Issue link: https://www.epageflip.net/i/147363
8A Daily News – Wednesday, July 31, 2013 WORLD BRIEFING Preliminaries over, Israelis, Palestinians to meet again WASHINGTON (AP) — Pressing ahead in a new U.S.-backed push for Middle East peace, Israeli and Palestinian negotiators agreed Tuesday to meet again within two weeks to start substantive talks in hopes of reaching a long-elusive settlement within nine months. Speaking after the two sides wrapped up an initial two days of talks at the State Department and visited President Barack Obama at the White House, Secretary of State John Kerry said Israel and the Palestinians were committed to sustained and serious negotiations on the ''core issues'' that divide them. The next round will take place in either Israel or the Palestinian territories before mid-August, he said. Kerry said he was aware of the deep doubts surrounding the new peace effort and acknowledged that the road would be difficult. Yet, he said, ''While I understand the skepticism, I don't share it. And I don't think we have time for it.'' All issues, including contentious disputes over the status of the territories and Jerusalem, are ''on the table for negotiation, and they are on the table with one simple goal: a view to ending the con- flict,'' Kerry said. The U.S. had already said the negotiations would continue for at least nine months — roughly until the end of April 2014 — but that had not been set as a timeframe for reaching a deal. Kerry and both sides agreed that neither would walk away from the talks or take actions that could disrupt them for that period, two senior U.S. officials said. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they weren't authorized to discuss diplomatic talks. Probe: Train driver was on phone, speeding at 95 mph MADRID (AP) — The driver was on the phone with a colleague and apparently looking at a document as his train barreled ahead at 95 mph (153 kph) — almost twice the speed limit. Suddenly, a notorious curve was upon him. He hit the brakes too late. The train, carrying 218 passengers in eight carriages, hurtled off the tracks and slammed into a concrete wall, killing 79 people. On Tuesday, investigators looking into the crash announced their preliminary findings from analysis of the train's datarecording ''black boxes,'' suggesting that human error appears to be the cause of Spain's worst railway disaster in decades. The derailment occurred near Santiago de Compostela, a city in northwestern Spain, late last Wednesday. Some 66 people injured in the crash are still hospitalized, 15 of them in critical condition. Pentagon: Afghan forces will need 'substantial' foreign help WASHINGTON (AP) — The Pentagon said Tuesday it is offering no ''zero option'' for the number of troops that would remain in Afghanistan after the U.S. combat mission ends in December 2014. It said in a report to Congress that ''substantial'' long-term military support will be needed to ensure that Afghans can hold off the Taliban insurgency. The White House has not ruled out leaving no troops behind after 2014, although officials say the most likely option is a residual training force of roughly 9,000. In its twice-a-year report to Congress on war progress, the Pentagon said Afghanistan's military is growing stronger but will require a lot more training, advising and foreign financial aid after the American and NATO combat mission ends. The Pentagon's assessment was an implicit rejection of the ''zero option.'' Zero is considered an unlikely choice by President Barack Obama, not least because his administration has pledged to stand with the Afghans for the long term. But Obama has grown frustrated in his dealings with Afghan President Hamid Karzai. Peter Lavoy, the Pentagon's top Afghan policy official, told a news conference that a number of post-2014 options have been developed, taking into account the Afghans' need for additional training and advising, as well as what the Pentagon views as a longer-term requirement for U.S. counterterrorism forces in Afghanistan. Morsi's Muslim Brotherhood and his Islamist allies say the only solution is for Egypt's first freely elected president to be restored to office, and they have vowed to continue their street rallies until that happens. Tuesday evening, they held new marches in Cairo outside the military intelligence offices, and in other cities around the country. Massive explosions rock central Fla. gas plant WASHINGTON (AP) — The Obama administration's surprise decision to delay a key requirement of the health care law for employers will cost the government $10 billion, the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office said Tuesday. While that's a big number, the report from the official budget scorekeeper for Congress put the Mobile Pet Vaccinations LOW COST RAIN OR SHINE VACCINE CLINIC DOGS ON LEASH CASH ONLY CATS PRESCRIPTION FLEA IN BOX PREVENTION ALSO Feline Distemper AVAILABLE (3-in-1) and CAIRO (AP) — Egypt's military gave the ousted president his first contact with the outside world since removing him from office, allowing Europe's top diplomat Tuesday to meet with Mohammed Morsi in his secret detention. She emerged from her two-hour talks with him urging all sides to move on toward a peaceful transition. Despite the military's gesture, two days of efforts by the EU's Catherine Ashton to find a solution to Egypt's crisis hit a brick wall. Some voices in the military-backed government, including Vice President Mohammed ElBaradei, have arisen hoping to avert a security crackdown on Morsi's supporters, but neither side has budged in their positions, which leave no visible room for compromise. TAVARES, Fla. (AP) — After hearing two explosions, maintenance worker Gene Williams looked outside to see a 20-by-20 foot fireball rising above an outdoor storage area at the Blue Rhino propane plant. Moments later, a forklift worker stumbled into the building with flesh hanging off his hands. His legs and face were burned. Exploding 20pound canisters of propane began raining down around them during the series of explosions late Monday night. Bright orange flames would grow as high as 200 feet, fueled by the exploding canisters that shot through the air like fireworks. Houses nearby shook and residents awakened to the sound of ''boom after boom after boom.'' No one died, but eight workers were injured, including one worker who was hit by a car on a nearby road while fleeing the explosions. Officials said the damage could have been significantly worse if three 30,000-pound propane storage containers had caught fire at the plant that refills propane tanks for gas grills and other home uses. About 50 nearby houses were temporarily evacuated, though none was ultimately damaged. If the large tanks had exploded, ''it would have wiped us out,'' said Lake County Battalion Chief Chris Croughwell, one of the first responders to the explosions in the town northwest of Orlando. LOST CBO: Delay of employer requirement will cost gov't $10B Distemper/Parvo (6-in-1) and Rabies............. $15 Distemper/Parvo (6-in-1) Corona, Rabies & Bordetella....... $25 Distemper/Parvo (6-in-1).............$10 Rabies Only.... $7 administration's recent move within a wider perspective: It adds up to an increase of less than 1 percent in the 10-year cost of the law. Earlier this month, the White House announced earlier that it would delay a health law requirement for employers with 50 or more workers to offer affordable coverage, or face fines. Instead of going into effect next year, the provision was put off to 2015. A major concession to business groups, the delay took administration allies and adversaries by surprise. Republican critics seized on the delay as evidence that the law is not working, and spent over an hour in coordinated speeches in the Senate attacking it as a threat to the economy. Sens. Mike Lee of Utah, Ted Cruz of Texas and Marco Rubio of Florida have all signed a letter opposing any must-pass spending bill at the end of the budget year in September that includes funding for the health care law, and used their remarks to appeal to the public to swing behind them. 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