Saudi coalition warns rebels

Saudi coalition warns rebels

SANAA, Yemen

A coalition led by Saudi Arabia ordered civilians in rebel strongholds in northern Yemen to flee by nightfall Friday, warning it will strike anything in the region, even as the Saudis pressed for a cease-fire to begin next week.

After the evening deadline passed, the coalition’s warplanes attacked a rebel-held complex in the region that was believed to contain weapons, a Saudi news agency reported.

The declaration of an entire region of Yemen as a “military target” was a sharp escalation that raised alarm about more casualties in a conflict that has killed more than 1,400 people — many of them civilians — since March 19. The fighting also has created a humanitarian crisis in what was already the Arab world’s most impoverished nation.

Teenager accused of bombing plot

CANBERRA, Australia

Police arrested a 17-year-old and accused him of plotting to detonate three homemade bombs in the Australian city of Melbourne, officials said today, in the latest terrorism scare blamed on a teenager.

The teen was arrested Friday afternoon in a joint federal-state police counterterrorism operation at his home in the upmarket suburb of Greenvale where the explosive devices were found, Australian Federal Police Deputy Commissioner Mike Phelan said. The bomb squad rendered the devices safe, he said.

Texas orders test of injection well near site of quake

AUSTIN, Texas

The Texas Railroad Commission is requiring the operators of five disposal wells near a sharp earthquake to perform some tests.

In a statement Friday, the commission says Bosque Disposal Systems LLC, EOG Resources Inc., MetroSaltwater Disposal Inc. and Pinnergy Ltd. have agreed to shut down the wells temporarily until results are in on the tests, which will be made within days. The testing will help determine the effect of wastewater injection into subsurface rock formations in the area where a magnitude-4.0 earthquake was centered Thursday about 30 miles southwest of Dallas.

The quake was the sharpest ever detected in North Texas.

Storm warning in the Carolinas

MIAMI

A tropical-storm warning was issued Friday for parts of North and South Carolina as Ana approached the U.S. coast, kicking up rough surf and rip currents ahead of what was forecast to be a rainy weekend.

The National U.S. National Hurricane Center in Miami said Friday night that Ana had maximum sustained winds of 60 mph and was centered about 140 miles southeast of Myrtle Beach, S.C.

Duck boat runs over, kills woman

PHILADELPHIA

A small, amphibious tourist boat ran over a woman crossing a downtown street Friday evening, killing her, police said.

A preliminary investigation indicates the 68-year-old woman was walking with her husband against a traffic light when she was struck by the Ride The Ducks boat in the Chinatown neighborhood, police said.

The woman’s identity was not immediately released. Police said the duck-boat driver reportedly could not see her.

The duck boats are a popular way for tourists to see the sights of Philadelphia from both land and water.

Associated Press