Train Derailed in Poland Kills Passenger, Injures Dozens

Stockbyte/Thinkstock(WARSAW, Poland) -- Police say a train has derailed in central Poland, killing one passenger and injuring dozens of others.

The inter-city train was traveling south from Warsaw when the engine and three of the carriages went off the tracks, according to authorities.

One firefighter told Polish television station TVN24 the number of deaths from the incident could rise, according to BBC News.

"We are told that people are hurled through windows and landed under the wagon which is lying on its side," firefighter Wlodzimierz Kapiec told TVN24.

The cause of the accident is not immediately known.  Authorities will continue to investigate.

Copyright 2011 ABC News Radio

Former Tunisian Security Chief Acquitted on Forgery Charges

Photo Courtesy - FETHI BELAID/AFP/Getty Images(TUNIS) -- On Friday, the former head of the Tunisian presidential guard was acquitted on charges he assisted ousted President Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali and his family with forged passports.

Ben Ali, who had ruled the country for 23 years, fled to Saudi Arabia on January 14 after a civil uprising which is credited for igniting regional protests known as the "Arab Spring".  Former security chief Ali Seriati's charges were dropped by a Tunisian court though he still faces other charges including plotting against state security and inciting criminal acts during the uprising. If convicted, 70-year-old Seriati may receive a death sentence.

The court also convicted 23 relatives of Ben Ali and his wife Leila Trabelsi for charges of attempting to flee the country, jewelry trafficking and possession of foreign currency. Sentences ranged from four months to six years in prison.

Despite being convicted in absentia of minor charges in June, Ben Ali and his wife still face more serious charges which carry a death sentence.

Copyright 2011 ABC News Radio

Clinton Urges Countries to Stop Buying Syria's Oil And Gas

Win McNamee/Getty Images(WASHINGTON) -- Secretary of State Clinton Friday urged countries to “get on the right side of history” and stop buying oil and gas from Syria.
 
“The United States will continue to work with our partners to turn this growing consensus into increased pressure and isolation for the Assad regime.  In particular, we urge those countries still buying Syrian oil and gas, those countries still sending Assad weapons, those countries whose political and economic support give him comfort in his brutality to get on the right on the right side of history.  President Assad has lost the legitimacy to lead, and it is clear that Syria would be better off without him,” she told reporters after meeting with her Norwegian counterpart.
 
This comes as the United States is developing energy sanctions that will hit the oil and gas sectors that are a major source of funding for the regime. Senior advisor Fred Hof is in Europe this week rallying support for coordinated sanctions from other countries that would bite more since they have more trade with Syria. When will those sanctions be announced? “Stay tuned,” Clinton said Friday.
 
In an interview Thursday, Clinton named and shamed a few countries still doing business with Syria.
 
“We want to see China take steps with us.  We want to see India, because India and China have large energy investments inside of Syria.  We want to see Russia cease selling arms to the Assad regime,” she told Scott Pelley.
 
Clinton’s comments ahead of the actual sanctions are indicative of her incremental approach to the crisis, ratcheting up the pressure slowly rather than using the biggest arrow in the quiver. It’s becoming clear that is also her approach towards calling on Assad to leave power, something the White House has been eager to do.
 
U.S. officials tell ABC that Turkey and other countries have urged the United States to hold off on demanding that Syrian President Bashar Assad step down.
 
Some countries, Norway included, have said they won’t call for Assad to step down because there is no clear alternative among the opposition. In that context, Clinton for the second day in a row called on the opposition to organize and come together.
 
“We and others are reaching out to members of the opposition inside and outside of Syria to encourage them to create a unified vision of what an inclusive, participatory, democratic system in Syria could look like,” she said.

Copyright 2011 ABC News Radio

US: Report CIA Drones Killed 168 Kids 'Way Off the Mark'

Leaders of the Jamaat-e-Islami Pakistan political party raise joined hands as a show of solidarity during a demonstration in Quetta, on July 19, 2011, to protest against the US drone attacks.BANARAS KHAN/AFP/Getty Images(WASHINGTON) -- The U.S. is disputing Friday a report that its counter-terror drone program has killed hundreds of civilians in Pakistan, including more than 160 children.

The London-based non-profit Bureau of Investigative Journalism released a report this week that claimed the CIA drone program, credited for killing approximately 2,000 suspected militants, is also responsible for the deaths of 385 civilians, 168 of them kids, in 291 strikes since 2004.

"The numbers cited by this organization are way off the mark," a senior U.S. official told ABC News. "We see the battlefield in real time; the Bureau of Investigative Journalism doesn't...This group's allegations about individual strikes are, in every case, divorced from the facts on the ground."

The official said that while the U.S. agrees around 2,000 suspected militants have been killed, the total civilian casualties are closer to 50. One of the "loudest voices" in the report is that of a Pakistani lawyer who is currently involved in legal action with the U.S., the official said. "His agenda is crystal clear."

The lead reporter on the BIJ's project, Chris Woods, told ABC News that the group has no agenda and simply compiled public information while attempting to corroborate what they could on the ground, since the CIA's figures are unavailable to them.

"We certainly don't think our numbers are off the mark," Woods said. "The strikes we're reporting and the casualty figures we're reporting are directly sourced from credible media reports and other sources where we've done our best to get the clearest public understanding of what's happening in these strikes. Of course what's missing from the information is the internal information from the CIA itself."

The numbers, the BIJ said, are based on media reports, eyewitness accounts and reporting from other non-profit groups. In parts, the BIJ's data contradicts public claims by U.S. officials including that of White House counter-terror advisor John Brennan when he said in June the drone program had seen "not a single collateral death" in nearly a year. By the BIJ numbers, at least 30 civilians have been killed this year alone.

"We can't confirm any noncombatant casualties," the U.S. official said Friday of the drone program in the past year, echoing Brennan's assertion.

A random sampling of the data shows that when referencing press reports, the BIJ cites several well-known American outlets, from the Los Angeles Times to CNN, along with local Pakistani newspapers, international wire services, and at times, Chinese state news. The numbers of killed and injured are given in a range, based on disputes in the reports and in several accounts, the killed are identified by some outlets as militants and by others as civilians. Woods said the BIJ defines children as under the age of 18, in accordance with the United Nations.

While admitting "nobody is arguing perfection" for the drone program, the U.S. official said the government's casualty count is far more reliable than media reports.

"Our information is by far the most accurate because we have real-time eyes on the targets, as well as multiple other forms of collection to assess who may have been killed," the official said. "This remains the most precise system we've ever had in our arsenal. U.S. counter-terrorism operations have taken terrorist leaders, facilitators, instructors, and fighters off the battlefield."

Woods said that database is dynamic and designed to be updated as additional information comes to light, including new numbers U.S. senior defense officials provided the BIJ in response to the original report.

The report comes as the U.S. continues an aggressive string of strikes in the tribal areas of Pakistan, where dozens have been killed this week -- all reportedly suspected militants.

Copyright 2011 ABC News Radio

Ex-Top NYPD Cop Bill Bratton Takes Job in UK

David Livingston/Getty Images(NEW YORK) -- Bill Bratton, who headed police departments in Boston, New York and L.A., told ABC News he has accepted an offer to assist the government of British Prime Minister David Cameron in finding solutions to the problem of gang violence in the U.K.

"We will be working with the British government on the very specific issues of gangs and gang violence," said Bratton.

Bratton told ABC News he had received a call from Cameron Friday morning asking him to consider becoming a consultant to Scotland Yard. He said he thanked the prime minister for the offer and now he has come to a formal agreement.

Prime Minister Cameron had repeatedly signaled his intention to enlist the aid of Bratton, who as a police commissioner in three major U.S. cities developed a reputation for driving down crime rates and curbing gang activity. On Thursday, when addressing Parliament about the rioting and looting that began in London over the weekend, he cited Bratton by name as the kind of outside expert that Britain needed.

"I believe we should be looking beyond our shores to learn the lesson from others who have faced similar problems," said Cameron. "That is why I will be discussing how we can go further in coming to grips with gangs with people like Bill Bratton."

Bratton said that he would be working with all aspects of the government, including Cameron's office, the Home Office -- which oversees the Metropolitan Police -- and very likely with British police officials as well.

Bratton, a Boston native, was commissioner in Boston from 1991 to 1994, where he implemented the Neighborhood Policing project to curb youth violence.

Under New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani, Bratton launched a "zero tolerance" crackdown on crime widely credited with restoring quality of life to New York and beginning crime's downward reduction. There he took guns off the streets and cleared a backlog of felons who were hiding in plain sight despite arrest warrants.

In Los Angeles Bratton faced down tough gang problems in troubled ghetto areas. His innovative "compstat" management strategy forced complacent cop bosses to be accountable for crime in their districts. It has been widely copied across the United States.

Copyright 2011 ABC News Radio

China's Census Shows Growing Gender Gap

George Doyle/Thinkstock(BEIJING) -- The figures are in from China's 2010 census and the results are conclusive: China's gender imbalance is getting worse.

There were 118.08 males for every 100 females last year, up from 116.9 males for every 100 females in 2000, according to the 2010 census.

At the current rate, there will be 20 million more men than woman within the next couple of decades, officials said.

"The gender ratio imbalance can be attributed to multiple causes, including a traditional preference for sons, the practice of arranging for sons to take care of elderly parents, illegal sex-selective abortions and other factors," Deputy Minister of Health Liu Qian said at a news conference this week.

It has been 30 years since China introduced its one child policy, which restricts urban couples to having just one child.  The government says that strict family planning has helped prevent roughly 400 million additional births.

While the policy has helped China rein in explosive population growth, it has brought a new set of problems with it.  China's elderly population is expanding rapidly, while the younger labor force will start shrinking within a few years.

And then there's the gender imbalance, the result of a traditional preference for boys in China.  Sex-selective abortion is a huge problem across the country but now authorities are cracking down.

Earlier this week, the government released its new "Outline for the Development of Chinese Children (2011-2020)" which says that steps should be taken to "eliminate discrimination against girls" and to promote gender equity.

"Using ultrasonic techniques to conduct non-medical sex determination" should be strictly prohibited, it says, adding that doctors who are discovered to be carrying out sex-selective abortions will have their licenses stripped.

Copyright 2011 ABC News Radio

The Sky is Falling! Perseid Meteor Shower Coming

Chad Baker/Photodisc/Thinkstock (file photo)(NEW YORK) -- Go outside before dawn, and if the Perseid meteor shower of 2011 is good to you, you will be able to see the sky falling.

Every year at this time, the Earth passes through the orbit of a comet called Swift-Tuttle, and the result is a meteor shower -- shooting stars, up to 50 or 60 per hour -- streaking across the night sky as debris from the comet enters the Earth's atmosphere and burns up.

Even though the comet is far away now, in an elliptical orbit that brings it close to the sun just once every 133 years, rock and ice from it have spread out in a ring all along its path.  The comet itself will probably be pretty good to see if you can hang on until July 2126, but in the meantime, like clockwork, it gives us an annual meteor shower in mid-August.

This is not the best year to see the Perseid.  A full moon will brighten the sky on Friday night and Saturday morning, just as the shower peaks.

"The best time to look is during the hours before dawn especially on Saturday morning, August 13th," writes Tony Phillips, an astronomer who manages the Science News page at NASA's website.  "The full Moon will be relatively low, and the meteor rate should be peaking at that time."

There's an added bonus if you're willing to give up some sleep.  The International Space Station -- visible as a bright star moving steadily across the sky -- will pass over North America several times each morning this week, and can be seen at different times in almost every part of the U.S.  For specific times and directions where you live, take a look at NASA's Human Spaceflight site, which now includes a "SkyWatch 2.0" applet.

Be alert; most meteors streak by in a second or less, sometimes in clusters.  Most of the shooting stars are created by small cometary fragments, some as small as grains of sand, completely vaporized as they plunge into our protective blanket of air.

The best way to see them is to find a dark place with no street lights and as few trees as possible, and look up.  The streaks could appear anywhere in the sky, though they'll all appear to come from the constellation Perseus, in the northeastern sky, after midnight.

You're best off if you park yourself so that the moon, setting in the west, is behind you, and you let your eyes get used to the darkness.

Copyright 2011 ABC News Radio

Sarah Ferguson Storms Off Interview over Scandal Questioning

Astrid Stawiarz/Getty Images(LONDON) -- The scandal surrounding Sarah Ferguson's 2010 News of the World "cash-for-access" sting has reemerged after she reportedly stormed out of an Australian television interview last week when a reporter tried to show her the notorious footage of her taking money from an undercover reporter.

A promotional spot for the controversial interview, taped for the 60 Minutes program on Australia's Channel Nine, touts the segment as "the weirdest interview you will ever see" and asks "what sent Fergie completely off the rails?"

In the advertisement, Ferguson is seen wagging her finger at reporter Michael Usher, rolling her eyes and saying "delete that bit."

In 2010, a reporter from the U.K.'s now shuttered News of the World tabloid ran a sting on the Duchess of York, where she was filmed offering access to her former husband Prince Andrew for £500,000 to the reporter who she thought was an Indian businessman.

Ferguson's manager John Scott has reportedly stated that the Duchess of York's statements in the upcoming 60 Minutes interview are taken out of context and demanded that that they be edited out of the final broadcast of the interview.  Scott lashed out at 60 Minutes executive producer Hamish Thomson about the interview, which he refers to as an "ambush" and "entrapment."

"[Thomson] hasn't had the decency to get back to me.  Nor has [Nine Network chief executive] David Gyngell, despite showing the Duchess in the worst possible light," Scott told British newspaper The Daily Telegraph.

"We had gone through all the questions and subject matter beforehand and filmed all the walking in the park footage before we sat down.  She did walk out when she was ambushed -- no, it was entrapment -- but after cooling down she said to me, 'F*** them, let's do this', and she did, but it was a banal interview and her demeanor reflected that," Scott said.

Thomson shot back at Scott's statements on Thursday, saying that it was in no way entrapment of Ferguson.

"She agreed to talk about the issue, as she has already extensively done, so it certainly wasn't entrapment," Thomson said.

Copyright 2011 ABC News Radio

Syria Shows Protestors No Mercy During Ramadan

Sasha Mordovets/Getty Images(DAMASCUS, Syria) -- An activist group has charged forces loyal to Syrian President Bashar Assad with showing no mercy against pro-democratic advocates during the Islamic holy month of Ramadan.

The Local Coordinating Committees alleges that during the first 11 days of Ramadan, Assad's soldiers and security have killed at least one person an hour.

That would amount to 257 Syrians killed during that time.  Furthermore, the group says it's probably undercounted the number of dead since the figure doesn't include the recent massacres in the cities of Hama and Deir Alzour because of media blackouts imposed there.

Despite the continued onslaught -- now in its fifth month -- anti-government forces haven't given up holding rallies throughout Syria in hopes that Assad will finally relent and accept democratic reforms.

The Obama administration, which has condemned the violence, still hasn't called for Assad to step down, fearing a breakout of sectarian warfare that could be far bloodier than the current situation and one that might spread to other parts of the Middle East.

Copyright 2011 ABC News Radio

Man Suspected of Bali Attacks Extradited from Pakistan to Indonesia

Indonesian police guard the front gate of the police detention centre in Kelapa Dua where Umar Patek, an alleged mastermind of the 2002 Bali bombings extradited from Pakistan, is being held after arriving in Indonesia. BAY ISMOYO/AFP/Getty Images(JAKARTA) -- Authorities extradited one of Asia's most notorious terrorists Thursday from Pakistan to Indonesia.  Umar Patek, who was captured in January in Abbottabad, Pakistan -- the same town where Osama bin Laden was killed -- is thought to be responsible for various bombings in Indonesia, which include the bombing of a church on Christmas Eve in 2000 as well as the 2002 attacks that killed 202 in Bali.

Like bin Laden, the international hunt for Patek, a high-ranking member of the Jemaah Islamiyah terrorist network, lasted a decade before his capture.

Officials say that although Patek has already confessed in Pakistan to making the bombs used in the Bali and church bombings, the attacks' occurrence before 2003 could pose problems for Indonesian authorities who wish to prosecute him under a recent anti-terrorism law.

An Indonesian police spokesperson indicated Patek could be charged for premeditated murder under the country's criminal code, according to The New York Times.

Whatever the charges, anti-terror authorities are eager to find out more about the interconnections among Southeast Asian Islamist militants and other groups, including al Qaeda and the Taliban.

Is is unclear why Patek was in Pakistan at the time of his arrest.

Copyright 2011 ABC News Radio