Avalanche buries village

Avalanche buries village
BISHKEK, Kyrgyzstan -- An avalanche buried a village in southern Kyrgyzstan today, and 33 people were feared dead, emergency officials said.
The avalanche occurred in the morning and buried 12 houses in the mountainous Budalyk village in Kyrgyzstan's Alay district, about 430 miles south of the capital Bishkek, said Emergencies Ministry spokesman Emil Akmatov.
Akmatov said the death toll was based on preliminary information and might change. He had no information if any people were missing, but said rescue workers were at the site.
Marines ambushed
KABUL, Afghanistan -- Suspected insurgents ambushed an American military convoy on a road in southern Afghanistan, setting off an explosion that wounded three Marines, one of them seriously, the U.S. military said today.
The attack occurred Saturday near the village of Dailanor, in restive Kandahar province, said Lt. Col. Tucker Mansager, a military spokesman. The wounded men were taken to a military hospital at the U.S. base in Kandahar, the main coalition headquarters in southern Afghanistan.
Lt. Gen. David Barno, the top American commander in Afghanistan, said today that the military has seen a recent surge in violence, but that most attacks were directed against soft targets, such as civilians or isolated Afghan security outposts.
"We are seeing the beginnings ... in the last two weeks, of some degree of spring surge by the enemy forces," Barno said. "I think they are still dangerous, they still have the ability to conduct attacks, but those attacks are growing increasingly more focused on vulnerable populations."
Election violence
NEW DELHI -- Militants struck polling sites with grenades, rifles and bombs today as India held a third round of elections that will decide the fate of opposition leader Sonia Gandhi and her son, first-time candidate Rahul.
Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee was expected to return to office at the end of the three-week, five-phase Parliament elections on the strength of a booming economy and peace prospects with neighboring Pakistan. But the latest surveys indicated he may end up with a slimmer majority and a less stable coalition after results are counted May 13.
Five people were killed, bringing the death toll for the elections so far to 32, compared with 100 in the last national election in 1999.
New Hamas leader?
JERUSALEM -- Israeli military officials today identified Mahmoud Zahar, a surgeon and prominent Hamas hard-liner, as the new leader of the Islamic militant group in the Gaza Strip.
Hamas has refused to reveal the name of the man chosen to replace Abdel Aziz Rantisi, the Hamas leader killed in an Israeli airstrike April 17.
Hamas today denied the Israeli claims regarding Zahar, calling it a ploy to draw out information about the group's murky leadership structure.
Hamas leaders in Gaza have been in hiding since the group's founder, Sheik Ahmed Yassin, was assassinated by Israel on March 22. Israel has said the group's entire leadership is marked for death.
Hamas has claimed responsibility for dozens of suicide bombings that have killed more than 300 Israelis.
Wildfire is contained
TEMECULA, Calif.-- Firefighters on Monday began to get the upper hand on a 2,334-acre wildfire that had threatened as many as 400 homes in Riverside County.
The blaze, which broke out in a motor home on Sunday afternoon, was 90 percent contained this morning, said Stephanie Swanstrom, a county fire information spokeswoman.
It had threatened as many as 400 homes before firefighters began to surround it overnight. The fire, which spread from the motor home to nearby vegetation, destroyed two mobile homes and nine vehicles.
Garage collapse probe
ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. -- Engineers blame faulty installation of concrete floors for a casino garage collapse that killed four construction workers, and say the shoddy work followed design changes that were intended to save time and money, a newspaper reported Sunday.
Connections of prefabricated steel reinforcement rods and a beam in garage floors to six key outer columns left the Tropicana Casino and Resort garage in a sorely unstable condition, The New York Times reported, citing engineers for the contractor and others who studied the designs and debris.
The collapse killed four workers and injured 20 others when the top five floors of the 10-story structure caved Oct. 30.
The federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration is due to release its findings on the accident Friday. The Atlantic County prosecutor said a criminal inquiry of the collapse has begun.
Associated Press
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