In brief: Guatemalan bus crash kills, injures dozens
GUATEMALA CITY – A bus plunged into a deep river canyon in northwestern Guatemala on Monday and at least 44 people were killed, officials said.
A fire department spokesman said 46 more people were injured and taken to hospitals. At the accident site, medical personnel were conducting autopsies on the dead, which showed multiple injuries.
Cruz said about 90 people were aboard the Guatemala City-bound bus, which had an official capacity of 54 passengers. The dead included at least three babies.
“Some of the people were rescued with hydraulic equipment, and others were thrown (from the bus) at the time of the accident,” Cruz said.
The bus fell into a river at the bottom of the 600-foot canyon around 8:15 a.m. in the town of San Martin Jilotepeque, apparently after the driver lost control on a curve.
Eight killed, including five police, in Iraq attacks
BAGHDAD – Iraqi authorities say shootings and bombings have killed eight people, including five policemen, in central Iraq.
Police officials said the deadliest of Monday’s attacks occurred when a police patrol came under fire by gunmen near the city of Tikrit. Five policemen were killed in the attack.
Police said a government employee was killed after a sticky bomb attached to his car exploded in eastern Baghdad. Also, authorities said a body with gunshot wounds to the back was found near a school in western Baghdad.
In a town just south of Baghdad, police said a bomb exploded in a commercial street, killing one person and wounding eight others.
Tropical storm moves west, gains strength
MIAMI – A strengthening Tropical Storm Humberto is moving west across the Atlantic and could become a hurricane today, according to the U.S. National Hurricane Center.
The storm’s maximum sustained winds reached 60 mph on Monday night.
The storm is centered about 120 miles southwest of the southernmost Cape Verde Islands and is moving away from that area, westward at 10 mph.
Brazil designates rainforest as protected
BRASILIA, Brazil – The Brazilian government has designated nearly 3,860 square miles of land in the Amazon rainforest as a protected area.
That’s an area slightly smaller than the nation of Lebanon, and the Brazilian environment ministry said Monday that expanse is now under its protection in a bid to halt deforestation in the area.
The ministry says it will allow sustainable development in the area, as it does in many other parts of the Amazon.
Seventh-century coins found near temple
JERUSALEM – An Israeli archaeologist says she has uncovered a rare trove of ancient coins and medallions near Jerusalem’s Temple Mount.
Eilat Mazar of Jerusalem’s Hebrew University says among the finds are jewelry and a gold medallion with the Jewish menorah symbol etched into it. Other findings include items with additional Jewish symbols, such as a ram’s horn and a Torah.
Mazar said Monday the objects can be dated to the seventh century. She said the treasure was discovered in a ruined Byzantine public structure a mere 150 feet from the southern wall of the hilltop compound revered by Jews as the Temple Mount, where the two biblical Jewish temples once stood.