Syria

Army retakes Homs district

Syrian troops have recaptured a key rebel district of Homs, the state broadcaster reported on Monday, in a boost to government efforts to reassert control over Syria's third largest city. The full recapture of Homs, dubbed by rebels "the capital of the revolution", would be a major coup for President Bashar al-Assad's government.

Iraq

Car bombs kill at least 48

Car bombs mainly targeting Shiite-majority areas of Iraq killed at least 48 people on Monday, security and medical officials said, taking the July death toll to more than 780. More than 3,000 people have been killed in violence since the beginning of the year, according to AFP figures based on security and medical sources - a surge in unrest that the Iraqi government has so far failed to stem.

Thailand

Resort beach blackened by oil

Black waves of crude oil washed up on a beach at a popular tourist island in Thailand's eastern sea despite continuous attempts to clean up the oil up over the weekend after it leaked from a pipeline, officials said on Monday. Tourists on Samet Island were warned to stay away from the beach marred by inky globs.

Tunisia

Protest area declared 'closed'

The Tunisian army used barbed wire to shut down a main square being used by pro- and anti-government protesters in the capital on Monday, declaring it "a closed military zone". Protesters on both sides vowed to return, opposition media said, adding that anti-government protesters had already started regrouping near the square.

Spain

Train crashvictims mourned

Mourners gathered for a memorial service on Monday for the 79 people killed in Spain's worst train disaster in decades, after the driver was charged with reckless homicide. The judge released the driver on bail, charged with 79 counts of reckless homicide, said the regional high court in Santiago de Compostela, the northwestern pilgrimage city where the crash occurred on Wednesday.

Afghanistan

Taliban blast claims 9 lives

A roadside bomb blamed on the Taliban tore through a police vehicle in southern Afghanistan over the weekend, killing nine people and wounding 15, officials said on Monday. The bombing took place late on Sunday in the Shahjoy district of Zabul province, on the main Kabul-Kandahar road which is a hotspot of the Taliban insurgency.

AFP-Reuters

(China Daily USA 07/30/2013 page6)