US military: At least 33 troops have Zika

US military: At least 33 troops have Zika

MIAMI

At least 33 U.S. troops, including a pregnant woman, have tested positive for the Zika virus, U.S. military spokesmen said Wednesday. Ten of those troops are men who answer to the Southern Command, the Pentagon subsidiary with oversight of troops in Latin America and the Caribbean.

Southcom spokesman Jose Ruiz said those 10 got infected in five locations - Brazil, Colombia, the Dominican Republic, Jamaica and Martinique. They serve in all five branches that answer to Southcom, he added, the Army, Navy, Air Force, Coast Guard and Marines.

London police: Knife attack kills 1, injures 5

LONDON

London police say a woman has died and five others were injured in a knife attack in a central part of the city.

A statement from the London Metropolitan Police early today said the attack happened late Wednesday in Russell Square, which is near the British Museum.

It said six people were treated at the scene and that the woman later died. The condition of the others was not immediately known.

The statement said one man was arrested, and a police officer had used a Taser stun gun.

Police said terrorism was one possible motive behind the attack. No other information was immediately available.

4 dead in Calif. bus crash are identified

ATWATER, CALIF.

A husband and wife traveling from Mexico to see their daughter in Washington were among the four identified Wednesday as those killed when a bus slammed into a highway sign that tore through the vehicle in California’s Central Valley.

The identities were released as investigators started piecing together what led to the crash early Tuesday. Among the possible factors being examined are driver fatigue and mechanical problems.

The dead include Fernando Ramirez, 57, and Petra Carillo Ruiz, 64, a married couple from Mexico.

Also identified was Jaime De Los Santos, 38, of Tijuana, Mexico. The final victim was identified as Jose Morales Bravo, 58, who lived most recently in Avalon, Calif.

Texas reaches deal on weaker voter ID rules

AUSTIN, TEXAS

Texas agreed Wednesday to weaken its voter ID law, which federal courts have said discriminated against minorities and the poor and left more than 600,000 registered voters potentially unable to cast a ballot.

The state worked fast to soften the law before November’s election, moving from requiring voters to show one of seven forms of suitable ID – a list that included concealed handgun permits, but not college IDs – to letting those without such an ID to sign an affidavit. That will allow them to cast a regular full ballot, and their vote will be counted.

Hurricane Earl aims for Belize, threatens floods

BELMOPAN, Belize

Earl strengthened into a hurricane Wednesday and roared toward a nighttime landfall in the Caribbean nation of Belize as it brushed by Honduras, leaving felled trees and power lines in its wake.

The storm dumped rain on nearly all of Honduras, where officials reported a lobster fishing boat was hit by a large wave in the Caribbean and capsized. Most of the 83 people on board were rescued, but the navy was looking for two missing.

The U.S. National Hurricane Center in Miami said Earl threatened to bring heavy rains, flooding and high winds to Belize and Mexico. Some people in nearby Guatemala evacuated low-lying areas on the coast.

Combined dispatches