Police investigating robbery find 5 dead

Police investigating robbery find 5 dead

birmingham, ala.

Police investigating a possible robbery at a Birmingham home early Sunday instead found five people dead inside, authorities said.

Birmingham Police Sgt. Johnny Williams said officers arrived at the house around 3:30 a.m. Sunday after getting a call that a robbery was in progress and soon discovered the five victims. He told reporters that investigators are interviewing potential witnesses but so far have made no arrests.

The victims’ identities and the causes of death were not immediately released. Birmingham authorities launched a homicide investigation and police believe more than one person was involved.

Focus is on SUV in fatal train crash

sacramento, calif.

Investigators on Sunday were trying to determine what motivated the driver of a sport utility vehicle to ignore a downed crossing arm and flashing lights and pull the vehicle into the path of an oncoming commuter train in Sacramento.

Three died after the Saturday afternoon collision, including a 21-month-old boy. The dead also included a 25-year-old woman and a 62-year-old man, who was ejected from the Pathfinder when it was struck by the southbound light rail train traveling at 55 mph shortly after 4 p.m.

UN nuke inspection begins in Iran

tehran, iran

Iran’s foreign minister expressed optimism Sunday that a visit by U.N. inspectors to Iran’s nuclear facilities would produce an understanding, despite world concerns that Iran is trying to build nuclear weapons.

The three-day inspection tour by the International Atomic Energy Agency team comes during spiking tension. The West is imposing new sanctions to try to force Iran to slow or halt its nuclear program, and Iran is threatening to close the Strait of Hormuz, a vital oil passage, in retaliation.

Past president of Italy dies at 93

milan, italy

Oscar Luigi Scalfaro, a past president of Italy who had the post during the sweeping corruption scandal of the early 1990s that reshaped the country’s post-war political landscape, died Sunday in Rome. He was 93.

Italian President Giorgio Napolitano paid tribute to his predecessor as “a protagonist in the democratic political life” and an example of “moral integrity.”

Scalfaro was a key figure in postwar Italian politics, helping to write the constitution and to found the former Christian Democrats.

As president from 1992-99, Scalfaro was often called upon to resolve Italy’s recurrent political crises, either choosing a new premier or calling early elections. He once called Italy’s volatile political situation “pathological.”

Non-English-speaking candidate to appeal

yuma, ariz.

A city council candidate in Arizona who was barred from running because she doesn’t speak English proficiently is vowing to appeal the judge’s ruling.

Alejandrina Cabrera conceded in an interview with the Yuma Sun that she needs to improve her command of English. But the San Luis resident said the judge’s decision that she doesn’t satisfy a state law requiring elected officials to be proficient is unjust.

“He can’t take away my constitutional rights, and if he takes away my rights, he takes away the rights of the community,” Cabrera told The Sun’s Spanish-language edition.

Details of the appeal were not given.

Associated Press