Six children pulled from icy river; 4 dead

Six children pulled from icy river; 4 dead
LAWRENCE, Mass. -- Six boys plunged through the soft, thin ice of the Merrimack River on Saturday, leaving four dead.
Two of the boys were merely "cold and wet" after rescuers quickly retrieved them, Deputy Chief Joseph Marquis said.
The other four had been trapped under the ice for at least 10 minutes, and were unconscious when they were pulled from the river Saturday afternoon, said Lawrence Police Chief John J. Romero.
The boys, between 7 and 11 years old, walked out on the 1- to 2-inch thick ice about 25 feet from shore. A seventh boy who had stayed on shore ran to a nearby house to call for help after they fell through.
Arriving police formed a human chain and were able to pull out the two children closest to shore even after falling through the ice themselves, Romero said. It was then that they learned four more children were still trapped.
William Rodriguez, 11, Victor Baez, 9, Mackendy Constant, 8, and Christopher Casado, 7, were pronounced dead at hospitals.
Temperatures were in the mid-40s on Saturday, but many rivers were still frozen after a recent cold spell.
Colombian leader vowsto defeat leftist rebels
BOGOTA, Colombia -- Colombia's president vowed Saturday to strike back at leftist rebels he blamed for bomb attacks apparently aimed at national lawmakers that injured at least 23 people -- including a prominent senator.
An explosion shortly before midnight Friday on the 30th-floor restaurant of the Tequendama Residences during a tango show injured 22 people and blew out windows, showering glass onto a boulevard below.
The bomb was hidden inside a suitcase and detonated by remote control. The hotel is frequently used by lawmakers, although none was injured in the explosion.
Authorities were searching for a man and woman in their 20s suspected of carrying the bomb into the restaurant, Bogota police chief Gen. Hector Castro told reporters.
Three hours earlier, a bomb disguised as a Christmas present exploded in the office of Sen. German Vargas Lleras as he was opening the package.
Vargas, a member of President Alvaro Uribe's governing coalition, suffered minor injuries to his hands. The senator, a nephew of a former president, has frequently denounced leftist rebels fighting in Colombia's 38-year civil conflict.
"We're going to insist on more action from the armed forces and demand more information from all Colombians," Uribe told reporters shortly after midnight outside a Bogota clinic where Vargas was recovering. "We're going to defeat these people."
Indian soldiers findPakistani missile
NEW DELHI, India -- Indian soldiers discovered a Pakistani surface-to-air missile in a suspected militant hide-out in Kashmir, the first such seizure in 13 years, army officers said Saturday.
The heat-seeking missile was found Friday in a rural area in the border district of Kupwara, a senior army officer told The Associated Press on condition of anonymity.
India accuses neighboring Pakistan of training, arming and funding Islamic militants who cross the border into Indian-controlled Kashmir, where they routinely target security forces and civilians. Pakistan says it only gives ideological -- not material -- support to the rebels, whom it calls "freedom fighters."
Pakistan on Saturday dismissed the discovery of the missile.
The 33-pound missile, with a 22-pound warhead, was wrapped in plastic and buried in the Mallarpur Forest, the Indian army officer said. It could be used in attacks on aircraft, he said, adding that it was labeled "ANZA MK 1."
Other ammunition and weapons were found at the site, the officer said.
An official apologyfrom leader of Spain
MADRID, Spain -- A month after a tanker spilled fuel oil off northwest Spain, the prime minister traveled to the tar-stained area Saturday to apologize for failing to act more quickly to deal with a disaster that looks far from over.
"I'm conscious that our resources didn't always get there on time, I assume the errors and I apologize to those people that were missing these resources which we simply didn't have at that moment," Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar said in a press conference in the northwestern port city of A Coruna.
The government has been heavily criticized in Galicia and around the country for mishandling the disaster. Aznar himself has come under fire for not visiting the affected areas immediately after the Prestige ran into trouble Nov. 13.
"Many people in Galicia may have felt upset because the prime minister hasn't been here earlier," Aznar said.
Associated Press