News Briefs
BY Wire Reports
Tuesday, August 14, 2012
8/14/12 at 2:42 AM
Rome: Capsized cruise ship's removal to be delayed
The capsized Costa Concordia cruise ship will not be moved from its resting place off Italy's Tuscan coast as quickly as planned.
The Italian government office overseeing removal said Monday that the Concordia, now lying on its side off Giglio island, should be set upright and able to float again by the end of spring 2013, ahead of Giglio's next tourist season. Salvage crews earlier predicted towing could start early in 2013.
Thirty-two people died when the Concordia rammed a reef in January and capsized. Its Italian captain is under investigation for alleged manslaughter and abandoning ship.
Havana: Fidel Castro turns 86 with little fanfare
Cuba marked Fidel Castro's 86th birthday Monday with congratulatory messages in state media but no apparent plans for a public appearance by the retired leader.
It has been more than two months since he last appeared in public.
He stepped down temporarily in 2006 due to an undisclosed illness that he later said nearly killed him. In 2008 he left the presidency permanently, and younger brother Raul Castro took over.
Johannesburg: Violence at South Africa platinum mine kills 9
Ongoing violent protests at a platinum mine in South Africa have killed at least nine people, as authorities struggled to control a massive crowd that at one point overpowered officers and stole their weapons, police said Monday.
The protests focused on a Lonmin PLC mine operation near Marikana, a town about 40 miles northwest of Johannesburg. Two police officers were killed during protests Monday, Brig. Lindela Mashigo said. Officers opened fire on the crowd, killing at least three people, he said.
Workers walked off the job Friday over a salary dispute, Lonmin said.
Tehran, Iran: Iran villages in rubble as quake death toll rises
Iran Monday raised its earthquake death toll to 306, a day after rescuers called off the search for survivors from the rubble of their homes in the country's northwest, state media reported.
Health Minister Marzieh Vahid Dastjerdi told a session of parliament that the number jumped by about 50 after victims died in the hospital. More than 3,000 people were injured in the twin earthquakes that struck two days ago, she added in comments broadcast on state radio.
The area is home to some 300,000 people near Azerbaijan and Armenia.
Dubai,: United Arab Emirates Emirates airline to restart Tripoli flights in October
Dubai-based airline Emirates, the Middle East's biggest airline, plans to restart flights to the Libyan capital, joining a growing number of carriers returning to Tripoli since the end of the country's civil war.
Emirates said Monday it would resume Tripoli flights four times a week starting Oct. 29. It stopped flying to Libya in February 2011 because of violence there during the uprising that eventually deposed Moammar Gadhafi.
Another UAE carrier, Abu Dhabi-based Etihad Airways, began flying to Tripoli earlier this year. Alitalia and British Airways are among the other carriers that have resumed Tripoli flights.
Associated Images:
Indian yoga guru Baba Ramdev waves out of the window of a bus after he was detained with his supporters by policemen in New Delhi on Monday. Waving Indian flags and shouting slogans, the protesters climbed into a row of police buses parked around the sprawling New Delhi fairground that Ramdev and his supporters had occupied for the past four days. SAURABH DAS / Associated Press
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