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(Bumped.  Thanks mishima. – promoted by ek hornbeck)

Huge blast hits central Lahore

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan (CNN) — A huge explosion reduced at least one building to rubble and sent plumes of thick smoke miles into the sky in the eastern Pakistani city of Lahore on Wednesday.

The blast occurred on Mall Road near the city police headquarters and the high court, according to witnesses and GEO-TV, a CNN affiliate.

There were no immediate details on confirmed casualties, though television reports said the blast wounded several people, destroyed dozens of cars and damaged buildings.

Lahore is the same city where gunmen hurled grenades and opened fire on officers at a police training center in March.

The same month, gunmen opened fire on a bus carrying members of the Sri Lankan national cricket team on their way to a stadium for a match. The well-coordinated attack wounded at least eight members of the team and killed a driver and six Pakistani police officers.

North Korea Threatens Armed Strike, End to Armistice

May 27 (Bloomberg) — North Korea threatened military action in response to South Korea joining a program to seize weapons shipments, and said it’s no longer bound by the 1953 armistice that ended the Korean War.

South Korea’s actions are tantamount to a “declaration of war,” the official Korean Central News Agency said in a statement today. “If the armistice agreement loses its validity, the Korean peninsula will revert to a state of war.”

The threats are the strongest since North Korea tested a nuclear weapon on May 25th, drawing international condemnation and the prospect of increased sanctions against Kim Jong Il’s reclusive regime. South Korea yesterday joined the U.S.-led initiative to locate and seize shipments of equipment and materials used to make weapons of mass destruction.