3 die in flash flood in Pittsburgh

3 die in flash flood in Pittsburgh

PITTSBURGH

A pair of powerful storms that pounded Pittsburgh on Friday cut electricity to hospitals and universities and submerged several vehicles in a flash flood that killed three people. Authorities said they were searching for other possible victims in the city’s Highland Park neighborhood, where muddy cars remained stranded on Washington Boulevard after the water had receded into the Allegheny River.

6th person dies, suit filed in collapse

INDIANAPOLIS

A 22-year-old college student injured when a stage collapsed at the Indiana State Fair died Friday, the same day lawsuits were filed on behalf of two other victims.

Jennifer Haskell, a Ball State University senior, became the sixth person to die from injuries suffered in the collapse that happened while fans were waiting for the country act Sugarland to perform. Four died immediately, including Haskell’s best friend and Tammy Vandam, a 42-year-old Wanatah homemaker and former disc jockey. One of the lawsuits filed Friday was on behalf of Vandam’s estate and her 17-year-old daughter.

A fifth person died from his injuries hours after the collapse.

Ambush strains Egypt-Israel ties

CAIRO

Egypt registered an official complaint with Israel on Friday over the deaths of five of its soldiers in fighting after an ambush targeting Israelis near the border between the two countries as tensions spiked between the two formerly staunch allies.

Retaliatory violence between Israel and the Islamic militant group Hamas also escalated Friday in the aftermath of the deadliest attack against Israelis in three years.

Dog-feces bacteria hovers over cities

DETROIT

Move over, smog. When it comes to stuff in the air over Detroit, a team of researchers has found that in winter, it’s bacteria from dog poop that hovers over the city.

A team of researchers studied 100 air samples collected in four Midwestern cities, including Detroit, looking for bacteria, and found that the most dominant type in winter is the same one found in canine feces.

Cleveland also had high counts of doggy-doo bacteria, while Chicago had less, and tiny Mayville, Wis., surrounded by cornfields, had little.

What does it mean? Maybe not much. The researchers said that although the idea of airborne fecal bacteria sounds icky, it’s possible that metropolitan areas across America all have it, and there may be no health effects at all.

Syrian security kills 20 protesters

BEIRUT

Syrian security forces killed at least 20 protesters Friday despite promises by President Bashar Assad that the military operations against the 5-month-old uprising are over. The killings, which came as thousands poured into the streets across Syria, suggest the autocratic leader is either unwilling to stop the violence — or not fully in control of his own regime.

Libyan rebels: Key oil terminal taken

BENGHAZI, Libya

A rebel spokesman says the strategic oil terminal of Brega in eastern Libya is now completely under rebel control.

Ahmed Bani says that the industrial town of Brega finally was captured early this morning.

Brega’s capture is an important boost for the rebels because it contains Libya’s second-largest hydrocarbon complex and is where the country’s main oil fields feed into for refining.

Combined dispatches