At least 40 dead in Egypt level crossing pile up

CAIRO (AFP) - At least 40 people were killed and 60 injured on Wednesday when a truck failed to stop at a level crossing and pushed waiting traffic into the path of a speeding train in northern Egypt, police said. The truck ploughed into traffic at the level crossing, including a bus and at least four other vehicles, pushing them into the path of the passenger train. Two train carriages overturned and another two were derailed, a police official said, requesting anonymity. The accident occurred 80 kilometres (50 miles) east of Marsa Matruh in the Mediterranean coastal region of Dabaa, the official said. The crash is the latest in a series of transport disasters in Egypt, most of which have been blamed on negligence and poor maintenance. At least 58 people were killed and 144 injured in August 2006 when a passenger train slammed into the back of another on the same track, derailing carriages and setting one

Turkish top court receives AKP closure case report

ANKARA (Reuters) - A rapporteur to Turkey's top court filed his recommendation on Wednesday on a case to close the governing party on charges of seeking to introduce Islamic rule, bringing a verdict a step closer. The rapporteur's report -- which was not immediately made public -- is not binding but has to be presented to the Constitutional Court judges before the case can proceed. "We are going to meet with our colleagues and have the necessary discussions and after that we are going to put it on the calendar (for hearing the case)," court chairman Hasim Kilic told reporters after receiving the report. Turkey's financial markets have been unsettled by the case which has triggered months of political uncertainty and raised the prospect of an early parliamentary election if the AK Party is closed. A top prosecutor wants the pro-reform, pro-business AK Party, which has roots in political Islam, closed on charges of seeking to introduce Islamic law in