News briefs
BY Wire reports
Wednesday, January 16, 2013
1/16/13 at 2:56 AM
Cairo: Egyptian train crash kills 19, injures 117
A train derailed and crashed on Tuesday, killing 19 soldiers and injuring 117 people, the health ministry said.
The accident happened when a carriage derailed and hit a freight train about 20 miles south of Cairo, said Hussein Zakareya, chief of Egypt's Railway Authority.
The train was returning to the capital from the southern Assiut province with more than 1,300 conscripts on board.
President Mohammed Morsi visited victims of the crash, who were transported to a military hospital in Cairo.
Caracas, Venezuela: Venezuelan VP gives State of Nation address
Venezuelan Vice President Nicolas Maduro took the place of the country's ailing president Tuesday by delivering a short State of the Nation address amid legal debate about his legitimacy.
Maduro submitted the report in writing from ailing President Hugo Chavez, who is receiving treatment in Cuba after undergoing his fourth cancer surgery. Opposition politicians had argued that lawmakers should have postponed the annual speech because Chavez was supposed to deliver it.
Re-elected in October, Chavez has not made any public comments since his latest cancer surgery Dec. 11. Officials have indefinitely postponed Chavez's inauguration.
Harare, Zimbabwe : U.N. seeks $131 million in aid for Zimbabwe
The United Nations said Tuesday it needs $131 million in humanitarian assistance to meet food, water and emergency needs in Zimbabwe.
The U.N. humanitarian coordinator, Alain Noudehou, said at least $110 million of the money will be used to provide food for more than 1.6 million Zimbabweans facing starvation this year.
Noudehou said the appeal is less than the previous year's $197 million because of improvement in some sectors of the Zimbabwean economy.
Burnaby, : British Columbia Canadian rescued after being pinned in home
A Canadian man in his 70s was severely dehydrated after being pinned for several days under debris in his home that had piled up almost to the ceiling.
The Royal Canadian Mounted Police said Tuesday a man called to report that he had not seen his friend in several days.
Police found the doorway and halls of the suburban Vancouver home so choked with junk that the Fire Department was called to clear a path inside.
Havana: Cuba acknowledges 51 cholera cases
Cuba's Public Health Ministry on Tuesday acknowledged 51 new cases of cholera in the capital amid growing concerns about the illness' spread.
The ministry said nobody had died from the latest outbreak, which began Jan. 6, and stressed that preventive measures already taken had put the disease "on the way to extinction." It said cholera was first detected in the capital's Cerro neighborhood, and then spread elsewhere.
The government has not responded to repeated requests for comment in recent months, nor has it made any experts available to talk about the cholera situation.
New Delhi: Pakistani soldier killed in latest attack in Kashmir
Pakistan on Wednesday blamed Indian troops for killing one of its soldiers along the disputed Kashmir border, the latest in a series of tit-for-tat attacks that threaten to ratchet up tensions between the two nuclear-armed neighbors.
Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said that his country's relations with archrival Pakistan "cannot be business as usual." In Islamabad, the Pakistan military claimed Indian troops fired at a Pakistani army post across the so-called Line of Control that divides the Himalayan region.
Amman, Jordan : Jordanian Islamists step up anti-election campaign
Jordan's powerful Islamists warned on Tuesday they will step up their campaign against next week's parliamentary elections and against reforms pursued by King Abdullah II.
The Jan. 23 vote could lead to a showdown between Abdullah and the Islamic Action Front, the political arm of the Muslim Brotherhood. The group leads a fractured opposition in Jordan that includes liberal youth activists, trade unionists, Arab nationalists and Communists.
Traditionally, the Brotherhood has been loyal to the Jordan's Hashemite dynasty, which claims ancestry to the Prophet Muhammad.
Associated Images:
Indian army soldiers march during a parade in New Delhi on Tuesday to mark Indian Army Day, an annual event honoring the military. TSERING TOPGYAL/Associated Press
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