Fireworks blast leaves up to 100 feared dead

Fireworks blast leavesup to 100 feared dead
LIMA, Peru -- A cache of fireworks exploded Saturday night in downtown Lima, spreading fire through a street market and two blocks of apartments and stores, fire officials said. As many as 100 people were thought to be dead.
Peru Fire Chief Tulio Nicolini said the initial blast was in a shop selling fireworks. Fireworks are popular in Peru during Christmas and New Year's celebrations and are sold on streets throughout the capital during the season.
Nicolini said as many as 100 people could have died in the explosion, which happened around 8 p.m.
"Dozens of people have died," said Interior Minister Fernando Rospigliosi. The number of deaths was raised, he said, because many shopkeepers closed themselves inside their stores to deter looters.
Efforts to fight the blaze were hindered at first by low water pressure and crowds of people, drawn by the flames, that initially blocked firetrucks.
Flames illuminated nearby three- and four-story buildings, and firefighters and others could be seen dragging people from the burning structures.
Authorities considermore charges in beating
PENSACOLA, Fla. -- Prosecutors said they will consider murder charges against a woman accused of beating a Roman Catholic priest with a concrete block if his death 11 months later is deemed related to the attack.
The Rev. Oliver Barrett, a native of Ireland, died Friday at Holy Ghost Missionary College in Dublin, where he went a month after the beating. He was 81.
Delta Sue Allen, 33, was charged with attempted murder, robbery with a deadly weapon and aggravated battery in the February attack on Barrett at St. Anne's Church in the Florida panhandle town of Brownsville.
Parishioners said that, two days earlier, Barrett had given Allen money after she told him she needed it for her 6-year-old daughter's kidney transplant.
Police said there was no such child and that Allen had been using the story to scam churches in the Pensacola area.
Assistant State Attorney David Rimmer said prosecutors will consider charging Allen with murder if a medical expert can prove Barrett died from injuries suffered in the attack.
Allen is scheduled for a Jan. 10 mental competency hearing. She was diagnosed with a bipolar schizo-affective disorder and has pleaded insanity.
Report criticizes IRSon telephone service
WASHINGTON -- Customers calling the IRS for help with their tax returns wait an average of four minutes to speak to a representative and often get inaccurate information, a new government report says.
Customers are waiting 15 percent longer than they did in 2000, the General Accounting Office said.
The GAO's assessment was bad news for the Internal Revenue Service, which has made a point of trying to improve telephone service for the more than 70 million people who called for tax help this year.
IRS Commissioner Charles Rossotti said he agreed that "we need better testing, documentation and analytical activities" to understand and enhance the agency's performance.
He said, however, that he is confident the agency is moving in the right direction. In a letter responding to the GAO, Rossotti cited numerous improvements the agency has made including better telephone technology and assistance for Spanish speaking callers.
Traces of anthraxfound at postal facility
NEW YORK -- Traces of anthrax have been found again on a mail sorting machine that tested positive in October, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Postal Service said Saturday.
The machine, at the Morgan Processing and Distribution Center, had been testing negative since October, but a new round of tests conducted Dec. 23 came back positive on one machine Friday night, postal officials said.
William Smith, president of the New York Metro Area Postal Union, said he would tell Morgan employees not to return to work until the extent of the contamination was clear.
"I'm going to advise the workers to look out for their own safety because it's clear the Postal Service is not looking out for it," Smith said.
It was not immediately clear whether any of the more than 5,500 workers had refused to return to the building.
Postal officials said that despite widespread testing in the facility -- which handles 12.5 million pieces of mail each day -- the third-floor machine was the only one to test positive.
Associated Press