Belgrade - A Serbian war crimes prosecutor said in an interview released Wednesday that Albania was hiding evidence of a mass murder committed to harvest victims' organs during the Kosovo war.

The unverified claims have stirred up bad memories and bad blood between the countries.

"Albanian Prime Minister Sali Berisha. ... ordered security services to destroy documents on Serbs who disappeared in Kosovo, their transport to Albania and the trafficking of their organs," the prosecutor, Vladimir Vukcevic, told the daily Press.

Islamabad - A powerful earthquake rattled Pakistan's south- western Balochistan province on Wednesday, killing more than 170 people, injuring hundreds more and leaving thousands homeless, officials said.

The US Geological Survey website said a magnitude 6.4 earthquake struck 60 kilometres north-east of Quetta, the capital of Balochistan, at 5:10 am (2310 GMT). It lasted about 40 seconds.

With the earthquake hitting just before sunrise, people fled their houses in panic. Television footage showed terrified families wrapped in blankets sitting by the roadsides in Quetta.

Baghdad - Three children were killed on Wednesday and 14 people were injured when al-Qaeda militants attacked a home in Iraq's restive city of Baquba, reported the Voices of Iraq VOI news agency.

The deceased were all the children of Abdel Karim, a leader of the Awakening Council movement, which is a collection of Sunni units that collaborate with US forces in fighting militants from the al-Qaeda terrorist network in Iraq.

Seven women were among those injured in the attack, which occurred in the city's Baladruz district. Baquba, the capital of the Diyala province, is about 60 kilometres north of Baghdad.

Also in Diyala, another Awakening Council member died of wounds caused by an explosion in the Abu Sida district, the report said.

Berlin - A German official resigned his vice-ministerial post at the Transport Ministry on Wednesday after weeks of criticism of executive bonuses that are planned at one of Germany's biggest state-owned companies.

Matthias von Randow, state secretary at the ministry, was a member of the supervisory board of Deutsche Bahn, the national railways company, which is set to privatize a one-quarter stake in its passenger and freight operations.

Amid worldwide anger at large bonuses for executives, many Germans were critical of a generous bonus package promised by Bahn to executives when the company goes private.

The date of the flotation has been delayed by the world stock markets slide. It had been scheduled for Tuesday this week.

Brussels - The European Union's top industry official threw his weight Wednesday behind a call to give the bloc's carmakers cheap loans worth up to 40 billion euros 
(51 billion dollars) to develop eco-friendly cars through the financial crisis.

"We are in a situation where it is getting harder for big European businesses to get credit. We must make sure the higher costs they face to develop climate-friendly cars should also be financed," EU Industry Commissioner Guenter Verheugen said after talks in Brussels with European automotive industry representatives.

"It is not a question of hand-outs, it's a question of the European Investment Bank making available a low-interest credit programme," he said.

Frankfurt - European stocks stormed ahead Wednesday on hopes of lower interest rates.

Amid expectations of the US Federal Reserve delivering another hefty cut in borrowing costs Wednesday, Europe's blue-chip Stoxx 50 climbed 7.8 per cent to 2222 after chalking up even bigger gains during the day.

The positive mood was reflected across national bourses with shares in London gaining more than 6 per cent and Paris jumping more than 7 per cent as the afternoon session drew to a close. Stocks in Zurich were up 5.40 per cent.