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NAJAF: A car bomb exploded in Iraq's holy city of Najaf on Saturday, killing four Iranian pilgrims a day before a national election, officials said. The explosion gutted at least two tour buses parked at a garage near the revered Imam Ali shrine, which draws millions of Shi'ite Muslim faithful from Iraq and Iran each year. Louay al-Yassiri, a member of the local provincial council, said that in addition to the Iranian pilgrims killed, the blast wounded seven people, including three Iraqi police. At least 45 people have been killed over the past few days as the election campaign drew to a close, some of them members of the security forces who were voting early.

Saturday, March 06, 2010 DAR ES SALAAM: Five people were killed when unidentified gunmen raided a wedding party at a village in northern Tanzania, police said on Saturday. Seven people were injured in the incident that occurred in Tarime district, Mara region, on Thursday night. "The attackers were armed with machetes and firearms and killed five people at the wedding ceremony," Tarime police commander Constantine Massawe said. "Police have launched an investigation into the incident to establish if it was part of the inter-clan fighting that has been going on in the region or otherwise." Mara region is prone to clan fighting and other forms of violence, sparked by disputes over land and livestock ownership. In 2008, Barrick Gold Corp. was forced to suspend operations at its North Mara mine after about 200 people charged the mine and clashed with security personnel, causing about $15 million in damages.

Saturday, March 06, 2010 LONDON: A British soldier has been killed in an explosion in southern Afghanistan, the Ministry of Defence here said on Saturday. The explosion occurred near Sangin in Helmand Province on Friday, though the death was not connected to the ongoing Operation Mushtarak to crush the Taliban insurgency, the MoD added in a statement. "It is my sad duty to inform you that yesterday a British soldier from 3 RIFLES died as a result of an explosion in Sangin, northern Helmand," said Task Force Helmand spokesman Lieutenant Colonel David Wakefield. "He was on a foot patrol to the south-west of Patrol Base Blenheim when he was struck by an explosion. He died in the course of his duty and among his comrades. He will be sorely missed and we will remember him." Next of kin have been informed. The death brings to 269 the number of British troops killed since operations in Afghanistan began in October 2001. Britain has around 10,000 troops in Afg...

Saturday, March 06, 2010:::LOS ANGELES: Hollywood is in full-on Oscar mode. The red carpet has been laid out in front of the Kodak Theatre, topped with a plastic sheet in case of rain. Traffic is snarled. Tourists are flocking to Hollywood & Highland to see a bit of the Academy Awards preparations and snap photos of themselves with giant Oscar statues. The theater itself buzzes with activity, as rehearsals continue from morning until night, with the occasional celebrity quietly stepping in to practice presenting the coveted golden guy. It's Oscar week, and Tinseltown is all aflutter. Dana Delany, Kathy Najimy, Ty Burrell and Rachael Leigh Cook were among the celebrities who recorded public service announcements for the Creative Coalition Friday at Haven 360, an Oscar-week suite comprising gifting, parties and support for the arts. Creative Coalition co-president Tim Daly is directing the public service announcements, which show stars singing the ABC's, as part of the...

Saturday, March 06, 2010 LOS ANGELES: The top U.S. diplomat in Pakistan said that the Obama administration does not know how many Americans might have disappeared overseas to train with al-Qaida or other terrorist groups, but the number is not thought to be large. Speaking to the Pacific Council on International Policy in Los Angeles, Ambassador to Pakistan Anne Patterson outlined a "nightmare scenario" in which people holding U.S. passports receive terrorist training then return legally to the U.S. to commit violent acts. "They can easily infiltrate back into the United States and, frankly, we don't know what to do about them," Patterson said. "We think there are more out there than we know about." "We just have to keep working at it," she said. Patterson said the U.S. is gathering information with Pakistan and other governments to identify and locate such people. "It's not very many. But it's hard to get a precise n...

Saturday, March 06, 2010 LOS ANGELES: "Precious," the harrowing tale of an incest survivor's struggle for self-acceptance, enjoyed a clean sweep on Friday at the Spirit Awards, the independent film world's version of the Oscars. The film won five prizes, including best feature and director. Its actors, newcomer Gabourey Sidibe and comedienne Mo'Nique, took home the honours for female lead and supporting female, respectively. For Mo'Nique, who played an abusive mother, it represented a clean sweep during awards season. The only event left is the Academy Awards on Sunday. But the 42-year-old actress told reporters backstage that she was not preparing an Oscar acceptance speech, because "I think the universe would say, 'You have a lot of nerve.'" The film also won best first screenplay for Geoffrey Fletcher. Lee Daniels, accepting his award for best director, indicated it might be his last time at the podium during awards season. ...

Saturday, March 06, 2010 SACATON: The bus that rolled over on a busy interstate outside Phoenix, killing six people and leaving 16 others injured early Friday, was operating illegally, federal transportation officials said. The operator of the bus — Van Nuys, Calif.-based Tierra Santa Inc. — was told in April and December not "to engage in the interstate transportation of passengers by commercial motor vehicle," a Department of Transportation statement said. The first notice, sent via certified mail, came just days after the company submitted a passenger carrier application to the department's Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration. The application was denied on Dec. 14. The department's statement didn't give a reason. The bus in Friday's accident was traveling from the central Mexican state of Zacatecas to Los Angeles. It entered the United States at El Paso, Texas, and was traveling westbound on Interstate 10 with 22 passengers when it hit a p...

Saturday, March 06, 2010 LONDON: British Prime Minister Gordon Brown came under fire Saturday for the way he defended his role in the 2003 Iraq invasion, with some commentators saying he had slipped off the hook. Brown told a public inquiry Friday it was "the right decision" to go into Iraq and rejected claims he denied funds for the military fight when he was finance minister. While he distanced himself from military moves or diplomatic negotiations in the run-up to the conflict, he said he had always been fully informed and did everything required of him as chancellor under former premier Tony Blair. But Lord Charles Guthrie, the head of Britain's armed forces from 1997 to 2001, said Brown had been "economical with the truth" and "disingenuous" in his testimony to the inquiry, headed by former senior civil servant John Chilcot. "The problems of being badly equipped in Afghanistan and Iraq began a long time ago, when he was chancellor a...

Saturday, March 06, 2010 LONDON: Anti-fascist demonstrators scuffled with police Friday in a protest against Dutch politician Geert Wilders, who brought his film denouncing Islam and the Quran to Britain's august House of Lords. Wilders, riding an electoral wave in the Netherlands based on his anti-immigration populism, screened the film to about 60 people, including a half-dozen peers, in a wood-paneled committee room in Parliament. Outside dozens of protesters jeered and chanted "Fascist thugs off our streets!" The visit, and the controversy surrounding it, added to Wilders' visibility as he heads into a national election campaign with his popularity soaring and polls predicting that his come-from-nowhere Freedom Party will be among the two largest in the next Dutch parliament. His party scored a stunning success in local elections this week, winning one city outright and placing second in another. But because his party is new and lacks a national organizati...

Saturday, March 06, 2010 LOS ANGELES: Singer Ron Banks, a founding member of R&B group the Dramatics, died Thursday (March 4) at his Detroit home of a reported heart attack. He was 58. Banks, whose sweet falsetto helped give the Dramatics its signature sound, was a Detroit native who was born May 10, 1951. Originally a vocal sextet known as the Dynamics in the early '60s, the group changed its name and became a quintet comprising Banks, William Howard, Larry Demps, Willie Ford and Elbert Wilkins. The Dramatics scored its first R&B-charting single (No. 43) in 1967 on the Sport label with "All Because of You." But it wasn't until four years later that the group broke into national consciousness with the 1971 Stax/Volt hit "Whatcha See Is Whatcha Get," which peaked at No. 3 on the R&B chart and No. 9 on the pop list. It claimed an R&B No. 1 the following year with "In the Rain." Between 1972 and 1980, the Dramatics also recor...

Saturday, March 06, 2010 WASHINGTON: US Defense Secretary Robert Gates is concerned about possible misconduct in Afghanistan by the private security firm formerly known as Blackwater and has promised to review the issue, the Pentagon said Friday. Gates made the pledge to lawmakers after receiving a letter from Carl Levin, the chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, who urged the defense secretary to reconsider awarding a possible one billion dollar contract to the firm, now known as Xe, due to allegations of wrongdoing. "He is looking into it and he takes it seriously," press secretary Geoff Morrell told reporters. Gates has told the senator that "he shares his (Levin's) concerns," Morrell said. The letter dated February 25 and released publicly on Thursday notes that the Defense Department is reportedly preparing to give a contract to Xe for "highly sensitive work" to train Afghan national police, despite its controversial record in...

Saturday, March 06, 2010 SANTIAGO: UN chief Ban Ki-moon arrived Friday in Chile to assess damage from a devastating earthquake and tsunami, and pledged 10 million dollars in relief from a United Nation's emergency fund. The secretary-general said the money would be released from the Central Emergency Response Fund to help UN agencies support relief efforts in the wake of the massive 8.8-magnitude quake that killed more than 800 people. "I am very moved to see such strong courage and resilience of the Chilean people," Ban said upon arrival in the country. He met with Chilean President Michelle Bachelet to discuss immediate and long-term needs after the quake, which unleashed a tsunami that washed away entire villages in some of the country's coastal areas. The pair later met with Chilean ministers and UN officials working in the country, and Ban was also due to hold talks with president-elect Sebastian Pinera. The UN chief called on the international commun...

Saturday, March 06, 2010 TALCA: Three strong aftershocks on Friday spread new fears among Chileans traumatized by a huge quake and tsunami, while visiting UN chief Ban Ki-moon pledged 10 million dollars in emergency aid. The Navy meanwhile sacked the head of the Oceanography Service, saying he had failed to provide a clear warning of the killer tsunami which followed Saturday's 8.8-quake, as criticism grew of the official disaster response. A first 6.2-magnitude aftershock jolted people awake at 6:20 am (0920 GMT), Friday just six days after the quake which, along with the tsunami, left more than 800 people dead and some two million homeless. That was followed by a 6.8-magnitude tremor -- one of the strongest of more than 200 to rattle Chile since the weekend -- and another measuring 6.6. Some damaged buildings in Concepcion, the country's second city, collapsed, but the national emergency services said the aftershocks caused no injuries or serious damage. Oceanogra...

Saturday, March 06, 2010 BAGHDAD: Al-Qaeda in Iraq on Friday threatened to kill people who vote in the war-torn nation's election and imposed a self-declared curfew during polling hours when millions are to cast ballots. The Islamic state of Iraq (ISI), the Qaeda front in the country, in a statement two days ahead of Sunday's vote said anyone who defies the curfew would "expose himself to the anger of Allah and then to all kinds of weapons of the mujahedeen." The group, which has previously threatened to sabotage the elections and claimed responsibility for attacks that have killed hundreds in Iraq, delivered its warning after a series of suicide bombings left dozens dead. The ISI statement came as Iraq's religious leaders ordered citizens to vote and safeguard democracy in the second parliamentary election since the ouster of dictator Saddam Hussein in a US-led invasion in 2003. "The Islamic state declares for the time a curfew on election day... f...

Saturday, March 06, 2010 OSLO: Pirates hijacked on Friday a chemical tanker that was travelling off the coast of Madagascar, the ship's Norwegian owner Broevigtank said. "The captain of the ship called us early this morning and told us: we have pirates on board. Very quickly afterwards we lost all contact with the boat," company director Svenn Pedersen told media. The Marshall Island-flagged UBT Ocean had been travelling with 21 crew on board, a news agency said. The ship was travelling from Fujairah in the United Arab Emirates to the Tanzanian port city of Dar es Salaam, it said. The vessel had taken a route well south of the zone where pirates operate, Pedersen added. The tanker now appeared northbound towards Somalia, he added.