International News

Ukraine deep freeze kills 101

Saturday, 04 February 2012 09:04

Russia and Ukraine both took precautions on Friday to protect homeless people, scores of whom have frozen to death on the streets of Europe during its brutal cold snap.

As the death toll from the weeklong tragedy rose to at least 169 on Friday, Russian Emergencies Minister Sergei Shoigu ordered the creation of feeding and medical-assistance facilities nationwide for the homeless.

Russia has not reported casualty figures from the cold snap, which has gripped a large swath of the continent from Russia to Serbia. But Russian Deputy Health Minister Maxim Topilin was quoted by the ITAR-Tass news agency on Friday as saying that 64 people died from the cold in all of January.

The hardest hit

In Ukraine, the hardest hit country, health officials have told hospitals to stop discharging the hundreds of homeless patients after they are treated for hypothermia and frostbite. The goal is to prevent them from dying once they are released into temperatures as low as minus 32 Celsius (minus 26 Fahrenheit).

Authorities also have set up nearly 3,000 heating and food shelters.

Gilani hauled up again in Zardari graft case

Friday, 03 February 2012 09:06

For the second time in a month, Prime Minister Syed Yusuf Raza Gilani was ordered by the Supreme Court on Thursday to appear before it to be charged with contempt for repeatedly refusing to reopen corruption cases against President Asif Ali Zardari.

Addressing the National Assembly later in the evening, Mr. Gilani said he would appear before the court on the designated date — February 13 — while reiterating the supremacy of Parliament provided in the Constitution. Earlier, after the court directive, he had convened a meeting of the Pakistan People's Party (PPP) to discuss the situation.

The apex court's decision came just as the beleagured PPP-led government had begun to breath easy on the memo scandal case — where the Supreme Court had given it some reprieve — and triggered a fresh round of speculation about a possible clash between institutions. If convicted, the Prime Minister faces imprisonment and loss of office.