World News

INDIA – A train crash in eastern India has killed at least 60 people and injured twice as many, according to officials.

A passenger express train hit another train that was waiting at a station in the town of Sainthia, West Bengal state, early Monday.

The impact sent the roof of a coach car into a footbridge above the tracks.

Local residents dug through the mangled trains to find survivors. This marks the second major railway crash in West Bengal this year.

Back in May, almost 150 people died when a Bombay-bound passenger train derailed and was hit by a goods carrying train. Police accused Maoist rebels of sabotage, but Maoists denied to claim.

The cause for Monday's crash us unclear.

Several trapped passengers were freed from the wreckage by emergency workers who used gas cutters and other tools.

Local officials say the accident occurred around 2 a.m. local time, when the Uttar Banga Express slammed into the stationary Bhagalpur-Ranchi Vananchal Express at the station in the Birbhum district about 125 miles north of Calcutta.

A witness described his narrow escape.

"At the station my train was just about to pull out when I heard a big scream, 'There's going to be a crash,'" said the man.

"So I clung on to a bar by my feet. Then there was a massive bang. Most of the people in my carriage died in front of me."

Emergency officials say all the passengers that were trapped in the wreckage were rescued and all the injured taken to area hospitals.

Transportation officials think that the train was full of commuters heading to work.

There is speculation that faulty signals may have caused the crash. Police are investigating the incident now.

Accidents are fairly common on the state-owned Indian railway, which is an immense network connecting all corners of the huge country.

The state operates 9,000 passenger trains a day and carries 18 million people each day.

A military inquiry from Israel into the naval raid on the Gaza-bound aid flotilla says that commandos were ill-prepared and made mistakes on the senior level.

According to the report, the operation was hurt by flawed intelligence and poor planning.

It also went on to praise the commandos involved and found the use of force to have been the only way to stop the flotilla.

A major, international was sparked when eight Turks and one Turkish-American was killed in the naval raid in international waters.

The report gave criticism to the planners of the operation for not having a back-up plan in case violence broke out.

It was also written in the report that mission was not a failure and did not recommend any dismissals.

There has been a lack of co-ordination between military and intelligence structures, and preparations for the May 31^st takeover of the ships was inadequate.

As helicopters dropped soldiers on the deck of a vessel, the Mavi Marmara, Israeli forcers were greeted with violence, from some of those on board who were armed with clubs and knives and at least one gun, the report claimed.

When the findings were presented to the media in Tel Aviv, retired general Giroa Eiland, who was the chair of the investigative panel, offered criticism and praise.

"In this inquiry we found that there were some professional mistakes regarding both the intelligence and the decision-making process and some of the operational mistakes," he said.

"But also, we did find some very positive findings, and one of them that should be emphasised is the very professional and courageous way that the Israeli commando behaved."

General Eiland said the report was supposed to help prepare Israel for similar situations which could potentially arise in the future.

The Eiland Committee, which started its research on June 7, scrutinized the military aspects of the raid.

Another inquiry, which also had international observers, is looking into whether international laws were broken during the military raid.

Israeli military chief of staff Lt gen Gabi Ashkenazi said in a statement that the Eiland inquiry did not reveal failure or negligence, but "brings up mistakes which must be corrected for future incidents".

Israel has denied requests for a UN-led inquiry into the raid, claiming it would be biased.

The operation kickstarted an international backlash and has severely strained Israel's relations with its previously close Muslim ally, Turkey.

With the criticism pressing, Israel let up on its land blockade on the Gaza strip, allowing most civilian goods through.

With the naval blockade still in place, Israel says it is necessary to keep weapons from reaching the Islamist Hamas movement, who currently control Gaza.

BP has 24 hours to answer questions regarding the oils spill, says the US government's incident commander.

Admiral Thad Allen sent a letter to the oil giant and their managing director Bob Dudley, saying the company must give over "detailed plans and timelines" on fixing the mess they made.

The information is required before BP can change the caps on their oil well.

Swapping caps would let more oil be captured.

The new cap will have a more secure seal, with BP also pitting BP with a third containment ship to capture more oil.

While the other caps are being changed out the rate of oil spilling will increase.

If the third containment ship, the Helix Producer, has not been connected when the change is made, there will be only one ship capturing oil.

BP's latest moves are part of efforts to create a new system to tacking the leak that is prepared for upcoming hurricanes.

The National Hurricane Center put out a warning on Wednesday about a tropical depression which is forming in the Gulf of Mexico.

Tropical storms have the potential to disrupt efforts to contain the oil, which has been hemorrhaging from the Deepwater Horizon rig since April.

BP says that its operation to drill a relief well to stop the leak is "slightly ahead of schedule", according to Adm Allen said in a press conference on Thursday.

Crews are hoping to reach the Deepwater Horizon well, which is about 18,000 below sea level, and drill into the casing in a week.

Crews won't be able to tell how much time it will take to stop the leak until they reach the well.

According to Adm Allen, the oil is leaking through different parts of the will, and it will likely take until mid August to stop the gushing oil with mud and cement.

"If you have to exhaust all means for the ways that hydrocarbons are coming up the pipe, then that puts you into middle August," he said.

Adm Allen went on to add that the oil is travelling up the well's central casing, and BP may be able to stop it sooner.

The communist authorities in Cuba have agreed to free at least 52 political prisoners, according to Catholic Church officials in the capital of Havana.

The government has been getting pressure to free political prisoners since one died on a hunger strike in February. A second prisoner on a hunger strike is very close to death.

Most see the move by the Cuban government as a major concession, for which Cuba is not known.

The move comes after talks between Church and Spanish officials.

The Church is growing in its role as a mediator.

The agreement to let the prisoners go came after de facto Cuban leader Raul Castro and head of Church Cardinal Jaime Ortega held talks.

Visiting Spanish Foreign Minster Miguel Angel Moratinos and his Cuban counterpart Bruno Rodriguez also took part in the talks.

Discussed were prisoners and the case of Guillermo Farinas, the dissident who has refused food since February while demanding the release of political prisoners.

Cardinal Ortega said five detainees would be freed later on Wednesday and the other 47 will be let go in the coming months.

According to a Church statement, the five on release will be allowed to "shortly to depart for Spain, accompanied by their relatives."

The announcement came Wednesday, and if confirmed by the Cuban government, it will be the largest mass liberations of Cuban prisoners in decades.

Human rights groups estimate that after Cuba releases the 57 prisoners, they will still have about 100 in custody.

The Cuban authorities deny the inmates status as political prisoners, but rather describe them as common criminals or “mercenaries” working for the United States.

There has been no work from Mr. Farinas, 48, who has been given food intravenously while in the hospital.

While Cuban state media usually ignores dissident protests, recent news of Farinas condition was reported on.

The communist party of Cuba's newspaper, Granma, published an interview with the doctor leading his treatment, Armando Caballero.

Dr. Caballero said the patient was gaining weight due to intravenous feeding since being taken of the hospital on March 11, after collapsing at his home in Santa Clara.

A blood clot, however, formed in his neck and could interrupt the flow of blood to his heart, according to the doctor.

He added on Saturday that Mr. Farinas is also suffering from an infection that could make further intravenous feeding difficult or impossible, but said he would not be force fed as that was against medical ethics.