Today's other stories in brief
Kyrgyz president says he may resign
TEYYIT – Kyrgyz president Kurmanbek Bakiyev said yesterday he might resign if the interim government guaranteed his safety and calmed the turmoil gripping the country since an uprising against his five-year rule.
Raising for the first time the possibility of ceding power, Mr Bakiyev attached several conditions to stepping down, a sharp shift in tone that could offer a way out of the standoff with the self-proclaimed government which controls Kyrgyzstan.
When asked under what conditions he could resign, Mr Bakiyev said: “I believe first and foremost if there is a guarantee that the roaming of these armed people ends in Kyrgyzstan, that this redistribution of property and this armed free-for-all stops.
“Secondly, if my personal security and that of my family and my relatives is guaranteed.” – (Reuters)
Pakistan killed 71 civilians in air strike, say locals
ISLAMABAD – At least 71 civilians were killed by a misdirected air strike in Pakistan’s tribal zone against suspected extremists, locals claimed yesterday, as thousands of people flee a western-backed military offensive against Taliban and al-Qaeda fighters in the area.
The air strike hit a house on Saturday in a remote part of the Khyber area of the tribal belt, the lawless region that borders Afghanistan.
The Pakistani military refused to confirm the deaths but the local government administration paid out 10 million rupees (€88,000) in compensation, residents said. Military sources said they had targeted bunkers being constructed by extremists in the Tirah valley and it was unclear how a house could have been hit. – (Guardian service)
Michelle Obama visits Haiti
PORT-AU-PRINCE – US first lady Michelle Obama made an unannounced visit to disaster-stricken Haiti yesterday and said she was struck by the devastation inflicted by the January 12th earthquake.
Starting her first solo international trip as first lady, Ms Obama made the stopover in the Haitian capital, Port-au- Prince, en route to a visit to Mexico.
She arrived with Jill Biden, the wife of US vice-president Joe Biden. “It’s powerful. The devastation is definitely powerful,” Ms Obama said when asked for her first impressions after flying over Port-au-Prince in a US army helicopter. She was greeted at the presidential palace by Haitian president René Préval and his wife. – (Reuters)