Roof collapses in Russia, killing 14 at pool

A concrete roof over a swimming pool in Russia's Ural Mountains region collapsed Sunday, killing 14 people, including 10 children.

The incident occurred at the indoor pool owned by a metallurgical factory in the village of Chusovoi near the Russian city of Perm, about 750 miles east of Moscow, the Ministry for Emergency Situations said.

Ministry spokesman Viktor Beltsov said 11 people remained hospitalized with injuries. The dead children ranged in age from 3 to 13, the ITAR-Tass news agency reported.

Investigators were looking into whether fluctuations in temperature or a recent heavy snowfall could have caused the roof to collapse.

Ruling party wins in local vote

A party slate headed by popular Moscow Mayor Yuri M. Luzhkov swept to victory in widely watched City Council elections Sunday, while a struggling coalition of Western-style democratic parties appeared to win enough votes to survive as a force in Russian politics.

The election had been seen as a preview of parties' strengths as Russia heads toward 2007 parliamentary elections. At issue was whether pro-Western liberals will have any role to play in a national political scene dominated by the ruling party, the look-to-the-past Communists and two nationalist-populist parties.

With results counted early today from 95 percent of polling stations, the ruling United Russia party led with 47.4 percent, followed by the Communist Party with 16.7 percent and Yabloko-United Democrats with 11 percent. The nationalist Liberal Democratic Party, with 8 percent, was falling below the hurdle of 10 percent support required to win seats allocated by party preference.

Disputed election a Chávez triumph

President Hugo Chávez's political party said Sunday it had won 114 out of 167 seats in the Congress after opposition parties dropped out of elections protesting bias by electoral authorities.

MVR party chief Willian Lara said its preliminary figures showed the alliance of pro-Chávez legislators had won all the seats in parliament, handing the left-wing leader uncontested control over the legislature.

The National Electoral Council has still to provide final results. But with 114 MVR seats in the Congress, the pro-Chávez alliance would have more than the two-thirds it needs to press for what it calls necessary reforms, such as allowing unlimited re-election to the presidency. Opponents fear that would give even greater authority to the former army officer.

Most opposition groups abstained from voting on Sunday after accusing electoral authorities of favoring the populist leader and manipulating electronic voting machines, despite agreeing previously to participate in the election.

Also

Syria clash: Syrian security forces clashed on Sunday with militants allegedly planning to launch terror attacks in the northern city of Aleppo, the state-run news agency reported. Five people were wounded, including two militants.

Kazakh leader wins: Nursultan Nazarbayev was re-elected Kazakhstan's president with 91 percent of the vote, the chairman of the Central Asian state's election commission said, citing early results.

Compiled from Reuters and The Associated Press