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Ted Kennedy supporting Obama

WASHINGTON, Jan. 27 (UPI) -- U.S. Sen. Edward "Ted" Kennedy will voice his support this week for the White House bid of Senate colleague Barack Obama, sources say.

Kennedy confidants told The Boston Globe Sunday the Massachusetts senator will join his niece, Caroline, and Obama in Washington to officially announce his support for the junior senator from Illinois in his bid for the Democratic presidential nomination.

Other politicians said Monday's announcement from Kennedy, one of the most recognized names in Washington, should be a significant boost for Obama's presidential hopes.

"The America of Jack and Bobby Kennedy touched all of us. Through all of these decades, the one who kept that flame alive was Ted Kennedy,'' Rep. Bill Delahunt, D-Mass., said. "So having him pass on the torch (to Obama) is of incredible significance. It's historic.''

The Globe said Kennedy's backing of Obama also is a major blow to the presidential campaign of Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y., who has been a longtime friend of the Kennedy family and has been focusing her campaign on her political experience.

Passenger train derails in Turkey

ISTANBUL, Turkey, Jan. 27 (UPI) -- A passenger train derailed in Turkey Sunday, killing at least nine people and injuring about 50 others, it was reported.

The train derailed near the central city of Kutahya, marking the fifth major train wreck in the nation in the past four years, CNN reported.

The train was en route from Istanbul to the western city of Denizli when it derailed, the U.S. network reported.

Anatolia, the country's state-run news agency, said 734 people were on board.

Rescuers had not begun to pull passengers from the overturned cars, authorities said.

Protester killed in Beirut

BEIRUT, Lebanon, Jan. 27 (UPI) -- A Lebanese opposition protester was shot and killed Sunday during a protest in Beirut, it was reported.

The Lebanese opposition movement Amal said the protesters were rallying against power shortages in the southern Beirut suburb of Shiah, CNN reported.

An Amal spokesman told the U.S. network that Lebanese troops fired their guns into the air to disperse the protesters, and one bullet struck Ahmed Hamzah, who later died at a hospital.

The Lebanese Broadcasting Corp., quoting the Amal movement, said a sniper fatally shot the protester while he was trying to help the army resolve the situation.

Lebanese network reported the sniper was not a member of the Lebanese army.

Intruders kill Iraqi family with knives

BAGHDAD, Jan. 27 (UPI) -- A group of knife-wielding intruders killed a former Iraqi official and three of his family members Sunday in northeast Baghdad, an official said.

An Interior Ministry official told CNN Ahmen Ali, who worked as a Baghdad city official during the reign of late Iraqi President Saddam Hussein, was killed in his home along with his wife, daughter and son.

No motive was given for the deadly home invasion.

The official said that in the southeast portion of the Iraqi capital Sunday, five women were kidnapped while traveling to a local language college.

The unidentified ministry official also told CNN that in Baghdad's Qahira district, three civilians and two Iraqi soldiers were wounded when a bomb exploded Sunday morning.

The roadside bomb detonated just outside a mosque in the northeast Baghdad district, the official said.