Anti-US feeling across Pakistan has escalated in recent months
Pakistan has asked the US to reduce the number of CIA agents in the country and to limit drone strikes along the Afghan border, US media reports say.
The reports quote unnamed officials and come as US and Pakistani spy chiefs met at the CIA’s headquarters in Virginia.
An official spokesman described those meetings as “productive”.
Relations between the countries have struggled to recover after a row over a CIA contractor who shot dead two men in the city of Lahore earlier this year.
Last month a Pakistani court freed Raymond Davis after acquitting him of two counts of murder, when relatives of the two men he shot dead pardoned him in court.
Mr Davis maintained the men had been trying to rob him.
The case stoked anti-American feeling across Pakistan and led to angry demonstrations – particularly when it emerged that he worked for the CIA. Hardline religious parties were keen to see him punished.
About 335 US personnel, CIA officers and contractors and special operations force personnel were being asked to leave the country, the New York Times reported. It quoted an unnamed Pakistani official said to be closely involved in that decision.
Pakistan also wants the removal of CIA contractors on assignments that Pakistan have not been informed about, Pakistani officials told the paper.
The officials estimated that would account for 25%-40% of CIA staff in the country. The reduction in CIA operations appears to have been personally requested by Pakistan’s army chief Gen Ashfaq Kayani.
Pakistan is also demanding restrictions in the US drone campaign aimed at eliminating militants in Pakistan’s restive north-west, another unnamed Pakistani official told the New York Times.
US drone attacks have escalated in the region since President Barack Obama took office. More than 100 raids were reported in the area last year.
Only American forces have the capacity to deploy drone aircraft in Pakistan
The US does not routinely confirm it is conducting drone operations in Pakistan, but analysts say only American forces have the capacity to deploy such aircraft in the region.
Drone attacks are hugely unpopular with the Pakistani public. Correspondents say they have the tacit approval of the authorities, although Pakistani leaders deny secretly supporting the strikes.
Many militants, some of them senior, have been killed in the raids, but hundreds of civilians have also died.
The continuing strains in relations emerged as CIA director Leon Panetta and the head of Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence directorate, Ahmed Shuja Pasha, met for discussions.
According to unnamed US officials quoted by the New York Times, no request was made at that meeting for reductions in CIA personnel.
“Director Panetta and General Pasha held productive discussions today and the CIA-ISI relationship remains on solid footing,” Preston Golson, a CIA spokesman, told Reuters news agency.
“The United States and Pakistan share a wide range of mutual interests and today’s exchange emphasised the need to continue to work closely together, including on our common fight against terrorist networks that threaten both countries,” he said.
These reports follow a candid interview that Pakistan’s President, Asif Ali Zardari, gave to the Guardian newspaper on Monday saying that the Afghan war was “destabilising Pakistan”.
He also rejected a recent White House report which said Pakistan lacked its own plan to fight insurgents in the country, adding that most US politicians lacked an understanding of the situation.
The BBC’s Syed Shoaib Hasan in Karachi says that Mr Zardari’s interview comes at a time when many in Pakistan feel that the US continues to point fingers at the country’s instability, while directly contributing to it with its actions along the Afghan border.
Mr Zardari’s statements are likely to meet with approval from Pakistan’s security establishment, which increasingly feels the US is taking its Pakistani alliance for granted, our correspondent said.
The Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant was crippled by last month’s earthquake and tsunami
Japanese authorities have raised the measure of severity of their nuclear crisis to the highest level, officials say.
The decision was taken due to radiation measured at the damaged Fukushima Daiichi power plant, NHK reported.
The highest level for nuclear accidents (seven) had previously only applied to the Chernobyl disaster in 1986.
Meanwhile a 6.3-magnitude earthquake was reported off eastern Japan, the second tremor in as many days.
The aftershocks come a month after a huge quake and tsunami hit Japan, leaving nearly 28,000 dead or missing.
An official from the Nuclear Safety Commission of Japan announced that the crisis level at the Fukushima Daiichi plant was being raised in a televised statement, adding that it was a preliminary assessment that was subject to confirmation by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).
The level seven signifies a “major accident” with “wider consequences” than the previous level, officials say.
Analysis
Until now the incident at Fukushima was rated a level five, so upgrading to a level seven is a worrying jump.
But officials here point out that the change is not being made because of a sudden deterioration at the plant.
Rather a full assessment of the available data now suggests that Fukushima merits the higher rating according to internationally agreed standards.
There is no suggestion that the decision is related to a recent series of powerful aftershocks.
The move comes a day after the government announced it was extending the exclusion zone around the nuclear plant. Five communities where levels of radiation could pose a long term risk to health will be evacuated over the next month.
“We have upgraded the severity level to seven as the impact of radiation leaks has been widespread from the air, vegetables, tap water and the ocean,” said Minoru Oogoda of Japan’s Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency (Nisa), the government’s nuclear watchdog.
One official from the Tokyo Electric Power Co (Tepco), which operates the nuclear plant, said that radiation leaks had not stopped completely and could eventually exceed those at Chernobyl, Reuters news agency reported.
However, a nuclear safety agency spokesman told reporters the leaks were still small compared to those at the plant in Ukraine, then part of the Soviet Union.
“In terms of volume of radioactive materials released, our estimate shows it is about 10% of what was released by Chernobyl,” he said.
The decision to raise the threat level was made after radiation of 10,000 terabequerels per hour had been estimated at the stricken plant for several hours.
That would classify the crisis at level seven on the International Nuclear and Radiological Event Scale (Ines).
It was not clear when that level had been reached. The level has subsequently dropped to less than one terabequerel an hour, reports said.
The severity level of Japan’s nuclear crisis has so far been set at five, the same as that of the accident at Three Mile Island in the US in 1979.
Japan has also said it is extending the evacuation zone around the crippled nuclear plant because of radiation concerns.
The zone will be widened to encompass five communities beyond the existing 20-km (12-mile) radius, following new data about accumulated radiation levels, officials said.
Japan’s nuclear commission said that according to preliminary results, the cumulative level of external radiation exceeded the yearly limit of 1 millisieverts in areas extending more than 60 kms (36 miles) to the north-west of the plant and about 40 km to the south-southwest.
On Monday, a 7.1-magnitude quake hit north-east Japan, leaving three people dead. It also triggered a brief tsunami warning, and forced workers to evacuate the Fukushima Daiichi plant.
Tuesday’s quake rocked buildings in the capital, Tokyo.
There were no immediate reports of fresh damage, though Japan’s Narita international airport temporarily closed its runways, and metro and train services were interrupted.
The cooling systems at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant were damaged in last month’s disaster and workers have been struggling to prevent several reactors from overheating.
Officials have warned it will be several months before the situation at the nuclear facility is brought fully under control.
Tepco said on Tuesday that a fire had broken out briefly at Reactor 4, before being extinguished.
The official death toll from the disaster is 13,130, while 13,718 remain unaccounted for. More than 150,000 people have been made homeless.
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Sporadic gunfire can be heard in Ivory Coast’s main city, Abidjan, a day after former President Laurent Gbagbo was arrested.
The BBC’s Mark Doyle in the city says it is not clear whether pro-Gbagbo forces or criminals are responsible.
But he says mortars are also being fired.
Mr Gbagbo was seized after refusing to accept defeat in last year’s elections. His successor, Alassane Ouattara, has appealed for the violence to end.
Our correspondent says Mr Ouattara’s first priority will be to restore security.
A joint operation by pro-Ouattara forces, the UN and French military captured Mr Gbagbo from his official residence, where he had been under siege for more than a week.
Mr Ouattara said Mr Gbagbo would be put on trial, and said a truth and reconciliation commission would be set up.
Analysis
“The head of the snake has been cut off,” said one soldier loyal to elected President Alassane Ouattara. “Gbagbo’s militia will simply vanish now. The war is over.”
“It’s great,” said another man. “We are just so happy, and so relieved. The war is finished now.”
Is it? Much, I suspect, will depend on how Mr Ouattara handles the next few days, and what signals he sends regarding the treatment of both Mr Gbagbo and his armed supporters.
Troops now consolidating their hold on Abidjan will need to act forcefully to ensure there is not a rash of reprisal killings.
Some 1,500 people have been killed across the country and a million forced from their homes during the four-month stand-off in the world’s largest cocoa producer.
The UN and French forces intervened after they accused Mr Gbagbo’s forces of using heavy artillery against civilians.
The UN, which helped organise the elections, said Mr Ouattara won, but Mr Gbagbo refused to accept defeat.
In other developments:
The UN human rights office has confirmed the deaths of 536 people during recent fighting in western Ivory Coast; it has named a panel to investigateThe Reuters news agency reports that 14 bodies were found in the pro-Gbagbo area of YopougonFormer colonial power France has announced it will give Ivory Coast 400m euros ($575m; £350m) in emergency aid.
Our correspondent says some Abidjan residents are still too afraid to leave their homes in case they are caught by gunmen.
Many residents have been trapped for days by the fighting.
Alassane Ouattara’s forces are a mixture of army defectors, ethnic militias and traditional hunters
Some pro-Gbagbo troops may have refused to surrender, or the shooting could be coming from some of the thousands of Gbagbo supporters who were given weapons to fight the pro-Ouattara forces, our correspondent says.
There are also reports of reprisal killings and there are hardly any police on the streets.
Our correspondent says the only robust and well organised force the new president can count on are the UN and French forces.
The pro-Ouattara forces, who swept down from their northern strongholds earlier this month, include army defectors, as well as ethnic militiamen and traditional hunters, who may not always obey orders or respect military discipline, analysts say.
An end to the insecurity would allow markets to re-open and people to return to their homes.
For life to return to normal, banks must also open.
They have been closed for more than two months because of financial sanctions imposed on Mr Gbagbo to try to force him from power.
Until a 2002 rebellion split the country in two, Ivory Coast was the most developed economy in West Africa and Abidjan was known as the “Paris of Africa”.
Speaking on his TV channel hours after Mr Gbagbo’s capture, a sombre Mr Ouattara appealed to Ivorians to “abstain from all reprisals and violence”.
“After more than four months of post-electoral crisis, marked by so many human lives lost, we are finally at the dawn of a new era of hope,” he said.
Mr Gbagbo, his wife Simone and his “collaborators” would be investigated by the judicial authorities, Mr Ouattara said, adding that their personal security would be guaranteed.
Mr Gbagbo and his wife have been put under UN police guard at Abidjan’s Golf Hotel, where Mr Ouattara has his headquarters.
Mr Gbagbo has been shown on pro-Ouattara TV sitting in a room, looking dazed but apparently uninjured, wearing an open shirt and white vest.
He called for an end to the fighting.
But French TV showed pro-Ouattara forces beating his son, Michel, and other Gbagbo supporters.
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Sackett used his hands and clothing to strangle Jessie
A man with learning difficulties has been convicted of raping and murdering a 16-year-old girl in north London.
Zakk Sackett, 20, sexually assaulted and strangled Jessie Wright before dumping her body in an alley behind the flats where he lived in Islington.
The court heard he became obsessed with his friend Jessie and attacked her in March 2010 while high on cannabis.
Sackett told the Old Bailey she consented to sex but died accidentally after he got her in a head-lock.
Identified as a vulnerable defendant Sackett, of Outram Place, sat behind screens during the trial “to allay his fears about being seen by people in the public gallery”.
In the later stages of the trial he chose not to go into the court and refused to go in the dock as the jury delivered a unanimous verdict.
During the trial jurors heard he raped Jessie in a parking bay and used his hands and clothing to strangle her.
He then dragged her body to a footpath next to the flats where he lived with his grandmother, hauled Jessie over a wall and dropped her 15ft (4.5m) to the ground.
Jessie’s body was discovered the next day, partially covered with a piece of wood with her top pulled up and some of her clothes scattered around the area.
Tests showed she had injuries to her arms and hands and had died from compression to the neck.
Zakk Sackett had been in trouble in the past for assault and battery
Sackett told jurors he would never harm Jessie, and that she was a “lovely girl” whom he still thought about, adding: “I have not got a bad bone in my body.”
His defence claimed the reason for dumping her body, selling her phone and later lying to police about what happened was that he was in a panic.
But prosecutors said Jessie was killed in the course of being raped by the defendant.
Her parents paid tribute to their “beautiful, loving girl” in victim impact statements read to the court.
Jessie’s father Anthony said: “She had a bubbly personality and anyone who had the honour of having her in their life loved her.
“She was an intelligent girl who would have had a bright future in front of her.
“We will never be able to come to terms with losing Jessie in this terrible way.”
Jurors were told Sackett’s parents died when he was an infant and he had been in trouble in the past for assault and battery as well as threatening behaviour.
Robert Chalmers is accused of covering up the death of Samantha Wright
A man has gone on trial at the High Court in Edinburgh accused of murdering a woman whose remains were found in a bin 16 months after her death.
Robert Chalmers, 59, denies murdering Samantha Wright, 24, who lived on Stevenson Drive, Edinburgh, “by means unknown”.
He also denies attempting to defeat the ends of justice after the alleged murder in June 2008 in Magdalene Drive.
Mr Chalmers blames another man, Vasile Ungureanu.
The charge claims that as part of a cover-up, between 12 June 2008 and 12 October 2009, Mr Chalmers attempted to dismember Ms Wright’s body and repeatedly failed to inform the authorities of her death, preventing them from investigating and finding out how she died.
It is also alleged that at some time during that period, Mr Chalmers removed the body, hidden in a house in Magdalene Drive, took off some of her clothes, dumped her remains in a refuse bin and covered her with foliage.
Mr Chalmers is also alleged to a have turned over a mattress stained with Ms Wright’s blood, to hide the marks, and to have got rid of blood-stained bedding and her clothes and personal items.
The trial before Lord Malcolm is expected to last about seven weeks.
Results are being announced at a state level – the official results will be out late this week
Preliminary parliamentary poll results revealing big losses for the ruling party show Nigeria “has changed”, an analyst has told the BBC.
“It tells a story to every politician: You can no longer take Nigerians for granted,” Victor Burubo said.
High-profile PDP casualties include speaker of the lower house Dimeji Bankole and ex-President Olusegun Obasanjo’s daughter in the senate.
Despite some violence, observers said Saturday’s poll was well-conducted.
The initial vote had to be postponed from 2 April after voting material failed to reach many areas.
Previous elections since the return to civilian rule in 1999 have been marred by widespread fraud and intimidation.
Elections for the presidency and state governorships were also delayed and are now to be held on 16 and 26 April respectively.
With more than 70% of preliminary results announced at a state level, President Goodluck Jonathan’s People’s Democratic Party (PDP) has suffered significant losses.
The party that has dominated politics since the military returned to barracks has so far taken 59 seats in the 109-member senate and 140 seats in the 360-member House of Representatives.
Vote by Numbers74 million registered voters360 House of Representatives109 senators54 parties contesting36 governors20 presidential candidatesAfrican viewpoint: Bloody politics
Correspondents say it is not clear whether the PDP will lose its absolute majority in both houses as voting in some 13-14% of parliamentary constituencies – where polling had begun on 2 April – has been delayed until 26 April.
The party has lost out to two newly formed parties, the opposition Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) in the south-west and to the Congress for Progressive Change (CPC) in parts of the north.
There was another embarrassing loss for the PDP in the northern state of Katsina where Maryam Yar’Adua, daughter of the late President Umaru Yar’Adua, failed in her bid get into the House of Representatives.
But Mr Burubo, who leads the National Ijaw Council in the southern oil-rich Niger Delta, said the PDP’s bad showing on a parliamentary level would not affect the presidential vote.
“I have a feeling that a good number of areas where the PDP has been beaten will still revert to the PDP candidates, Dr Goodluck Jonathan and his running mate Sambo because of who they are are – not just because of the party,” he told the BBC’s Network Africa programme.
He said Mr Jonathan, who is from the under-developed Niger Delta where inhabitants have felt ignored by politicians, is popular in the region.
His main opponents on the presidential ticket are former anti-corruption campaigner Nuhu Ribadu for the ACN and former military ruler Muhammadu Buhari from the CPC.
Warren Bradley (left) campaigns with Nick Clegg in 2008
Nick Clegg has rejected a call from a senior Lib Dem councillor to end the coalition in order to save his party.
The Lib Dem leader and deputy PM told the BBC that Warren Bradley had “said these things before” and was “wrong”.
Mr Bradley wrote to him saying many Lib Dem councillors could lose their seats on 5 May due to coalition policies.
The Lib Dems are braced for poll losses at the English local elections but Mr Clegg has urged them to “hold their nerve” and stick with the coalition.
Mr Bradley led Liverpool Council until last May when Labour took control for the first time since 1998, and went on to fight off a leadership challenge.
In a letter to Mr Clegg, leaked to the BBC, Mr Bradley warned that local election defeats could set the party back 40 years in Liverpool and said local councillors were “tired of defending the indefensible”.
“The boil is about to come to a head and burst (probably on election night) when we lose some very well respected and experienced colleagues from Liverpool City Council.”
Mr Bradley claimed many long-serving Lib Dem councillors could be defeated “not because of their record, but because of your record and the perception of what we as Liberal Democrats now are”.
“As a party we have to reconsider what and who we are before we disappear into the annals of history as a political party who promised so much hope, yet failed because they wanted control and power.”
Nick Clegg: Warren Bradley is ‘wrong’ to ask to end the coalition
He urged Mr Clegg to “sever ties from the coalition”.
After the Lib Dems lost control of Liverpool City Council last year, Mr Bradley narrowly fought off a challenge as Lib Dem group leader. In July he warned, in a leaked e-mail, that a “weak coalition” could see the party “wiped out”.
Mr Clegg has found himself a target for anger over tuition fees and spending cuts since entering coalition with the Conservatives following last May’s general election and the party’s poll ratings have fallen from an average of 21% to 13%, according to BBC research.
The Lib Dems, who control 22 councils in England – 19 of which will be contested on 5 May. About half of all Lib Dem held council seats will not see elections in May.
Asked about his latest criticism, Mr Clegg told the BBC: “Warren’s said these kind of things before. He is wrong. We are in the middle of a very difficult repair job because of the total mess that Labour left behind.”
He said he had not replied to Mr Bradley, nor spoken to him, but advised him to “highlight the benefits” the government’s decisions were bringing to Liverpool – such as the raising of the income tax threshold and the restoration of the earnings link to the state pension.
“Those are the things I think we should concentrate on.”
He said it was “not right” to abandon plans to “fix the economy” when it was in its most difficult phase.
“I don’t think it is right in politics when you are trying to do a difficult job… to start arguing amongst yourselves.”
He added: “I think sometimes people like Warren Bradley and others forget what we are dealing with. As a country we are borrowing £400m every single day… that is enough money which is being borrowed every day that could build a primary school every 20 minutes.”
Lib Dem Business Secretary Vince Cable also told the BBC: “The point I would make to Warren and his colleagues is we do have a massive national economic problem and the Lib Dems went into government in order to provide stable government and in order to help dig the country out of its enormous economic hole.
“That’s a long-term project, it’s going to take the five years of this Parliament, we’ve got to show stamina, this is a marathon not a sprint.”
He suggested the “admirable” Mr Bradley concentrate on the Lib Dems’ record in “restoring Liverpool” and concentrate on mistakes made by a previous Labour council.
On Monday Tavish Scott, the Lib Dem leader in Scotland, joked about Mr Clegg’s admission in a magazine interview last week that he “cries regularly to music”. He told Clyde 2 radio: “Nick Clegg doesn’t make me cry, grimace occasionally, but not cry.”
Teachers are likely to take industrial action over proposed cuts to their pensions, a teachers’ leader has warned.
The Association of Teachers and Lecturers, which has never taken industrial action at a national level before, still has to ballot members.
But its head, Mary Bousted, said members could walk out in a one-day strike before the summer.
Ministers said pension changes were needed as people were living longer.
The Department for Education added that it was due to set out its proposals to alter staff pensions in the autumn.
But the DfE’s workforce group has already written to union leaders setting out plans to recoup £2.8bn from the Teachers Pension Scheme.
“We’re not just talking about small changes”
Dr Mary BoustedATL general secretary
It follows Lord Hutton’s report on how public pensions should be changed.
This suggested that nurses, teachers and most other public sector staff work until at least 65 for lower pensions.
It also said that pensions should be linked to career-average earnings, rather than workers’ final salaries.
The ATL is set to debate the changes in an emergency resolution at its annual conference next week.
But some 15,000 members signed a petition against the changes, which was handed to Chancellor George Osborne on Monday.
ATL general secretary Dr Bousted said members were likely to be balloted next month for action to take place before the summer holidays.
She added: “My view is that it almost certainly would involve a one-day strike and that members would be asked to take discontinuous action.
“We do this most reluctantly. We are faced with a government that has taken heavy-handed action on pensions, that’s already reduced their value by 25%, and is refusing to hold meaningful discussions with us.”
She said: “Education staff are being expected to pay more for their pensions, work longer before they can draw their pensions and get less at the end of the day.
“And we’re not just talking about small changes.”
She added: “Because the government is changing the way that teachers’ pensions are calculated, the value of their pensions will be reduced by 25% on average over the course of their retirement.
“In cash terms, that’s a loss of more than £60,000.”
She added that contribution rates would go up by 50% and that teachers could be forced to work until they are 68.
“Many are already worried that they will not have the energy to control a class of five-year-olds or a class of teenagers.”
A spokesman for the Department for Education said: “Lord Hutton has made it clear that change is needed.
“People are living longer – in the early 1970s life expectancy of a 60 year old was around 18 years: now it is around 28 years.
“The government has accepted Lord Hutton’s recommendations as a basis for consultation. We will set out proposals in the autumn, that are affordable, sustainable, and fair to both the public sector workforce and taxpayers.”
Plaid says it will be guided by the motto Ambition is Critical
Plaid Cymru will launch its manifesto for the Welsh assembly election with a pledge to “transform” Wales despite spending cuts.
It promises “new thinking” in its programme for the next assembly.
But it attacked its coalition partner in the assembly government, accusing Labour of a “dearth of ambition and record of failure”.
After four years of governing together in Cardiff Bay, Plaid said Labour wanted to “limit” the assembly.
Called Ambition is Critical – a line coined by poet Dylan Thomas – Plaid said the manifesto would bring “new thinking” to the economy, health and education.
The party’s four key pledges for May’s election include a promise to make sure children read, write and count to the expected standard.
School inspector Estyn has said that 40% of children entering secondary school have a reading age below their chronological age.
Opponents have attacked a Plaid plan to create a not-for-profit company that would invest in public infrastructure projects.
Plaid, the first of the four main parties to publish a manifesto, said it had worked out a “wide arc of what’s possible”, despite reducing budgets.
“We cannot afford five more years of Labour failure and lack of ambition”
Nerys EvansPlaid Cymru
Plaid said it would set out the details of plans for a “stronger, more effective and efficient” government.
It promised to create jobs and a “more resilient” business environment.
It has proposed to renegotiate doctors’ and dentists’ contracts as part of an attempt to improve access to healthcare for patients.
Plaid said it would would ensure decent, affordable housing, and address climate change.
The manifesto, to be launched in Cardiff, will also reveal plans to celebrate and promote Wales’ culture, history, language, sport and landscape, Plaid said.
The party’s policy director Nerys Evans, its candidate in Carmarthen West and South Pembrokeshire, said: “Plaid Cymru wants this election to be a battle of ideas, underpinned with a vision of creating a strong, confident and prosperous Wales.
Plaid’s four key pledgesMake sure children leave primary school able to read, write and count to the expected standardHelp small businesses to grow, create jobs and help people train for long-term employmentQuick and effective healthcareConnect Wales with better mobile signals, wifi and broadband coverage, and a modern transport system
“To date, only Plaid Cymru has offered that vision and hope for a better Wales – we cannot afford five more years of Labour failure and lack of ambition.
“Today, following a consultation which has lasted over a year and which has involved many hundreds of people, we are publishing a manifesto which we believe meets our aims – it is bold, it is workable, it is affordable and, if implemented, it could lead to the transformation of our economy and some of our key public services.”
Darren Morgan from the ONS said food prices had fallen a record amount between February and March
The UK Consumer Prices Index (CPI) annual rate of inflation has fallen to 4%, down from 4.4% in February.
The drop was largely due to a record monthly fall in the price of food and non-alcoholic drinks, which fell 1.4%, compared with a rise last year.
Retail Prices Index (RPI) inflation – which includes mortgage interest payments – fell to 5.3% from 5.5% in February.
The fall eases pressure on the Bank of England to raise interest rates.
The pound fell almost 1.5 cents against the dollar immediately after the figures were announced, to $1.6238, as investors decided the Bank was unlikely to raise rates as soon as they had previously thought.
Against the euro, it fell one cent to 1.1237 euros.
The Office for National Statistics (ONS) said supermarkets had reduced their prices in March.
Fruit prices fell by 4.7%, while bread and cereals dropped by a record 2.6% when compared with March last year.
Falls in the price of air flights, games and toys also helped to offset rises in energy costs and cars, it added.
However, analysts warned that the rate of inflation could begin to speed up again in the coming months.
“The prospect of a May rate hike has been significantly reduced by today’s surprise drop in UK CPI”
James KnightleyING
Economists had expected the CPI rate to stay at 4.4%, or perhaps even rise slightly.
“It’s a not only a surprise, it’s a very welcome surprise,” said Philip Shaw at Investec.
But although lower than their expectations, inflation is still twice the Bank of England’s target rate of 2%, and has now been one percentage point or more above target for 16 months.
This has led to calls for the Bank to raise interest rates – the policy tool used to combat rising prices.
“There is little cause for celebration as the inflation rate remains well above average and continues to exert significant pressure on household disposable income and discretionary spend,” said Neil Saunders, consulting director at research group Verdict.
Last week, the Bank’s Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) kept rates at a record low of 0.5% for the 25th month in a row.
Next week it will reveal how members voted.
Three of the MPC members called for a rise in rates at last month’s meeting.
They and some other economists have argued that rates must rise in order to combat rising prices, which are eroding consumers’ spending power.
Those members that voted for rates to be held, backed by a number of leading economists and business groups, argue that a rise in rates could jeopardise the UK’s fragile economic recovery, particularly in light of the economy’s 0.5% contraction in the final three months of last year.
They say that inflation is high due to temporary and external factors, such as the recent rise in VAT and high commodity prices, and has yet to be reflected in wage increases, which would provide longer-term upward pressure on prices.
The rise in VAT came into effect in January, and so will fall out of the inflation calculations at the beginning of next year.
They insist, therefore, that, given time, inflation will fall away of its own accord, without the need to raise rates in the short term.
The latest ONS figures could strengthen their resolve to keep rates on hold for longer.
“The prospect of a May rate hike has been significantly reduced by today’s surprise drop in UK CPI,” said James Knightley at ING.
He added that record falls in High Street sales in March, reported by the British Retail Consortium on Tuesday, could also help to sway opinion on the committee towards holding rates again.
Anti-US feeling across Pakistan has escalated in recent months 
Only American forces have the capacity to deploy drone aircraft in Pakistan 
