Pakistan reopens 1979 Bhutto hanging

Asif Ali Zardari, Pakistan’s president, on Friday asked the supreme court to review the controversial death sentence which led to the 1979 hanging of Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto, who was prime minister and father of his late wife.


Analysts warned that the case could reopen old divisions in a country which has hovered between periods of military rule and short-lived democracies, and is struggling to unite in the face of an islamist insurgency.


Leaders of Mr Zardari’s Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) said he may be seeking to strengthen his position as leader of the PPP, founded by the late Mr Bhutto. Many PPP activists were imprisoned and tortured in a well-documented reign of terror unleashed during General Zia ul-Haq’s eleven-year military dictatorship.


After Mr Bhutto’s hanging, he PPP was led by Benazir Bhutto, Mr Bhutto’s elder daughter who went on to marry Mr Zardari in 1987. Ms Bhutto was assassinated in a terrorist attack in December 2007.


“There is a historic wrong which we are trying to set right. There is no other purpose behind this decision” said Farhatullah Babar, Mr Zardari’s spokesman. But analysts warned that reopening the controversial case will expose the divisions that ran deep in the past.

Seven UN workers killed in Afghan Koran protest

Seven foreign UN workers were killed Friday in Afghanistan by protesters angered by a Koran burning in the United States, the provincial governor said, in what appeared to be the deadliest attack on the United Nations there since the 2001 invasion.


"Seven UNAMA employees have been killed, out of which five are Nepalese and two others are Europeans, one woman and one man," Balkh governor Atta Mohammad Noor said, referring to the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan.


Five protesters also died in the unrest in the northern city of Mazar-e-Sharif, and 20 were injured, the governor told reporters. At least 20 were arrested over the attack, which was claimed by the Taliban.
Advertisement: Story continues below


US President Barack Obama condemned the attack "in the strongest possible terms", while UN chief Ban Ki-Moon called it "outrageous and cowardly".


Police had earlier placed the death toll at 11 and said eight foreign UN workers were killed. The UN has not confirmed the toll, which would make it the most deadly violence against the UN in Afghanistan since the US-led invasion.


The Taliban claimed responsibility for the violence, saying it was the first step in a campaign against the upcoming presidential elections.


Accounts of the attack were contradictory but indicated the killings had been carried out in the style of executions. Local police spokesman Lal Mohammad Ahmadzai told AFP that "two of the killed UN staff were beheaded".

Personalities overshadow policy in Nigeria polls

Ibadan once carried the hopes of postcolonial Africa on the shoulders of its rolling hills, the home of oil-rich Nigeria's first university and as one of the continent's most populous cities in 1960.


Now, the former stronghold of the Oyo kingdom is known for running street battles encouraged by local politicians hungry for power on the eve of crucial elections in Nigeria.


Voters will cast ballots Saturday on who should occupy seats in the country's National Assembly, positions worth more than $1 million in salaries and perks, not counting the power to subvert the billions of dollars in oil revenues the country earns each year.


But whether insecurity will force voters to abandon the polls or those votes will count in a nation where thuggery accompanies elections remains to be unseen.


Politicians "are not really there to serve the people; they want to serve themselves," said Idowu Johnson, a political science lecturer at the University of Ibadan. "The monetary attachments to the positions are why they want to kill themselves for it ... by any means. They are willing to sacrifice their own children."


Saturday's election is the start of three weeks of polls in Africa's most populous nation, home to 150 million people. An estimated 73.5 million voters also will pick a president for the nation and cast ballots in local elections.


President Goodluck Jonathan and the head of the country's Independent National Electoral Commission have promised to provide a free and fair election in a country where coups and military rulers served as the norm for decades. That promise comes against a history of flawed polls marred by violence and ballot box stuffing since the nation became a democracy in 1999.

Ireland banking crisis: is the worst really over?

Colm McCarthy tells it like it is. He's a respected economist at University College Dublin and although adviser both to the past and present governments, back slapping is not in his repertoire.

RTE's Morning Ireland got the usual dose of McCarthy smelling salts today and it made for depressing listening. A "holding position" and "finger in the dyke", he said. There was no one-shot solution to the crisis and we were nowhere near the end game.


His UCD economist colleague Professor Ray Kinsella was equally downbeat in the Examiner newspaper this morning.


In a column titled "Stumbling towards default", Kinsella explains it's all about market confidence and not really about the cash in the banks which could operate at much lower levels of capital reserve. The breathtaking losses at the Bank of Ireland and other Irish financial institutions will be confirmed by the Central Banks.


"What determines the amount of capital that banks need is the 'mind of the markets'. And what counts here is policy credibility and confidence. The terms of the EU/IMF bailout are not credible. There is no confidence," he said.

SMITH WANTS END TO OWNERSHIP SAGA

Rangers manager Walter Smith has called for the club's ownership issue to be resolved as soon as possible as Craig Whyte's takeover bid nears a conclusion.


Chairman Alastair Johnston revealed earlier on Friday that the Scottish champions expect to know one way or another what is happening with regards to the proposed buy-out in the next couple of days.


Smith now hopes a deal can be completed sooner rather than later.


He said: "It's crucial that the ownership aspect of the club gets settled as soon as it possibly can.


"We are in a situation where the club has been for sale for two-and-a-half, three years now.


"It's reached the stage just now where, when that gets sorted out, it will help bring back a bit of stability to the club and that's the most important thing."


For now, Smith is happy to focus on events on the field, adding: "It doesn't affect us that greatly on the footballing side of things.


"We just have to try and handle the situation, as we have done for the last two or three years.