- Hezbollah strikes Israel, says it foiled Israeli incursions
- Jurgen Klopp to return as head of Red Bull football operations
- Sinner to face Medvedev in Shanghai Masters quarter-finals
- US weighs Google breakup in landmark trial
- Record-breaking Root guides England to 232-2 in reply to Pakistan's 556
- Japan PM dissolves parliament for 'honeymoon' snap election
- Chinese stocks tumble on stimulus upset, Asia tracks Wall St higher
- 7-Eleven owner confirms new takeover offer from Couche-Tard
- Goodbye Tito? Tomb at risk as Serbs argue over Yugoslav legacy
- Restoration experts piece together silent Sherlock Holmes mystery
- Sinner avoids Shanghai deja vu with assured Shelton win
- Pyongyang to 'permanently' shut border with South Korea
- Trumpet star Marsalis says jazz creates 'balance' in divided world
- No children left on Greece's famed but emptying island
- Nepali becomes youngest to climb world's 8,000m peaks
- Climate change made deadly Hurricane Helene more intense: study
- A US climate scientist sees hurricane Helene's devastation firsthand
- Padres edge Dodgers, Mets on the brink
- Can carbon credits help close coal plants?
- With EU funding, Tunisian farmer revives parched village
- Sega ninja game 'Shinobi' gets movie treatment
- Boeing suspends negotiations with striking workers
- 7-Eleven owner's shares spike on report of new buyout offer
- Your 'local everything': what 7-Eleven buyout battle means for Japan
- Three million UK children living below poverty line: study
- China's Jia brings film spanning love, change over decades to Busan
- Paying out disaster relief before climate catastrophe strikes
- Chinese shares drop on stimulus upset, Asia tracks Wall St higher
- SE Asian summit seeks progress on Myanmar civil war
- How climate funds helped Peru's women beekeepers stay afloat
- Nobel Peace Prize to be awarded as wars rage
- Pacific island nations swamped by global drug trade
- AI-aided research, new materials eyed for Nobel Chemistry Prize
- Mozambique elects new president in tense vote
- The US economy is solid: Why are voters gloomy?
- Balkan summit to rally support for struggling Ukraine
- New stadium gives Real Madrid a headache
- Alonso, Manaea shine as 'Miracle Mets' blitz Phillies
- Harris, Trump trade blows in US election media blitz
- Harry's Bar in Paris drinks to US straw-poll centenary
- Osama bin Laden's son Omar banned from returning to France
- Afghan man arrested for plotting US election day attack
- Brazil lifts ban on Musk's X, ending standoff over disinformation
- Harris holds slight edge nationally over Trump: poll
- Chelsea edge Real Madrid in Women's Champions League, Lyon win
- Japan PM to dissolve parliament for 'honeymoon' snap election
- 'Diego Lives': Immersive Maradona exhibit hits Barcelona
- Brazil Supreme Court lifts ban on Musk's X
- Scientists sound AI alarm after winning physics Nobel
- Six-year-old girl among missing after Brazil landslide
Eight ex-officials to face trial for Mexico metro collapse
Eight former officials will face prosecution over a Mexico City metro crash that left 26 people dead and dozens injured last year, a lawyer said Wednesday.
A judge determined at a hearing that there was sufficient grounds for the defendants to face trial, Teofilo Benitez, who represents some of the victims, told reporters.
The ex-officials were responsible for the construction, design and safety of the damaged section, and will be tried on charges including homicide.
Relatives of the victims have demanded justice for the disaster, which saw an elevated section of track collapse in May 2021, bringing a passenger train crashing down.
An investigation by Norwegian engineering company DNV, hired by the city hall, concluded that the accident was caused by structural flaws including problems with beams and bolts.
The defendants served during the tenure of Mexico City's then mayor Marcelo Ebrard, now foreign minister and a contender to succeed President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador in 2024.
The damaged line was built and inaugurated under Ebrard, who was mayor from 2006-2012.
No official serving under current Mayor Claudia Sheinbaum, another presidential hopeful, has been charged in connection with the crash.
A lawyer for some of the defendants has alleged an attempt to protect Sheinbaum's political career.
"If the true cause of the Line 12 tragedy were investigated... the case would escalate to the current mayor and affect her presidential aspirations," Gabriel Regino tweeted last week.
In May, Sheinbaum's administration rejected DNV's conclusions, saying they contained various "deficiencies and inconsistencies."
Sheinbaum criticized DNV's final report as "badly done" and "used for political purposes."
According to leaks of the report, experts pointed to a lack of maintenance as one of the reasons for the collapse, which would raise questions for Sheinbaum, who took office in 2018.
Lopez Obrador quickly came to the defense of his ally and potential successor, describing her as "an upright and honest woman."
P.Santos--AMWN