Bhutto released from house arrest
Lahore, Pakistan
Police said they lifted the house arrest of opposition leader Benazir Bhutto on Friday, hours before the arrival of a senior U.S. envoy who was expected to urge the country’s military leader to end emergency rule.
The move came after Bhutto - while still confined to a house in Lahore - urged fellow opposition leaders to join her in an alliance that could govern until elections.
Despite Bhutto’s call, President Gen. Pervez Musharraf has given no sign he will hand over power. He has named his own interim prime minister and was expected to announce today a caretaker Cabinet to oversee parliamentary elections promised by Jan. 9.
Toulouse, France
10 people injured in Airbus tests
Ten people were injured Thursday when an Airbus 340-600 hit a wall during tests of the four-engine plane on the ground, the company said.
Nine people on board - including seven Etihad Airways employees - and a person on the ground were injured, government officials and a top Airbus executive said.
Officials said three of the injuries were serious but did not provide further details.
Manila, Philippines
3 killed, 3 detained in bomb suspect raid
Police killed three people, including a suspected Muslim militant, and detained three others in a raid Thursday linked to a deadly bombing outside the country’s Congress.
Tuesday’s blast killed a Muslim lawmaker, Rep. Wahab Akbar, and three other people. Police said they suspect it was an attack on Akbar because he is believed to have had ties to al-Qaida-linked Abu Sayyaf militants, but then backed military attacks against them.
Police officers and army intelligence operatives were trying to serve an arrest warrant when they were fired upon by a suspected Abu Sayyaf militant, Manila Police Chief Geary Barias said.
Lagos, Nigeria
Major pipeline ruptured in attack
A major pipeline feeding one of Royal Dutch Shell PLC’s two main oil-export terminals in southern Nigeria was attacked and ruptured by unknown assailants, the company said Thursday.
The pipeline supplies crude oil to the Forcados oil-export terminal, said Precious Okolobo, a spokesman for Shell in Lagos. He would not give further details on the nature of the attack or when it was carried out.
The main group fighting in the region claimed responsibility.
Nigeria is Africa’s leading oil exporter and the fifth-biggest source of U.S. oil imports.
Khulna, Bangladesh
Cyclone Sidr kills dozens
A cyclone packing 150 mph winds slammed Bangladesh’s southeast coast late Thursday, killing at least 41 people and forcing hundreds of thousands from their homes, officials said.
Cyclone Sidr leveled numerous homes as it sent driving rains and high waves across the lowland coastal areas before weakening to a tropical storm by this morning, according to the Bangladesh Meteorological Department.
Local government officials across the region said at least 41 people had been killed, mainly from collapsing homes and falling debris, and 650,000 people had been evacuated.
Also
A powerful magnitude 6.7 earthquake shook the border region of Ecuador and Peru late Thursday, but there were no immediate reports of injury or damage.
Seattle Times news services