The world in brief

— QUOTE OF THE DAY

“Terrorism has been rejected. It has been chased, but not yet beaten.”

French President Francois Hollande, who stressed the successes of a French intervention against al-Qaida-linked rebels in Mali, but warned that threats of extremism will continue Article, 1A

34th body found in Mexico blast

MEXICO CITY - Mexico’s state-owned oil company said rescuers found another body amid the rubble of a headquarters building damaged by a still-unexplained blast. The find raised the death toll of Thursday’s explosion to 34 people.

Petroleos Mexicanos operations director Carlos Murrieta said rescue crews were still looking for three people in the rubble Sunday.

Officials still hadn’t given any cause for the explosion, which also injured 121 people, but they said it was suspected to be an accident.

Rescuers had concluded their search Friday but resumed operations when they suspected more bodies were in the rubble. The latest body was found Saturday, and the news was announced via Twitter by Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto.

Iranian impeached over appointment

TEHRAN, Iran - Iranian lawmakers impeached the country’s labor minister Sunday over his appointment of an official implicated in the deaths of prisoners.

Out of 272 present lawmakers in the parliament on Sunday, 192 voted against the labor minister, Abdolreza Sheikholeslami. The chamber has 290 seats.

The lawmakers were angry over the labor minister’s decision to appoint Saeed Mortazavi as head of Iran’s social security fund. A parliamentary probe in 2010 found that Mortazavi, then chief Tehran prosecutor, was responsible for the deaths of at least three anti-government protesters who were abused.

The dispute was seen as a way to damage President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad ahead of the presidential election in June. Under the law, Ahmadinejad cannot run for another term, but his opponents say he is trying to impose a hand-picked successor on them.

In response, Ahmadinejad turned the tables on his conservative opponents and accused the parliament speaker, Ali Larijani, and his relatives of misusing power.

Ahmadinejad played a barely audible videotape showing Larijani’s brother, Fazel, in a meeting where he purportedly sought a bribe in return for ensuring the support of the speaker and another brother, Sadegh Amoli, who is chief of judiciary.

Larijani denied the charge, saying he has no business relation with his brother.

Copter crash kills Paraguay politico

ASUNCION, Paraguay - Paraguayan presidential candidate Lino Cesar Oviedo was killed in a helicopter crash, authorities said Sunday, ending a political career that included coups.

Oviedo was returning with his bodyguard from a political rally in northern Paraguay on Saturday night when his pilot encountered bad weather. All three were killed in the crash, said Johnny Villalba, a spokesman for Paraguay’s airport authority.

Defense Minister Maria Liz Garcia said she traveled to the scene Sunday with Oviedo’s daughter, Congressman Fabiola Oviedo, and confirmed that the helicopter “disintegrated.”

Lino Oviedo, 69, was running in April’s elections as leader of Paraguay’s third largest opposition party, the National Union of Ethical Citizens.

Front Section, Pages 5 on 02/04/2013

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