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eased further too.
• Opponents had challenged Germany's ratification of the European Stability Mechanism -- a new, permanent €500 billion ($638.8 billion) bailout fund for the 17 countries that use the euro -- arguing that it violated the country's constitution. They had sought an injunction preventing the country's president from signing the legislation into law.
• Germany's ratification of the ESM is key, because the fund cannot work without the country's participation. Germany, as Europe's biggest economy, is the number one contributor the fund.
• The taxpayer-backed fund is crucial to the eurozone's debt crisis resolution efforts because it can loan money to governments that can't borrow otherwise, and markets had been nervously awaiting the ruling.
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Death toll in factory fires in 2 major Pakistani cities rises to 191
• KARACHI, Pakistan (AP) -- The death toll from a pair of devastating factory fires that broke out in Pakistan's two biggest cities rose to 191 people on Wednesday, many of whom perished because they were unable to escape buildings that lacked emergency exits and basic safety equipment such as alarms and sprinklers.
• Such safety issues are common in Pakistan, where many factories are set up illegally in the country's densely populated cities, and owners often pay officials bribes to look the other way. The number of deaths from the two fires that broke out Tuesday night could trigger calls for better oversight of industrial safety.
• The more deadly blaze was at a garment factory in the southern city of Karachi, the country's economic heart. The death toll from the fire rose to 166 people Wednesday, as firefighters continued to battle the blaze, said Roshan Ali Sheikh, a senior government official in Karachi. It was one of the worst industrial accidents in Pakistan's 65-year history.
• Most of the deaths were caused by suffocation as people caught in the basement were unable to escape when it filled with smoke, said the top firefighter in Karachi, Ehtisham-ud-Din. There were no fire exits, and the doors leading out of the basement were locked, he said. It's possible the death toll could rise further because authorities suspect there may still be bodies stuck in the basement.
• Workers on higher floors of the five-story building struggled to make it out of windows that were covered with metal bars. Many were injured when they jumped from (Continued on page 34)
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