World Briefs May 30, 2010
India halts trains after 115 die
CALCUTTA, India - Railway authorities canceled all night trains in an eastern Indian state Saturday after a passenger express train derailed and was hit by a cargo train, killing at least 115 people and injuring hundreds. The government accused Maoist rebels of sabotaging the tracks.Railway workers and paramilitary soldiers used cranes to lift and pry apart train cars to pull out more bodies from the Jnaneswari Express, which was heading from Calcutta to suburban Mumbai when it derailed early Friday.
The crash site is near the small town of Sardiha, about 90 miles west of Calcutta in West Bengal state.More than 140 people with injuries were in hospitals in towns near the accident site, officials said.
Railway officials said some bodies were still trapped between the engines of the two trains, which smashed together when the high speed passsenger train derailed and was run over by an oncoming cargo train.
Pressure rising on China to react to ship sinking
SEOGWIPO, South Korea - Pressure was rising on regional giant China to support efforts to punish North Korea over the sinking of a South Korean warship - the issue that was dominating a three-nation weekend summit.China showed no signs publicly Saturday of joining South Korea and Japan in rebuking Pyongyang, but Premier Wen Jiabao said he hoped their summit would help achieve peace. Officials said Saturday's discussions focused on trade issues and the ship sinking was on Sunday's agenda for the meeting on the South Korean resort island of Jeju.
As the main ally of reclusive North Korea, China has long been reluctant to back harsh measures against the state that shares its border and communist ideology. Its statements on the sinking so far have stressed caution and objectivity in the investigation, while also showing sensitivity to South Korean anger at the attack and at its own reluctance to endorse the investigation results or criticize Pyongyang.But senior U.S. officials speaking after recent strategic talks in Beijing have predicted China will gradually endorse the view that North Korea should be held accountable. They spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitive nature of the discussions.
An international investigation concluded that a North Korean torpedo struck and sank the Cheonan in March, killing 46 sailors in the South's worst military loss since the Korean War.Police:
Lahore attackers were Pakistani Taliban
LAHORE, Pakistan - Militants who attacked a minority sect, killing 93 people in the country's east, belonged to the Pakistani Taliban and were trained in a lawless border region where the U.S. wants Islamabad to mount an army operation, police said Saturday.The revelation could help the U.S. persuade Pakistan that rooting out the various extremist groups in North Waziristan is in Islamabad's own interest. Up to now, Pakistan has resisted, in part because it says its army is stretched thin in operations elsewhere.
Suspicion that the man accused of a failed bombing attempt in New York's Times Square earlier this month may have received aid from the Pakistani Taliban has added to U.S. urgency about clearing North Waziristan.
Local TV channels have reported the Pakistani Taliban, or an affiliate, had claimed responsibility for Friday's attacks in Pakistan's second-largest city.Senior police officer Akram Naeem in Lahore said the interrogation of one of the arrested suspects revealed that the gunmen were involved with the Pakistani Taliban. The 17-year-old suspect told police the attackers had trained in the North Waziristan tribal region.
- The Associated Press