over the deck of the USS Nimitz Saturday while another flew about 50 miles away, officials said. Two others were at least 100 miles away, the military reported.
U.S. Defense officials said four F/A-18A fighter jets from the Nimitz were in the air.
The Russians and the U.S. carrier did not exchange verbal communications.
Four turboprop Tupolev-95 Bear bombers took off from Ukrainka air base, in Russia's Far East, in the middle of the night, Japanese officials told The Associated Press, adding that one of the jets violated Japanese airspace.
Russian bombers have been making flights over the western Pacific for several months. In September, two U.S. F-15 fighters scrambled to intercept a plane that came within 50 miles of the coastline.
There have been eight incidents off Alaska since July. Among the latest, on September 5, six F-15s from Elmendorf Air Force Base, adjacent to Anchorage, Alaska, intercepted six Russian bombers about 50 miles from the northwest coast of Alaska.
Two similar incidents occurred in August, one near Cape Lisburne, Alaska, and the other near Cold Bay, Alaska, west of the Aleutian Islands.
Langganan:
Postingan (Atom)
