$50 million will go to Palestinians

Iran said Sunday it would give the Palestinian Authority $50 million in aid, moving in for the first time with money after the United States and Europe cut off support to the Hamas-led government.

Iran has long had close ties to the Islamic militant movement Hamas and is believed to have given money to the movement in the past. The Shiite clerical-led government in Tehran has denied that.

It would be the first time Iran has provided money to the Palestinian Authority, the government in the West Bank and Gaza Strip that until now was led by the moderate Fatah movement, which carried out peace negotiations with Israel, a policy shunned by Iran.

Tear gas fired into rioting crowds

Police fired live ammunition into the air and lobbed tear gas into rioting crowds of Christians and Muslims on Sunday in a third day of sectarian violence in Egypt's second-largest city.

One Muslim man reportedly died Sunday of his wounds. Police said 40 people had been wounded in clashes and 80 had been arrested over the weekend.

The riots were touched off Friday by knife attacks at three Coptic Christian churches, which killed one man and wounded 16 other people. A mentally ill man is being held in the stabbings.

About 2,000 police fought Sunday against 200 Coptic Christians who fled into St. Maximus Church in Alexandria, after the mob began hurling stones and bottles. Other demonstrators tossed Molotov cocktails from the balconies of nearby buildings.

Danube River

Farmlands flooded to spare homes

Emergency crews and volunteers struggled to keep embankments and sand barriers from giving way Sunday amid record flooding along the Danube River.

The Romanian government ordered controlled flooding of thousands of acres of farmland to keep water out of populated areas. Hundreds of residents were evacuated in southern Romania after a dam collapse threatened more than 130 homes. An emergency tent camp for 1,200 people was being set up just outside the city of Vidin, in northwestern Bulgaria.

Swollen by the spring snow melt and heavy rains, the Danube — Europe's second-longest river — has reached record highs in Serbia, Romania and Bulgaria in the past few days, flooding towns, villages and farmland.

About 30 injured by blast near cafe

An explosion near a sidewalk cafe in an Istanbul suburb injured about 30 people Sunday, most by shattered glass, police said.

Police said the blast likely was caused by a percussion grenade, which makes a loud noise but causes limited damage.

Two of the wounded were seriously injured and hospitalized, Police Chief Celalettin Cerrah said.

Police fired into the air to keep some from attacking a man they thought had set off the explosion, Cerrah said. He said the man had tried to approach police to give information about the explosion, but that the crowd misunderstood and mistook him for a suspect.

Plane linked to drugs shot down

A Panamanian air-force helicopter Sunday pursued and shot down a light aircraft suspected of hauling drugs bound for the United States, killing one person aboard and injuring the only other.

Panamanian officials said the plane was preparing for takeoff at a regional airport close to the border with Costa Rica when aviation agents asked its pilot to remain on the ground.

The order was refused and the plane took off. A Panamanian helicopter pursued the plane and fired at it, bringing it down in a banana plantation. Local news media said the two aboard the plane were Mexican nationals, but officials refused to confirm their nationalities. Local residents warned officials about irregular flights from the airport.

Also

A passenger train crashed into a truck at a crossing in northern Greece on Sunday and derailed, killing four people and injuring at least 40. Police said the truck driver, who was among the dead, apparently ignored a warning sign outside the city of Drama and crashed into the train.

Compiled from The Associated Press and Reuters