World Briefs

VIAREGGIO, Italy – At least 13 people were killed and dozens injured overnight in Italy when a freight train hauling liquefied petroleum gas derailed and exploded as it passed their homes, officials said on Tuesday.

About 1,000 people were evacuated following the blast just before midnight on Monday in the Tuscan seaside town of Viareggio, about 350 km (220 miles) north of Rome.

MOSCOW – Nearly two decades after the Soviet collapse set Russia's roulette wheels spinning again, Prime Minister Vladimir Putin is calling in the chips on the gambling industry — a symbol of the glitz and excess of Russia's oil-fueled boom. It's all part of a Kremlin crusade to clean up a country that has long had a fascination with games of chance.”

BEIJING - In a rare reversal, China's government gave in to domestic and international pressure and backed down Tuesday from a rule that would have required personal computers sold in the country to have Internet-filtering software.

Just hours before the rule was to have taken effect, the government said it would postpone the requirement for the "Green Dam" software.

SEOUL – North Korea appears to be enriching uranium, potentially giving the state that has twice tested a plutonium-based nuclear device another path to making atomic weapons, South Korea's defense minister said on Tuesday.

"It is clear that they are moving forward with it," Defense Minister Lee Sang-hee told a parliamentary hearing, adding such a programme was far easier to hide than the North's current plutonium-based activities.

NEW YORK – Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak said Tuesday after talks with U.S. Middle East envoy George Mitchell it was too early to say whether Israel might declare a temporary freeze on settlements in the West Bank.

Barak said the talks with Mitchell, which lasted over four hours, were "positive" but that there are still "differences."

KARLSRUHE, Germany – Germany's top court on Tuesday delayed the ratification of the European Union's Lisbon Treaty but leaders expressed confidence that the landmark reforms would still be adopted soon.

In a keenly awaited decision, the Federal Constitutional Court said the treaty -- aimed at streamlining decision-making in the 27-nation bloc -- must be put on ice until a law protecting national parliamentary powers is passed. The court also rejected complaints that the treaty would transfer too much power to Brussels.