France: Origin of train fire remains unknown

Investigators trying to determine the cause of a train fire that killed 12 people, including five Americans, reconstructed the scene of the blaze Friday.

The German train attendant was part of the two-hour simulation in the eastern city of Nancy, as was a train car identical to the one destroyed.

Prosecutor Michel Senthille said the agent was not where he was supposed to be when the fire broke out early Wednesday on an overnight train from Paris to Munich, filling a sleeping car with smoke.

“He was supposed to be in the car where the fire started, but he wasn’t there. He was trying to get back,” Senthille said.

The German car had no smoke detectors, though cigarette smoking was allowed. Germany’s national railroad said it was considering introducing smoke alarms on sleeping cars.

Five Americans, three German men, two Russians, a Hungarian man, and a Greek woman were killed.

Afghanistan: U.S. Special Forces kill one attacker

U.S. Special Forces shot and killed a gunman who fired on them near the central Afghan town of Deh Rawod, a U.S. military spokesman said Friday.

The forces were helping an Afghan policeman who had been fired on Thursday in the province of Uruzgan when two attackers in civilian clothing opened fire on the U.S. forces with AK-47 assault rifles, Col. Roger King said. The soldiers returned fire, killing one man. The other escaped.

King said the dead man’s identity was not yet known.

Separately, eight people fired on U.S. Special Forces some 2 miles north of Khost, in eastern Afghanistan. AH-64 attack helicopters fired rockets and 30 mm rounds, before the eight fled over a nearby ridge.

There were no U.S. casualties in either incident.

Italy: Italian designer indicted on tax fraud charges

Roberto Cavalli, the Italian fashion designer known for his jewel-encrusted jeans and ultra-sexy clothes, has been charged with tax fraud, his lawyer said Friday.

Prosecutors in Florence maintain some $2.6 million Cavalli wrote off as business expenses were actually for personal use.

Cavalli’s lawyer, Alessandro Traversi, said the money was used to refurbish the designer’s mansion between 1996 and 2000. The villa on the hills overlooking Florence underwent extensive renovations, including adding two swimming pools, a gym and an airplane hangar.

Cavalli has denied any wrongdoing, and insists the villa is essential to his business.

Venezuela: Government, opposition begin reconciliation talk

Venezuela’s government began talks Friday with opposition leaders to stem a growing political crisis, but the two sides were sharply divided and a quick agreement appeared unlikely.

President Hugo Chavez has already rejected the opposition’s central demand that he submit to a popular referendum on his rule.

The president of the country’s main labor federation, Carlos Ortega, said the talks “would be stillborn” if the government blocked the early referendum. Ortega, who is not among the six opposition negotiators, threatened to call a nationwide strike if that happened.