PAKISTAN - VIOLENCE: Police in Pakistan say a suicide bomber has killed at least 10 people
and wounded at least 37 others in northwestern Swat valley. The
incident is the third deadly attack in Pakistan this week.
Police say the attacker was in a rickshaw, and blew himself up at a security checkpoint in the town of Saidu Sharif Saturday.
The incident follows coordinated suicide bomb attacks in the eastern
city of Lahore that killed at least 55 people Friday morning.
A police official told reporters two
bombers struck within seconds of each other.
AFGHANISTAN - VIOLENCE: Afghanistan's Interior Ministry says a roadside bomb has killed six people and wounded one other in Tirin Kot, the capital of central Uruzgan province. The ministry says the explosion took place early Saturday when a vehicle passed a bomb buried in a road. In a separate development, the French news agency says an IED (improvised explosive device) went off and killed two militants while they were trying to plant it on a road in western Badghis province. Insurgents in Afghanistan frequently use IEDs against Afghan and international forces, but the weapons often kill civilians.
<!-- IMAGE -->THAILAND - PROTESTS: Thousands of protesters from rural northern Thailand have begun arriving in Bangkok for a rally aimed at toppling the government of Thai Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajhiva. Trucks and other vehicles filled highways into the capital city Saturday as security forces searched them, ahead of a protest scheduled for Sunday to restore ousted Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra to power. Protest organizers say between 600,000 and 700,000 supporters of the United Front for Democracy Against Dictatorship (UDD) will march in Bangkok. About 50,000 police, military and other security forces were patrolling Bangkok.
<!-- IMAGE -->US - ISRAEL - SETTLEMENT: The United States, United Nations, European Union and Russia have condemned Israel's decision to build new settler homes in occupied East Jerusalem. The Middle East diplomatic Quartet issued the statement Friday, saying such unilateral actions will not be recognized by the international community. The Quartet says it will closely monitor developments in Jerusalem and take full stock of the situation at its March 19 meeting in Moscow. Earlier in the day, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton delivered a strong rebuke to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu over Israel's announcement on Tuesday to build 1,600 new housing units in East Jerusalem, which Palestinians want as a capital of a future state.
<!-- IMAGE -->US - IMMIGRATION: A U.S.-based research institute says a judge shortage means immigrants facing deportation or other legal procedures in the United States are waiting longer than ever for a hearing. Syracuse University's Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse said in a report Friday people wait an average of 439 days for their hearings. In Los Angeles, it said the average wait stretches to nearly two years. The report said there were more than 228,000 open cases at the end of 2009, or 23% more than the year before. The research institute said the massive backlog can be traced to a lack of federal judges, saying there are 48 vacancies.
<!-- IMAGE -->US - YEMEN - ARREST: Officials say a suspected al-Qaida militant who is a U.S. citizen being
held by Yemeni authorities, worked at nuclear plants in the United
States.
A U.S. company which owns several nuclear power plants, PSEG, said
Friday that Sharif Mobley worked at two nuclear reactors in the eastern
U.S. state of New Jersey and other facilities in the region.
Mobley was among 11 al-Qaida suspects arrested in the Yemeni capital,
Sana'a, earlier this month. The 26-year-old was being treated at a
local hospital when he shot and killed a guard during an escape attempt.
US HEALTH CARE: U.S. President Barack Obama has pushed back his trip to Indonesia and
Australia to focus on a final push to pass health care reform.
White House officials said Friday President Obama will leave on his
trip March 21, three days later than planned, and return to Washington
March 26.
Mr. Obama has been pressing Congress to pass the legislation, a priority of his administration.
White House spokesman Robert Gibbs says the effort has gained momentum,
and that the president will make a final push for it, calling and
meeting with lawmakers.
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