Afghanistan

Death toll increases in Kandahar bombing

A bomb that tore through a group of curious children in this southern city was hidden in an apple cart, police said Wednesday, as the death toll rose to 15.

Meanwhile, a man seized by security forces as he fled the scene of Tuesday’s treacherous double blast was refusing to speak to his interrogators.

The explosion was particularly devastating because it was preceded by a smaller blast, which lured a crowd of onlookers, mostly children playing soccer on a vacant lot nearby.

A battered sneaker lay amid pools of blood, the wrecked bikes and glass from a passing truck Tuesday.

“It was a time-bomb, hidden under the apples,” the city’s Deputy Police Chief Salim Khan said.

He said 13 children and two adults had died and that 36 people were wounded.

Iraq

Saddam namesake among U.S. trainees

A beaming Saddam Hussein was among 100 graduates who joined the ranks Wednesday of the U.S.-trained Iraqi Civil Defense Corps.

The 21-year-old namesake of the former Iraqi dictator said he was proud to join Iraq’s new internal defense force.

Saddam Hussein Ali said he believed he would serve his country far better than the deposed leader ever did.

“I am happy that Saddam Hussein is not in power any more,” he told The Associated Press after receiving his graduation certificate and commemorative bayonet.

Naming children after Saddam was common in Iraq, especially during the early years of his rule from 1979 to 2003.

The ceremony was inside one of the former Iraqi president’s old palaces in his hometown of Tikrit.

Kenya

Trial begins for al-Qaida attacks

Three men suspected in al-Qaida attacks on a tourist hotel and an Israeli airliner in Kenya went on trial Wednesday, with witnesses describing the attempt to shoot down the jet.

Five farmers who live near the airport in the port city of Mombasa separately said they saw a plane flying over them, trailed by two objects releasing heavy smoke early on Nov. 28, 2002. The two SA-7 missiles narrowly missed the Israeli passenger jet.

Defendants Said Saggar Ahmed, Salmin Mohammed Khamis and Kubwa Mohammed Seif are charged with conspiracy in four cases: the Nov. 28, 2002, bombing of Paradise Hotel north of Mombasa, which killed 15 people; the nearly simultaneous attempt to shoot down an Israeli airliner; an alleged plot to destroy the new U.S. Embassy in Nairobi in June; and the 1998 bombing of the U.S. Embassy in Nairobi, which killed 219 people, including 12 Americans.

All three have pleaded innocent, but at least one of the suspects, Khamis, reportedly admitted taking part in the plot.

London

Europe’s Mars orbiter fails to make contact

Disappointed European scientists insisted they were still in the race to find signs of life on Mars after another attempt to reach their missing Beagle 2 probe Wednesday failed to pick up a signal.

The British-built Beagle 2 has not been heard from since the Mars Express mother ship set it loose toward the Red Planet in mid-December, despite attempts at contact by NASA’s Mars Odyssey orbiter as well as British and U.S. radio telescopes.

On Wednesday the Mars Express flew about 195 miles above the site where the probe was to have landed, one of the best chances yet of communication. But there was no electronic “yelp” as hoped, just more silence.

The Beagle was programmed to send out a steady “beep” after landing. Scientists say the 143-pound probe may have tumbled down a crater on the rocky Martian surface, which would explain its silence.

Kenya

Sudanese government, rebels reach agreement

Sudanese government and rebel negotiators signed an agreement Wednesday on sharing the nation’s wealth, eliminating a key obstacle to reaching a comprehensive peace agreement.

Among the riches to be shared by the government and the Sudan People’s Liberation Army is revenue from the 250,000 barrels of oil per day coming from the south.

“This moment in which we have signed a wealth-sharing agreement spells an end to the long episode of war and conflict in our country; it confirms the mutual desire and will to go on with the process,” Sudanese Vice President Ali Osman Mohammed Taha said.

The two sides agreed to equally split net oil revenue from the south during a six-year transition period, rebel Samson Kwaje said.

Africa’s longest-running war has left more than 2 million people dead, mainly through war-induced famine.

China

Victims of gas leak offered $3.6 million

China’s state oil company will offer a total $3.6 million in compensation to victims and family members of 243 people killed by a gas drilling accident blamed on negligence, a spokeswoman for the gas well’s owners said Wednesday.

Legal and technical experts from state-owned PetroChina are still meeting with local officials in the southwestern Chongqing region on how to distribute the funds, said Lu Ying, a section chief in PetroChina’s External Affairs Department.

“The company and government officials produced the figure after surveying the disaster area, but talks are still ongoing about concrete plans for distribution,” Lu said.

The Dec. 23 accident caused a well to blow out, spewing a poisonous mix of natural gas and hydrogen sulfide over an impoverished village. Victims asphyxiated or suffered rashes and burns from the choking gas.