Obama congratulates Egypt's Morsi

US: President Barack Obama congratulated Egypt's Mohamed Morsi on winning Egypt's presidential elections in a telephone call Sunday, and pledged US support for Egypt's transition to democracy, the White House said.

“He emphasized his interest in working together with President-elect Morsi, on the basis of mutual respect, to advance the many shared interests between Egypt and the United States,” the White House said.

Obama also called Ahmed Shafiq, the losing candidate in the June 16-17 presidential elections, and encouraged the ex-premier “to continue to play a role in Egyptian politics by supporting the democratic process and working to unify the Egyptian people.”

AFP

Twenty-six die in Mexico bus crash

MEXICO CITY: A bus plunged into a 300 meter (900 foot) ravine on a road in the southern Mexican state of Guerrero Sunday, killing at least 26 people and injuring 23 others, authorities said.

The victims were on their way to a rally for a Workers Party candidate running for municipal office when the accident occurred on a road between the towns of Tlamacazapa and Buenavista de Cuellar, the interior ministry said in a statement.

“According to information provided by the Guerrero state government, of the 26 people who died, 12 were adults, eight were youths and six were children, in addition to the 23 injured,” it said.

AFP

Iran to execute two for alcohol

IRAN: Iran is to execute two people caught drinking alcohol for a third time after judges upheld the Islamic republic's strict laws on liquor consumption, media on Monday quoted a top judicial official as saying.

Hassan Shariati, the judiciary chief of the northeastern province of Khorasan-e Razavi, announced the sentence in an ISNA news agency report that was published by the Donya-e-Eqtesad daily.

The two unidentified people were repeat offenders, having been twice before convicted of drinking and lashed 80 times each, Shariati said.

He said the death penalty for their third conviction had been validated by Iran's Supreme Court.

Under Iran's interpretation of Islamic sharia law, imposed after its 1979 revolution, a first and second conviction on the charge of drinking alcohol is punishable by a maximum sentence of 80 lashes.

AFP