Worldwatch

No Exit
Argentinean police arrested the owner of a nightclub in downtown Buenos Aires after a blaze killed at least 175 and injured more than 700. Interior Minister Aníbal Fernández said that four of the disco’s six doors had been wired shut, snaring the mostly young clubgoers in what he called “a mortal trap.” Fernandez also warned that the death toll was likely to rise. Thousands of people, many in their teens and 20s, had packed into the Cromagnon Republic disco to celebrate the end of the school year. The Argentinean rock band Los Callejeros was playing when the fire broke out. City authorities said they could not confirm the cause of the blaze, but a number of witnesses said that it started when one of the audience launched a flare — widely available over the holiday season — at the ceiling. Survivors spoke of a stampede as desperate teenagers scrambled to escape from the flames and thick smoke. “People were pushing and jumping over each other to get out,”

concertgoer José María Godoy told reporters. “It was like a human wave. As people fell down running to the door, others just simply ran over them or pushed them down.” With the victims reportedly including some babies and toddlers — part of the club was used as a creche — anxious parents searching for their children crowded the city’s hospitals and morgues. The fire was South America’s worst since a blaze in a Paraguayan shopping mall in August killed more than 400 — a tragedy also blamed on blocked exits.

Immigrant Amnesty
SPAIN The government approved new regulations on immigration, giving amnesty to any of the country’s estimated 800,000 illegal immigrants who can prove at least six months’ employment and evidence of residence in Spain for at least six months. The move is expected to increase social security payments and generate new tax revenues for Spain, which has a thriving underground economy.

Youth to Power
ROMANIA The youthful Cabinet of new Prime Minister Calin Tariceanu — with six Ministers under 40 — was sworn in in Bucharest. The youngest nominee, 29-year-old former primary-school teacher Cristina Pirvulescu, was dropped as the candidate for Minister for European Integration after failing to identify the governing body of the E.U. during questioning in parliament. Opposition politicians predicted early elections.

Terror Resurgent
SAUDI ARABIA Despite government assurances that al-Qaeda sympathizers in the kingdom have been greatly weakened by a 19-month clampdown, two suspected suicide bombings targeting the Interior Ministry and a special forces base injured more than a dozen. Police investigating the attacks later killed 10 alleged al-Qaeda militants, including two of the kingdom’s most wanted terrorists.

A Fresh Start
AFGHANISTAN The Cabinet of President Hamid Karzai met for the first time, a week after being sworn in. Karzai, the country’s first elected leader, asked his Ministers to eschew party politics and focus on rebuilding the war-ravaged nation.

Keeping the Fatigues
PAKISTAN In a televised address to the nation, President Pervez Musharraf announced that he would not be stepping down as head of the army, despite his December 2003 pledge to do so. Musharraf, who made the promise as part of a deal with hard-line religious parties over constitutional reform, said his decision would assist the development of democracy.