The New Nation - Internet Edition

Fire in Morocco mattress factory kills 55

AP, Casablanca

A fire roared through a mattress factory in a poor section of Casablanca Saturday, killing up to 55 workers and injuring as many as 24 others, Moroccan officials said.

The head of the Red Crescent rescue operation said an emergency exit was blocked and firefighters arrived some two hours after the blaze began at about 10 a.m.

"I don't think we realized how big the fire was," the Red Crescent official, Jawad el-Mejdoubi, said in the emergency ward of Ibn Rochd Hospital. "Twisted bodies, faces disfigured by fire."

The fire in an industrial area on the edge of the sprawling city, Morocco's chief port and economic capital, appeared to be the North African kingdom's worst since a blaze killed 50 prisoners in a jail in 2002.

An angry crowd outside the four-story building accused the factory owner of blocking the doors and emergency exit.

Interior Minister Chakib Benmoussa said an investigation into the cause of the blaze would also examine security measures and work conditions at the factory, the MAP news agency reported. The minister said that chemicals in the building sent the blaze out of control and delayed the rescue effort by hours.

Firefighters said many victims were trapped in the spiral stairwell of the building. A 29-year-old worker who managed to escape said many deaths occurred on the third floor, where women sewed.

"We ran to the door. It was blocked, to the elevator, it was blocked. Then, oops, the lights went out," the woman, Rachida Darif, told The Associated Press.

She saved herself by crawling through a space to the roof, then jumping down from a neighboring building that was under construction. She used a construction cord to lower herself part way, she said.

Morocco's city government said 55 were killed and a dozen injured, MAP said. A fire official helping with the rescue said that 54 people had been killed - 21 women, 28 men and five others whose bodies were too charred to identify their sex. He said up to 24 were injured. The fire official was not authorized to speak publicly and asked not to be identified.

About 100 people were in the factory when the fire broke out, MAP said.

Arab League warns of 'humanitarian catastrophe’ in Gaza

AFP, Cairo

The Arab League on Saturday warned of an "unprecedented humanitarian catastrophe" in the Gaza Strip after the United Nations was forced to suspend aid deliveries because of Israeli restrictions.

The 22-member body expressed its "grave concern at the deteriorating humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip after the UN Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) was forced to stop delivering aid," Hisham Yussef, Arab League Secretary General Amr Mussa's chief of staff, said in a statement.

"These circumstances, as well as the Israeli armed forces' continued military action against Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, will lead to an unprecedented humanitarian catastrophe for which the Israeli government will have to bear responsibility," Yussef said.

He said the Israeli blockade on Gaza, as well as military operations and the halting of fuel supplies to the impoverished territory, is "unacceptable and silence over the issue cannot continue."

Yussef urged international bodies including the United Nations and the European Union to "exert pressure on Israel to accept its responsibility in applying interntional law."

The United Nations stopped distributing aid to the Gaza Strip on Thursday after running out of fuel as the Israeli terminal that supplies the besieged Palestinian territory remained shut.

Humanitarian agencies say Gaza, one of the world's most densely populated territories with 1.5 million people living on a narrow sliver of land, is on the brink of disaster.

Hamas awaits Israeli response to truce offer: Meshaal

AFP, Doha

Hamas chief Khaled Meshaal said on Saturday his movement is awaiting an official Israeli response to a truce offer in the Gaza Strip, even though Israel has already poured cold water on it.

Meanwhile in Egypt, where the government has been attempting to mediate a ceasefire, an official said various Palestinian factions are actually still formulating a common position on a proposal for an eventual deal.

Meshaal, speaking to reporters in the Qatari capital, Doha, said Hamas "has requested from the Egyptian delegation a paper with the pledges that the Israeli occupation agrees upon in order to calm the situation. "Based on this paper, Hamas will decide whether to accept or refuse the easing of the situation that Egypt is trying to achieve between the Palestinians and the Israelis."

The Hamas supremo insisted that the truce offer was an Egyptian product and that Hamas agreed to go along with it only if Israel answered certain demands.

Hamas "did not initiate the offer to calm the situation," he said. But Zaki said that on Tuesday and Wednesday, Egyptian intelligence chief Omar Suleiman will host Palestinian factions to discuss the truce proposal, though Zaki said "no dramatic developments are expected at these meetings.

In order for Egypt's mediation efforts to succeed, he said all parties "must show proof of cooperation and express a sincere desire to reach a ceasefire."

On Thursday, senior Hamas official Mahmud al-Zahar had said in Cairo that the Islamist movement had agreed to a ceasefire in Gaza first, which could be extended to the West Bank within six months.

Zahar, speaking after talks with Suleiman, said the move must be "reciprocal, simultaneous and comprehensive" and that Israel must end its crippling blockade of the impoverished territory.

Dalai Lama seeks 'serious’ talks on homeland’s future

AFP, Dharamshala

Tibet's spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, has been pushing for talks with China on the future of his homeland for years but now is making clear they must be "serious discussions".

Returning to this northern Indian hill town from a two-week trip to the United States where he met followers, he welcomed Beijing's promise on Friday to renew dialogue, saying "basically talk is good." But anything other than "serious discussions" would be fruitless, he quickly added, a day after Chinese state media said government officials would meet soon with an envoy of the Tibetan spiritual leader.

A meeting solely to appease international concern ahead of the Beijing Olympics in August would be "meaningless," he said, speaking in Dharamshala, which has been his base since he fled his homeland in 1959 after an abortive uprising.

He said he wanted "a thorough discussion" of the problems in Tibet to find out "what is the cause of this problem and how to solve it." The Buddhist "god-king" has repeatedly reached out to Beijing seeking dialogue and cultural autonomy for his homeland. But even on Saturday after making its talks offer, China's state media was denouncing the spiritual icon, accusing him of conspiring to turn world opinion against China. The "Tibet problem" has become the tool of the Dalai Lama and his supporters to spread the "false rumour" that China oppresses Tibetan Buddhism, the People's Daily, the ruling Communist Party's main mouthpiece, said.

Beijing has consistently denounced the Dalai Lama as a "splittist" bent on breaking Tibet away from China.

The spiritual leader has denied the charge, saying he wants "cultural autonomy" rather than independence for Tibet despite escalating his criticism of China recently, accusing it of "unimaginable" rights violations.

The 72-year-old Nobel peace laureate-considered by many to be the world's greatest moral force for non-violence-has continued to appeal to his fellow Tibetans to use peaceful means to achieve their ends as the world's spotlight falls on China ahead of the Olympics. The Dalai Lama says he espouses a "common human religion of kindness" that extends to "all members of the human family."

Clad in the maroon robes of a monk, he is beloved for his contagious laugh and engaging grin, set off by oversized glasses.

He has been a powerful rallying point for the six million Tibetans living in exile or in their homeland, while also being a friend to kings, politicians, celebrities and the poor.

The Dalai Lama fled Tibet across the Himalayas after the abortive uprising and was given sanctuary by the Indian government in Dharamshala, where he set up a government-in-exile.

Syria says it will help Turk PM on mediation with Israel

Reuters, Damascus

Syria will cooperate with Turkey in its mediation to relaunch peace talks between the Damascus government and Israel but the Jewish state has also to make an effort towards a deal, Syrian officials said Saturday.

President Bashar al Assad said after meeting Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan in the Syrian capital that "Syria was ready to cooperate with Turkey in any effort that brings security and stability to the region."

"The meeting focused on ways to activate a just and comprehensive peace and the president praised Turkey for the efforts in this regard," the state news agency said. Syrian officials said that the meeting focused on attempts by Turkey to help Syria and Israel relaunch negotiations that collapsed in 2000 over the scope of a proposed Israeli withdrawal from the Golan heights, a water-rich plateau overlooking Damascus.

Japan PM forges ties with old, new Russian leaders

AFP, Novo-Ogaryovo

Japanese Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda joined Russia's leaders on Saturday in praising improved ties and pledging to further negotiations over the disputed Kuril Islands. President Vladimir Putin, due to become prime minister after leaving the Kremlin on May 7, told Fukuda at a presidential residence outside Moscow that relations had substantially improved.

"In the last two or three years we managed to change our relations in a qualitative manner," Putin said.

Fukuda, who went on to meet with Putin's newly-elected successor Dmitry Medvedev, also said that "cooperation is developing" ahead of July's Group of Eight (G8) summit in Japan.