Benazir Bhutto dies in suspected suicide attack in Rawalpindi

Former Prime Minister of Pakistan and opposition leader, Benazir Bhutto died this evening in a bomb explosion.

According to reports, Ms. Bhutto was the victim of a suspected suicide attack during a rally of her Pakistan People’s Party.

The attack has left at least 15 people dead, according to police.

Ms. Bhutto had just addressed the rally in the town of Rawalpindi when an explosion occurred at one of the entrance gates to the Liaqat Ali park.

Apparently she had been just 50 m away at the time.

When she returned to the country after many years in exile in October an attack on Ms. Bhutto’s cavalcade took the lives of some 130 people in one of the worse incidents of violence in Pakistan.

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Sri Lankan minister hospitalized after clash at state television

A Sri Lankan minister was hospitalized on Thursday following a clash with the employees of the state television Rupavahini, hospital officials said.

Labor Minister Mervyn Silva was admitted to the Colombo National Hospital after being rescued by the police from the enraged Rupavahini employees, officials of the hospital said.

Silva stormed the television station around 10:00 a.m. local time (0430 GMT) to protest Rupavahini's ignoring of a speech made by him on Wednesday in the southern town of Matara in the presence of Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapakse.

The station's News Director T. M. G. Chandrasekera was assaulted by the minister and his guards, Rupavahini employees charged.

Silva was kept hostage by employees over three hours demanding an apology from the minister.

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LTTE sneaking into Tamilnadu?

Former Congress Legislature Party leader S R Balasubramoniyan has pressed the alarm button by stating that there is a possibility of LTTE sneaking into Tamilnadu under the guise of refugees.

Speaking to reporters the Congress leader said that with the LTTE losing ground in Lanka and the worsening situation had forced scores of extremists to head towards Tamilnadu as refugees.

‘This would spell doom to the security of our country and hence the State government should take steps to check infiltration,’ he said.

Referring to propaganda that there was no ban on LTTE in Lanka, he said that it is nothing but a ‘mischief’ played by some political parties to scuttle the peace and sovereignty of the nation.

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Congress seeks ban on pro-LTTE meetings

Congress on Thursday demanded that the Tamil Nadu government should take stern action against the supporters of outlawed LTTE and ban the meetings held in support of the organisation.

The LTTE continued to be a banned organisation and the supporters of the outfit should be dealt firmly by the government, senior party leader and former Union Minister S R Balasubramaniam told reporters here.

He also wanted the political parties to refrain from supporting the LTTE.

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Sri Lanka tested satellite disaster warning system to be used in India

A digital satellite radio disaster alert system that can be remotely activated which was field tested in Sri Lanka is now ready for use in the region to give early warning of tsunamis, officials said.

The Addressable Radio for Emergency Alert (AREA) system can send disaster alerts within seconds of its transmission by government authorities and also has the advantage of activating a siren.

The system is also expected to be adopted in India, which along with Sri Lanka, was among several countries that suffered from the 2004 tsunami.

The system, which has early-warning emergency messages, audio and visual alarms, was tested in a study conducted by LIRNEasia, a regional policy think tank, and Sarvodaya, a charity, in 32 Sri Lankan coastal villages.

"The product is digital satellite radio – it means there's no ground infrastructure at all," said Rohan Samarajeeva of LIRNEasia.

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