h89 killed in blasts at India restaurant

h89 killed in blasts at India restaurant

NEW DELHI

At least 89 people were killed at a restaurant in central India on Saturday when a cooking gas cylinder exploded and triggered a second blast of mine detonators stored illegally nearby, police said.

The restaurant, next to the main bus station in the town of Petlawad in Madhya Pradesh state, was crowded with people having breakfast when the blasts occurred.

The building where the restaurant was located and an adjacent building were destroyed in the explosions, and motorbikes outside the restaurant were flattened, said Mewa Lal Gond, a police inspector in the mining district of Jhabua, where Petlawad is located.

Hundreds rush to escape wildfire

ANGELS CAMP, Calif.

Hundreds of people rushed to escape a massive wildfire charging across the tinder-dry Sierra Nevada foothills Saturday, with some saying they had to make wrenching decisions about what to save – pets, loved ones’ ashes – and what to leave to possibly burn.

A blood-red sun pushed through a choking fog of smoke and ash that turned the grassy, tree-studded area about 70 miles southeast of Sacramento an eerie white. Away from the burned-out cars and smoldering remains of homes, residents who fled the flames rested at evacuation centers.

Office Depot apologizes over anti-abortion fliers

SCHAUMBURG, Ill.

The CEO of Office Depot apologized to a suburban Chicago woman who said the company discriminated against her over her religious beliefs when its employees told her that making copies of an anti-abortion prayer violated company policy.

Maria Goldstein, who is Roman Catholic, asked the Office Depot in Schaumburg last month to make 500 copies of “A Prayer for Planned Parenthood.”

“We sincerely apologize to Ms. Goldstein for her experience and our initial reaction was not at all related to her religious beliefs,” Office Depot Chairman and CEO Roland Smith said in a statement. “We invite her to return to Office Depot if she still wishes to print the flier.”

Office Depot prohibits “the copying of any type of material that advocates any form of racial or religious discrimination or the persecution of certain groups of people,” as well as copyrighted material, company spokeswoman Karen Denning told the Chicago Tribune.

Saudi Arabia: High winds caused crane collapse

RIYADH, Saudi Arabia

High winds were to blame for the toppling of a massive crane that smashed into Mecca’s Grand Mosque and killed at least 107 people ahead of the start of the annual hajj pilgrimage, the head of Saudi Arabia’s civil defense directorate said Saturday.

The disaster during a violent thunderstorm that roared through Islam’s holiest city late Friday afternoon was the deadliest incident in years surrounding the hajj, which gets underway in full later this month.

Associated Press