WORLD BRIEFS

EGYPT: Moving to reject U.S. aid

The parliament moved Sunday toward a vote to order an end to more than $1 billion in U.S. aid, a reflection of tensions with Washington over the case of Americans charged with illegal activity in their pro-democracy groups. The United States was angry enough over the charges that it had threatened to cut off aid to Egypt. The measure in the Islamist-dominated parliament, probably just symbolic, showed there is considerable anger in Cairo over accusations that U.S. pressure led to interference in the judicial process. The 508-seat chamber also voted to start the process of a no-confidence vote in the military-backed government, a move that, if successful, could spark a political crisis with under four months left before the military is scheduled to hand over power to a civilian administration.

TURKEY: Fire kills 14 workers in tent

Fire engulfed a tent used as a dormitory for workers at an Istanbul construction site late Sunday, killing 14 people. The workers were staying in the giant tent at the site where a supermarket was being built, said Necmi Kadioglu, the mayor of the city's Esenyurt district. "We suspect that the fire might have originated from an electrical heater," he said, noting the cold weather. State-run television said the fire might have been sparked by a short circuit. Firefighters, working under floodlights in the snow, managed to recover the bodies of the workers from the mangled ruins.

NIGERIA: Car bomb kills 10 at church

At least 10 people were killed Sunday in a suicide car bombing targeting a Catholic church in central Nigeria. The attack happened at St. Finbar's Catholic Church in the city of Jos. A spokesman for the Plateau state government, Pam Ayuba, said the car had been stopped at the church's gate by security. The powerful blast damaged the church and shattered glass. No group immediately claimed responsibility for the attack, but the radical Islamist sect Boko Haram has attacked churches in the city in the past.