The world in brief

QUOTE OF THE DAY “Those who thought that it ended with Crimea were wrong.” Swedish Foreign Minister Carl Bildt, after pro-Russian activists took over buildings

in eastern Ukraine and proclaimed their regions independent Monday Article, 1ATo seek more agency links, Abbas warns

RAMALLAH, West Bank - The Palestinians are ready to sign up a “state of Palestine” for additional international agencies and treaties - a step Israel views as highly provocative - if U.S. peace efforts collapse after an April 29 deadline, a senior official said Monday.

The warning by Mohammed Ishtayeh, an aide to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, came as U.S. mediators tried to defuse the worst crisis in the negotiations since Secretary of State John Kerry persuaded the two sides last summer to resume talks for nine months.

Under the terms of renewed talks, Israel promised to release 104 long-held Palestinian prisoners in four groups, while the Palestinians said they would suspend a campaign to sign up Palestine for as many as 63 United Nations agencies, treaties and conventions. Last week, Israel refused to release the final group of prisoners.

Ishtayeh said the Palestinians “are keeping the door open for any serious talks” until April 29, but that gaps on almost all issues have only widened and that Israel isn’t negotiating in good faith.

If it becomes apparent by April 29 that Kerry’s efforts have collapsed, the Palestinians are set to resume the recognition campaign, Ishtayeh said, without giving a timeline.

20 die in Mexican drug-cartel clashes

MEXICO CITY - A series of clashes among criminal gangs killed 20 people during a single day of violence in the northeastern Mexican state of Tamaulipas on the border with Texas, local authorities reported.

Thirteen men and one woman were killed Sunday in the southern part of the state around the Gulf Coast port of Tampico and neighboring Ciudad Madero, with people shot on the street or at local businesses, according to a statement issued late that evening by Tamaulipas state’s coordinating group of state and federal law enforcement.

The shootings were so widespread that some of the victims weren’t found or reported until Monday. The bodies of three more men killed in the Sunday shootouts were found Monday on streets in Tampico.

And in the border city of Ciudad Mier, near Roma, Texas, the bodies of three young men were found after they were shot to death Sunday near the banks of the Rio Grande River, state officials reported Monday.

Tamaulipas is home to both the Gulf cartel and the Zetas drug gang.

Bomb kills 15 civilians in Afghanistan

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan - A roadside bomb killed at least 15 people traveling in vehicles that had been diverted from a main road Monday after an earlier attack in southern Afghanistan, officials said.

The blast came after a relatively calm weekend in which no major attacks were reported as Afghans voted for a new president and provincial councils.

The two SUVs carrying the civilians hit the hidden explosives on a side road that was being used because authorities blocked the main road after a suicide bombing targeting a NATO convoy in Kandahar province, the local government spokesman said.

All the passengers were from Uruzgan province to the north of Kandahar and were apparently traveling home when the blast occurred in the Maywand district.

The Taliban claimed responsibility for the earlier attack on Monday but blamed international forces for the roadside bombing, saying the foreign forces were trying to hurt the reputation of the Islamic militant movement by making it look like the Taliban were killing civilians.

Man attempts suicide on flight to India

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates - Emirates airline crewmen found a passenger bleeding heavily on a flight from Dubai to India after he apparently tried to commit suicide inside an airplane bathroom, the airline and Indian police said Monday.

The attempt happened aboard an Emirates flight to the Indian industrial hub Hyderabad on Friday. The Dubai-based carrier said crew members discovered the passenger shortly before the plane began its descent, and “administered all the necessary treatment onboard” before handing him off to a medical team on the ground.

According to police and hospital workers in India, the 30-year-old man had been working as a draftsman in Dubai and attempted suicide by slicing into his neck, ankles and wrists just before the flight landed.

The man remained hospitalized in stable condition Monday, surrounded by family members but unable to speak because of a feeding tube in his throat, according to Dr. Ravi Shankar, a critical care specialist in the Indian city.

Front Section, Pages 6 on 04/08/2014

Upcoming Events