Nigeria

Oil pipeline explosion kills at least 30

An oil pipeline exploded near Nigeria’s largest city as thieves tried to siphon oil from it, sparking a fire that killed at least 30 people, police said Friday.

Flames from the pipeline scorched nearby vegetation and large plumes of smoke billowed from the village of Amore, which sits across a wide lagoon from Lagos, a city of 13 million people.

The pipeline, run by state-owned Nigerian National Petroleum Corp., pumps imported fuel from the Lagos seaport to western Nigeria.

Company officials said the pipeline pumps had been turned off to help firefighters, increasing the likelihood of fuel scarcity in parts of Nigeria.

But it wasn’t expected to affect the amount of petroleum sent from Nigeria, Africa’s largest exporter of crude and the fifth-biggest source of U.S. oil imports.

Sweden

Workers: Fatigue a reason to skip work

In a country plagued by skyrocketing sick-leave costs, a survey presented Friday found that 40 percent of Sweden’s population thinks it is acceptable to skip work because they are tired or have trouble getting along with colleagues.

The survey, by the National Social Insurance Board, also found that 65 percent of the 1,002 people interviewed think a stressful work situation is a valid reason for calling in sick and collecting pay under Sweden’s liberal social programs.

Sick leave compensation tripled from $2 billion in 1997 to $6 billion in 2002.

Mexico City

Mexico, Japan approve free trade agreement

Mexico and Japan signed a free trade agreement Friday that Mexicans hope will ease their reliance on the United States while encouraging Japan to build more factories in the Latin American country.

Mexico has signed 11 free trade agreements with 42 countries, including the European Union, in an effort to balance its economic ties. But the agreements so far have failed to dent its dependence on the United States.

Of Mexico’s $165.4 billion in exports in 2003, a mere $605.8 million went to Japan, with $149.6 billion going to the United States, according to the Economy Department. At the same time, Mexico imported $171 billion worth of goods, of which $7.6 billion came from Japan and $109.8 billion from the United States.

Arkansas

Clinton to seek early release of records

Former President Clinton will have to ask President Bush for permission to release thousands of domestic-policy records from his two terms in the White House, officials at Clinton’s presidential library said Friday.

Clinton has said he wants to make 100,000 documents available to scholars and researchers on Nov. 18, the day his presidential library opens and nearly a year sooner than required.

But officials at the Clinton Presidential Center in Little Rock said the release of White House records would be governed by a law that requires President Bush to approve any early disclosures.

Clinton’s lawyer, Bruce Lindsey, said last year that documents released would not include Clinton’s legal defense in the Whitewater and the Monica Lewinsky-Paula Jones investigations.

Pittsburgh

Female inmates face charges in pen-pal scam

Ten female inmates in Pennsylvania jails and prisons have been indicted on charges they bilked more than 300 pen-pals — mostly men — out of thousands of dollars by lying to them and promising long-term relationships.

According to the indictments, the women placed personal ads in tabloid magazines and on Web sites. When the men responded, the women often sent phony photos and told them they were to be released from prison soon, the indictments alleged.

Alleged victims, bilked out of nearly $260,000, were from states across the nation, including Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Minnesota, New Jersey, New York, Rhode Island, Virginia and Wisconsin.

New Mexico

Document: Lab to move nuclear materials

Los Alamos National Laboratory plans within a year to remove all weapons-grade nuclear material from a part of the lab that has raised security concerns, according to an internal federal document.

The National Nuclear Security Administration document said the highly enriched uranium and plutonium in Technical Area 18 would be moved to a facility at the Nevada Test Site starting this month.

Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham has said he is committed to moving the nuclear materials out of the research center because the area is difficult to defend and vulnerable to terrorist attack.

The lab, operated by the University of California under contract with the Energy Department, has recently suffered a string of embarrassing management failures.

Colorado

College student consumed up to 40 drinks before death

A 19-year-old college student drank up to 40 beers and shots of liquor in an 11-hour period before she was found dead in a fraternity house, investigators said Friday.

Samantha Spady had a blood-alcohol level of 0.436 percent — above the 0.4 percent considered potentially deadly — when her body was found Sept. 6 at the Sigma Pi fraternity house at Colorado State University in Fort Collins, Deputy Coroner Dean Beers said.

Spady drank the equivalent of 30 to 40 12-ounce beers or 1-ounce shots of liquor, Beers said, but her death was ruled an accident and there was no evidence of foul play. Spady was found fully clothed, and her body had not been moved.

Spady began drinking with companions at 6 p.m. on Sept. 5 and did not stop until about 5 a.m. the next day. Investigators said Spady and her friends started with beer but later switched to vodka.

Washington, D.C.

Envoy warns of pre-election offensive by Afghan rebels

Afghan forces backed by 9,000 NATO troops are poised to provide security as national elections approach, but an offensive by anti-government rebels cannot be ruled out, the top U.S. diplomat in Afghanistan said Friday.

Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad said Al-Qaida, the Taliban and allied forces were poised to try to derail the Oct. 9 presidential elections and had been cooperating with each other.

Khalilzad, who is here for consultations, said they also might carry out “spectacular attacks” similar to the offensive launched by North Vietnam in early 1968 against American forces. That offensive started a process that eventually led to negotiations for the American withdrawal from Vietnam.

The large majority of U.S. forces in Afghanistan are deployed along the border with Pakistan attempting to hunt down al-Qaida and Taliban forces.

Pakistan

Musharraf may keep Army post

Gen. Pervez Musharraf, Pakistan’s president, said Thursday he might renege on his pledge to step down as army chief of staff because “the vast majority” of the Pakistani people “want me in uniform” and fear he would be weakened without it.

Musharraf said conditions in the country had changed since he promised in a nationally televised address last Dec. 24 to leave the army as part of a deal with opposition lawmakers that would allow him to remain president through 2007.

A decision to stay on as army chief of staff could provoke a political backlash in Pakistan, where Musharraf has promised repeatedly to create “sustainable democracy” since the 1999 army coup that brought him to power. It also could prove awkward for the Bush administration, which has embraced Musharraf as a key ally in the war on terrorism while calling for greater democracy in the Muslim world. Pakistan has been ruled by military governments for much of its 57-year history.