Pneumonia spreads among quake victims
Muzaffarabad, Pakistan Hundreds of survivors of Pakistan’s huge earthquake filled hospitals Thursday for treatment of pneumonia and flu, as temperatures plunged below freezing with the arrival of the brutal Himalayan winter.
Officials said eight people have died from the harsh weather.
Hospitals in the quake zone treated more than 700 people suffering from pneumonia, flu, hypothermia and other weather-related ailments Wednesday, and hundreds more on Thursday, officials said.
Bangladesh militants targeting judges
Gazipur, Bangladesh A bomb thrown by an Islamic militant disguised as a tea vendor exploded outside a government building Thursday in a town near the Bangladeshi capital, killing one person and wounding at least 29, authorities said.
The militant, who was hurt and captured after the blast, threw a tea container holding the bomb after police threatened to shoot him when he refused to be searched, said Gazipur police chief Atiqul Islam.
The bomb exploded outside a sprawling complex that houses the chief government administrator’s office and a courthouse in Gazipur, north of the capital of Dhaka. The blast occurred two days after suspected Islamic suicide bombers killed seven people in the town.
Islamic militants have repeatedly targeted lawyers and judges in Bangladesh, accusing them of promoting secular laws instead of Islamic Sharia rule.
Afghanistan expects $5.5 billion in U.S. aid
Kabul, Afghanistan U.S. development assistance to Afghanistan is expected to reach $5.5 billion in the next five years, the Afghan finance minister said Thursday as the two countries signed a memorandum of understanding on aid agreements.
The agreements set out plans for U.S. support to programs in education, health care and economic and democratic development, among other things. The programs will be implemented by the U.S. Agency for International Development and the Afghan government.
The United States has committed $479.6 million this year, and Afghan Finance Minister Anwar ul-Haq Ahadi said total U.S. funding over five years is expected to reach $5.5 billion.
Haitian gunmen hijack school bus
Port-au-Prince, Haiti Gunmen hijacked a school bus carrying 14 children Thursday, and a U.S. missionary was kidnapped while driving outside Haiti’s capital, police said.
The bus was taking the children to school when several armed men stopped it, boarded it and drove off down a main road going to the west of Port-au-Prince, the capital, Police Commissioner Francois Henry Doussous told the Associated Press.
He said agents are working to secure the release of the children, but he did not suggest a motive or provide any other details.
Also Thursday, gunmen shot and kidnapped 44-year-old U.S. missionary Philip Schneider as he was driving on a road north of the capital, Doussous said.
Doussous said he spoke with the kidnappers of Schneider by phone and that they are demanding $300,000 for his release.