LITTLE ROCK — QUOTE OF THE DAY "There comes a time when stubborn facts will compel us to take a decision if we want a world without nuclear weapons."
French President Nicolas Sarkozy,
listing offers made by world powers to Iran, with no real response from the Islamic Republic Article, 1A20 on missing list in chimney's collapse
NEW DELHI - Hundreds of rescuers searched Thursday for about 20 people believed still trapped under the rubble of a large chimney that collapsed on workers at a power plant in central India, killing at least 35.
It was unclear if any of those missing were still alive after the accident Wednesday in which the 820-foot-tall chimney came crashing down on the plant's cafeteria as the workers had tea. The plant is under construction.
"There may be some lucky ones," said R.K. Vij, inspector-general of police.
It was uncertain how many were in the cafeteria at the time of the accident, he said, although about 100 people were at the work site.
The power plant, owned by Bharat Aluminum Co., was being built by a Chinese company with the help of local contractors in Korba, about 600 miles southeast of New Delhi.
"Continuous heavy rains and lightning at Korba in the past few days is understood to be a probable reason for this incidence," Gunjan Gupta, the chief executive officer of Bharat Aluminum, said in a statement.
Swine flu doses put at a lesser 3 billion
GENEVA - Pharmaceutical companies will be able to produce about 3 billion doses of swine flu vaccine a year, much less than previously expected, the World Health Organization said Thursday.
The U.N. agency had previously predicted that companies would be able to make up to 5 billion doses each year.
"Virtually everyone is susceptible to infection by a new and readily contagious virus," WHO said, noting that 3 billion doses wouldn't be enough to cover the entire global population of 6.8 billion people in the first year.
Still, the World Health Organization admits that not everyone may need vaccination.
"Most people will do well without the vaccine," WHO vaccine chief Marie-Paule Kieny told reporters.
She said most people infected with the pandemic strain of the H1N1 virus have a mild illness and recover by themselves.
Window narrows for Afghan runoff vote
KABUL, Afghanistan - Afghanistan has a two-week window to realistically hold any presidential runoff before winter sets in, an election official said Thursday.
Preliminary results from Afghanistan's Aug. 20 vote show President Hamid Karzai winning outright with 54.6 percent of the vote. However, a raft of fraud charges are being investigated.
If enough votes are thrown out, Karzai could dip below the 50 percent threshold needed to avoid a runoff with leading challenger Abdullah Abdullah.
Delaying a runoff until spring could leave Afghanistan with a power vacuum at a time when Taliban attacks are increasing, and undermine support abroad for a war backing an apparently corrupt administration.
Daoud Ali Najafi, the chief electoral officer of the Afghan election commission, said the window for a runoff has narrowed to the last two weeks in October.
Najafi said it would be nearly impossible to hold a vote after the end of October because entire provinces get closed down by winter snows.
Australia dust storm loses momentum
SYDNEY, Australia - Millions of Australians were wiping a film of reddish Outback grit from nearly everything Thursday after the country's worst dust storm in seven decades played havoc with transport systems and sent asthmatics scurrying inside.
The country's largest airport said normal flight schedules were resuming Thursday, a day after the dust cloud caused almost 20 international flights to be diverted away from Sydney and threw domestic schedules into turmoil.
Skies over eastern Australia were mostly clear and blue, and New South Wales state health officials said they expected air pollution to drop to normal safe levels after reaching record highs the day before.
But child care centers in Sydney kept young children inside Thursday until an official all-clear came through.
Front Section, Pages 6 on 09/25/2009