Moscow Metro hit by deadly suicide bombings

At least 38 people have been killed after two female suicide bombers blew themselves up on Moscow Metro trains in the morning rush hour, officials say.

Twenty-four died in the first blast at 0756 (0356 GMT) as a train stood at the central Lubyanka station, beneath the offices of the FSB intelligence agency.

About 40 minutes later, a second explosion ripped through a train at Park Kultury, leaving another 14 dead.

The FSB said it was likely a group from the North Caucasus was responsible.

The BBC’s Richard Galpin in Moscow says no group has yet said it carried out the attacks, but past suicide bombings in the capital have been carried out by or blamed on Islamist rebels fighting for independence in Chechnya.
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At least 7 arrested after raids in 3 states

(CNN) — Federal authorities plan to unseal charges Monday against several people arrested in a series of weekend raids in Michigan, Ohio and Indiana, prosecutors in Detroit said Sunday.

At least seven people were arrested on charges that were under seal over the weekend, a law enforcement source said Sunday.

Gina Balaya, spokeswoman for the U.S attorney’s office in Detroit, said those charges will be revealed during a federal court hearing Monday.

Mike Lackomar, a county leader for the Southeast Michigan Volunteer Militia, said the target of the raid was a Christian militia group called the Hutaree. The group proclaims on a Web site that it is “preparing for the end time battles to keep the testimony of Jesus Christ alive.”

The FBI would disclose no details of the raids. The law enforcement source told CNN the arrests were unrelated to any terrorist plot. The source would not confirm Hutaree members were among those arrested, but said the suspects were not planning attacks against government targets and the raids were unrelated to recent threats against members of Congress.
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Apple exhausts supply of iPads for pre-order

Existing orders will still arrive Saturday; new orders won’t ship until April 12

Computerworld – Apple has exhausted the supply of iPads slated to arrive at customers’ doorsteps this coming Saturday, according to the company’s online store.

Starting early yesterday, Apple’s store noted that pre-ordered iPads might not ship until April 12, more than a week after the tablet goes on sale. People who placed orders before the cut-off of March 27 will still receive their iPads next Saturday, April 3, an Apple sales representative said today.

Apple began taking pre-orders for the iPad on March 12, when it also allowed customers to reserve the tablet for pickup at Apple retail stores. At the time, it promised to ship pre-ordered iPads so that they would arrive April 3.

Retails stores contacted by Computerworld said that they had also exhausted their supplies of iPads available for pick-up next Saturday. However, a salesperson at a Portland, Ore. store said that reserved iPads that are unclaimed by 3 p.m. local time would be put up for sale to walk-in customers.
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Violent storms do damage north of Charlotte

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — A handful of people were reported injured by violent storms that ripped the metal roof off at least one building, damaged dozens of homes and knocked down countless trees in central North Carolina Sunday night, officials said.

National Weather Service meteorologist Gail Hartfield from the Raleigh office said there are initial reports of several injuries from the storms that blew through the Linwood area in southwestern Davidson County. She said 20 to 30 homes were damaged in High Point and a dispatcher in Thomasville said she had gotten a report of at least one home that caught on fire in that town.

Hundreds of lightning strikes have been reported, as well as high winds, hail and heavy rain. Tornado watches and warnings were issued throughout the night for several counties between Charlotte and Greensboro.

WCNC-TV reported that a resident of a mobile home park in the Belmont-Mount Holly area was taken to a hospital after suffering a heart attack. Hartfield said eyewitnesses have spotted several tornadoes, though none has been confirmed. She said the weather service would send out a team on Monday to investigate. Northern Georgia also was hit with heavy storms.
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Russia cuts time zones to 9 on Sunday

Moscow (CNN) — The world’s largest country by land mass is challenging time: This weekend, Russia is cutting the number of its time zones from 11 to 9.

“The less fractional division of the country will enable us to resolve a number of transport and communications issues, will increase its manageability and strengthen the position of Russia as an important chain in the world’s global infrastructure,” President Dmitry Medvedev said at a special Kremlin meeting devoted to the issues of time change.

Technically speaking, five Russian regions — two in European Russia and three in Siberia — will not join the rest of the country in moving the clock one hour forward to daylight saving time at 2 a.m. Sunday, thus coming a little closer to Moscow.

Aman Tuleyev, governor of the Siberian coal-mining region of Kemerovo, which will undergo a time zone change, said at the Kremlin meeting that the existing time zone span doesn’t make a lot of sense.

“You travel just a 100 miles to any neighboring city in our area and need to switch your watch one hour back, then move it one hour forward again upon return. This has been creating needless confusion for both businesses and regular people,” he said.
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153 trapped in China coal mine

Beijing, China (CNN) — Some 153 people were trapped in a Chinese coal mine after it was flooded, state-run media reported.

Mine workers became trapped in the Wangjialing coal mine in China’s Shanxi Province on Sunday when underground water gushed into the mine, the official Xinhua news agency reported, citing the provincial work safety supervision administration.

More than 100 workers were rescued from the mine, officials said.

The cause of the flooding was not immediately known.

The mine is a key project approved by the provincial government in a coal-rich area, Xinhua reported.

Barack Obama rallies forces on visit to Afghanistan

Barack Obama has told US forces on his first visit to Afghanistan as US president that they are there to help Afghans to forge a “hard-won peace”.

Addressing soldiers and civilians at Bagram air base near Kabul, he thanked them for their service and said they would prevail against their enemies.

They were there, he said, to “keep America safe and secure”.

On a trip lasting just a few hours, he met Afghan President Hamid Karzai and invited him to the US in May for talks.

The US president said he wanted to see progress continue on Afghan efforts to tackle corruption and drug-trafficking.

In December, he ordered the deployment of an extra 30,000 US troops to Afghanistan.

Only a few thousand of the extra forces have arrived so far, with most expected to be in place by the summer.
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Thailand PM begins negotiations with Red-Shirts

Thai Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva is holding face-to-face talks with leaders of the protesters demanding that he resign and call new elections.

Mr Abhisit’s spokesman said he had “accepted the request to negotiate” in an effort to “restore peace and minimise the chance of violence”.

The prime minister has consistently said he will not bow to any ultimatums.

Correspondents say the talks are a sign of compromise after two weeks of demonstrations in the capital, Bangkok.

Earlier, four soldiers were injured after grenades were thrown at a heavily-guarded army barracks on the outskirts of the city, which Mr Abhisit has been using as a base.

It is not known who carried out the attack, but the protesters – a loose coalition of left-wing activists and supporters of exiled former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra – were to march there on Sunday.

Neutral venue

Mr Abhisit went on television on Sunday morning to say he was open to negotiations, but insisted he would “not there be there to talk” if the protesters proceeded to march on the barracks.
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Report: Google-China decision on Monday

Hong Kong, China (CNN) — Google will make an announcement on its plans to leave China on Monday, according to a Friday report in China Business News.

The Shanghai-based publication reported that Google is expected to announce on Monday it would shutter its China operations on April 10, quoting an unnamed Google employee and a Chinese sales agent for the company.

A spokesperson for Google in China wouldn’t comment on the report.

The news comes as speculation continues to rise in China over whether the Internet giant will pull out of the market and what the ramifications would be for the world’s largest online market.

Google has threatened to leave China and briefly quit censoring its Web site there in January. Chinese law requires Internet operators to censor information for sexual or political content.
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Yuan to stay cool

The best thing American politicians can do to encourage a stronger Chinese currency is keep calm

ONE of the few good things about the Great Recession of 2008-09 was a merciful absence of complaints from America’s Congress about China’s currency. The yuan’s gradual appreciation stopped in July 2008, and China has since kept its currency tightly pegged to the dollar. But even as America suffered its worst downturn in the post-war period, its legislators steered clear of ranting against China.

That restraint was driven partly by fear. At the depths of the crisis even the most myopic Congressmen worried about a descent into 1930s-style protectionism. And it was driven partly by the facts. As investors’ flight to safety strengthened the dollar in late 2008, the yuan rose along with it. With America’s imports slumping it was hard to blame Chinese workers for American joblessness. And thanks to its huge domestic stimulus China added to global demand last year, as its current-account surplus shrank sharply.

Now things have, unfortunately, gone into reverse. As policymakers in both countries shift from cushioning recession to managing recovery, the rigidity of the yuan is, once again, becoming a source of tension—one that a still-fragile global recovery can ill afford.
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