SANTIAGO, Chile (AP) — Three-quarters of the Chilean areas hit by the devastating 2010 earthquake have been reconstructed, President Sebastian Pinera told congress Monday.

The 8.8-magnitude quake and the tsunami it unleashed on Feb. 27, 2010, killed 551 people, destroyed 220,000 homes and washed away docks, riverfronts and seaside resorts. Pinera said the disaster cost Chile $30 billion, or 18 percent of its annual gross domestic product.

"Today I can responsibly say that just over halfway through my mandate and thanks to the effort of all Chileans, three-quarters of the reconstruction efforts are complete," Pinera said in his yearly address to congress.

Former President Michelle Bachelet's role in the failure to issue a timely tsunami warning and the slow reconstruction effort under Pinera have been shaping politics ahead of an election to pick his successor next year.

Opposition lawmakers have criticized Pinera's governing center-right party for trying to link Bachelet to the failed tsunami response. During Pinera's speech, some of them wore pins with images of Bachelet, who is expected to run in the next election. One of them read: "No more abuses or fine print."

Former officials at the state emergency office, ONEMI, have been questioned in recent court hearings to determine whether they failed to issue a timely nationwide warning for the tsunami that killed 181 people. On Friday, Pinera announced his support for a plan to replace ONEMI with an agency in each of Chile's 15 regions that will have enough resources to provide early warnings and necessary help.

"Pinera did two things on this speech: He asked for forgiveness for his mistakes but reaffirmed that things are being done well. And that's the way he dealt with the reconstruction as well: He said it's been hard but we've done it well," said Patricio Navia, a political scientist at New York University.

During his over two-hour speech, Pinera focused on Chile's solid economic growth, which he said is among the fastest in the world.

Salaries are rising at 6 percent a year and unemployment is below 7 percent. Over the past two years, investment grew 15 percent and exports rose 40 percent.

But Pinera also said deep social reforms are still needed to reduce poverty in one of the most unequal countries in the world.

"There are 640,000 Chileans living, or more like surviving, extreme poverty and more than 2.5 million living in poverty," he said. "When John Paul II visited us 25 years ago, he called on us to defeat poverty. Now it's time to honor his call."

To try to bridge the gap, Pinera announced plans for a one-time payment of 40,000 pesos ($80) for each lower income family already receiving subsidies that would be used to buy food. He said it would benefit more than 6 million people.

"This bond is good news for lower income families, but we didn't hear anything about the quality of jobs or minimum salaries," said Patricia Silva, an analyst for Barometro de Equidad.

Silva said Chileans are "demanding more deep-rooted reforms and not just superficial ones" and noted the president didn't address social unrest.

As Pinera spoke, thousands of student activists protested outside congress in the coastal city of Valparaiso calling for free education.

Pinera said his plan to spend up to $1 billion on thousands of new scholarships and lower student loan interest is a more just solution for addressing education problems.

"We know that some propose free education for all and not just the most vulnerable and the middle class," he said. "Frankly, in a country with so many shortages and inequalities it is not fair or convenient for the state to use the resources of all Chileans to finance education of those who need it the most."

©2012 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

TOKYO (AP) — The world's tallest tower and Tokyo's biggest new landmark, the Tokyo Sky Tree, has opened to the public.

Nearly 8,000 visitors were expected to take high-speed elevators up to the observation decks of the 2,080-foot tower Tuesday to mark its opening.

It is recognized by Guinness World Records as the tallest tower, beating out the Canton Tower in China, which is 1,968 1/2 feet. The world's tallest structure is Dubai's Burj Khalifa, which stands 2,717 feet. That's in a different category because it's a skyscraper, not a tower.

The Sky Tree will serve as a broadcast tower for television and radio, along with being a tourist attraction.

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WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — New Zealand says it will withdraw its small contingent of troops from Afghanistan a year earlier than planned.

Prime Minister John Key told reporters Tuesday that the 145 New Zealand troops stationed in Bamiyan province will come home in late 2013 rather than 2014. New Zealand has stationed troops in the war-torn country since 2003, with five dying there during that time.

Key says New Zealand made the decision in consultation with its coalition partners. He says the United States wants to see an orderly transition as NATO allies begin planning a withdrawal of all troops by the end of 2014.

New Zealand in March withdrew a small contingent of elite Special Air Service soldiers who had been mentoring Afghan forces after being deployed to Kabul in 2009.

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HYDERABAD, India (AP) — It took rescuers six hours today to pull some 70 survivors from the twisted and smoldering wreckage of a passenger train that rammed into a parked freight train in southern India, killing at least 25 people.

Medical workers brought drinking water to traumatized survivors at the scene, while mothers cried for help in finding their lost children. Witnesses reported seeing victims on fire.

Police say at least 40 people were hospitalized with injuries, with about 10 in critical condition.

The driver of the Hampi Express, upon seeing the cargo train stopped on the tracks ahead, slammed on the emergency brakes, which caused four cars of the Express to derail.

Officials say the first passenger car caught fire, burning 16 people to death.

Officials said they were looking into whether the driver may have missed a signal or if the signal had malfunctioned.

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KATMANDU, Nepal (AP) — A mountaineering official in Nepal says climbers have reported seeing another body on Mount Everest, raising the death toll to four for one of the worst days ever on the world's highest mountain.

Nepali mountaineering official Gyanendra Shrestha said Tuesday that the body of Chinese climber Ha Wenyi was spotted not far from where three other climbers died. Wenyi and the other victims — German doctor Eberhard Schaaf, Nepal-born Canadian Shriya Shah, and South Korean mountaineer Song Won-bin — died Saturday on their way down from the 35,035-foot summit.

Shrestha says a Nepalese Sherpa guide who had been reported missing is safe and has reached the base camp. Shrestha says the guide was separated from his group and did not have communications equipment.

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LONDON (AP) — Always listen to your grandmother.

Prince William tore up the official guest list for his wedding after Queen Elizabeth II told him that it was his day, a new documentary revealed Tuesday.

William described the subdued moment in which he was handed a list and that he didn't know a soul on it.

"There was very much a subdued moment when I was handed a list with 777 names on — not one person I knew or Catherine knew." he recalled in the ITV1 documentary. "I went to her and said, 'Listen, I've got this list, not one person I know — what do I do?' and she went, 'Get rid of it. Start from your friends and then we'll add those we need to in due course. It's your day.'"

The prince also revealed he got a mere one hour's worth of sleep on the night before his lavish April 29, 2011 wedding, citing nerves and the crowds camped outside his window.

An extract of the interview was published in Radio Times.

The second in line to the throne suggested his grandmother would be tough to follow. The monarch is celebrating her Diamond Jubilee this year.

"I would like to take all of her experiences, all of her knowledge and put it in a small box and to be able to constantly refer to it," he said.

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MAIDUGURI, Nigeria (AP) — Witnesses say at least seven people have been killed in separate overnight shootings in northeast Nigeria likely carried out by a radical Islamist sect.

The attacks Sunday night occurred around Maiduguri, the city where the sect known as Boko Haram once had its main mosque. A military spokesman and a police spokesman declined to comment Monday, though a police official who spoke to The Associated Press confirmed seven people had been killed.

The police official spoke on condition of anonymity because the information was not supposed to be released publicly.

The official said authorities believe Boko Haram likely carried out the attack.

The sect is blamed for killing more than 520 people this year alone in Nigeria.

©2012 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.