Modified PyImport_Import and PyImport_ImportModule to always use absolute imports by calling __import__ with an explicit level of 0
Added a new API function PyImport_ImportModuleNoBlock. It solves the problem with dead locks when mixing threads and imports
diff --git a/Modules/timemodule.c b/Modules/timemodule.c
index 842ce94..5b4d210 100644
--- a/Modules/timemodule.c
+++ b/Modules/timemodule.c
@@ -515,7 +515,7 @@
 static PyObject *
 time_strptime(PyObject *self, PyObject *args)
 {
-    PyObject *strptime_module = PyImport_ImportModule("_strptime");
+    PyObject *strptime_module = PyImport_ImportModuleNoBlock("_strptime");
     PyObject *strptime_result;
 
     if (!strptime_module)
@@ -627,7 +627,7 @@
 {
 	PyObject* m;
 
-	m = PyImport_ImportModule("time");
+	m = PyImport_ImportModuleNoBlock("time");
 	if (m == NULL) {
 	    return NULL;
 	}