Training for bombers

Training for bombers
TEHRAN, Iran -- An Iranian group that claims its members are dedicated to becoming suicide bombers warned the United States and Britain on Saturday that they will strike coalition military bases in Iraq if Tehran's nuclear facilities are attacked. Mohammad Ali Samadi, spokesman for Esteshadion, or Martyrdom Seekers, boasted of having hundreds of potential bombers in his talk at a seminar on suicide-bombings tactics at Tehran's Khajeh Nasir University. "With more than 1,000 trained martyrdom-seekers, we are ready to attack the American and British sensitive points if they attack Iran's nuclear facilities," Samadi said. "If they strike, we have a lot of volunteers. Their [U.S. and British] sensitive places are quiet close to Iranian borders," Samadi said.
Concern over votingin aftermath of Katrina
NEW YORK -- The Department of Justice should postpone upcoming elections in New Orleans until displaced voters have been located, NAACP officials said Saturday. "We're worried about the voting rights of our people in New Orleans who are not, for the most part, in New Orleans," said Bruce S. Gordon, NAACP president. "People should still have a say in what happens in the communities that were ravaged by Katrina." Last week, Gordon asked U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales to make sure election procedures are fair. The Voting Rights Act allows federal officials to scrutinize election changes that may hurt minorities.
Bus accident kills two
PAULS VALLEY, Okla. -- A tour bus overturned along an icy interstate Saturday, killing a woman and an 8-year-old boy, and injuring dozens of others, authorities said. The bus carrying 45 passengers crashed along Interstate 35 in central Oklahoma, said state Highway Patrol Lt. Stewart Meyer. "Preliminary indications are that it was due to road conditions," Meyer said. The bus apparently flipped and skidded on its top before coming to rest on its side, said Brent Thompson, a fire department spokesman. The driver, Miguel Esquada of Fort Worth, Texas, said through an interpreter that he hit the brakes when a car pulled in front of him suddenly and that the bus began to overturn. The unidentified boy, who was sitting in the middle of the bus, was thrown through a window, and the bus fell on top of him, Esquada said. "We were actually able to talk to the little boy while he was trapped under the bus," Thompson said. Firefighters used air bags to lift the bus and were able to remove him. "As we started lifting, he was still with us, but shortly thereafter he lost consciousness," Thompson said. The unidentified woman was dead at the scene, Thompson said. She was riding in the back of the bus. Two people were critically injured and flown to a hospital in Oklahoma City, Meyer said. At least two were taken to a hospital in Norman. Most of the passengers were treated for minor injuries, said Tony Malaska, a spokesman for the Pauls Valley Hospital. The bus was registered to El Conejo Bus Lines and was traveling from Kansas to Dallas, said Ana Gonzalez, an employee at El Conejo's Dallas office.
Penguins hatch new egg
LONDON -- The penguins who had their chick stolen just before Christmas have hatched another egg at a zoo in southern England, officials said Saturday. Kyala and Oscar's new chick was born Tuesday, but has yet to be named and its sex was not yet known, zoo owner Derek Curtis told reporters. Three-month-old Toga disappeared mid-December from the Amazon World zoo on the Isle of Wight, off the south coast. The bird is presumed dead, as experts said it was too young to survive without its parents. Zookeepers at the time said they believed someone may have stolen him to give as a Christmas gift, inspired by the popular film "March of the Penguins." There was no sign of forced entry to the pen, but a thief would have been able to climb into the compound and carry the brown-and-white bird away. Despite scores of reported sightings and an on-air confession from a man who called a television station to admit to stealing the bird, Toga has not been found.
Catalonia to gain self-rule
MADRID, Spain -- To the doomsayers, it's a recipe for Spain to lose a piece of itself and eventually fall apart. To others it will be a milestone on Spain's long march out of a dictatorial past. The issue that is convulsing this nation of 44 million is a proposal by the legislature of semiautonomous Catalonia, the wealthy northeastern area centered around Barcelona, to gain an even broader degree of self-rule. Spain's Socialist government has agreed in principle. The battle is over where to set limits. At a broader level, Catalonia's campaign is being watched by the European Union, where the idea of devolved regional power is viewed as a means of fostering local identity in a one-size-fits-all superstate of 25 nations.
Associated Press