CNN 2009-05-11

The humanitarian 1 crisis unfolding in Pakistan, the Pakistani government though claims to have killed some 200 militants 2 over the past 24 hours. But the fierce fighting has hundreds of thousands of civilians 4 caught in the crossfire 5 and just scrambling 6 to find safety. CNN international correspondent Reza Sayah is live in Islamabad with the latest on this offensive. What do you know Reza?

Betty, this is day four. The operation the Pakistani army is calling a full-scale offensive against the Taliban in the Swat valley. According to the army over the past 24 hours, they've killed another 200 militants and taken back from the Taliban some strategically important areas, but it's important to know that CNN cannot independently verify this information, because reporters are banned from that region, we can also report more civilian 3 casualties.

We've spoken to citizens who have fled the fighting areas, the battled zone, and they are telling us that many of the citizens are being killed by indiscriminate fire from the army, but we have the Pakistani army saying no, this is militants killing 8 civilians by planting improvised 9 explosive devices or using civilians as human shields, but that's where things stand on this operation designed to defeat the Taliban. Betty over the past year and a half, the Pakistani army has launched more than half a dozen offensives against the Taliban, they have yet to defeat them, this time, they say things will be different, in much of the world, including the Obama Administration is keeping a close eye to see if they are right.

A historic day in Amman, Jordan Pope Benedict delivered his first open-air mass in the Middle East.

He spoke 7 before thousands in Amman international stadium, the pontiff called on Middle East Christians 10 to hold to their faith despite hardships threatening their communities. He urged the faithful to oppose terrorism through their good examples; he also called for greater respect for women, saying the God-given role of women has not always been esteemed 11.

Back here in the US, the president got a chance to lighten up a little bit last night with some of those who cover his administration, he landed some one-liners at the annual White House Correspondents dinner, and he served as the opening act for comedian 12 Wanda Sykes.

The crowd filled with a lot of media pros 13, those folks who covered him, of course. Also, a whole lot of celebrities 14. More celebrities this year, some are saying, than they've seen in years past such as dinner, but the president's favorite target of the evening may have been himself.

All in all, we were proud of the change we've brought to Washington in these first hundred days, but we've got a lot of work left to do as all of you know, so I'd like to talk a little bit about what my administration plans to achieve in the next hundred days, during the second hundred days, we will design build and open a library dedicated 15 to my first hundred days. It's going to big folks, in the next hundred days, I will learn to go off the prompter, and Joe Biden will learn to stay on the prompter.