News in Brief(16-03-2018)

Pakistanis attend funerals for nine people

LAHORE, Mar 15: Hundreds of Pakistani mourners have attended the funerals of nine people - five police officers and four civilians - killed when a Taliban suicide bomber struck a police checkpoint on the outskirts of the eastern city of Lahore the day before. The checkpoint is near a religious group's main congregation place in the neighbourhood of Raiwind in Lahore, the Punjab provincial capital. Punjab chief minister, Shahbaz Sharif, and other officials attended the police funerals on Thursday. — AP

US students stage walkout against gun violence

WASHINGTON, Mar 15: From Washington to Los Angeles, students walked out of US classrooms Wednesday in the largest grassroots protest against gun violence seen in years, demanding action one month to the day after a deadly shooting rampage at a Florida high school. Hundreds of teenagers from Washington area schools gathered outside the White House, holding up signs reading "Books Not Bullets" and "Protect People Not Guns" before marching on the US Capitol.— AFP

Senegal helicopter crash kills six

DAKAR, Mar 15: Six people were killed and 14 others injured when a Senegalese military helicopter crashed late Wednesday, according to a government statement giving an updated toll from the incident in the south of the country. The helicopter, which went down in a mangrove forest in the coastal area of Missirah, was carrying 20 people, including four crews. — AFP

Slovakian prime minister resigns

BRATISLAVA, Mar 15: Slovakia's president has accepted the resignation of Prime Minister Robert Fico, who offered to step down after facing a public backlash over the murder of a journalist, a junior partner in the ruling coalition said Thursday. Fico's Smer-SD party will put forward a candidate to replace him, according to Most-Hid, the smallest party in Slovakia's three-way government. — AFP