hBhutto demands Musharraf’s resignation

hBhutto demands
Musharraf’s resignation

LAHORE, Pakistan — Pakistani opposition leader Benazir Bhutto demanded the resignation of U.S.-backed President Gen. Pervez Musharraf on Tuesday, dashing Western hopes that the two moderate leaders would form an alliance to confront strengthening Islamic extremists. Bhutto, just placed under house arrest for the second time since her return from exile, said she was working to forge a partnership with Nawaz Sharif, the man overthrown as prime minister in a 1999 coup by Musharraf. Her call, which could see Pakistan’s two main opposition parties joining, raised a new threat for Musharraf, a key U.S. ally who faces growing pressure at home and abroad to end emergency rule and restore democracy.

No. 2 heads to Pakistan

WASHINGTON — The Bush administration is sending its No. 2 diplomat to Pakistan to tell President Pervez Musharraf in person to rescind emergency rule and allow free and fair elections. Deputy Secretary of State John Negroponte, now on a four-nation West Africa tour, is expected in Pakistan on Friday to underscore U.S. concerns about the situation as Musharraf resists pressure to return to constitutional rule or to free opposition leader Benazir Bhutto who has been placed under house arrest for a second time.

Three die in Filipino blast

MANILA, Philippines — A bomb exploded outside the House of Representatives late Tuesday, killing a former Muslim rebel-turned-congressman who had backed a U.S.-Philippine offensive against Islamic militants. A lawmaker’s driver and a legislative staffer also died. The remotely detonated bomb collapsed the ceiling at the building’s entrance, damaged cars and injured seven people, including two congresswomen.

AIDS and transplants

CHICAGO — A troubling case in which a high-risk organ donor infected four patients with the AIDS virus and hepatitis has led medical ethicists to warn that patients need to know more about whose organs they’re getting. Public health officials said Tuesday the Chicago case is the first known instance of HIV transmission through organ transplants since 1986. It’s also the first ever known instance in which one organ donor has spread hepatitis C and HIV at the same time, said Dr. Matt Kuehnert of the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The CDC and other public health officials are investigating the Chicago cases. But they emphasized that the risk of getting any disease from transplanted organs is less than 0.01 percent.

Chicago cardinal wins vote

BALTIMORE — The cardinal elected Tuesday to lead the U.S. Roman Catholic bishops’ conference was already one of the most influential men in the American church. Cardinal Francis George, archbishop of Chicago for a decade, earned two doctorates in philosophy and theology, knows six languages and has deep ties within the Vatican. As the new president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, he will host Pope Benedict XVI’s visit to Washington and New York in April and guide church leaders through a presidential election season in which religion will figure prominently.

Teen killed after threat

NEW YORK — An unarmed, mentally ill teenager could be heard cursing and yelling “I’ve got a gun!” during a frantic 911 call made by his exasperated mother before police arrived and killed him with a 20-bullet barrage, according to a tape of the call released Tuesday. Police officials said that although the woman had said her son didn’t have a gun, Khiel Coppin gave five officers no choice but to open fire after he suddenly charged them outside her home with a black object in his hand. It turned out to be a hairbrush. The district attorney is investigating, but officials said officers reasonably believed Coppin w as about to use deadly force.

Combined dispatches