Mexican volcano spews ash, rocks
Mexico City A volcano in western Mexico unleashed its most powerful blast in more than a decade Monday, shooting ash two miles into the sky and sending burning gas and rock fragments down the slopes.
No injuries or damages were reported. Winds blew the ash cloud toward the west, away from the most heavily populated areas.
A seismologist at the volcano observation station operated by the University of Colima warned it “is still in an explosive stage.”
Experts said it was the biggest explosion at the volcano in the western state of Colima since 1991. The Colima volcano, which has erupted dozens of times since its first recorded eruption in 1560, is considered among the most active and potentially most destructive of the volcanoes in Mexico.
S. Korea, U.S. chiefs set to meet for talks
Seoul, South Korea South Korea’s president will meet with President Bush in Washington next month to discuss ways to bring North Korea back to nuclear disarmament talks, according to a media report today.
President Roh Moo-hyun’s office would not confirm the report by South Korea’s Yonhap news agency, which cited a source as saying the meeting would take place June 10. A White House spokesman declined to comment.
International efforts to convince North Korea to give up its nuclear weapons program have been stalled since last June. The communist state has stayed away from the talks – which include China, Japan and Russia – citing what it calls hostile U.S. policies.
Efforts to resume the talks gained urgency earlier this month when North Korea said it had removed spent fuel rods from a reactor, a possible step toward extracting weapons-grade plutonium. In February, it claimed it has nuclear weapons.
Queen braves rain to greet Canadians
Edmonton, Alberta Queen Elizabeth II, smiling and carrying her own umbrella in a chilly rain, greeted tens of thousands of well-wishers Monday at the Commonwealth Stadium in Alberta for the western province’s centennial celebrations.
The queen cut the first slice of a massive cake made to look like the Alberta legislature building while a military band played “Happy Birthday.”
The queen is head of state in Canada, a member of the British Commonwealth of former colonies and was making her 22nd visit along with her husband, Prince Philip. Her nine-day visit began last Tuesday in neighboring Saskatchewan, another prairie province marking its 100th anniversary of joining the Canadian Confederation.
Monday was Victoria Day in Canada, a national holiday honoring the birthday of the queen’s great-great grandmother, Queen Victoria.
Mongolian chief pick is former communist
Ulan Bator, Mongolia A candidate from Mongolia’s former Communist Party won the presidency in an election that drew herders who arrived on horses at polling stations on the country’s vast steppe.
The Mongolian People’s Revolutionary Party, the former Communist party now known as MRRP, was voted out in 1996 but re-elected in 2000, and now appears to have new popularity.
Its candidate, Nambariin Enkhbayar, received 53 percent of votes cast on Sunday, said J. Yadamsuren, chairman of the Federal Election Commission – above the 50 percent minimum required to avoid a run-off election against any of Enkhbayar’s three rivals.
His victory came amid nostalgia for the stability of one-party rule and Soviet subsidies that halted in 1990, and his own promises to end chronic poverty in this sprawling, sparsely populated nation of 2.5 million people wedged between Russia and China.
Mongolia has a parliamentary system, with a government run by a prime minister.