W O R L D

16 kids, teacher killed in Pakistan school bus fire
Lahore, May 25
In a tragic accident, 16 children and a teacher were charred to death in Pakistan's Punjab province today when a leaking gas cylinder triggered a fire in the bus taking them to school, the police said.

The charred wreckage of a school van on the outskirts of Gujrat city on Saturday. AFP

Female suicide bomber injures 18 in Russia
Moscow, May 25
A suicide bomber blew herself up in a car near a police building in Russia's Dagestan region on Saturday, injuring 18 policemen and passers-by, Russian media reported. Dagestan, an ethnically mixed, mostly Muslim region between Chechnya and the Caspian Sea, has become the most violent province in the North Caucasus, where insurgents say they are fighting to carve out an Islamic state out of southern Russia.

After Kabul attacks, 10,000 peace balloons
Kabul, May 25
After a day of explosions and gunfire, residents of Kabul woke up today to be greeted by a public art project in which volunteers handed out 10,000 neon-pink "peace" balloons. Organised by Yazmany Arboleda, a 31-year-old conceptual artist from the United States, the project was an unusual attempt to bring a dose of creativity and fun to a city wrecked by decades of war.

An Afghan volunteer gives a balloon to a resident during an art project promoting peace in Kabul on Saturday. AFP

Syria unleashes artillery barrage on Qusair
Beirut, May 25
Activists say forces loyal to Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad have unleashed their heaviest artillery barrage in a week to dislodge rebels from a strategic western town.

4 researchers exposed to radiation at Japanese lab
Tokyo, May 25
Four researchers were exposed to radiation in an accident at a Japanese nuclear physics laboratory this week, officials said today. The accident occurred on Thursday at a laboratory in Tokaimura, 120 km northeast of Tokyo.

16 kids, teacher killed in Pakistan school bus fire

Lahore, May 25
In a tragic accident, 16 children and a teacher were charred to death in Pakistan's Punjab province today when a leaking gas cylinder triggered a fire in the bus taking them to school, the police said. Seven children were injured in the incident on the outskirts of Gujrat city, located about 200 km from Islamabad.

Reports said the bus was carrying about 25 children.

The police had initially said 17 children were killed but later revised the figure.

Officials said the vehicle's gas cylinder was still intact and this indicated the blaze was caused by a gas leak. Footage on television showed the bus was charred by the fire that spread rapidly.

The driver fled from the spot and police were conducting raids to arrest him.

Two seriously injured children were shifted to a hospital in Lahore while others were being treated in a hospital in Gujrat.

President Asif Ali Zardari and caretaker Prime Minister Mir Hazar Khan Khoso expressed deep shock and concern at the incident.

The President directed authorities to immediately submit a report on the incident and to provide the best medical care to injured children. — PTI

Female suicide bomber injures 18 in Russia

Moscow, May 25
A suicide bomber blew herself up in a car near a police building in Russia's Dagestan region on Saturday, injuring 18 policemen and passers-by, Russian media reported. Dagestan, an ethnically mixed, mostly Muslim region between Chechnya and the Caspian Sea, has become the most violent province in the North Caucasus, where insurgents say they are fighting to carve out an Islamic state out of southern Russia.

The bomb was detonated after the police stopped the car to check the driver’s documents, some 100m from the regional police ministry in the centre of Makhachkala, the regional capital.

Police sources told local media that the only person killed was the bomber, whom they identified as the former wife of two militants.

It is not unusual for women to carry out suicide bombings in the region. They are often the widows of militants.

Two policemen injured in the blast were in a critical condition, the police said, with nine other persons required hospital treatment. There has been a surge in violence in the region in recent weeks. The latest attack comes days after two car bombs in Makhachkala killed four persons and injured dozens more on Monday.

At least 405 people were killed in Dagestan in violence linked to the insurgency last year, according to the Caucasian Knot website, which tracks developments in the region. — Agencies

The last check

After Kabul attacks, 10,000 peace balloons

Kabul, May 25
After a day of explosions and gunfire, residents of Kabul woke up today to be greeted by a public art project in which volunteers handed out 10,000 neon-pink "peace" balloons. Organised by Yazmany Arboleda, a 31-year-old conceptual artist from the United States, the project was an unusual attempt to bring a dose of creativity and fun to a city wrecked by decades of war.

The timing of the event, which had been kept secret, came just hours after Taliban militants launched a major suicide and gun attack on a compound of the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) in central Kabul.

"I did think of calling it off last night but all the volunteers insisted it continued," Arboleda said. "I could hear explosions from my house but everyone was just ignoring them and doing the last-minute preparations unaffected."

"They said that this is what happens in their city, and they have to get on with their lives. How people have embraced this shows how much creativity, positivity and love there is here despite everything."

Today morning — the start of the Afghan working week — more than 100 young Kabul artistes and students distributed the bright pink balloons to workers, shoppers and families living in the dusty capital.

At distribution points in the city centre beginning at 7 am, adults were given one balloon each and encouraged to keep them until the end of the day.

Arboleda, who is based in New York, has arranged similar balloon projects in Nairobi in Kenya, Bangalore in India and Yamaguchi in Japan. — AFP

Syria unleashes artillery barrage on Qusair

Beirut, May 25
Activists say forces loyal to Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad have unleashed their heaviest artillery barrage in a week to dislodge rebels from a strategic western town.

Pro-Assad troops, including fighters from the Lebanese militia Hezbollah, launched an offensive against the rebel-held town of Qusair a week ago. They have gained ground, but rebels continue to hold some positions.

Local activist Hadi Abdullah and the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights say the artillery barrage began early today. The regime wants to recapture Qusair to open a land corridor between its strongholds in the capital Damascus and on the Mediterranean coast.

The Qusair offensive has highlighted Hezbollah's growing role in Syria's civil war. Today's push comes ahead of a speech by Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah, his first since the offensive began. — AP

4 researchers exposed to radiation at Japanese lab

Tokyo, May 25
Four researchers were exposed to radiation in an accident at a Japanese nuclear physics laboratory this week, officials said today. The accident occurred on Thursday at a laboratory in Tokaimura, 120 km northeast of Tokyo.

The researchers were carrying out an experiment to generate particles by firing a proton beam at gold when the accident happened. There was no widespread radiation leak and none of the researchers required medical attention. The researchers were exposed to up to 1.6 millisieverts of radiation.

The International Commission of Radiological Protection recommends a dosage limit of one millisievert per year, but says exposure to less than 100 millisieverts per year presents no statistically significant increase in cancer risk. — AFP

BRIEFLY

Motocross driver Florian Menge flies in the air with his motorcycle during the sky scraper festival in Germany on Saturday. AFP

Seoul
Seoul press doubtful over N Korea dialogue offer
South Korea’s press on Saturday expressed scepticism over an apparent offer by North Korea that it was willing to return to six-party nuclear disarmament talks. But South Korea’s largest circulation daily “Chosun Ilbo” said in an editorial, “We must not leap to a conclusion that North Korea is serious about coming to the dialogue table for denuclearisation. It is more interested in mollifying an angry China." — AFP

Manila
11 dead as Philippine troops clash with militants
Eleven persons were killed in the southern Philippines on Saturday as troops clashed with a militant group blamed for the country’s deadliest terror attacks, the military said. The fighting left seven Filipino marines dead and nine others wounded on the island of Jolo, said Colonel Jose Cenabre, a local military commander. Four members of the Abu Sayyaf group were also killed in the firefight. — AFP

Islamabad
Militants kill 7 Pak cops
Seven policemen were killed and four others injured when dozens of militants ambushed their vehicles on the outskirts of Peshawar city of northwest Pakistan. The police convoy was attacked at Mattani area late Friday night. Six policemen were killed instantly while one died in hospital on Saturday. — PTI

Stockholm
Sweden violence continues
Community patrols and a beefed-up police presence helped to calm violence around Stockholm on Friday night but 20 to 30 cars were torched in immigrant suburbs and serious incidents were reported outside the capital for the first time. — Reuters