In Brief

Iranian diplomat abducted in Pakistan

PESHAWAR, Pakistan: Armed men kidnapped an Iranian diplomat yesterday in Pakistan's northwest, a day after the slaying of an American aid worker - heightening fears that Islamic militants are hunting down foreigners. The Iranian and his Pakistani bodyguard were driving over a narrow bridge in Peshawar when two gunmen blocked their way with a car and opened fire, said Banaras Khan, a police investigator who quoted a witness. The attackers fled with the diplomat, and the guard was killed. On Wednesday, gunmen shot and killed American aid worker Stephen Vance as he was traveling to work in Peshawar, a vital city for both the government and aid agencies where security has been crumbling. Officials identified the diplomat as Heshmatollah Atharzadeh, a commercial attache. Iran's Foreign Ministry denounced the abduction as a "terrorist act."

Bridge collapse blamed on undersized plates

WASHINGTON: Safety investigators singled out undersized steel plates yesterday as the chief cause of the deadly collapse of a highway bridge in Minneapolis on Aug. 1, 2007. But contractors working on the bridge had stored construction material on the center span over the Mississippi River, and that additional weight contributed to the collapse that killed 13 people and injured 145, they said. Federal investigators told the National Transportation Safety Board that the collapse of the Interstate 35W bridge was unavoidable once gusset plates in the center span failed. The plates helped connect the bridge's steel beams. "Had the gusset plates been properly sized, this bridge would still be there," said Bruce Magladry, director of the NTSB's office of highway safety.