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Cruise ship captain blames sea currents

By TIMES WIRES
Published April 9, 2007

GREECE

The cruise ship captain indicted on negligence charges after his vessel foundered on a volcanic reef and sank in the Aegean Sea blamed strong currents for the accident, state-run television reported Sunday. Two French tourists have been missing since Thursday when the ship struck rocks and eventually sank off the island of Santorini. All the other people on board - 1,154 passengers and 391 crew, according to operator Louis Cruise Lines - were rescued. Authorities have not named the captain or five other crew members charged in the sinking.

ISRAEL

List being reviewed for prisoner swap

Israel is reviewing the names of hundreds of Palestinian prisoners that Gaza militants want released in exchange for a captured Israeli soldier, Cpl. Gilad Shalit, security officials said Sunday, signaling a possible breakthrough in efforts to win the man's freedom. However, Israeli and Palestinian officials said a deal would still take some time.

BRITAIN

Schwarzenegger to address opposition

Arnold Schwarzenegger is to address the annual conference of Britain's Conservative Party, the party said Sunday, citing the California governor's commitment to the environment - an issue the British opposition hopes to claim for its own. The Conservative Party conference will be held in Blackpool, in northwest England, from Sept. 30 to Oct. 3.

Elsewhere

Iran: At least 26 people were killed and 18 others injured after a truck smashed into a bus Sunday in western Iran, state-run television reported.

-Iran's Foreign Ministry said Sunday that the government has been searching for former FBI agent Robert Levinson for almost a month. Levinson was last seen in the country on March 11.

Egypt: Authorities uncovered two new tunnels along the border with the Gaza Strip and arrested a Palestinian man trying to cross through one, a security official said Sunday.

[Last modified April 9, 2007, 00:06:34]