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Bomb blast kills 3, hurts 9 at train station

By TIMES WIRES
Published November 24, 2006

A bomb explosion near a train station in Gauhati in India's northeast Thursday killed three members of one family and injured nine others, police said. The explosion occurred at a stand for auto-rickshaw taxis outside the train station, a railway spokesman said. A rickshaw driver, his wife and 18-month-old son were killed, while nine others were injured in the powerful explosion, police said. No one immediately claimed responsibility for the blast, but police blamed the United Liberation Front of Asom, a separatist outfit that often targets government offices and public places, for the attack.

Italy unhappy with Getty Museum

Italy's culture minister on Thursday denounced the J. Paul Getty Museum's move to return 26 allegedly looted antiquities as a unilateral act that did not meet Rome's demand for a comprehensive agreement - but he left the door open for further negotiations. Francesco Rutelli said he still hoped to work out a deal for the return of all artworks sought by Italy. The Getty said it would unconditionally return 26 items, including sculptures, pottery and frescoes, that the Italian government contends were looted or smuggled out of the country. The museum denied knowingly buying any illegally obtained objects. Italy is demanding the return of 52 works at the Getty.

Court gives gays inheritance rights

The highest court ruled Thursday that gay partners must have the same inheritance rights as married couples, a decision in line with its landmark 2005 judgment that same-sex marriages should be legalized. The 10-member Constitutional Court ruled unanimously that existing succession laws were illegal because they excluded gay partners from provisions giving spouses automatic inheritance rights if a partner dies without leaving a will. The order was to have immediate effect. Gay rights activists are anticipating being able to marry their partners beginning Dec. 1, making South Africa the first nation on the deeply conservative continent to legalize same-sex marriages.

U.N. denies help with reactor

An appeal by Iran for technical help on a controversial heavy-water nuclear reactor was quashed Thursday by the U.N.'s nuclear agency after board members signaled they could not agree - or be assured - that Iran would use the reactor solely for peaceful purposes. Iran was seeking technical assistance for a research reactor under construction near the desert city of Arak. International Atomic Energy Agency director general Mohamed ElBaradei said Iran agreed Thursday morning to provide some records from its uranium enrichment plant at Natanz which the agency has long sought.

Elsewhere

AFGHANISTAN: An insurgent rocket attack killed one NATO soldier and injured another while they were on patrol in central Afghanistan on Thursday, the Western alliance said. The nationalities of the soldiers were not released.

POLAND: The bodies of all 17 men trapped underground after a mine explosion in southern Poland have been found, bringing the death toll to 23 in the country's worst mining disaster in three decades, the mining company said.

[Last modified November 24, 2006, 01:24:21]