Israel
Peres’ condition improves
Former Israeli President Shimon Peres’ condition was showing slight improvements after he suffered a major stroke, with his physicians saying Wednesday that he had regained consciousness and squeezed his doctor’s hand, while the nation rallied in prayer and support for the 93-year-old elder statesman and Nobel Peace Prize laureate. Dr. Yitzhak Kreiss, director of the Sheba Medical Center near Tel Aviv, said Peres’ condition remained serious Wednesday afternoon, 24 hours after the stroke. But he said Peres’ neurological signs were improving.
Uruguay
Hunger strike leads to coma
A former Guantanamo prisoner on a hunger strike slipped into a coma Wednesday, said a doctor in Uruguay, where the ex-detainee was taken in as a refugee nearly two years ago but has been demanding to move elsewhere to reunite with his family. Abu Wa’el Dhiab was unconscious and extremely dehydrated when paramedics arrived at the apartment where he is staying in Montevideo, said Dr. Julia Galzerano of the Medical Union of Uruguay, who was treating the former prisoner from Syria. “We hope that it is reversible,” Galzerano said. The doctor said she was told Dhiab had gone 12 days without water.
Syria
Cease-fire mostly holding
Russia said Wednesday that separating Syrian rebels from “terrorists” is a “key task” to ensure that the Russia-U.S.-brokered cease-fire continues to hold in Syria, where a relative calm has prevailed since the truce went into effect two days ago. Russian Lt. Gen. Victor Poznikhir said rebels had violated the truce 60 times since it came into force at sunset Monday. For their part, opposition forces said they had recorded some 28 various violations by government troops on Tuesday.
Spain
Fast train goes nowhere
A Spanish bullet train stranded 109 passengers in a small town after the engineer said his shift had ended for the night and refused to go any farther. State rail company Renfe said in a statement Wednesday that the Santander to Madrid express train stopped at the station in Osorno less than halfway to the Spanish capital. The rail company organized buses and taxis to take the passengers to their destinations after the train came to a halt at 9.15 p.m. Tuesday. Renfe said railway rules limit the number of hours engineers may work each day for safety reasons.
Compiled from wire reports