World datelines

Russia: Train derails

MOSCOW — An express train carrying hundreds of passengers from Moscow to St. Petersburg derailed late Friday, killing at least 23 people and injuring dozens of others, emergency officials said.

The state-run railway company said the derailment could have been the result of sabotage, fueling fears of terrorism.

The three rear cars of the Nevsky Express went off the tracks in the Tver province northwest of Moscow, the Emergency Situations Ministry said.

Honduras: Elections

TEGUCIGALPA — Costa Rica promised Friday to restore ties with Honduras if its presidential elections are clean, joining other nations in rejecting ousted President Manuel Zelaya's insistence that recognizing the vote would legitimize a June coup.

The front-runner in Sunday's elections, Porfirio Lobo, welcomed the decision by Costa Rican President Oscar Arias, saying hat he expected other Latin American countries gradually to follow suit.

Pakistan: Leader killed

KHAR — A key anti-Taliban tribal leader was assassinated Friday in a roadside bombing, the latest in a series of attacks against pro-government militias in the Afghan border area of northwestern Pakistan.

Elsewhere, authorities found the bullet-riddled body of another tribal elder who was seized from his home late Thursday in an attack that also left his son dead.

Violence has increased in Bajur and other northwestern tribal regions since the army launched an offensive in South Waziristan in mid-October.

Iran: Medal seizure

TEHRAN — Iran summoned Norway's ambassador Friday and said the country had no right to criticize the Islamic Republic for confiscating Nobel Peace laureate Shirin Ebadi's medal.

In Norway, where the peace prize is awarded, the government said the confiscation of the gold medal was a shocking first in the history of the 108-year-old prize.

Ebadi said Thursday that authorities took the medal about three weeks ago from a safe-deposit box in Iran, claiming she owed taxes on the $1.3 million she was awarded. Ebadi says that such prizes are exempt from tax under Iranian law.

Sudan: 50 lashes

A 16-year-old Christian girl from southern Sudan said Friday she was lashed 50 times for wearing a skirt deemed indecent by authorities in the north who enforce a strict version of Islamic law.

Silva Kashif said she was arrested by a plain-clothed policeman in a Khartoum market last week for wearing a skirt beneath the knee. She was convicted of offending public morality and received 50 lashes in the courtroom.

"I was treated like a criminal," Kashif said in a telephone interview. "I am confused what to wear. The trousers were an issue. My skirt was beneath the knee. What more can I do? I am Christian. My tribe and my customs permit me to dress like this."