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8A – Daily News – Wednesday, April 7, 2010 WORLD BRIEFING 25 dead in W.Va. coal mine blast MONTCOAL, W.Va. (AP) — People in this small coal town prayed and hung banners in front of their homes Tuesday as rescuers launched a complicated effort to save four miners missing after a huge under- ground explosion killed 25 of their colleagues. Crews were bulldozing an access road so they could drill 1,000 feet into the earth to release gases and make it safe to try to find the four. They were feared dead after the Monday afternoon blast at a mine with a history of violations for not properly ventilating highly com- bustible methane. Rescuers were being held back by poison gases that accumulated near the blast site, about 1.5 miles from the entrance to Massey Energy Co.’s sprawling Upper Big Branch mine. ‘‘The drills are in place now,’’ Gov. Joe Manchin said at a news briefing Tues- day. An access road had to be created before they could begin drilling four shafts to release methane and carbon monoxide. Manchin said it could be Wednesday night before the first hole is drilled, but rescuers had to try. Obama shifts US defense focus to terror WASHINGTON (AP) — Rewriting America’s nuclear strategy, the White House on Tuesday announced a fundamental shift that calls the spread of atomic weapons to rogue states or terrorists a worse threat than the nuclear Armageddon feared during the Cold War. “11 DAYS OF ROUND-UP!” COWBOY COFFEE Round-Up Museum Thur., April 8, 7:45 a.m. & learn what businesses won the decorating contest! Red Bluff-Tehama County Chamber of Commerce 100 Main Street, Red Bluff “Promoting the growth and prosperity of local business” www.redbluffchamberofcommerce.com Find us on Facebook! Meet the Round-Up Association, browse the Museum The White House is suddenly moving on mul- tiple fronts with a goal of limiting the threat of a catastrophic international conflict, although it’s not yet clear how far and how fast the rest of the world is ready to follow. In releasing the results of an in-depth nuclear strategy review, President Barack Obama said his administration would nar- row the circumstances in which the U.S. might launch a nuclear strike, that it would forego the development of new nuclear warheads and would seek even deeper reductions in American and Russian arsenals. His defense secretary, Robert Gates said the focus would now be on terror groups such as al- Qaida as well as North Korea’s nuclear buildup and Iran’s nuclear ambi- tions. ‘‘For the first time, pre- venting nuclear prolifera- tion and nuclear terrorism is now at the top of Amer- ica’s nuclear agenda,’’ Obama said, distancing his administration from the decades-long U.S. focus on arms competi- tion with Russia and on the threat posed by nuclear missiles on hair- trigger alert. 50 dead in Baghdad bombings BAGHDAD (AP) — Bombs ripped through apartment buildings and a market in mostly Shiite areas of Baghdad on Tuesday, killing 50 peo- ple in postelection blood- shed that threatens to rekindle sectarian warfare that nearly destroyed the country three years ago. The attacks appeared to be an attempt by al- Qaida in Iraq or other extremists to exploit a power vacuum during what promises to be lengthy negotiations to form a new government. About 120 people have been killed in and around the capital over the past five days — some of the most brutal strikes on civilians in months. For two terrifying hours on a warm, sunny Tuesday morning, at least seven bombs rocked a broad swath of Baghdad. In a new tactic, several bombs were planted inside empty apartments after renters offered high prices for the properties, the government said. The explosions reduced one building to rubble, knocked out win- dows and doors and ripped off facades. People rushed to the blast sites, digging through the rub- ble with their hands to find loved ones. ‘‘Cars began to collide with one another in the street,’’ said Ali Hussein, a 22-year-old college stu- dent who was riding the bus to school when one of the bombs went off. ‘‘We saw a cloud of fire and black smoke.’’ Top RNC activist, official quits WASHINGTON (AP) — Amid growing concern over Michael Steele’s stewardship of the Repub- lican National Commit- tee, a New Hampshire activist resigned his seat Tuesday, citing an ‘‘out- of-touch, free-spending culture of Washington’’ within the party. Meanwhile, a finance report that showed the RNC spent $982 at a Ver- mont winery for what it called ‘‘office supplies’’ — five cases of wine — was unlikely to calm the fretting. Committeeman Sean Mahoney, a New Hamp- shire businessman who is mulling a run for Con- gress in November, joined the chorus of criticism from activists and donors over lavish spending by the RNC. Mahoney was the latest person to cut ties with the committee; Steele’s top aide and one of his top outside advisers ended relationships with the committee Monday. Republican officials said it was unlikely Steele would depart the commit- tee, and Steele himself vowed to remain. Even so, revelations of an almost $2,000 tab at a sex-themed California night club and almost $1,000 at a winery did lit- tle to help his standing among the party activists who are optimistic about GOP chances in midterm elections and down on Steele’s public profile. ‘‘Not only has the out- of-touch, free-spending culture of Washington come to completely dom- inate the United States Congress, but I have watched with growing unease as the same men- tality has seeped into our own national party,’’ Mahoney wrote in a letter. Cardinals decry alleged anti-Catholic campaign VATICAN CITY (AP) — The Vatican heatedly defended Pope Benedict XVI on Tuesday, claim- ing accusations that he helped cover up the actions of pedophile priests are part of an anti- Catholic ‘‘hate’’ cam- paign targeting the pope for his opposition to abortion and same-sex marriage. Vatican Radio broad- cast comments by two senior cardinals explain- ing ‘‘the motive for these attacks’’ on the pope and the Vatican newspaper chipped in with spirited comments from another top cardinal. ‘‘The pope defends life and the family, based on marriage between a man and a woman, in a world in which powerful lobbies would like to impose a completely dif- ferent’’ agenda, Spanish Cardinal Julian Herranz, head of the disciplinary commission for Holy See officials, said on the radio. Herranz didn’t identi- fy the lobbies but ‘‘defense of life’’ is Vati- can shorthand for anti- abortion efforts. Also arguing that Benedict’s promotion of conservative family mod- els had provoked the so- called attacks was the Vatican’s dean of the College of Cardinals, Angelo Sodano.