World

TORONTO (AP) - A man accused of plotting to derail a train in Canada with support from al-Qaida is asking to be represented by a defense attorney willing to use the "holy book" as a reference in his case.

During a hearing Thursday Chiheb Esseghaier requested a court-appointed lawyer who will use the "holy book" as a reference. The Tunisian-born Muslim was apparently referring to the Quran.

At a previous hearing, Esseghaier declined court-appointed legal representation. He said he did not recognize the court's authority, saying Canada's criminal code is "not a holy book."

The 30-year-old was arrested last month along with suspected accomplice Raed Jaser on charges of conspiring to carry out an attack and murder people in association with a terrorist group.

Esseghaier has not entered a plea.

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (AP) - Three former Ford Motor Co. executives have been charged with crimes against humanity in Argentina for allegedly targeting union workers for kidnapping and torture after the country's 1976 military coup.

All three men are in their 80s now, and their case is part of a new wave of prosecutions focusing on corporate support for the dictators who ran Argentina from 1976-1983.

Factory director Pedro Muller, human resources chief Guillermo Galarraga and security manager Hector Francisco Jesus Sibilla are accused of giving names, ID numbers, pictures and home addresses to security forces who hauled two-dozen union workers off the factory floor to be tortured and interrogated and then sent to military prisons. Judge Alicia Vence said Tuesday that eliminating union resistance inside Ford's Argentina subsidiary was their goal.

TRIPOLI, Libya (AP) - A Libyan gas company official says militiamen have attacked a natural gas complex in the country's west, injuring two guards and stealing weapons and military vehicles.

The official says the attack took place early Monday and targeted the Mellitah Oil and Gas complex near Zwara, about 110 kilometers (70 miles) from the capital, Tripoli. The complex is a joint venture between Libya's National Oil Corp. and Italy's largest energy company, Eni SpA. The militiamen fled the site briefly after seizing weapons and equipment from the guards.

The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to brief reporters.

A military official told Libya's official news agency that military helicopters are searching for the attackers.

Over a year after toppling Moammar Gadhafi's regime, Libya is plagued by lawlessness.

BAGHDAD (AP) - Today's wave of attacks in Iraq has now left at least 95 people dead.

The worst of the violence took place in Baghdad, where 10 car bombs ripped through open-air markets and other areas of Shiite neighborhoods. Police say at least 48 people were killed and more than 150 wounded in those attacks.

One bomb went off in a market in the northern Shiite neighborhood of Shaab, killing 14 people.

The predominantly Shiite city of Basra in southern Iraq was also hit, with two car bombs -- one outside a restaurand and another at the city's main bus station. At least 13 people died in those attacks.

Police and health officials say nine people were killed and 26 wounded when a parked car bomb struck Shiite worshippers as they were leaving a mosque in the southern city of Hillah.

North of Baghdad, a car bomb exploded next to a bus carrying Iranian pilgrims. A police officer says 13 Iranians and one Iraqi were killed.

There's been no claim of responsibility for the attacks, but Sunni militants are suspected. Sunni insurgents, particularly al-Qaida in Iraq, are known to use such large-scale bombings.

The violence pushes the death toll over the past week to more than 240. It extends one of the most sustained bouts of sectarian violence the country has seen in years.

LONDON (AP) - British police say they are investigating new leads in the case of Madeleine McCann, the Briton who disappeared six years ago in Portugal at the age of three.

Scotland Yard said it has identified several "persons of interest" and "both investigative and forensic opportunities" in the case. The force said Friday its work is under way to support police in Portugal, even though they have closed their investigation into the disappearance.

McCann vanished from her family's vacation home in Portugal's Algarve region on May 3, 2007, days before her fourth birthday. The case has generated intense media interest in Britain.

British police launched Operation Grange in 2011, to try to solve the puzzle.

Detective Chief Superintendent Hamish Campbell said Friday officers have been encouraged by the progress made so far.

BOISE, Idaho (AP) - Federal authorities in Idaho say they have arrested an Uzbekistan national on federal terrorism charges.

Prosecutors say 30-year-old Fazliddin Kurbanov was arrested in Boise on Thursday, one day after a grand jury issued a three-count indictment as part of a terrorism investigation.

The indictment charges Kurbanov with one count of conspiracy to provide material support to a foreign terrorist organization and one count of conspiracy to provide material support to terrorists. The indictment also alleges he possessed an unregistered explosive device.

A separate federal grand jury in Utah also returned an indictment charging Kurbanov with distributing information about explosives, bombs and weapons of mass destruction.

He is scheduled to make an appearance in federal court in Boise at 9 a.m. Friday.

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (AP) - With an Argentine on the throne of St. Peter, the South American country's capital city is offering visitors a glimpse of the places that formed Pope Francis.

A guided bus tour winds through Buenos Aires twice each Saturday and Sunday past 24 sites linked to the new pope. It stops only twice and leaves little opportunity for snapshots. There's no charge for the trip, or for shorter walking tours offered on Tuesdays and Thursdays.

Stops include the little plaza where he played soccer as a boy, and the narrow, neo-classical San Jose de Flores church where he worshipped as a teenager and felt called to devote his life to God. Visitors can even see the barbershop he used and the stand where he bought his newspapers.

CAIRO (AP) - Egyptian state prosecutors say three suspected al-Qaida-linked militants detained over the weekend were plotting to attack the U.S. and French embassies in Cairo using car bombs.

The prosecutors were quoted by the official MENA press agency on Wednesday.

Officials said when they announced the arrests Saturday that the men had been in contact with Dawood al-Assady, a leader of al-Qaida in southeast Asian countries, and that the group was planning suicide attacks on government buildings and a foreign embassy.

The interior minister denied that al-Qaida is active in Egypt, but said the three men were in contact with al-Qaida militants abroad.

BELIZE CITY (AP) - A construction company has essentially destroyed one of Belize's largest Mayan pyramids with backhoes and bulldozers to extract rock for a road-building project.

The head of the Belize Institute of Archaeology says the destruction was detected late last week.

Only a small portion of center of the pyramid mound was left standing.

Dr. Jaime Awe says he was sickened by the destruction of the Nohmul pyramid and temple platform, which date back about 2,300 years.

Photos of the portion that remained showed what appeared to be classic Mayan-arched chamber dangling above one clawed-out section.

The Nohmul complex sits on private land, but Belizean law states any pre-Hispanic ruins is under government protection.

LONDON (AP) - A member of Britain's House of Lords has quit the Labour Party days before he was due to face a hearing over allegations he made anti-Semitic remarks in a television interview.

Nazir Ahmed was suspended from the Labour Party in March following a report that he blamed a Jewish conspiracy for his 2009 prison sentence for dangerous driving.

Ahmed had insisted he did not recall making the alleged comments to an Urdu-language broadcaster in Pakistan, but was due to appear before Labour's National Executive Committee on Wednesday about the accusations.

His lawyer Stephen Smith said he did not think Ahmed would have received a "fair trial" from the Labour panel, and the party confirmed Monday that Ahmed had resigned. He remains a member of the House of Lords.

WASHINGTON (AP) - Britain's Prince Harry opened a U.S. visit devoted to the wounded victims of war at the side of one of America's most storied wounded warriors, Sen. John McCain, at an exhibition about land mines. Then he dropped in for tea at the White House.

With a shrieking gaggle of young women straining to see him behind rope lines, the prince quizzed officials of a charity that staged the display of land-mine photos, maps and mine-detection equipment at Congress.

Then he made a surprise visit to an afternoon tea where Michelle Obama and Jill Biden, Vice President Joe Biden's wife, honored military mothers and wives. On Friday, the prince visits Arlington National Cemetery and Walter Reed National Military Medical Center before flying to Colorado for the 2013 Warrior Games.

MEXICO CITY (AP) - The death toll in a gas tanker-truck explosion on the outskirts of Mexico City has risen to 24 because another victim died of injuries suffered in the massive blast.

The governor of Mexico State told local media about the latest fatality Thursday. The toll had stood at 23.

Gov. Eruviel Avila says 12 people remain hospitalized.

Avila says the state government will help people pay for rebuilding their homes and replacing lost possessions. Mexico State surrounds Mexico City.

A tanker truck hauling liquid petroleum gas lost control, hit a center divider and exploded on a highway lined by homes in the Mexico City suburb of Ecatepec early Tuesday.

A natural gas tanker lost control and exploded on a highway lined by homes in the Mexico City suburb of Ecatepec early on Tuesday.

Three women wearing nun costumes tried to smuggle more than 12 pounds of cocaine out of Colombia. Police spotted the fake garb right away.

Scores of actors brought Cinco de Mayo to life by reenacting the historic battle that the holiday celebrates. Cinco de Mayo marks the Battle of Puebla on May 5, 1862, when Mexican troops defeated the French army of Napoleon III

Israeli warplanes have carried out strikes in Syria twice in the last three days, and now Israel is deploying two batteries of its Iron Dome rocket defense system to the north of the country

LONDON (AP) - British police say bomb disposal experts have carried out small, controlled explosions to break the locks of a van parked at London's Gatwick Airport after receiving reports that it appeared suspicious.

Sussex Police said in a statement Wednesday that officers are checking the scene but that there is no suggestion there are any threats to the airport.

The force added that it has not been able to locate the driver nor see the inside of the Renault van properly.

An area of the airport's north terminal short stay parking lot has been cordoned off as the investigations continue.

The airport on the outskirts of the capital said no flights have been affected, but a shuttle train that connects its two terminals has been shut down temporarily.