Bombs rip 2 Pakistani cities
46 people killed; popular shopping area targeted
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LAHORE, Pakistan — Bombings in two Pakistani cities killed 46 people Monday, as militants struck back in the wake of an army offensive against a Taliban stronghold in the northwest near the Afghan border.
Two synchronized bombs ripped through a market popular with women in the eastern Pakistani city of Lahore about 9 p.m., igniting a huge fire that killed 36 people, authorities said. Hours earlier a bomber killed 10 people outside a courthouse in the northwestern city of Peshawar.
About 100 people were wounded in the attacks in Lahore, which were timed to take place when the Moon Market was at its busiest. Authorities initially said both bombs were believed to be remote-controlled, but they later said a suicide bomber was suspected to have detonated at least one of them.
Moon Market sells women’s clothing, shoes and cosmetics.
The blasts came within 30 seconds of each other, leaving dozens of cars and shops ablaze late into the night.
Many victims were women and children, a police officer said.
Most of the militant attacks in recent weeks have been directed at security forces, though several have targeted crowded public spaces like markets, apparently to create public anger and increase pressure on the government to call a halt to the offensive.
More than 400 people have been killed since the beginning of October, including 105 in a Peshawar market frequented by women.
The Taliban generally claim responsibility for those attacks killing security officers, but they do not acknowledge carrying out the attacks targeting civilians. Government officials and security analysts say there is little doubt the militants are behind all the attacks.
Lahore is Pakistan’s second-largest city. It has been hit several times by militants over the past year, including an attack on the visiting Sri Lankan cricket team and several strikes against security installations.
By attacking Lahore, militants are bringing their war to the heart of Pakistan. The city is the capital of Punjab, Pakistan’s most populous province, and is considered the political and cultural center. It is also home to many army regiments because of its location next to the border with India.
The attacks have coincided with rising speculation over the future of President Asif Ali Zardari. On Monday, the Supreme Court began examining the legality of an amnesty protecting him and 8,000 other officials from graft prosecution.
Pakistani firefighters work at the site of a bomb blast in Lahore on Monday. Two synchronized explosions ripped through a market popular with women, igniting a huge fire that killed 36 people. About 100 people were wounded in the attacks, timed for a busy time at the market.
WORLD
Iraqi panel recommends delay in national elections
BAGHDAD — Iraq’s electoral commission on Monday recommended a 45-day delay in parliamentary elections until Feb. 27, raising concerns that the postponed balloting could complicate the planned withdrawal of U.S. combat troops and bring a possible surge of violence.
The recommendation for Feb. 27 voting was sent to Iraq’s presidential council, which still must approve it, said Qassim al-Aboudi, a senior electoral commission official. Though other dates remained on the table, there was little reason to believe the council would raise objections.
The delay from the original Jan. 16 date is needed to give authorities time to prepare after months of political stalemate that was finally broken with a dramatic vote by lawmakers Sunday just minutes before a midnight deadline on adopting new voting rules.
Surprising WW I find
WARSAW, Poland — A Polish historian says he found the death certificate of Manfred von Richthofen, the German fighter ace known as the Red Baron.
Maciej Kowalczyk said Monday that he found the file last month while going through old World War I archives in the western Polish city of Ostrow Wielkopolski. The area was formerly German, and Richthofen was briefly stationed there.
The entry is a one-page handwritten form in a 1918 registry book of deaths that Kowalczyk was using to research the deaths of troops in the war.
Richthofen earned the Red Baron nom de guerre for having his plane painted bright scarlet.
NATION
Officials find body of man wanted in Wis. murders
MADISON, Wis. — Police on Monday found the body of a man wanted in two double homicides in Wisconsin in the car of one of his victims, a coroner said.
Tyrone Adair, 38, died of a gunshot wound, Dane County Coroner Raymond Wosepka said. He would not say whether Adair had shot himself. Madison Police spokesman Joel DeSpain said police were not looking for Adair’s killer.
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Adair was charged Friday with killing 33-year-old Tracy Judd and 23-month-old Deja Adair, Judd and Adair’s daughter. He also was wanted in the deaths of 25-year-old Amber Weigel and 2-year-old Naveah Weigel-Adair. The bodies were found Thursday.
The four-day search set the Madison area on edge. Police also warned other women he knew.
Zhu Zhu claim undone
LOS ANGELES — Toy safety regulators said Monday that Zhu Zhu Pets — one of the holiday season’s hottest toy crazes — do not violate federal safety standards after all.
The California-based consumer group GoodGuide raised concerns last weekend over the presence of a potentially harmful heavy metal in a Mr. Squiggles model of the robotic hamsters that it tested.
But those claims fell apart Monday, when GoodGuide announced that the way it got its test results — using a special gun that shoots X-rays into a toy and gives a reading for how much lead, antimony or other substances are in the material — is not recognized by the CPSC to judge whether a toy is hazardous.
Instead, the CPSC tests how much of a heavy metal would actually seep out if a child sucked or swallowed a toy — not just how much of a potentially dangerous substance a toy contains. The agency did not test the Zhu Zhu toy.
ACORN completes probe
WASHINGTON — An internal investigation of the community-organizing group ACORN concluded there was no criminal conduct by employees caught on videos offering advice on how to hide assets and falsify lending documents.
The 47-page assessment by former Massachusetts Attorney General Scott Harshbarger says ACORN should return to its roots, focusing on community organizing, and should hire an independent ethics officer to oversee an internal governance program that is already under way.
THE NUMBER: $5.9 million
Stolen over the weekend by thieves who spent months tunneling from a rented house to an armored car company’s safe in Sao Paulo, Brazil. Authorities said the heist was discovered Sunday night and that the crooks made their getaway as season-ending soccer matches virtually shut down Brazil.
Officers followed the underground tunnel from the company’s safe some 110 yards to an abandoned house. Its former occupants were considered suspects, but there were no immediate arrests.