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ISLAMABAD: Embattled Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf
Sunday said that a real democratic era had begun in his country
following elections and he would give full support to the new
government. Musharraf’s opponents trounced his allies in February
18 general elections and the new coalition government appears set
for a confrontation after vowing to reinstate judges whom the
president sacked during a state of emergency in November. “We are
proud that during the past eight years, not only we laid the
foundation of a real democracy, but we also put Pakistan on the path
of progress and prosperity,” he said.
-- AFP
LOS ANGELES: Tap water tainted with salmonella
has sickened nearly 140 people in Alamosa, a small town in Colorado,
health officials confirmed Saturday. Among those infected, seven
have been hospitalized for treatment, authorities said. The incident
prompted Colorado Governor Bill Ritter to declare an emergency,
activate the National Guard and provide as much as $300,000 for
response efforts. The city and county have also declared emergencies
as officials scrambled to provide safe water and disinfect the
system with chlorine. An analysis indicated the municipal water
system in Alamosa is the source of the bacterial outbreak, as
suspected, said Ned Calonge, chief medical officer for the state
health department.
-- Xinhua
WASHINGTON: Two astronauts from the US shuttle
Endeavour successfully completed a fifth and final spacewalk of
their mission late Saturday, stepping into the void to attach a
50-foot sensory boom to the outside of the International Space
Station. Mission specialists Robert Behnken and Mike Foreman began
their spacewalk at 4:34 p.m., 49 minutes ahead of schedule, and
ended it at 9:36 p.m. It was the last such trip before Endeavour’s
seven-man crew heads back to Earth next week. Mission Control in
Houston, Texas, immediately declared the six-hour walk a success.
-- AFP
KUNMING: A 5.0 magnitude quake that jolted
southwest China’s Yunnan Province Friday evening has affected
nearly 16,000 residents and damaged houses, roads and power lines,
local government said on Saturday. Seven houses collapsed and 3,600
others were damaged in the quake, which hit Tongbiguan Town, about
40 kilometers from the Yingjiang County seat at 8:36 p.m. Friday.
But there has been no report of casualties. The quake
also destroyed dozens of kilometers of rural roads and caused power
cuts for 12 villager teams in the town.
-- Xinhua
KABUL: Dozens of Taliban militants were killed
in an operation by Afghan and NATO forces in troubled southern
Afghanistan, the Afghan defence ministry said Sunday. The ministry
did not give a number of dead but a high-ranking official said on
condition of anonymity that more than 40 Taliban were killed in the
operation in the southern province of Uruzgan on Saturday. The
government has a policy of not issuing a precise number of rebels
killed in clashes. The bodies of the dead were still on the ground,
the statement added.
-- AFP
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