worldinbrief

INDIA OPPOSITION RALLY BLASTS TOLL RISES TO SIX

PATNA: The death toll from a series of crude bombs targeting supporters of Indian opposition leader Narendra Modi rose to six on Monday. Seven small bombs planted by six suspects and linked to timers exploded Sunday near the venue of a rally by Modi in the eastern city of Patna where tens of thousands had gathered to hear him.

IRAN BANS REFORMIST NEWSPAPER ‘BAHAR’

TEHRAN: Iran’s press watchdog has imposed a ban on reformist newspaper Bahar for publishing an article seen by

critics as questioning the beliefs of Shia Islam. Bahar has issued an apology note, saying publishing an article last week was an “unintentional mistake,” and it temporarily suspended activities on Saturday to “ease the tensions.”

ELECTION LOSS FOR ARGENTINA PRESIDENT

BUENOS AIRES; Midterm elections on Sunday (Monday in Manila) dealt a tough new loss to Argentine President Cristina Kirchner’s political movement in the country’s biggest voting district. Exit polls cited by local television said her wing of the Peronist party would not win in Buenos Aires province, home to 40 percent of the nation’s 30 million-plus voters.

GEORGIA PM ALLY REVELS IN BIG WIN AT PRESIDENTIAL POLL

TBILISI: An ally of billionaire Georgian Prime Minister Bidzina Ivanishvili on Monday basked in an overwhelming win at presidential polls in the ex- Soviet state to replace larger- than- life modernizer Mikheil Saakashvili after a decade in power. Giorgi Margvelashvili, a politically inexperienced academic from Ivanishvili’s Georgian Dream coalition, was cantering to victory with some 62 percent of the vote at the election Sunday after ballots from over

70 percent of polling stations had been tallied, the election commission said.

TRAPPED JAPANESE, NEW ZEALAND CLIMBERS DIE ON MOUNTAIN

WELLINGTON: A Japanese climber and his companion from Wellington died after being trapped in a snow cave on a New Zealand mountain for two nights in bitterly cold conditions. Police identified the pair as 31- year- old Hiroki Ogawa, a Japanese geoscientist studying in New Zealand, and Nicole Sutton, 29 who perished on Mount Taranaki on the western side of the North Island.

ISRAEL APPROVES RELEASE OF 26 PALESTINIAN PRISONERS

JERUSALEM: Israel has approved the release of 26 Palestinian prisoners, the second batch to be freed since August under the terms of renewed United States- brokered peace talks. The prisoners had committed their offences before the signing of the 1993 Oslo accords and had served 19 to 28 years in prison, with 21 hailing

from the occupied West Bank and the remainder from the Gaza Strip.