cops raid Sarkozy’s ex-advisor home
Paris: Police raided the Paris home of an ex-advisor to Nicolas Sarkozy on Thursday as part of a probe into whether the former French president misused public funds to pay for opinion polls while in office. Since losing to Socialist Francois Hollande in the presidential election in May, Sarkozy has had to battle a string of allegations relating to his five years in office and various electoral campaigns he was involved in.
24 die in PNG bus accident: report
Sydney: Twenty-four people were killed when a bus plunged off a cliff into a river bed in the rugged western highlands of impoverished Papua New Guinea, a report said on Thursday.
4 relieved from grounded minesweeper
Pearl Harbor: Four officers of a US Navy minesweeper that ran aground on coral reef in the Philippines are being relieved of their duties. The US Pacific Fleet said in a statement that initial findings indicate all four sailors failed to adhere to standard navigation procedures at the time of the January 17 grounding of the Guardian.
42 held for sectarian unrest in myanmar
Yangon: Police in Myanmar say at least 42 people have been arrested and may face trial for their roles in an outbreak of sectarian violence last month. Police officer Kyi Shein says 30 Buddhists are among those who have been detained for alleged links to unrest that hit the central town of Meikhtila for several days.
Record floods in Argentina kill 54
la Plata: Massive flooding killed 54 people in and around Buenos Aires, officials said, with most of victims found after a second day of record rainfall hit the area. At least 46 people died as flood waters hit
nearby city of la Plata, following historic rains that swept through streets, submerging cars as people cowered on rooftops.
‘Stop extra aid to Pak unless taxes increase’
london: Britain should withhold extra aid to Pakistan unless the country does more to gather taxes from its citizens, a parliamentary inquiry report has said, even as UK plans to double its assistance to Islamabad.
NATO airstrike kills six: Afghan official
Kabul: An Afghan official says an airstrike by US-led forces has killed four policemen and two civilians in eastern Afghanistan. The official said that airstrike occurred a day before as NATO troops and Taliban militants were fighting about 10 kilometers away from an Afghan police checkpoint.
father gets life for killing his 6 children
london: A British man was on Thursday jailed for life after being found guilty of starting a fire that killed his six children, while his wife and a friend were sentenced to 17 years in prison for their role as co-conspirators.
Bilawal launches poll campaign
Karachi: Bilawal Bhutto Zardari on Thursday launched the Pakistan People’s Party’s election campaign in a low-key manner, invoking the legacy of the Bhutto family while calling on people to back the party in the May 11 election.