The World in Brief

Wednesday, August 13, 2014

Israel, Hamas stay at Cairo truce table

CAIRO -- Israeli and Hamas negotiators huddled for a second day of Egyptian-mediated talks Tuesday, seeking a formula for an extended cease-fire meant to end a month-long war and bring relief to the Gaza Strip.

The talks continued well into the evening as negotiators tried to find a way to extend a temporary truce that was set to expire at midnight tonight. . A similar truce collapsed Friday after Gaza militants resumed rocket fire.

The Gaza war has killed more than 1,900 Palestinians, the majority of them civilians, Palestinian and United Nations officials have said. In Israel, 67 people have been killed, all but three of them soldiers.

Hamas is demanding an end to an Israel-Egyptian blockade that has ravaged Gaza's economy. Israel says the blockade is needed to keep Hamas, which fired thousands of rockets into Israel during the war, from smuggling weapons.

U.N. envoy: S. Sudanese risk sanctions

NAIROBI, Kenya -- The United Nations Security Council could impose sanctions on leaders in South Sudan if violations of human rights continue to be carried out, the U.S. ambassador to the U.N. said Tuesday during a visit to the country.

Samantha Power said peace talks must be taken seriously by the government and rebels and that the Security Council has made it very clear it is prepared to impose "consequences" if participants impede the process.

South Sudan descended into violence in December, when President Salva Kiir accused his former vice president, Riek Machar, of attempting a coup. The violence quickly took on an ethnic dimension between Kiir's Dinka and Machar's Nuer communities.

The government and Machar's rebels agreed earlier this year to the formation of a transitional government. The deadline for that passed Sunday with no agreement.

In the meantime, the Security Council has received reports of more arms being sent into the country to set the stage for warfare when the rainy season is over, Power said. In addition to the fighting, a severe hunger crisis is deepening in the country.

Swazi's threat jarring, 2 activists say

JOHANNESBURG -- Two activists from Swaziland said Tuesday that they are worried about their safety after the Swazi prime minister reportedly said they should be strangled for traveling to Washington during a recent meeting of African leaders.

Labor leader Vincent Ncongwane and lawyer Sipho Gumedze appeared at a news conference in Johannesburg to express their concern but did not say when they plan to return to the southern African kingdom. They called for free expression in Swaziland, which is ruled by King Mswati III, Africa's last absolute monarch.

"We have the intention to go home," Gumedze said. "There is no guarantee that we will be safe."

Gumedze said he and Ncongwane were unlikely to get a fair trial in the event of prosecution and that he was also concerned about eviction from his home because of the remark from Prime Minister Sibusiso Barnabas Dlamini.

The prime minister told lawmakers last week that union leaders had gone to Washington without announcing their plans, the Times of Swaziland reported.

700 storm Spain fence; 681 off sea

MADRID -- Some 700 foreigners stormed border fences to try to enter Spain's northwest African enclave city of Melilla from Morocco on Tuesday, while Spain's sea rescue service picked up hundreds more seeking to enter the country clandestinely in boats, officials said.

An Interior Ministry statement said people used makeshift wooden ladders to try to scale the 20-foot barbed-wire fences at Melilla and threw stones at police. About 30 managed to enter the city, and three were treated for minor injuries.

Meanwhile, Spain's sea rescue service said vessels picked up 681 foreigners Tuesday packed into 70 small boats in the Strait of Gibraltar, which separates Spain from Morocco. The group included 88 women and 20 minors.

Thousands of people, most from sub-Saharan African countries, try to enter Spain from northwest Africa by land or sea each year.

A Section on 08/13/2014