International

Train Crashes

A train crash at a station in the Argentine capital, Buenos Aires, has killed 49 people with at least 600 more injured, officials say. The train slammed into the barrier at the end of the platform at the Once station during the morning rush hour.

"We assume that there was some fault in the brakes", Transportation Secretary JP Schiavi said. Eyewitnesses said the train was travelling fast. Dozens of people remain trapped.

"The train was full and the impact was tremendous," a passenger identified as Ezequiel told local television. Medics at the scene were overwhelmed by the casualties, he added.

"People started to break windows and get out however they could," another eyewitness told the media. "Then I saw the engine destroyed and the train driver trapped amongst the steel. There were a lot of people hurt, a lot of kids, elderly," the eyewitness added.

Inspectors Blocked

The UN nuclear watchdog says Iran has stopped a team of inspectors from visiting a key military site. The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) says no deal has been reached on inspecting the Parchin site, south of Tehran, despite "intensive efforts".

The inspectors had sought to clarify the "possible military dimensions" of Iran's nuclear program. Iran insists it is purely for peaceful purposes, but the West suspects the program has military implications.

Strauss-kahn Held

Former IMF head Dominique Strauss-Kahn is being questioned by French police as a suspect in a prostitution ring inquiry, a prosecutor says.

Strauss-Kahn, once a front-runner for the French presidency, is being held in custody at a police station in Lille, northern France.

Yemen Votes

People in Yemen are voting a new president to replace veteran leader Ali Abdullah Saleh. Voters are expected to rubber-stamp Vice-President Abdrabbuh Mansour Hadi the only candidate in Tuesday's poll.

The poll comes after a year of violent anti-government protests in the Arabian Peninsula’s poorest country. Long queues formed early in the morning at polling stations in the capital Sanaa, protected by tight security measures.

Violence continued on Monday, with at least one polling station attacked in the south. One person is said to have been killed. The separatist Southern Movement and the northern Shia rebels have called on people to boycott the poll.

Iran Nuclear

Iran has announced it will hold military exercises to boost protection of its nuclear sites. A military statement said drills would be held in southern Iran to counter "all possible threats, especially to public, important and nuclear centres".

Speculation has been increasing that Israel may launch a military strike on Iran's nuclear facilities.The latest move comes as UN nuclear experts begin a two-day visit to Iran, the second such trip in a month.

"The exercises aim to reinforce the integrated abilities of the country's anti-air defences," said a statement from the Katem-ol-Anbia military air base.

It said the exercises would begin on Monday evening.Late last year Iran conducted 10 days of military exercises near the Strait of Hormuz at the entrance to the Gulf, test-firing several missiles.

Iran has threatened to block the strait, through which 20% of the world's oil exports pass, in retaliation for Western sanctions over its controversial nuclear program.