In brief: Two die in snowy, multicar pileup
A pileup of 35 cars and five tractor-trailers on a snowy Maryland highway killed two people Monday and seriously injured at least a dozen, state police said.
Snow was at least partly to blame for the 12:30 p.m. crash on Interstate 70 near South Mountain in northwestern Maryland, said police spokeswoman Elena Russo. An inch-and-a-half of snow quickly fell around the same time as the pileup.
Twelve seriously injured people were taken to Washington County Hospital, Russo said.
Late Monday, troopers said they were looking for a brown minivan, which might have damage on the passenger side, that was traveling west on Interstate 70 shortly before the crash and left the scene.
State police said the minivan may have been involved in the initial crash that led to the pileup.
MOSCOW
Russia, Ukraine sign deals on gas
Russia and Ukraine pledged to restore natural gas supplies to Europe after signing deals Monday to end a bitter dispute that led to a chilling two-week cutoff of shipments.
Europeans, who normally get about one-fifth of their gas from Russia via Ukrainian pipelines, anxiously awaited for the fuel to start flowing.
Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin and his Ukrainian counterpart Yulia Tymoshenko on Monday signed the documents at Putin’s government headquarters on the Moscow river. Tymoshenko said the gas would be pumped toward Europe as soon as it enters the Ukrainian pipes.
SAO PAULO, Brazil
Church collapse toll rises to nine
Authorities picked through a latticework of bent steel Monday after the roof of Reborn in Christ, one of Brazil’s largest evangelical churches, collapsed between services, killing nine people and injuring more than 100.
Two of the injured died at local hospitals Monday. That raised the death toll to nine.
New York
Times to get cash from billionaire
The New York Times Co. said it has approved a $250 million investment by Mexican telecommunications billionaire Carlos Slim Helu.
The financing agreement is with Slim’s companies Banco Inbursa and Inmobiliaria Carso for $125 million each.
The Times Co. has been struggling with faltering advertising sales and faces deadlines to repay hundreds of millions of dollars in debt.
Times President Janet L. Robinson said the cash infusion will be used to refinance existing debt, including some borrowed under a revolving credit line that matures in May. In September, Slim and his family bought 6.4 percent of the Times Co.’s publicly traded shares.