Gaddafi forces killed 10,000 in Libya

TRIPOLI: Forces loyal to embattled Libyan ruler Colonel Muammar Gaddafi has killed at least 10,000 people during the ongoing fighting in the North African country, opposition says.

Libya’s National Transition Council said on Tuesday that another 30,000 were wounded and 20,000 more are still missing, AFP reported.

The revolutionary council, headed by Libya’s former Justice Minister Mustafa Abdel Jalil, plans to lead the country to an election.

Jalil was among the first high-profile Libyan figures to join protesters following Gaddafi regime’s brutal crackdown on the opposition. AGENCIES

Suicide attack hits Afghan army bus in Kabul-police

KABUL: A suicide bomber attacked an Afghan army bus on the outskirts of Kabul on Saturday, wounding up to 10 soldiers and civilians, less than a week after a suicide attack on a foreign military base in the city, a police spokesman said.

Australia face tricky match against emotional Kiwis

NAGPUR: Champions Australia will look to stave off a stiff challenge from an emotional New Zealand side, who will aim to bring a little cheer back home with a World Cup win in Nagpur on Friday over their old rivals.

The build-up to the match between the trans-Tasman rivals has been incredibly tough for the Kiwis following Tuesday’s earthquake in Christchurch, which killed at least 95 people, with more than 200 people still missing.

“The greatest thing we can do for a lot of people is win the game against Australia. That would bring a little bit of relief to some people going through a tough time,” New Zealand captain Daniel Vettori said after the natural calamity.

New Zealand have left out batsman Kane Williamson and bowlers Kyle Mills and Luke Woodcock from their 12 on the eve of the match with their traditional rivals, who are on a 30-match unbeaten streak in the showpiece event stretching to 1999.

Australia were slow to get out of the blocks in their opening win over Zimbabwe and will want to see better application from their batsmen against the Kiwi spin duo of Vettori and Nathan McCullum, who is tipped to open the bowling.

The New Zealand batsman would expect to have a tough time, though, against the hostile Australia pace attack of Brett Lee, Mitchell Johnson and Shaun Tait.

The organisers have a different battle on their hands and have resorted to bringing in school children to ensure some crowd presence at the 45,900 capacity Vidarbha Cricket Association Stadium, situated 20 kilometres from the city centre.

“We have talked to 62 schools and have arranged for about 20,000 children to come for tomorrow’s match. At the lowest we are expecting some 13,000 children to be present,” a local organiser told Reuters.

In Dhaka, co-hosts Bangladesh take on Ireland in an important Group B match for both sides, who are aspiring to make it to the quarter, final stages.

Bangladesh, who lost their opening match against neighbours India by 87 runs, will start slight favourites, owing to their abundance of spinners on the slow and low subcontinent track.

Bomber kills at least 9, wounds 19 in Iraq-source

SAMARRA: A suicide bomber targeting Shi’ite pilgrims killed at least 9 people and wounded 19 near the Iraqi city of Samarra on Saturday, a police source said.

“So far we have received nine dead bodies, five of them are unrecognisable, and 19 wounded. Women and children are amongst them,” the police source at Samarra hospital said.

Samarra is 100 km (62 miles) north of Baghdad. AGENCIES

Brazil rains death toll rises, epidemic feared

NOVA FRIBURGO: Rains that devastated a mountainous region north of Rio de Janeiro have killed at least 611 people, Brazil’s Civil Defense agency said on Sunday, as forecasts of more storms and fears of disease outbreaks overshadowed rescue operations.

Nearly five days after rains sparked floods and massive landslides in one of Brazil’s worst natural disasters, the death toll continues to rise steadily as rescuers dig up corpses buried by rivers of mud and reach more remote areas.

TV images showed rescue workers looking for people under mounds of debris, a task made difficult by more rain on Saturday and forecast of more downpours on Sunday.

O Globo newspaper said the army has helped with the rescue of 110 families in isolated areas in Teresopolis, where 263 people have died, but victims increasingly complain about what they see as a lack of government help.

Death toll in Iraq suicide bombings rises to 17

BAGHDAD: Two suicide car bombers targeting a government compound in the Iraqi town of Ramadi killed at least 17 people and wounded 47 on Monday, a police official said.

“The death toll has risen to 17, most of them police officers, and 47 people have been wounded,” he said, speaking on condition of anonymity. He said most of the wounded were in serious condition.

He said rescue operations were continuing.

Ramadi is 100 km (60 miles) west of Baghdad. AGENCIES

Bomb explosion kills at least 8 in Central Nigeria

A bomb explosion killed at least 8 people and injured 8 others in a village near the central Nigerian city of Jos on Friday, police said.

The state information office said 20 people were killed in the explosions but police could not confirm this. Hundreds of people died in religious and ethnic clashes at the start of the year in the Middle Belt, the central region of Africa’s most populous nation where the mostly-Muslim north meets the predominantly Christian south. There have been localised outbreaks of violence since then. The tension is rooted in decades of resentment between indigenous groups, mostly Christian or animist, who are vying for control of fertile farmlands and for economic and political power with migrants and settlers from the north.

Hungu: Mortar attack kills 6, injures 8

A mortar attack killed at least six people, including women and children, in northwest Pakistan on Friday as Ashura processions were on their way to main imambargah.

According to police, mortars were fired from different areas into houses in Malakwal, Karmawal, Qazi Talaab and Spain Khwarway. Due to which six people were killed and 8 got injuries.

Mortars were fired from Orakzai and hit two houses in Hangu. Six people were killed and eight injured, Gul Jamal, a local police official, told.

The injured were shifted to District Headquarters Hospital Hungu. Security forces bombed hideouts of militants.

Accidents linked to bad weather kill 18 in Egypt

CAIRO: Building collapses and road accidents blamed on a mixture of sandstorms, heavy rain and high winds have killed at least 18 people and injured dozens more across Egypt, state media reported on Monday.

One factory building collapsed in the northern port city of Alexandria killing at least seven people and injuring 10, the state news agency MENA reported. It said the toll could rise as others were believed to be under the rubble.

State-owned Al-Ahram newspaper blamed rain damage to the factory structure for the collapse. It said other buildings also collapsed or were damaged by storms, leading to other deaths.

The newspaper, which put the total death toll at 18, also listed fatalities in road accidents related to the weather, including one incident where a street light fell into a road.

Sandstorms, rain and wind have battered swathes of the

Pakistan Rejects US Demand to Expand Drone Operations

News Trends: The United States is seeking to expand the areas inside Pakistan where Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) drones can operate.

Pakistan, however, rejected the request and instead agreed to more modest measures, including an expanded CIA presence in Quetta. You expect us to open the skies for anything that you can fly, the paper quotes a high-ranking Pakistani intelligence official as saying. In which country can you do that?Citing unnamed US and Pakistani officials, the newspaper said US officials were eyeing areas surrounding the Pakistani city of Quetta, where the Taliban leadership is believed to be hiding. But the request also seeks to expand the boundaries for drone strikes in the tribal areas, the report said. On Friday, a US drone attack destroyed a vehicle in Pakistan’s tribal district of North Waziristan, killing at least three suspected militants, Pakistani security officials said. The United States considers Pakistan’s tribal belt an Al-Qaeda headquarters and the most dangerous place on Earth, and has reportedly criticised Pakistan’s failure so far to launch a major ground offensive in North Waziristan. Friday’s drone strike comes three days after a similar attack killed at least 15 militants and destroyed a training centre north of Miranshah.More than 220 people have been killed in Pakistan in over 40 strikes since September 3.

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