World in brief: Blast kills, traps Chinese miners
BEIJING – At least 46 miners were killed when an explosion ripped through a coal mine in the central Chinese province of Henan early Monday, state media say.
The official Xinhua News Agency reported 72 miners were trapped initially but 26 escaped. State broadcaster CCTV reported on its website that many of the deaths were caused by carbon monoxide poisoning set off by the explosions.
The report said an investigation is under way into the cause of the explosion.
Safety has improved sharply in recent years, but China’s mining industry is by far the world’s deadliest. Accidents and blasts killed more than 2,600 coal miners last year.
Ex-defense chief wins presidency
BOGOTA, Colombia – A former defense minister from a powerful political clan who oversaw a major weakening of leftist rebels won Colombia’s presidency Sunday, routing an eccentric outsider in a runoff.
The victory for Juan Manuel Santos, a 58-year-old economist and three-time government minister, was a ringing endorsement of outgoing conservative President Alvaro Uribe, whose U.S.-backed security policies Santos helped craft and promised to continue.
In his victory speech before a crowd of 10,000 in a Bogota coliseum, Santos lionized Uribe.
“If we have come so far it’s because we have been standing on the shoulders of giants,” he said, calling Uribe “an exceptional person who transformed our country.”
With nearly all polling stations reporting, Santos had 69 percent of the vote against 28 percent for former two-time Bogota Mayor Antanas Mockus.
Poland election goes to runoff
WARSAW, Poland – A somber election season in Poland was prolonged by two weeks Sunday when a first round of voting produced no immediate successor to Lech Kaczynski, the president killed more than two months ago in a plane crash.
Results show the interim president and parliament speaker, Bronislaw Komorowski, is leading Kaczynski’s identical twin, Jaroslaw Kaczynski. But Komorowski appeared to fall short of the 50 percent needed for outright victory.
The two leaders now go head-to-head in a runoff vote on July 4, without eight other candidates who ran Sunday.
Accused insurgent leader hanged
TEHRAN, Iran – Iran hanged a man accused of leading an insurgent group active near the country’s border with Pakistan, the state news agency reported Sunday.
The agency IRNA identified the man as Abdulmalik Rigi and said he was the leader of Jundallah, Arabic for the Soldiers of God. The report said he had pleaded guilty to charges of armed attacks against targets that included civilians, armed robbery, and engaging in a disinformation campaign against Iran.
Iran claims Jundallah is behind an insurgency in its southeast that has destabilized the border region with Pakistan.
Jundallah has claimed responsibility for bombings that have killed dozens in recent years, including five senior commanders of Iran’s powerful Revolutionary Guard last year.