Gandhi ignores pleas to become prime minister

Gandhi ignores pleasto become prime minister
NEW DELHI -- Sonia Gandhi refused today to back down from her decision not to become India's next prime minister, ignoring pleas from top officials in her Congress party and violent protests by her supporters.
Congress has been thrown into turmoil at a time when it should be basking in the glory of its shock election victory last week.
Congress workers nationwide held sit-ins and marched in the streets. They burned effigies of the Hindu nationalist leaders of the outgoing government, and in some cases burned tires in the roads to block traffic.
"We feel very let down. All the work I did in the past two months has been wasted," said Abdul Ghani Khan, a Congress leader in the northern state of Jammu-Kashmir. He was among dozens shouting, "Sonia take back your decision."
Violence erupted soon after the news that Italian-born Gandhi and her senior aides had swung their support behind an alternative choice for the top job -- Manmohan Singh, a 71-year-old economic reformer.
Singh is a veteran of Indian politics. The Oxford-educated former finance minister was the architect of the nation's free-market reforms of the early 1990s. His admirers credit him with helping to save the country's socialist-style economy from near collapse at the time.
"There couldn't have been better choice. He is widely respected for his integrity and vision," said C. Raja Mohan, a professor of South Asian studies at Jawaharlal Nehru University.
Gang members: Prison firewas intentionally set
SAN PEDRO SULA, Honduras -- Survivors of a prison fire that officials blamed on a short-circuit said Tuesday that the inferno that killed more than 100 gang members was intentionally set by fellow inmates.
A similar fire that broke out a year ago during clashes at the nearby La Ceiba prison killed 70 gang members. As in Monday's fire, last year's blaze burned only a cellblock housing the gangs.
Most of those killed were members of the feared Mara Salvatrucha 13 gang, characterized by tattoos of saints, skulls, daggers and dice.
At least 103 of 186 prisoners in the cell block -- the only one of 18 at the prison to burn -- died in the blaze at the state prison in San Pedro Sula, 110 miles north of the capital, Tegucigalpa.
Some survivors alleged that other inmates set the fire by throwing gasoline into their cell block and lighting the fuel, while officials stood by and did nothing. The gang members say the guards' apathy was part of a government strategy of elimination that began with last year's federal anti-gang law.
Government authorities deny they are out to exterminate the gangs but say tough action is necessary to control an increasingly violent force blamed for everything from common crimes to grisly homicides.
Mail delivery to resumeat Boston housing project
BOSTON -- Mail delivery will resume at a public housing complex, postal officials announced Tuesday -- just hours after suspending service because of shootings in the neighborhood.
Postmaster Marsha Cannon said deliveries would continue after meeting with city officials and residents. Police are planning to step up security by increasing patrols and hiring additional personnel, spokesman David Estrada added.
Tenants at the Bromley-Heath housing development had been told to pick up their mail at a nearby post office until further notice. A tenant organization leader said many of the 1,900 residents -- some of whom are elderly and handicapped -- believed postal officials overreacted.
A shooting on Monday scared two mail carriers, and a week earlier, a man was shot to death near the complex in Boston's Jamaica Plain section.
Session suspended
LONDON -- A House of Commons session was suspended today after purple powder was apparently thrown at Prime Minister Tony Blair.
A man in a suit stood up in the public gallery and was heard to shout "do you realize" and something about "five years." Blair visibly flinched as he was hit.
The man was grabbed by security officers, and Speaker Michael Martin immediately suspended the weekly session of prime minister's questions.
The man who threw the powder was standing in part of the gallery reserved for members of the House of Lords and their guests. The public is behind a security screen to prevent such incidents.
A second man was seen to hold up a sheet of letter-size paper, but it wasn't clear what message was on it.
Associated Press