Scientists on trial over quake in Italy

Scientists on trial over quake in Italy

ROME

Seven scientists and other experts went on trial on manslaughter charges Tuesday for purportedly failing to sufficiently warn residents before a devastating 2009 earthquake that killed more than 300 people in central Italy.

The case is being watched closely by seismologists around the globe who insist it’s impossible to predict earthquakes and dangerous to suggest otherwise, since seismologists will be discouraged from issuing any advice at all if they fear legal retaliation.

The seven defendants are accused of giving “inexact, incomplete and contradictory information” about whether smaller tremors felt by L’Aquila residents in the six months before the April 6, 2009, quake should have constituted grounds for a quake warning.

Civil war draws closer in Yemen

SANAA, Yemen

The grim prospect of civil war in Yemen has drawn closer as mutinous soldiers have become more deeply involved in a rapidly spreading battle against regime forces for control of the capital.

A negotiated cease-fire Tuesday halted three days of fighting that killed dozens of people, but it will not hold without a quick resolution of the key dispute: Who will lead the nation.

A peaceful way out of Yemen’s seven-month crisis may not come easily, if at all, making it more likely to be settled in large-scale and ruinous street battles pitting renegade army soldiers and their allied tribal fighters against U.S.-trained forces loyal to embattled President Ali Abdullah Saleh and led by his son and one-time heir apparent, Ahmed.

Texas: Power-line sparks led to fire

AUSTIN, Texas

Sparks from electric power lines likely started the blaze that became the most destructive wildfire in Texas history, fire officials said Tuesday.

The Sept. 4 blaze started near Bastrop about 25 miles east of Austin, destroying more than 1,500 homes and killing two people.

The Texas Forest Service would not elaborate on the cause Tuesday to The Associated Press. However, a copy of the report obtained by the Austin American-Statesman stated that the massive blaze started as two fires ignited about five miles apart around the same time.

Man climbs over White House fence

WASHINGTON

A man climbed over the White House fence near its western entrance gate and ran toward the presidential residence Tuesday evening before he was apprehended by uniformed Secret Service officers, authorities said.

No one was injured, said Max Milien, a spokesman for the Secret Service. The man’s name was not released.

The man carried a backpack as he clambered over the fence, then ran with his arms outstretched directly toward officers who ordered him to the ground with their weapons drawn. The backpack later was deemed to be safe, Milien said.

Air-show death toll increases to 11

RENO, Nev.

When 50-year-old Craig Salerno went missing after attending the Reno air races with friends, his wife didn’t need DNA testing to confirm her worst fears.

Her husband, the father of their two young children, was sitting in the VIP section where a fighter plane landed in an explosive crash Friday afternoon. Salerno’s friend was taken to the hospital with critical injuries. There was no way Salerno, an avid racing pilot there to watch the show, had survived.

Medical officials confirmed Salerno’s death to his wife Monday night, bringing the death toll in what has become the nation’s deadliest racing disaster up to at least 11.

Associated Press