W O R L D

Serial blasts rock Baghdad; 39 dead, over 130 injured
Baghdad, April 6
At least five massive bombs hit apartment buildings across Baghdad today killing at least 39 persons and wounding more than 130.It was the fourth attack with multiple casualties across Iraq in five days, a spate of violence that has claimed more than 100 lives since Friday.

An Iraqi policeman inspects the scene of a bomb attack in Baghdad on Tuesday. — AP/PTI

Karzai threatens to join Taliban
Kabul : Afghan President Hamid Karzai has reportedly threatened to join the Taliban if he continues to come under “outside pressure” to reform, a media report said on Tuesday.Karzai made the unusual comments at a closed-door meeting on Saturday with lawmakers, just days after kicking up a diplomatic row with remarks alleging foreigners were behind the fraud in the 2009 disputed elections, the China Daily website reported. 

25 dead in US mine blast
Montcoal (West Virginia), April 6
An explosion at a remote coal mine in southern West Virginia with a history of safety problems killed 25 workers and at least four others were still missing early today, more than a thousand feet underground in the worst US mine disaster since 1984.

Serial blasts rock Baghdad; 39 dead, over 130 injured

Baghdad, April 6
At least five massive bombs hit apartment buildings across Baghdad today killing at least 39 persons and wounding more than 130.It was the fourth attack with multiple casualties across Iraq in five days, a spate of violence that has claimed more than 100 lives since Friday. The attacks have spiked as political leaders scramble to secure enough support to form a government after the March 7 parliamentary elections failed to produce a clear winner.

Ayad Allawi, whose bloc came out ahead in the vote by two seats over Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, said the political deadlock caused the recent wave of violence. "This is blamed on the power vacuum, of course," Allawi told The Associated Press in an interview on Tuesday, saying "extreme forces" are trying to exploit the political uncertainty.

Maj Gen Qassim al-Moussawi, an Iraqi military spokesman for Baghdad's operations command centre, said the attackers detonated blasts using homemade bombs and, in one case, a car packed with explosives. He said there were at least seven blasts; the US Embassy in Baghdad said there were five.

"There are casualties, and we are counting them right now with the Health Ministry," said al-Moussawi, who blamed Al-Qaida in Iraq insurgents for the explosions and said Iraq was in a "state of war" with terrorists.

Police and medical officials said the death toll was at least 39, and that women and children were among the dead. They spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not allowed to release information publicly.

The explosions started at about 9:30 am at a residential building in the Shula area of northwest Baghdad. Then a car bomb struck in an intersection about a mile away, damaging nearby buildings, police and hospital officials said.

They spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorised to speak with the press.

A few minutes later, at 9:45 am a bomb left in a plastic bag exploded at a restaurant in the Allawi district downtown, near the government's Culture Ministry. — AP 

Karzai threatens to join Taliban

Kabul: Afghan President Hamid Karzai has reportedly threatened to join the Taliban if he continues to come under “outside pressure” to reform, a media report said on Tuesday.Karzai made the unusual comments at a closed-door meeting on Saturday with lawmakers, just days after kicking up a diplomatic row with remarks alleging foreigners were behind the fraud in the 2009 disputed elections, the China Daily website reported. 

“He (Karzai) said: 'if I come under foreign pressure, I might join the Taliban',” said Farooq Marenai, who represents the eastern province of Nangarhar. Marenai said Karzai appeared nervous and repeatedly demanded to know why Parliament last week rejected legal reforms that would have strengthened the President's authority over the country's electoral institutions.

Two other lawmakers said Karzai twice raised the threat to join the insurgency. The lawmakers, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said Karzai dismissed concerns over possible damage his comments had caused to relations with the US. — IANS 

18th Amendment Bill tabled
Tribune News Service

25 dead in US mine blast

Montcoal (West Virginia), April 6
An explosion at a remote coal mine in southern West Virginia with a history of safety problems killed 25 workers and at least four others were still missing early today, more than a thousand feet underground in the worst US mine disaster since 1984.

Rescuers had been making their way to the area where the miners were believed to be trapped at Massey Energy Co's sprawling Upper Big Branch mine, where the blast occurred around 3 pm (1900 GMT) yesterday. However, safety officials said at a news conference that the search was suspended because rising methane gas levels in the mine made it a high risk for another explosion.

Earlier, Kevin Stricklin, an administrator for the federal Mine Safety and Health Administration, said officials hoped some of the missing had survived the initial blast and were able to reach airtight chambers stocked with food, water and enough oxygen for them to live for four days. However, rescue teams made it to one of two nearby shelters and it was empty. The gas levels prevented them from reaching the second. Massey Energy and safety officials confirmed that 25 bodies were found. The death toll had risen from seven earlier in the day to 12 at about midnight. A total of 29 miners were in the area when the blast happened, he said. — AP

China mine mishap: Toll 28

Beijing: Bodies of eight more miners were found from a central China mine, where a blast took place last week, with this death toll has risen to 28 while 16 persons are still missing.

"Rescuers found the bodies of eight trapped miners on Sunday in the coal pit in Yichuan in the Henan province," the state-run Xinhua newsagency reported quoting a spokesman with the rescue headquarters. Another body was found under the debris of a collapsed building on the surface of the mine, the spokesman said. So far, investigations showed that the blast killed 23 miners underground and five on the surface. Another two on the surface were injured.

More than 500 rescuers are searching for the trapped miners, he said. Local procuratorate has started investigation on Wang Liujun, a mining official in Yichuan County, and put three other officials under control. — PTI

BRIEFLY

Maoist chairman Prachanda addresses a gathering to mark People's Movement Day in Kathmandu on Tuesday. Maoists had declared the start of a new round of protests from Tuesday to uphold civilian supremacy, national integrity and for timely constitution drafting in the country. — Reuters

Malawi’s poverty pains Madonna
Lilongwe: US pop star Madonna has said poverty in Malawi "pains" her during a visit to the birth country of her two adopted children where she will lay the first bricks of a girls' academy she is funding. "As a mother, it pains me to see women having no access to water and good education," Madonna said after visiting a poverty alleviation project in the Mchinji district where she controversially adopted David Banda in 2006. Malawi is one of the world's poorest nations, with more than half of the population living on less than $1 a day. — AFP

UK goes to polls on May 6
London: Britain on Tuesday announced it would hold general elections on May 6 in what is being billed as one of the most hotly-contested fights between the ruling Labour led by Gordon Brown and opposition Conservatives, with opinion polls saying the verdict might throw up a hung Parliament. "The Queen has kindly agreed to the dissolution of Parliament and the general election will take place on May 6," Prime Minister Brown said. — PTI