Theater fire kills at least 29 in Egypt
Beni Suef, Egypt A fire that began when an actor knocked over a candle on the set of a play ripped through a crowded theater in this central Egyptian city late Monday, sparking a stampede of audience members and killing at least 29 people, survivors and officials said.
The fire spread quickly across the set, which was made entirely of paper and had been ringed with candles. Panicked audience members trampled each other trying to get out the one available exit door, which at one point was partially blocked by a piece of wood that fell during the blaze, survivors said.
The blaze broke out in the “Culture Palace,” a facility run by the Culture Ministry, on a downtown street of Beni Suef, a farming town of 200,000 people about 60 miles south of Cairo. The cultural center was on the third day of a nine-day theater festival featuring plays performed by troupes from around Egypt.
The bodies of at least 29 people were brought to the morgue at Beni Suef’s main hospital; 37 people injured were also treated, hospital director Ahmed el-Sharqawi said. One police official said as many as 60 were injured.
Sabotage suspected in mass power outage
Bogota, Colombia Suspected rebels dynamited six energy pylons Monday, leaving more than 2.3 million people in southwestern Colombia without electricity.
Authorities believe Colombia’s main rebel group, the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, was responsible, an army official said.
The FARC and a smaller guerrilla group have been fighting the Colombian government for four decades. They often blow up energy towers, bridges, oil pipelines and other infrastructure, aiming to wreak havoc on the economy.
The rebels have de-facto control of large parts of the region along the Ecuadorean border where the pylon attacks occurred and in the past few months have launched several deadly assaults on military installations in the area.
More than 18,000 of the 165-foot-tall electrical towers dot Colombia’s vast and mountainous territory, making them an easy target. Rebels blew up 121 towers last year, down from an all-time high of 483 in 2002, according to the government.
India to consider pulling out of Kashmir
New Delhi India will consider pulling out some security forces from its portion of Kashmir if violence by Islamic militants ceases and infiltration by guerrillas into the territory from Pakistan halts, its prime minister said.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh held talks Monday with five leaders of the All Parties Hurriyat Conference – an umbrella grouping of moderate Kashmiri religious and political groups – ahead of a planned meeting on Sept. 14 with Pakistani President Gen. Pervez Musharraf in New York on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly.
“It was agreed that the only way forward is to ensure that all forms of violence at all levels should come to an end,” said an Indian government statement at the end Monday’s two-hour talks. “The prime minister said that if there is a cessation of violence and an end to infiltration, conditions will be created for the reduction of armed forces.”
Troops ordered to seize Venezuela Heinz plant
Caracas, Venezuela A state governor allied to leftist President Hugo Chavez has ordered Venezuelan troops to seize an abandoned tomato-processing plant owned by the H.J. Heinz Co., a state official said Monday.
The plant in the eastern state of Monagas still belongs to Heinz but hasn’t been used for years, said Angelica Rivero, a spokeswoman for the governor.
“The governor decided to seize the plant so it can be protected from looters and later be put to use,” Rivero said.
Monagas Gov. Jose Gregorio Briceno told the state-run Bolivarian News Agency the plant changed hands several times under previous governments before Heinz purchased it in 1997 and later ceased operations.
A key official at the Pittsburgh-based food company said the move will not affect Heinz’s ability to do business in Venezuuela.