Diaz visits Peru
U.S. actress Cameron Diaz, right, takes pictures of press photographers as Sol Guy, an MTV Canada host, behind left, and guide Freddy Quispe stand with her during their tour of the Inca ruins of Machu Picchu near Cuzco, Peru, Friday. Cameron's bag reads in Chinese "Serve the People," a political slogan by Mao Zedong.
Cuba: Espin laid to rest
HAVANA — Vilma Espin, the former guerrilla fighter who was communist Cuba's most politically powerful woman, was laid to rest with full military honors Friday.
Her husband, acting president Raul Castro, placed an urn containing her ashes in a mausoleum in the Sierra Maestra, where Espin fought during the late 1950s against the government of Fulgencio Batista. Espin died Monday at age 77 following a lengthy illness.
France: Eiffel Tower convictions
PARIS — A Paris court convicted 15 former Eiffel Tower workers of embezzling funds from the monument's ticket office, and ordered them Friday to pay a total of $940,000 in damages and fines.
The 15 — all former cashiers at the monument — were accused of stealing $1.34 million between 1996 and 2002 by exploiting a computer glitch allowing them to print tickets that would not show up on register receipts, according to court documents.
Greece: Heat blamed for deaths
ATHENS— Southeastern Europe baked under soaring temperatures Friday, with nearly 30 deaths across the region blamed on the year's first major heat wave. Electricity supplies, particularly in Greece and Albania, were strained as air conditioning use spiked.
Temperatures reached 104 degrees in Athens on Friday, with a top recorded temperature of 113 degrees on the island of Rhodes, according to state NET television.
Niger: Army base attacked
NIAMEY — Rebels attacked an army base in Niger on Friday, killing 13 and wounding 30 soldiers, and taking at least 47 prisoners, according to a government statement.
The statement read on national TV by government spokesman Mohamed Ben Omar said a group of heavily armed men attacked security forces early Friday in a remote Sahara outpost not far from the Libyan border.
Puerto Rico: Affidavit released
SAN JUAN — An Army officer with a key role in the U.S. military hearings at Guantanamo Bay says they relied on vague and incomplete intelligence and were pressured to declare detainees "enemy combatants," often without any specific evidence.
Lt. Col. Stephen Abraham's affidavit, released Friday, is the first criticism by a member of the military panels that determine whether detainees will continue to be held.
Peru: Sex age lowered to 14
LIMA — Peru's Congress has voted overwhelmingly to lower the age to 14 for participating in consensual sex, a move some activists said could expose children to sexual abuse.
Lawmakers voted 70-10 on Thursday to approve the measure lowering the age at which criminal law recognizes the legal capacity of a person to consent to sexual activity. It was previously 17.
South Korea: Reactor to close
t--> SEOUL — Pyongyang and Washington have agreed on a three-week timeframe for shutting down the North's plutonium-producing reactor, a top U.S. nuclear envoy said Saturday.
Christopher Hill — the chief U.S. negotiator at international talks on North Korea's nuclear programs — said in response to reporters' questions on arriving at Tokyo's Haneda Airport that they were looking at "a three-week timeframe ... starting Friday" for shutting down the Yongbyon reactor.