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Yeah…This is it! Today is first day of spring 2008!

By the way, do you know how we decide when first day of spring is March 20 or March 21 ? You have probably noticed that it

changes from year to year.

Well, first day of spring occurs at the vernal equinox. You might ask what is the vernal equinox?

Vernal equinox is when the sun’s most direct rays shine on the equator, you might look at this picture to understand the

concept better:

An equinox in astronomy is that moment in time (not a whole day) when the centre of the Sun can be observed to be directly

above the Earth’s equator, occurring around March 20 (vernal equinox) and September 23 (autumnal equinox) each year.

Sometimes vernal equinox is called spring equinox or also march equinox.
Sometimes autumnal equinox is called autumn equinox or also september equinox.

Here is a table where you can see when spring and autumn will occur this year and the next coming years:

LAHORE, Pakistan—Explosions hit a federal police building and a residential area of the eastern city of Lahore on Tuesday, killing at least 12 people, police said.

One blast devastated the downtown police office, killing at least a dozen people, said Mohammed Afzal, a city police official. A second blast wounded several people in an upscale residential district, said Mohammed Abbas, another police official.

The cause of the explosions was not immediately clear.

Private TV footage showed the badly damaged facade of the police office, a large, multiple-story concrete building, with rubble scattered across an intersection. Flames shot up from part of the wreckage and several cars were damaged.

An ambulance wove through a crowd of hundreds of bystanders—some with torn clothes, others with minor wounds—stumbling away from the blast scene.

LAHORE, June 30: A bomb exploded outside a vegetable market on the western side of the Punjab provincial capital of Lahore today, injuring three people, police officials said.

Two unidentified men left a bag at the entrance to the vegetable market, asking the owner to keep an eye on it while they shopped nearby, sources said. Within minutes, the bomb hidden inside the bag exploded, police chief Ahmed Raza said. The owner of the vegetable market, Mohammed Ramazan, lost his right arm in the explosion and two customers were hurt, he said. In recent weeks, several bombs have rattled Pakistan’s eastern Punjab province, which borders India. The government here has repeatedly accused Indian agents of planting the explosive devices in an attempt to destabilise Pakistan.

Meanwhile, in Karachi, gunmen shot dead three people including two activists of an Islamic fundamentalist party on Monday, raising the death toll in the day-long violence to 14, police and residents said. Police said the assailants, riding in acar, opened fire on activists of the youth wing of the Jamat-I-Islami (JI) when they were returning from their party office in the city’s eastern district of Gulshan Iqbal.

Two JI workers died and another was critically wounded. The body of the third victim in the drive by shooting could not be immediately identified.

The attack on the activists of the country’s most organised party was the first in the ongoing violence that has claimed more than 140 lives since last month.

LAHORE: At least twenty people including 19 police personnel were killed in a suicide bomb blast ripped through the GPO Chowk near the Lahore High Court Building. More than seventy people sustained injuries in the explosion that has effected the 50 Kms area shattering windows panes and damaging several buildings.

“It was a suicide attack,” Lahore police chief Malik Iqbal told Dawn News TV. He said police were “definitely” targeted. Police sources said that the blast happened when police officials tried to stop the motorbike rider who blew up himself. “The bomber was riding a motorcycle and blew himself up when police asked him to stop.” However there are conflicting news coming in this regard there has been news that it was a pedistran who was carrying bomb while several TV channels reported that their was Mehran car out of which a suicide bomber came out. Eyewitnesses said the bomb was planted on a motorbike carrying a local number plate and it exploded with a big bang. They feared the death tool could rise sharply as the intensity of the blast was very strong.

Lahore chief of police operations Aftab Cheema said the bomber arrived on a motorbike, parked it near the police guards before running up to the barrier they were manning and blew himself up. The bomber targeted a group of police personnel gathered outside the High Court building, the police added. Police official Muhammed Afzal said that the “powerful” blast took place when police were gathering outside the court building ahead of a protest by lawyers.

It is also reported that this blast occurred during the Lahore High Court Bar Association, Ahsan Bhoon, President Lahore High Court Bar Association told the media persons that Lawyers were going to protest and agitate against the government to restore judiciary and for the rule of law after this meeting, exactly on the place where bomb blasted. He said the rally was also targeted.

President has condemned the blast, he has blamed two commanders of Al-Qaida for a wave of 20 suicide attacks in the past three months, where target was the security forces. All four provinces including Baluchistan and NWFP have been put on red alert. This blast would add fire to fuel to the the turmoil started right after the ms Bhutto death, yet no one has claimed the responsibility yet. Before Muharram police and paramilitary troops are deployed to maintain the law and order situation and to avoid sectarian riots between Suni Muslims and Shiite Muslims.

22 policemen among 24 killed in Lahore suicide attack
LAHORE: At least 24 persons were killed including 22 policemen and over 70 injured in a suicide bomb blast at the busy Government Postal Office (GPO) Chowk here on Thursday.

Police sources said that the blast happened when police officials tried to stop the motorbike rider. He blew himself up after being approached by police. The explosion targeted a group of police officers gathered outside the High Court Building, police said.

A number of people including police and civilians were seen lying motionless in the street. The explosion was horrible as a number of people, including police officers, were lying dead on ground. There are also reports that the ill-fated police officers were deputed outside the High Court Building ahead of lawyers’ protest against the government.

The injured have been shifted to Mayo, Ganga Raam and Services hospitals. Hospital sources feared that the death toll could rise further as most the injured were in critical condition.

Chief Secretary Punjab, Salman Siddque said that it was a suicide attack and the suicide bomber detonated himself close to the police personnel. He said head of the suicider has been found and sent for investigation. Security forces have cordoned off the area and security has been further tightened in the city, he added.-SNA

President, PM condemns Lahore blast

ISLAMABAD: President Pervez Musharraf and caretaker Prime Minister Mohammadmian Soomro Thursday strongly condemned the terrorist attack in Lahore and expressed their deep grief and sorrow over the tragic loss of life. The President and Prime Minister in their separate messages expressed their deep shock over the loss of innocent lives. They directed the law enforcing agencies to gear up their efforts in hunting down the perpetrators. They also issued directives the local authorities to provide best possible treatment to the injured.

President Musharraf while strongly condemning the suicide bomb blast at Lahore has expressed deep sense of sorrow and anguish over the killing of innocent people. He said that the government would not leave any stone unturned to trace out the perpetrators of this heinous crime. Caretaker Prime Minister Muhammadmian Soomro said that those responsible for this cowardly act cannot be friends of Pakistan. Such elements, he said, are neither believer of any religion nor of any human ethics. This cowardly and inhuman act of terrorism would be traced down to the bottom and the perpetrators will soon be brought to book, he added.

The President and Prime Minister prayed to the Allah Almighty to rest the departed souls in an eternal peace and grant courage and fortitude to the bereaved families to bear this irreparable loss. They directed the hospital authorities to take care of the injured and provide all possible facility to them for their early recovery.-SANA

Govt announces compensation for Lahore blast victims

LAHORE: Punjab caretaker Chief Minister Ejaz Nisar has announced compensation of Rs. 300,000 each for the heirs of the dead and Rs. 100,000 each for those injured in the blast on Thursday.

Meanwhile, Punjab Health Minister, Aslam Hamayyun visited the Mayo Hospital in Lahore and enquired about the health condition of the injured in the suicide attack. He directed to the hospital authorities to take all steps for ensuring an early recovery of the injured and to provide them all possible medical facilities free of cost.

I work in a bank located just near the High Court. We were in the office when suddenly I heard a big blast around 1145 am.

It was so loud that the building vibrated and I rushed to the window and saw a huge cloud of smoke. I was sure it was a bomb attack.

I rushed towards the High Court and was shocked to see a bunch of people lying on the roadside, most of them policemen, with many body parts scattered here and there.

We are afraid to come to work tomorrow

I was watching helplessly and wanted to approach the area to help but was stopped and returned to my office.

Everyone is confused and has no idea what is going to happen, we are afraid to come to work tomorrow.

The suspicion is getting worse and a lot of people my age think that the government should not support the war on terror.

Text of report by Dubai-based Geo News TV website on 4 March

Lahore: The death toll in four explosions at Pakistan Navy War College near Mall Road Underpass has increased to six with several injured in the incident.

The injured persons in the incident in Lahore being transported to hospitals via private vehicles and through Rescue 1122 ambulances. Ten persons among the injured said to be in a critical state.

The entry points of the college have been closed after the explosions and the media denied access in the premises.

The authorities have declared emergency in hospitals along with security high alert in the city.

According to sources the blasts were happened in a truck parked within the college. The blasts caused fire and clouds of smoke can be seen at the place.

Lahore official Muhammad Ejaz Mian has called the blasts a suicide attack.

Lahore, March 04: In yet another reminder of the growing anarchy in Pakistan, four blasts ripped through the parking lot of Naval Headquarters in Lahore on Tuesday killing at least eight people and injuring scores of others.

The blasts took place at around 1:15 PM (PST) within minutes of each other. Local authorities have confirmed that it was a suicide attack.

The explosives were loaded in a truck at the Mall Road, Navy War College. The body of the suicide bomber has also been identified as per local TV channels.

Pictures aired by Geo TV showed pools of blood in parking area. Panic stricken people were seen trying to flee to safety.

Police have cordoned off the area and prevented journalists from going to the site of the blasts. The forces also sealed off Mall Road, one of Lahore`s main commercial areas.

Ambulances were seen rushing to the site and the injured are being moved to the closest hospitals.

Armed Forces officers were receiving training at the HQ and seem to have been the likely target.

The Naval Headquarters, also known as the War College, is situated in high security area and is home to top bureaucrats, government and military officers. The institution conducts courses for senior naval officers, including those from foreign countries.

“Some elements are bent on creating law and order situation to disrupt the February 18 elections”

ISLAMABAD: Asif Ali Zardari, co-chariman of the Pakistan People’s Party, said on Thursday that the government may be better able to prevent terrorist attacks if his party’s demand for a U.N. inquiry into Benazir’s killing is accepted.

In a statement from the Bhutto family home in Naudero in the Sindh province, Mr. Zardari condemned the Lahore suicide blast as “barbaric and heinous,” and said that “some elements are bent on creating a law and order situation” with a view to disrupt the February 18 elections.

Mr. Zardari, who took over the party’s leadership after his wife’s killing, said “once again the regime will produce some headless body and blame the incident on a nameless terrorist.”

If the PPP demand for instituting a U.N. inquiry was accepted, “the nation may know who the perpetrators, organisers, financiers and sponsors of such reprehensible acts are.”

He told a press conference in Naudero that the PPP would give the government two more days to approach the U.N. for an international enquiry, failing which it would take its own case to the U.N.

A POWERFUL bomb exploded outside the High Court in the Pakistani city of Lahore yesterday, killing at least 20 people, most of them policemen, a police officer said.

“We don’t know the exact number but at least 20 people have been killed,” senior city police officer Aftab Cheema said. “That number may rise.”

Police later described the attack as a suicide bombing and said police officers were targeted.

The blast happened ahead of a planned protest by lawyers. At least 60 people were injured.

A witness saw the severed head of a man with long hair and beard, possibly that of a suicide bomber, but police could not immediately confirm the nature of the attack.

Another witness said he saw 15 policemen lying on the road but it was not clear if they were dead or wounded.

The blast ripped through the busy square in front of the court where police were gathering before the protest by lawyers against the rule of President Pervez Musharraf.

It comes two weeks after the assassination of opposition leader Benazir Bhutto in a gun and suicide bomb attack in the garrison city of Rawalpindi, amid a wave of militant violence across the country.

More than 800 people were killed in militant attacks, mainly suicide bombings targeting the security forces, in Pakistan last year, making 2007 the deadliest in the country’s history.

At least 15 people were killed and several injured in a blast at the office of Pakistan’s federal investigation agency in the eastern city of Lahore today, the city police chief said.

“The explosion took place in the premises of Federal Investigation Agency’s office, killing 13 people and injuring several others,” Lahore police chief Malik Muhammad Iqbal told AFP.

Iqbal said he could not immediately confirm the nature of the blast.

A second bomb went off in a residential neighbourhood about 10km away, killing two children, said a city administrator, Mian Ejaz.

Television channels showed footage of a partially collapsed four-storey building and piles of blackened wreckage. It was not clear if the footage was of the investigation agency building or of nearby structures.

Police cordoned off the area while emergency workers carrying stretchers scrambled over the rubble.

The explosion comes one week after two suicide bombers blew themselves up at a prestigious naval college in Lahore, killing at least five people and injuring 19, officials said.

Pakistan has been rocked by six major blasts since elections on February 18, posing a serious challenge to an incoming coalition government led by the parties of slain ex-premier Benazir Bhutto and former premier Nawaz Sharif.

Pakistan has been combating an Islamist insurgency led by al-Qaeda and Taliban fighters since President Pervez Musharraf joined the US-led “war on terror” in 2001, but the violence has soared since the start of 2007.

Around 600 people have died since the start of this year in suicide attacks, roadside bombings and clashes, mainly along the Afghan border in troubled northwestern Pakistan but also in major cities.

Many of the attacks have targeted the armed forces, police and security forces.

The army’s top medical officer, Lieutenant General Mushtaq Baig, was killed in a suicide attack in the garrison city of Rawalpindi on February 25.