h41 killed in Afghanistan
h41 killed in Afghanistan
KABUL, Afghanistan — A string of bombings and gunbattles reported around Afghanistan on Saturday killed 41 people and left at least six wounded, including two foreigners hurt in a suicide bombing near the capital. Insurgent violence is running at its highest level since U.S. forces invaded the country in 2001 to oust the hard-line Islamic Taliban rulers, who had harbored al-Qaida leaders following the Sept. 11 attacks. Most of the violence is concentrated in southern or eastern Afghanistan, where insurgents staged several attacks Saturday, but there have been occasional suicide attacks on Afghan security forces and foreign targets in Kabul.
Refugees enter Ecuador
QUITO, Ecuador — More than 1,000 refugees fleeing fighting between the army and leftist guerrillas in Colombia have crossed the border into Ecuador in recent days and a local official warned Saturday that the number could rise. Aid groups say the refugees are scared and hungry, and relief workers are struggling to provide them with food, mattresses and clothing in shelters in the Ecuadorean town of San Lorenzo, eight miles from the Colombian border. The United Nations said Friday that more than 800 Colombian refugees were staying in shelters in San Lorenzo. But officials in Ecuador said that by Saturday the number had increased to about 1,100.
Smuggling sea turtle eggs
MEXICO CITY — Six people suspected of trying to illegally sell more than 52,000 sea turtle eggs were arrested while trying to transport their cargo in dozens of plastic bags, authorities said Saturday.
Border infiltration halted
JERUSALEM — Under the cover of fog, two heavily armed Palestinian militants used a rope and ladder to scale a border wall Saturday and enter Israel from Gaza, attacking an army base with explosives and gunfire before they were tracked down and killed by Israeli troops.
More drilling at Utah mine
HUNTINGTON, Utah — The latest holed drilled into a collapsed mine where six men are trapped broke through a chamber too small for the men to survive, a lawyer for several of the men’s families said Saturday. The Crandall Canyon Mine’s co-owner has said this hole, the sixth drilled more than 1,500 feet into the mountain, will be the last effort to find a sign of the men, who may not have survived the massive cave-in Aug. 6. However, the families’ attorney, Colin King, said mine officials did not rule out the possibility of a seventh hole during a meeting with families Saturday. Drilling on the hole was completed late Saturday afternoon, the U.S. Department of Labor said, reaching a depth of more than 1,700 feet. Mine officials had planned to brief the public on the results today.
Opening the airplane door
can lead to your arrest
DENVER, Colo.— A passenger tried to open a plane door during a Frontier Airlines flight on Saturday morning but was subdued by airline staff and passengers, an airline spokesman said. Police and Transport Security Administration staff met Flight 514 after the plane landed in New York City and took the man into custody, said Frontier spokesman Joe Hodas.
Fake bills for a lap dance
SMYRNA, Tenn. — A man who authorities say used his computer to make fake $100 bills to buy lap dances at a strip club has pleaded guilty to counterfeiting charges, federal prosecutors said. Strippers at Deja Vu in Nashville were suspicious of the bills and called police after Damon Armagost spent $600 of the fake money April 16, authorities said.
Associated Press