Boy's death prompts Pakistan kite-flying ban

Boy's death promptsPakistan kite-flying ban
LAHORE, Pakistan -- Anti-kite demonstrators burned kites Friday to condemn the kite festival in Multan, Pakistan. The death of a 4-year-old boy whose throat was slit by a low-flying kite string coated with glass has prompted authorities to forbid kite-flying in eastern Pakistan. Shayan Ahmad became the seventh kite-string victim in the nation's cultural capital, Lahore, in the past two weeks, prompting the Punjab provincial government to announce the ban late Thursday. The edict came as the city prepared for the weekend festival of Basant, which features residents celebrating spring's arrival by flying thousands of colorful kites. Some reinforce the strings with wire or ground glass for dueling other kites and betting on who wins. When strings cross in the congested sky, the winner cuts loose his opponent's kite.
EU aid to Palestiniansdepends on peace stance
SALZBURG, Austria -- The European Union threatened Friday to cut off aid to a Hamas-led Palestinian government "unless it seeks peace by peaceful means" -- its strongest signal yet to the new leadership. The EU foreign ministers reviewed financial aid to Palestinians but announced no immediate halt to funds as long as Hamas has not formed a government. "We want to remain a reliable partner for the Palestinian people, but we will not go soft on our principles," EU External Relations Commissioner Benita Ferrero-Waldner said at the outset of two days of informal talks by EU foreign ministers in Salzburg. "Money will not flow to the new [Palestinian] authority unless it seeks peace by peaceful means."
Stem-cell proposaldivides Missouri GOP
JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. -- A ballot proposal promoting embryonic stem-cell research is turning conservatives against one another and threatening to tear apart Missouri's Republican Party at the very height of its modern-day influence. The measure -- sponsored by a coalition of medical groups, researchers, businesses and patient advocates -- would make Missouri the only state besides California to enshrine the right to stem cell research in its state constitution. Republicans such as Gov. Matt Blunt and John Danforth, a former senator, U.N. ambassador and Episcopal priest, are backing the measure. In response, Missouri Right to Life has declared that Blunt, who is not on the ballot until 2008, is no longer "pro-life."
Internet suicide pactson the rise in Japan
TOKYO -- Six young Japanese were found dead from asphyxiation in a car Friday, charcoal stoves still smoking beside them -- apparently the latest victims of a surge in suicide pacts arranged over the Internet. Authorities said they suspected the five men and a woman, all in their 20s, met online before dying together Thursday night in a forested area 50 miles northwest of Tokyo. The car's windows had been sealed with tape. Internet suicide pacts have occurred since at least the late 1990s and have been reported everywhere from Guam to the Netherlands. But in Japan, where the suicide rate is among the industrialized world's highest, officials are worried about a recent spate of such deaths. A record 91 people died in 34 Internet-linked suicide cases in Japan in 2005, up from 55 people in 19 cases in 2004, the National Police Agency reported last month. The number of Internet suicide pacts has almost tripled from 2003.
Sago mine deemed safe
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. -- Federal inspectors have finished their underground investigation at the Sago Mine where 12 men died after a January explosion and declared all but one area safe for production crews to re-enter next week. Only the abandoned, sealed-off area where the blast is believed to have occurred will remain off limits when Ashland, Ky.-based International Coal Group Inc. resumes production, said Ray McKinney, an official with the Mine Safety and Health Administration. McKinney said ICG plans to resume work with two shifts next week but had few other details. ICG, meanwhile, said no start date has been set.
Associated Press