World datelines

Afghanistan: Medic honored

CAMP SALERNO — A 19-year-old medic from Texas will become the first woman in Afghanistan and only the second female soldier since World War II to receive the Silver Star, the nation's third-highest medal for valor.

Army Spc. Monica Lin Brown saved the lives of fellow soldiers after a roadside bomb tore through a convoy of Humvees in the eastern Paktia province in April 2007, the military said.

Argentina: Bus crash kills 18

BUENOS AIRES — A passenger train slammed into a double-decker bus at a rural Argentine rail crossing before dawn on Sunday, killing 18 people and injuring at least 47, authorities said.

The train was traveling from the Argentine capital to the Atlantic beach resort of Mar del Plata when the collision occurred near Dolores, about 125 miles south of Buenos Aires, the government's Telam news agency said.

France: Sarkozy backers losing

PARIS — Partial results showed President Nicolas Sarkozy's backers losing in Paris and other key French cities Sunday in the first round of municipal elections seen as a referendum on the increasingly unpopular conservative.

Official results of the total vote nationwide showed candidates from Sarkozy's UMP party and its allies with 45.5 percent and the Socialists and their allies with 47 percent.

Georgia: 7,000 rally in Tbilisi

TBILISI — About 7,000 opposition protesters rallied in the Georgian capital Sunday to put pressure on President Mikhail Saakashvili in the run-up to parliamentary elections in May.

Demonstrators, gathering outside the parliament building, accused Saakashvili of stealing the Jan. 5 presidential election in which he won re-election with 53 percent of the vote.

Israel: New West Bank crisis

JERUSALEM — Israel announced plans Sunday to build hundreds of homes in the West Bank and disputed east Jerusalem, setting off another crisis in the embattled peace process ahead of the arrival of a key U.S. mediator.

The fatal shooting of eight rabbinical seminary students by a Palestinian resident of Jerusalem dampened low expectations for negotiations that aim for a treaty this year.

Mexico: Shootout claims 7