Bus, pickup collide, leaving woman dead

Bus, pickup collide, leaving woman dead

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — A tour bus and a pickup truck collided on a two-lane road in the Everglades, killing one person early Sunday, authorities said.

A 36-year-old American Indian woman was pronounced dead at the scene, the Broward County Medical Examiner’s Office said. Her name was being withheld pending notification of family members.

The wreck was under investigation by Miccosukee Indian police, who would not say whether the victim was in the bus or the truck.

It was not immediately known how many people were on the bus or whether any others were injured.

Florida Highway Patrol troopers received a call at about 1:20 a.m. and rescue units responded to the scene, Sgt. Randy Krauss said.

The bus was in the area of the Langerado Music Festival, which was to wrap up its fourth day of concerts Sunday at Big Cypress Seminole Indian Reservation.

Probe of teen’s death

PANAJI, India — Police questioned three men Sunday in an investigation into the death of a 15-year-old British girl whose body was found on a beach in southern India, officials said.

There were unconfirmed reports later Sunday from the Press Trust of India news agency that a man had been formally arrested.

Scarlett Keeling was seen with a group of local men at a bar on the night she died, three of whom were held for questioning by the authorities earlier in the day, police official Bosco George said.

Her partially clothed and bruised body was found Feb. 18 on Anjuna beach in Goa, a tiny state with a coastline crowded with tourists and resorts. Police initially believed she accidentally drowned because she was drunk, but her family accused the police of a cover-up and pushed for a second autopsy and further investigation.

The second autopsy also showed that she had drowned, officials said, but doctors identified more bruises on her body and recommended that police investigate the death as a murder. The family also believes that Keeling may have been sexually assaulted.

Keeling was on vacation in India with her mother, her mother’s boyfriend, and her five siblings. Keeling’s family was traveling elsewhere in India when she was killed.

Israel to build homes

JERUSALEM — Israel announced plans to build hundreds of homes in the West Bank and disputed east Jerusalem, drawing Palestinian condemnation just days before a visit by a U.S. general to monitor the troubled peace process.

Housing Minister Zeev Boim said the new housing would include 350 apartments in Givat Zeev, a West Bank settlement just outside of Jerusalem, and 750 homes in the Pisgat Zeev neighborhood of east Jerusalem.

Israel captured the West Bank and east Jerusalem in the 1967 Mideast war. It immediately annexed east Jerusalem and considers all of the city its capital. The annexation has not been recognized internationally.

The Palestinians claim all of the West Bank and east Jerusalem as parts of a future independent state. But Israel has said it wants to keep large settlement blocs, along with Jewish neighborhoods of east Jerusalem, under any final peace agreement.

Man held in infant’s rape

GREENSBURG, Pa. — An 18-year-old Greensburg man has been charged with raping a 5-month-old infant left in his care.

Police say Scott Wade Smith raped the child Friday morning at a home where several people, including the infant’s mother, were living.

Authorities say the infant suffered severe injuries and was flown to Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh, where surgery was performed.

Smith is charged with rape of a child, aggravated assault, child endangerment and other offenses. He is being held at the Westmoreland County Prison on $1 million bail. A preliminary hearing is scheduled for Thursday.

4 die in row house fire

BETHLEHEM, Pa. — A row house fire killed four people and destroyed three homes near the former Bethlehem Steel plant early Sunday, fire officials said.

Bethlehem Assistant Fire Chief Michael Smith confirmed the number of deaths but released no other information about the victims.

High winds, the collapse of the building’s rubber roof and the intensity of the flames complicated efforts to rescue residents and control the blaze, authorities said.

One resident who jumped from a second-story window was hospitalized with extensive burns, and three firefighters and a paramedic were treated for minor injuries.

Associated Press