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• "We have identified no information at this time that supports Mr. Hager's claims," Maj. Gen. Tim Keating, the acting defense force chief, said in a statement.
• U.S. surveillance programs have become the focus of a global debate since former defense contract worker Edward Snowden leaked classified information about the National Security Agency in June. The U.S. says the NSA programs are necessary to avert terror attacks, while critics have called it unregulated spying.
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Spanish royals to attend Mass for train dead; driver charged provisionally but released
• SANTIAGO DE COMPOSTELA, Spain (AP) -- Spain's royal family and leading politicians are to attend a Mass in the Catholic pilgrimage city of Santiago de Compostela in homage to the 79 people killed in the country's worst rail accident in decades.
• The Mass is taking place Monday, a day after the train's driver, Francisco Jose Garzon Amo, was charged with multiple counts of negligent homicide.
• Judge Luis Alaez released Francisco Jose Garzon Amo without bail late Sunday but ordered him to appear before court once a week and not to leave Spain.
• Garzon was driven from the court in a police car to an unknown location.
• Garzon was driving the train carrying 218 passengers that hurtled off the tracks Wednesday while apparently travelling well over the 80-kph (50-mph) speed limit.
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Wave of car bombings in central, southern Iraq kills at least 47
• BAGHDAD (AP) -- A wave of over a dozen car bombings hit central and southern Iraq during morning rush hour on Monday, officials said, killing at least 47 people in the latest coordinated attack by insurgents determined to undermine the government.
• The blasts, which wounded scores more, are part of a months-long surge of attacks that is reviving fears of a return to the widespread sectarian bloodshed that pushed the country to the brink of civil war after the 2003 U.S.-led invasion. Suicide attacks, car bombings and other violence have killed more than 3,000 people since April, including more than 500 since the start of July, according to an Associated Press count.
• There was no immediate claim of responsibility for Monday's attacks, but they bore the hallmarks of al-Qaida's Iraqi arm. The group, known as the Islamic State of (Continued on page 33)
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