Suicide bomber kills 37 in Pakistan
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan, Feb. 16 (UPI) -- A suicide car bombing at the office of a candidate from the late Benazir Bhutto's party killed 37 people Saturday, two days before Pakistan's general election.
Scores of people were injured by the bombing, which occurred in Parachinar as the candidate was returning from a rally, The Guardian reported. The town is in Pakistan's loosely governed tribal areas near the Afghan border.
The election was postponed after Bhutto, a former prime minister and leader of the People's Party, was assassinated in December. The election season has continued to be violent, with almost 80 deaths in the past week.
Polling stations in Khar, also in the tribal areas, were bombed, The Press Trust of India reported. Three soldiers recently died in a roadside bombing in the area.
Pakistan has deployed nearly 81,000 soldiers through the region with orders to shoot anyone suspected of committing violence on election day, the BBC reported.
Illegal street racing crash kills eight
ACCOKEEK, Md., Feb. 16 (UPI) -- Eight people died early Saturday in Maryland when a car went out of control and hit a crowd of people watching an illegal street race.
At least three people were injured, The Washington Post reported. They included the driver of the Crown Victoria that struck the bystanders.
Police Cpl. Clinton Copeland said the crash occurred at 3 a.m. on Indian Head Highway, or Route 210, about 10 miles south of the Capital Beltway. At least six of the dead were watching the race, one was riding in the Crown Victoria and the eighth may have been hit by a truck not involved in the race.
The highway median was covered with clothes and shoes from those who were hit.
"It was a very horrific scene with the number of individuals in the road at one time and the amount of debris," Copeland said.
The driver of the Crown Victoria denied being in the race, WRC Channel 4 reported. He told police he had been driving on Route 210 and lost control of the car because of exhaust smoke from cars that were racing.
Copeland said at least one other car must have fled the scene.
Bush backs power-sharing in Kenya
COTONOU, Benin, Feb. 16 (UPI) -- U.S. President George Bush backed a power-sharing agreement to end political violence in Kenya during a brief stop Saturday in Benin.
Bush's six-day, five-country tour of Africa avoids trouble spots such as Kenya, where hundreds of people have been killed since President Mwai Kibaki was re-elected in a disputed vote. His itinerary includes Tanzania, Rwanda, Ghana and Liberia.
After meeting with President Thomas Boni Yayi of Benin, Bush discussed the Kenya situation with reporters, the BBC said. The president has dispatched Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice to Nairobi to back up former United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan.
"The key is that the leaders hear from her first hand that the United States desires to see that there be no violence and that there be a power-sharing agreement that will help this nation resolve its difficulties," Bush said.
Former 'colored' beach reopens for all
MIAMI, Feb. 16 (UPI) -- A former racially segregated beach neglected for the last 25 years is reopening in Virginia Key, Fla., as an oceanside sanctuary for all.
Virginia Key Beach opened in 1945 as a "colored only" beach for blacks barred from beaches restricted to whites in Dade County, The Miami Herald reported Saturday.
The beach was closed 25 years ago because of high maintenance costs. It will reopen as a park for all people Feb. 22 after nearly a decade of wrangling by preservationists who feared commercial development would override the park's historic significance, the newspaper reported.
The Virginia Key Trust, the group formed to push for the park's preservation, has spent nearly $6.5 million renovating buildings and improving the parking lot while adding picnic tables, grills and a playground for children with special needs, the Herald said.
The trust hopes to build a civil rights museum on the 82.5 acre site to highlight the struggles for equality by African-American residents of the area.
