Cairo-area train crash kills 25

At least 55 other people were injured in the accident, which occurred in Girzah district of 6th of October province, said the official, speaking on condition of anonymity.

The train that was hit was traveling from Giza province to the oasis town of Fayoum; the train that struck it was headed from Cairo to the southern city of Assuit, said Egypt's official Middle East News Agency.

Egypt's railways have a poor safety record, and there are several fatal accidents each year, usually blamed on poorly maintained equipment. The country's worst railway disaster took place in February 2002, when a train heading to southern Egypt caught fire, killing 363 people. - AP

Female journalist to get 60 lashes

Rozanna al-Yami, 22, is believed to be the first female Saudi journalist to be given such a punishment, but there were conflicting accounts about how the court issued its verdict.

Yami, who worked as a coordinator for the program but has denied working on the sex-show episode, said that it was her understanding that the judge at the court in the western city of Jiddah dropped the charges against her. But she said he still handed down the lashing sentence "as a deterrence." - AP

Russian leader defends elections

Dmitry A. Medvedev said during a meeting with parliamentary opposition leaders that the election was "overall well-organized." In broadcast comments, he seemed to dismiss allegations of vote-rigging while noting that there were legal mechanisms for challenging election results.

Nationalist leader Vladimir V. Zhirinovsky later said Medvedev had told the opposition privately that the Oct. 11 election results would not be changed. Zhirinovsky led the Oct. 14 walkout, the first of its kind in nearly a decade. - AP

Elsewhere:

The ashes of Millvina Dean, the last survivor of the Titanic, were scattered yesterday on the water at Southampton Docks in southern England, where the ocean liner began its ill-fated maiden voyage in April 1912. Dean, who was 9 weeks old when her parents took her aboard the ship, died May 31 at age 97. About 150 people, including members of the British Titanic Society, gathered for the ceremony.

A powerful earthquake struck deep under the sea in eastern Indonesia yesterday, causing panic and sending residents running out of their homes, officials and witnesses said. There were no immediate reports of damage or injuries. The quake had a magnitude of 7.0 on the Richter scale, but at a depth of 86 miles was too far below Earth's surface to cause a tsunami, the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center said.