Syria: Steel workers kidnapped

Three workers at a Syrian steel plant -- an Italian and two Russians -- were reported kidnapped, officials said Monday.

Reports did not say where or when the kidnappings occurred but that the plant is located in the regime stronghold of Latakia city on Syria's Mediterranean coast.

Italy's news agency ANSA said the Italian captive works as an engineer at the Hmisho steel plant in Latakia, but that he was abducted near Tartus, the Syrian port that is located about 55 miles south of Latakia and contains the only naval base Russia has outside the former Soviet Union.

Sky TG24 TV in Italy said the other two hostages are Russians, but there was no immediate confirmation.

Prosecutor General Talaat Abdullah submitted his resignation Monday, less than a month after he was swiftly sworn in by Islamist President Mohammed Morsi, who is embroiled in a power struggle with the judiciary.

If the resignation is accepted, it will be a blow to Morsi, who last month gave himself near absolute powers placing him above judicial oversight.

On Monday, hundreds of public prosecutors demanding Abdullah's resignation staged a sit-in outside his office in Cairo. They were pushed back by police when they tried to storm the building.

Just under a third of voters turned out for the first stage of the referendum on President Mohammed Morsi's constitution-- a showing critics say deepens doubts over the legitimacy of a charter that has already polarized the country.

Last Saturday's voting took place in 10 of Egypt's 27 provinces, including Cairo and the nation's second-largest city, Alexandria. Some 26 million voters were eligible to vote, but only 32 percent of them did.

Besides the low turnout, preliminary results show that the "yes" vote carried the first round only by a slim margin of 56 percent -- hardly the resounding endorsement the Islamists were looking for.

Israel on Monday said it was pushing ahead with plans to build hundreds of homes in a Jewish settlement of east Jerusalem, risking renewed tensions with the Palestinians and its Western allies over the contentious project.

The announcement was part of a new Israeli settlement push announced earlier this month as retaliation for the Palestinians' success in winning U.N. recognition for a state at the United Nations. Israel was widely criticized internationally for the settlement plans, even though actual construction would be far in the future.