PERSIAN GULF

FIRE AT TEHRAN MOSQUE KILLS AT LEAST 59 WORSHIPPERS

A fire raged through a crowded mosque in Tehran during evening prayers yesterday after a female worshipper’s veil caught the flames of a kerosene heater, killing at least 59 people and injuring more than 250, Iran’s official news agency reported.

The Arg Mosque was filled with hundreds of worshippers, more crowded than usual because this is the Islamic month of Muharram, a holy period for Shiite Muslims. Panicked people raced for the doors and smashed windows to escape the blaze, one witness said, leaving burned shoes and women’s black chadors scattered in the mosque yard. The mosque walls were charred, carpets were burned, and religious books, including the Koran, were destroyed.

-Associated Press

EAST ASIA

GAS EXPLOSION IN CHINESE COAL MINE KILLS 203

SHANGHAI, China – A gas explosion in a coal mine in China’s northeast killed at least 203 miners, the government said yesterday, in the deadliest such disaster reported since communist rule began in 1949. The explosion yesterday afternoon at the Sunjiawan mine in Liaoning province also injured 22 miners and trapped 13 underground, the official Xinhua News Agency reported. The cause of the blast, which occurred 794 feet underground, was under investigation, it said.

– Associated Press

SOUTH KOREA PROPOSES TALKS WITH NORTH KOREA

South Korea has proposed high-level military talks with North Korea, the Defense Ministry said today, as tensions on the divided peninsula reached new heights over the North’s announcement that it has built nuclear weapons. The military talks would discuss ways to prevent accidental clashes along the disputed sea border between the two sides and other issues, the ministry said. The two-way talks would be a way of engaging the communist North even as it refuses to return to six-nation disarmament negotiations. “North Korea has yet to respond to our proposal, but we are expecting the North side to make a sincere and positive response,” the ministry said.

American officials ruled out granting any upfront economic concessions to get North Korea back to the table, following a meeting between South Korean Foreign Minister Ban Ki-moon and Secretary of State Rice. South Korea is partners with America, China, Japan, and Russia in trying to get North Korea back into six-party talks that have so far gone through three rounds in Beijing without any breakthroughs.

– Associated Press