Taliban threaten series of attacks

May 9, 2010 at 12:00a.m.

KABUL

In an attempt to steal the spotlight from Afghan President Hamid Karzai’s trip to Washington, the Taliban on Saturday threatened to launch a series of attacks across Afghanistan — a claim the defense minister quickly dismissed as insurgent propaganda.

The Taliban said their spring offensive, targeting Afghan and NATO military and staff plus foreign contractors, would begin Monday — the same day that Karzai begins meetings in Washington. A statement in English posted on the group’s Web site said the offensive dubbed “al-Faath,” which means victory, will include “ambushes, detonations of explosive devices, assassinations of government officials, suicide bombings and detainment of foreign invaders.”

Defense Minister Gen. Abdul Rahim Wardak dismissed the threat, saying that the Taliban did not have the capability to launch a series of attacks across the nation.

Blast hits Russia’s largest coal mine

MOSCOW

A methane explosion tore through Russia’s largest underground coal mine on Saturday, killing two workers and injuring four others, a regional emergency services official said.

Of the 312 miners who were below ground at the time of the blast, 142 remained about three hours after the explosion and rescue workers were laboring to extract them, said Valery Korchagin, a spokesman for the Emergencies Ministry in the west Siberian region of Kemerovo.

The rest have been brought to the surface, including the two dead, he said.

Pakistan test-fires 2 ballistic missiles,

ISLAMABAD

Pakistan successfully test-fired two ballistic missiles Saturday capable of carrying nuclear warheads, the military said, as the Islamic nation’s leader urged the world to recognize it as a legitimate nuclear power.

The Shaheen-1 missile has a range of about 400 miles, while the second Ghaznavi missile could hit targets at a distance of 180 miles, an army statement said. Both can carry conventional and nuclear warheads.

Pakistan’s missiles are mostly intended for any confrontation with archrival India, and the range of the Shaheen-1 would include the Indian capital of New Delhi. Saturday’s tests — which featured the rare launch of two missiles — are unlikely to aggravate tensions between the nuclear-armed neighbors, since they both routinely conduct missile tests.

Volcanic ash forces delays in flights

BRUSSELS

The Icelandic volcano with the unpronounceable name reminded the world again that it has the power to disrupt international travel — coughing out a spreading cloud of ash that delayed or canceled hundreds of flights between Europe and North America on Saturday.

The prospects for today’s flights remained grim, with no improvement in sight for trans-Atlantic passengers, and with a plume of low-altitude ash continuing to float eastward over Spain and southern France.

Flights had to be rerouted north over Greenland or south around Spain to avoid the 1,200-mile-long cloud stretching from Iceland to northern Spain.

Approximately 600 airliners make the oceanic crossing every day. Around 40 percent were rerouted southward and the rest skirted Iceland from the north, according to Eurocontrol.

The disruptions to air traffic did not compare to the five-day closure of European airspace last month, which forced the cancellation of more than 100,000 flights.

Associated Press