The World in Brief

A Yemeni officer who is a member of Shiite Hawthi rebels chants slogans demanding the government step down during a demonstration on a street in Sanaa, Yemen, Sunday, Aug. 24, 2014. Yemen's Shiite rebel group called for new protests Sunday after rejecting a draft proposal by a presidential delegation to stop their demonstrations in return for a new government and a review of the country's economic policies. (AP Photo/Hani Mohammed)
A Yemeni officer who is a member of Shiite Hawthi rebels chants slogans demanding the government step down during a demonstration on a street in Sanaa, Yemen, Sunday, Aug. 24, 2014. Yemen's Shiite rebel group called for new protests Sunday after rejecting a draft proposal by a presidential delegation to stop their demonstrations in return for a new government and a review of the country's economic policies. (AP Photo/Hani Mohammed)

Negotiations with Yemen Shiite rebels fail

SANA, Yemen -- Yemen's Shiite rebel group called for new protests Sunday after rejecting a draft proposal by a presidential delegation to stop their demonstrations in exchange for a new government and a review of the country's economic policies.

The delegation had negotiated with the Hawthis in the northern city of Saada, hoping to end the protests challenging the government of President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi. The delegation's proposals included installing a new government and revisiting a decision to end government fuel subsidies.

On July 30, Hadi's government ended the subsidies, nearly doubling fuel prices and sparking the protests by the Hawthis, who have set up tents near ministries in Yemen's capital, Sana.

The presidential delegation's proposal was "met with rejection, intransigence and insistence on ignoring the reality and the risks," delegation spokesman Abdel-Malek al-Mikhlafi wrote on his official Facebook page Sunday. He said the committee will make the draft public after meeting with Hadi.

In response to the call for new rallies, Yemen's government deployed more security forces on the main streets in Sana leading to government ministries, its central bank and to other government offices.

Shot down Israeli drone, Iran force says

TEHRAN, Iran -- Iran's elite Revolutionary Guard said Sunday that its forces shot down an Israeli drone as it approached an Iranian nuclear site, recovering major parts of what it described as an advanced aircraft. Israeli officials could not be immediately reached for comment.

The Revolutionary Guard issued a statement Sunday on its website saying its forces fired a missile at the drone as it neared its uranium enrichment facility in Natanz, about 150 miles south of the capital, Tehran. The statement did not say when it shot down the drone.

Guard spokesman Gen. Ramazan Sharif later told Iranian state television that officials believed it to be a "new generation" drone used by Israel.

"Major parts of the devices of the drone are intact and have been received by our friends that can be used for further information," Sharif said.

Sharif did not say when the aircraft was shot down, but said it was "identified upon arrival in Iranian airspace." He said authorities allowed it to fly for a short time to determine its destination.

Italy finds 18 dead in migrant boat

ROME -- Italian authorities discovered 18 bodies in a boat of migrants Sunday as rescuers over the weekend picked up about 3,500 would-be refugees at sea.

The navy said in a series of tweets Sunday that its Sirio patrol ship was docking in Pozzallo, southern Sicily, with 266 migrants and 18 bodies aboard.

Interior Minister Angelino Alfano renewed his demand for the European Union to relieve pressure on Italy, which has seen some 100,000 migrants arrive this year. The country said it spends $13 million per month to operate the beefed-up air and sea patrols that were launched after more than 360 migrants drowned off the Italian island of Lampedusa last October.

"Italy will make its own decisions" if EU partners don't offer assistance, he warned in a tweet.

The EU's home affairs commissioner, Cecilia Malmstrom, thanked Italy for its "huge efforts" to save lives and said in a statement that she would meet Wednesday with Alfano "to better define priorities and provide assistance."

Brazil prison riot leaves 3 beheaded

SAO PAULO -- Three prisoners were beheaded and at least five other people were injured in a riot that broke out erupted Sunday in a southern Brazilian prison, authorities said.

Inmates of the prison in the city of Cascavel took at least two agents and several other inmates hostage in the uprising, said military police Capt. Ricardo Pinto. He said negotiations for better conditions in the prison were still underway 12 hours later.

Prisoners set some objects on fire and were using metal poles to cause damage to the 928-bed prison that housed more than 1,000 inmates at the time. Authorities initially reported that two men were decapitated, but later learned of a third prisoner who was killed the same way. The three men were not identified.

The revolt began before sunrise when a prison guard was captured during breakfast, Pinto said.

Dozens of the prisoners climbed onto the building's rooftop, with their faces covered with white fabric. Local media images showed at least 30 rebellious inmates shouting while they beat men held with ropes around their necks, or whose hands were tied behind them. The rioting inmates waved banners emblazoned with the initials PCC for a criminal prison gang formed in the 1990s.

-- Compiled by Democrat-Gazette staff from wire reports

A Section on 08/25/2014

Upcoming Events