Harare  - The wife of Zimbabwean Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai, Susan, died as a result of her injuries sustained in a car crash on Friday in which the prime minister was also hurt, party officials have confirmed.

"Morgan is badly bruised and cut, but I'm afraid Susan has died," said Eddie Cross, a member of the MDC executive.

The prime minister has been transferred to hospital in Harare and is receiving treatment for his injuries.

Islamabad - Businesses remained closed and thousands held protest rallies in Pakistan's largest province of Punjab on Friday against President Asif Ali Zardari, the widower of slain former prime minister Benazir Bhutto.

Thousands of people thronged in Lahore, the provincial capital of Punjab, to register protest against a court ruling that banned the top opposition leader and two-time Premier Nawaz Sharif from elected office.

Sharif says Zardari's loyal judges gave the ruling on his orders, because of a criminal conviction after his government was ousted in 1999 by the then military chief Pervez Musharraf.

Washington - The United States shed 651,000 jobs in February, the latest sign of a deepening recession and raising the unemployment rate to 8.1 per cent, the US Labour Department said Friday.

The unemployment rate now stands at its highest level since 1983 and 4.4 million people have lost their jobs since the US recession began in December 2007 - more than half in just the last four months.

The Labour Department also sharply revised its figures over the last two months, now reporting 681,000 job cuts in December, the worst monthly loss since 1948, and 

Johannesburg/Harare - The magistrate who this week freed on bail Roy Bennett, the detained deputy minister-designate in Zimbabwe's three-week-old coalition government, has himself been arrested by state agents, lawyers said Friday.

Police seized Livingstone Chipadza at his home on Thursday night in the eastern city of Mutare, where Bennett was held, said Trust Maanda of Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights.

Chipadza is still in custody and lawyers are not being allowed to see him. Police sources say he is going to face charges of criminal abuse of office.

Washington, Mar 6: A new study has stated that Sarah Palin's looks could have been the cause that she and John McCain lost in November''s election.

The article published in the Journal of Experimental psychology has been summarized by Tom Jacobs, reports The Politico.

While conducting the research, a group of 133 undergraduates were taken and they were asked to write a few lines about one of two celebrities: Palin or actress Angelina Jolie.