THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
MONDAY, MARCH 5, 2012
PAGE 3A
NEWS OF THE WORLD
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Associated Press
EUROPE
Poland has worst train crash in 20 years
SZCZEKOCINY, Poland — Two trains running on the same track collided head-on in southern Poland in a shower of sparks, killing 16 people and injuring 58 in the country's worst train disaster in more than 20 years.
The crash near Krakow turned cars at the front of each train into heaps of mangled metal and toppled others on their sides. Neighbors in the town of Szczekociny alerted by what they said sounded like a bomb rushed to the scene to smash open windows, and survivors emerged in a state of shock, many crying out for help and carrying baggage.
One of the trains was on the wrong track. Maintenance work was being done on the tracks before the accident, but officials said it's too early to determine the cause of the disaster.
A woman living in a house about 200
meters from the site of the accident said she was standing at her window when the two trains collided, creating a "terrible, terrible noise — like a bomb going off."
An unnamed passenger interviewed on the all-news station TVN24 said he felt the force of the collision.
"I hit the person in front of me. The lights went out. Everything flew," he said. "We flew over the compartment like bags. We could hear screams. We prayed."
The U.S. consulate in Krakow said an American woman was among the dead and her family had been informed. Spokesman Benjamin Ousley said he could give no more information and that Polish authorities would release further details at a later point.
Two trains collided head-on near the town of Szczecikony, southern Poland killing more than a dozen people and injuring more than 50 late Saturday.
ASSOCIATED PRESS
ASIA
North Korean troops on high alert
SEOUL, South Korea North Korean leader Kim Jong Un visited the heavily armed border with rival South Korea and ordered troops to be on high alert, state media reported Sunday, just days after Washington and Pyongyang agreed to a nuclear deal after years of deadlock.
Kim's visit to Panmunjom village in the Demilitarized Zone comes amid escalating militaristic rhetoric aimed at U.S. ally South Korea.
During his Pamunjian visit, Kim Jong Un told troops to "maintain the maximum alertness as they are standing in confrontation with the enemies at all times."
Recent North Korean threats appear to be aimed at a domestic
audience, analysts say, and could be an effort to bolster Kim Jong Un's credentials as a military leader after showing off his diplomatic skills on the U.S. nuclear deal.
In rhetoric typical of the North, military chief Ri Yong Ho warned in a speech that the North Korean army would "sweep out" the South Korean traitors using their guns, according to footage from North Korea's state TV.
North Korea accuses the United States and South Korea of holding the joint military drills as preparation for a northward invasion. The allies say the military exercises, which began last week and are scheduled to end in late April, are routine and defensive in nature.
EUROPE
Opponents refute Putin's poll results
MOSCOW — Prime Minister Vladimir Putin on Sunday claimed victory in Russia's presidential election before tens of thousands of cheering supporters, even as the opposition and independent observers insisted the vote had been marred by wide-
Putin
spread violations.
At a massive rally just outside the Kremlin, Putin thanked his supporters for helping foil plots aimed at destroying Russia, sounding a nationalistic theme that has resonated with his core supporters.
"I have promised that we would win and we have won!" he shouted to the
flag-waving crowd, which responded with shouts of support. "We have won in an open and honest struggle."
Putin tallied 58-59 percent of Sunday's vote, according to exit polls cited by state television. Communist Party candidate Gennady Zyuganov received about 18 percent, according to the survey, and the others were in single digits.
With about 30 percent of all precincts counted, Putin was leading the field with 64 percent of the vote, the Central Election Commission said.
If thousands of claims of violations made by independent observers and Putin's foes are confirmed, they would undermine the legitimacy of his victory and fuel protests. The opposition is gearing up for a massive rally in downtown Moscow on Monday.
AFRICA
BRAZZAVILLE, Republic of Congo — Blasts rocked the capital of the Republic of Congo on Sunday, after a weapons depot caught fire, officials said, killing at least 206 people and pinning countless others underneath collapsed buildings, including a church.
A morgue in Brazzaville took in 136 bodies Sunday afternoon, as more continued to arrive. A local hospital reported at least 237 patients wounded in the blasts.
Ammunition depot explosion flattens buildings, kills more than 200 people
Didier Boutsindi of the presidential office said untold numbers of people were trapped in St. Louis church, which collapsed.
"Many of the faithful are trapped in the debris of the church," he said. "Several of the dead have been taken out and I confirm there are more deaths inside."
He said others were killed in their homes.
Sunday's blasts flattened buildings and shattered windows in the northern part of Brazzaville and sent more than 2,000 fleeing their homes, a witness said.
The munitions depot is near the president's private residence, but he was at his official residence in another part of town and was not hurt. President Denis Sassou-Ngesso later visited the morgue, a hospital and the military hospital. He did not speak publicly.
France is sending a shipment of emergency aid to Brazzaville after the explosions, Foreign Minister Alain Juppe said in a statement Sunday night. A ministry official had no immediate details on what kind of aid or how much was being sent.
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Homes in the Ouenze neighborhood were destroyed after multiple explosions occurred at an ammunitions depot, in Brazzaville, Republic of Congo, Sunday.
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