hTrains collide; 31 die

hTrains collide; 31 die
KHANPUR, India -- Welders cut through metal, and soldiers pulled bodies from the crushed cars of two trains that collided head-on Tuesday in northern India, killing 31 people. The railway minister said the crash was "nothing less than a brutal murder." At least 50 people were injured, with 16 of them in serious condition, after the crash in rural northern Punjab state, railway officials said. A "communications snag" between stationmasters at two stations apparently caused the crash, with an express train and a local train allowed to travel toward each other on the same track, said Dharam Singh, the top railway official in the area.
Odyssey in Ukraine
KIEV, Ukraine -- Supporters of opposition leader Viktor Yushchenko took the so-called Orange Revolution on the road Tuesday, piling into cars and buses for a 10-day odyssey to spread their message beyond the capital, targeting eastern provinces largely hostile to their candidate. With sirens blaring and trademark orange flags unfurled, more than 150 opposition supporters left Kiev, hoping to win over voters in areas where support for Yushchenko's opponent, Viktor Yanukovych, has been strong. The two candidates face off in a Dec. 26 rematch following a Supreme Court ruling that annulled a fraud-tainted Nov. 21 runoff in which Yanukovych claimed victory.
Baker: Up Japan's rolein U.N. Security Council
TOKYO -- Japan should be elected a permanent member of the U.N. Security Council with veto power, Howard Baker, departing U.S. ambassador to Japan, said Tuesday. "I think if you have two different classes of permanent members of the Security Council -- that is, those who have the veto and those who do not -- that you will have defeated the purpose, Baker, 79, said at a farewell press conference at the Japan National Press Club in Uchisaiwaicho, Tokyo. Baker's tenure as the top U.S. diplomat in Japan saw Japan significantly raise its profile on the international stage. After the U.S.-led war on terror, launched after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, Japan's Self-Defense Forces provided logistic support to allied forces during the war in Afghanistan. SDF personnel are also engaged in a humanitarian and reconstruction mission in Samawah, southern Iraq. Baker praised the recent decision by the administration of Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi to extend by one year the SDF mission in Iraq.
Call for end to uprising
JERUSALEM -- Mahmoud Abbas, the Palestinian leader campaigning to succeed Yasser Arafat in elections next month, said in an interview published Tuesday that the 4-year-old armed uprising against Israel was a mistake and must end. His strong statement, which could cost him some electoral support, sent a challenge to militants who have been waging war with suicide attacks and ambushes; it also set the stage for a resumption of peace efforts if he wins. In an interview with the London-based Arabic newspaper Asharq al-Awsat, Abbas said Palestinians should resist Israeli occupation, but only through nonviolent means. At a news conference in Saudi Arabia on Tuesday, Abbas said armed attacks could damage peace moves.
hNo clowning around
MEXICO CITY -- A young clown whose stage name is Bolillito, which translates as "little bread roll," stands next to an image of the Virgin of Guadalupe. Hundreds of clowns belonging to the Mexican Clown Association went to the basilica to pay their yearly respects.
Combined dispatches